More Red River

My adopted nephew, Noah, showed up at the camp on Friday, January the 2nd with his brand new climbing stand, Krystal, his wife, gave to him for Christmas. He's a fortunate young man. Noah first hunted with me last year and had such a fun time, he came back for more. And somehow managed to talk his Daddy (Joe) and his three brothers, Joey, Josh and Jacob to tag along. I enjoyed having them all. Josh managed to catch an eighteen pound catfish with his rod and reel, in the Red River. He had taken a piece of cut deer liver, put it on his hook and was back in camp three minutes later, with the fish. Troy immediately began getting the cooking oil hot and cleaning the fish to cook. Noah set out a throw line line into the river with a single hook and caught a second fish, wieghing seven pounds.

We all hunted hard, together, for the wily old whitetail, but failed to bag one. The weather had turned very nasty, by continuosly raining and flooding the canal we had to cross in order to hunt. Noah and the two older brothers were up to the challenge of crossing the deep canal. His father, I, and his youngest brother, Jacob, decided to play it safe and not to cross. We strayed into the opposite woods, instead.

Josh ended up rescuing my trip from an early end, by fixing the electric generator when it decided to quit working. I really need the generator to run the c-pap machine, I use to sleep. I have sleep apnea and can't get a good quality rest, without it. Thanks, Josh. And the homemade chilli was good, too.

Joe, Joey, Josh and Jacob decided to escape the rainfall and headed for home. Noah remained for a few more days. We tried to hunt, but four additional inches of rain fell and mostly kept us, confined to the trailer. The rainfall finally quit for Noah on his last morning and we eagerly hit the woods. He saw a six point buck, too late to shoot and then ten minutes later, at eleven o'clock, a doe. He was prepared to shoot the doe which was about to step out into an opening in the thicket. The only problem was that eleven o'clock was the time chosen to leave the woods. So just as Noah mamaged to calm his heart rate to make the shot count, I promptly showed up to leave and frightened the deer away. I hope my little buddy forgives me and returns with his Dad and brothers, to hunt with me again next year. I was really honored to be included in the family memory.

P.S.
I let Joey, Josh and Troy preview the manuscript of my first book, I hope to have printed soon and they liked it. All three want a copy when it is availabe. They'll definately be among the first on my list. Thanks, guys.

Stay with me, there'll be more later.