Kids and the Outdoors

My outdoors experiences began before I was old enough to handle a fishing rod or even a BB gun. I was fortunate to have a dad who was an outdoors-oriented person. My dad was a career employee of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and he took my brother and me on outings not only related to his job but also on fishing and hunting trips.

I can still remember tagging along, sitting next to dad on the creek bank while he fished. Other times, my “tag along” experiences involved sitting beside him on a log while he watched the tree tops for a squirrel. I will forever be indebted to him for realizing the need to get us interested and involved in the outdoors before we were old enough to actually participate.

It wasn’t long before he put a fishing pole in my grubby little hands, instructing me how to watch the cork and set the hook when it bobbled and went under. The thrill of the pulsating fight of my first fat bluegill lingers even today. As we grew older, we graduated to casting rods, again under the watchful eye of dad. I can’t count how many times he’d have to take the rod from my hand and yank the lure out of an overhanging limb I’d nailed with an errant cast.

It was the hunting trips, though, that were the most exciting. While my short legs were hard pressed to step in dad’s footsteps, I tried to keep up. He’s shush me if I stepped on a stick or made too much noise rustling fallen leaves as I walked. I learned as I went along the value of being quiet and sneaky when trying to outwit a squirrel.

The day finally came when he handed me a single shot 22 rifle, unloaded, to carry to the woods with him. Dad laid his shotgun across a shoulder as he sneaked; I laid my 22 across my shoulder just like he did as I tried to be just like him. If a squirrel was an easy target, he’d let me take a crack at it with my 22. Usually, he’d have to down the fleeing squirrel with his 12 gauge because my marksmanship had not yet reached a proficient level. Nevertheless, I was there in the woods with him, serving my hunting apprenticeship under his watchful eye.

Eventually, I was permitted to hunt alone. At first, dad would sit me down on a log in a grove of oaks with the ground littered with cuttings while he slipped off to hunt alone, never too far to hear my call if I needed him. I watched for squirrels while fighting the feeling of fear and abandonment. Time would take care of this latter concern and I came to realize that dad only left me to hunt alone after he was sure I had learned enough to be responsible and safe.

Still later, dad bought a new shotgun for himself and he placed in my hands his trusty old 12 gauge Stevens double barrel. The gun was heavy but that didn’t matter. I was now the owner of a shotgun I could call my own.

I wish I still had that old double. I kept it until I was grown, eventually trading it for an automatic. The Stevens double knocked many a fox squirrel from the tall pines of the woods where we hunted and later, served as my first duck gun. I can still hear the sturdy “ping” when I opened the breech to drop to high brass #6 shells into the barrels; the solid “clink” when I snapped it shut.

Time marches on. My daughters are grown, married and gone from home but when they were younger, I had a covey of fine grandchildren to spoil and pamper.
On a particular squirrel hunt with dogs, I was an interested observer as another hunter and his grandson shared the woods with a group of us as we followed squirrel dogs on a hunt. Dr. Robert Pirtle, Shreveport dentist, had his 9 year old grandson, Jake Rodgers, visiting from Houston. Watching Pirtle instruct, assist, caution and teach young Jake was like turning back to a page from my past.

I doubt that Jake realizes at this point in his young life just how special these moments were. Eventually, he will and he’ll be forever thankful that he had someone willing to take the time and effort to teach him the ways of the outdoors.

I was fortunate; Jake is fortunate. We all had the privilege of being introduced to and nurtured in the outdoors by someone who cared enough about us to offer us that opportunity.

FISHING REPORT 

CANEY LAKE – Crappie fishing has been good with some slabs caught fishing shiners or jigs around the deeper tops. Bass are best fishing topwater lures and buzz baits early around the grass lines. Bass fishing has been best fishing secondary points on soft plastics and crank baits. For information contact Caney Lake Landing at 259-6649, Hooks Marina at 249-2347, Terzia Tackle at 278-4498 or the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
BLACK BAYOU – No report. Contact Honey Hole Tackle Shop 323-8707 for latest information.
BUSSEY BRAKE – Bass fishing is best flipping soft plastics along the wind rows and tree lines. Crappie are hitting shiners and jigs around deep brush along the flats. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole at 323-8707.
OUACHITA RIVER – The river is still low. Very few are trying the fish so reports this week are spotty. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE D’ARBONNE – The lake is still down some 5 feet. Crappie are scattered a bit but return to colder weather will cause them to bunch up again. Some are caught along the stump lines on shiners and jigs. Bass fishing has been best fishing the points with soft plastics or crank baits. Bream are slow; catfishing good off the banks. For latest information, call Anderson Sport Center at 368-9669 or Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE CLAIBORNE – Crappie fishing has been good with some slabs caught fishing shiners or jigs around the deep tops. Bass are best with Carolina rigs, square bill crank baits and Shaky Heads working best. Bream are slow. For latest information, call Kel’s Cove at 927-2264 or Terzia Tackle at 278-4498.
LAKE POVERTY POINT – Crappie have improved on both ends of the lake with some big slabs reported. Catfishing is good. No report on Bass. For information, contact the marina at 318/878-0101.
LAKE YUCATAN – The water is rising which should help the fishing. Right now, fishing is quite slow. For info call Surplus City Landing at 318/467-2259.