As a writer, I hear a lot of wild and crazy stories. Most involve something in the outdoors, and I love hearing them.
One was sent to me recently about two men, one from Arkansas and one from Tennessee, who went crappie fishing in Mississippi. And caught 38 dogs.
That wasn’t a misprint; it WAS dogs — not cats or catfish!
The guys were distracted on a big Mississippi lake by barking dogs. When the barking continued, they decided something might be wrong and went to investigate. They were aghast at what they found.
More hound dogs than they could count were swimming in circles, lost in the middle of a big lake and unable to see the shore!
The men pulled as many as they could onto the boat and headed to the shore where a group of people had gathered. They were told the men were on a fox hunt with their hounds when a deer distracted them, and they chased it into the lake. When they lost sight of the shore, they swam in circles somewhat like lost humans hiking in the wilderness.
The fishermen unloaded their catch and went back for more – twice. They ended up saving 38 fine hunting hounds.
That reminded me on a smaller scale of the chilly first day of deer season years ago when my Lab chased a goat into a lake and I had to swim out and drag it to shore as it was sinking. We had just leased a 3,000-acre lease from a woman who was uneasy about leasing to strangers.
We didn’t want to start off by drowning one of her goats. I had received life saving training, and grabbed a handful of goat hair and swam it back to shore. The scared goat took a few wobbly steps on solid ground and stopped and looked back at me almost as if to say thanks.
A year or two later, a preacher friend, Jim Darnell, heard dogs barking while fishing. But it was a small pack of coyotes chasing a doe deer. The doe raced into the lake to escape, but the coyotes followed. Darnell quickly motored over and discouraged the coyotes with his boat’s presence. The doe was having trouble staying afloat so he drew closer and grabbed the hair along the back of her neck and motored to shore dragging the helpless deer.
When the doe touched the sandy shoreline, he released her. Like my goat friend, it wobbled a few yards, stopped, and looked back at him. Jim says that was a close to a “Thank You” as a wild animal could relate.
Other stories of fishermen helping other would have to include the many fishing boats and duck boats that Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas sportsmen towed to Houston after
Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston, Rockport, Beaumont, and East Texas Without their rescue efforts, many stranded people would have suffered greatly.
Thank God for the “Cajun Navy” and sportsmen having a heart for the distressed.
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