Oh, the stories I coulld tell

People often say to me,"Cader, why don't you write a book of your experiences at Riverview  over the past 43 years". My simple answer is that the statute of limitations has not quite run on many of them. To put it another way,I am counting on many of the folks who will be in my stories going to that great plantation in the sky before I do. Although, I do not know why I worry so much about that because,based on my experience with them, they could not hit me if they shot at me as long as I was standing still.
 However, there is one group that I can feel free to write about as I am convinced that they are never going to die. As many of you know, we offer a discount on our base rate during the holidays to encourage families to hunt with us, and families make up 99% of our business during this time. It is the other 1% that I am writing about here.These men all hunted with me when they were still active in their businesses. Now that they are retired, they still come as a group of friends over the holidays. I termed them cheapskates years ago. Not to be outdone, they were slightly miffed with my terminology, and have named themselves"The Frugal Hunters" club. Most of these guys live north of the "Smith&Wesson" line,and can be deemed Yankees. Surprisingly for a bunch of Northerners, they can shoot pretty good.
 I have to give them this much--they do pay and on time after the leader threatens to go to a couple of their homes with a baseball bat. One of these men in the past would bring me a country ham as long as I paid for it as soon as it arrived here. Evidently, I was a day late paying him one year because the next year he claimed that the country ham store burned down. I will say that they gave me a break this year because the crustiest curmudgeon in the group failed to make the trip this year.I can guarantee you that pro shop sales will not fall off one bit due to his absence.
 I love my job, and really do enjoy my guests who become more than guests over the years. They become friends. I am proud to place the "Frugal Hunters" AKA "Cheapskates" in that group as they have been coming at this time of the year for almost 20 years now. I sure hope that they do not read this as they would be inclined to ask for the "20 year discount"!

Thanksgiving family and hunting

Since we are in the hunting business and our season only lasts six months, we can't afford to close down for all of the holidays. We do shut down for a solid week around Christmas, but we have always stayed open for guests hunting here over the Thanksgiving holidays.Thanksgiving is also the holiday that usually finds all of my children and grandchildren here because children can always be baited in with the promise of a lot of food and free hunting.Many years ago, before Martha and I even had children,much less grandchildren, an old Oklahoma oilman once said to me,"Son, I love the holidays and the pretty holiday lights. But the prettiest lights I ever see are the tail lights of my children and grandchildren as they drive away from my garage". I now understand what he meant. Whew!
 We had a lot of fun,but old folks get accustomed to a schedule, and there is no schedule with a house full of rambunctious grandchildren. I took the five who were old enough to go with me on a short quail hunt Friday morning to observe. Then we had a dove hunt on Friday afternoon. Two of the five grandchildren were old enough to hunt dove,but not quail. They each shot a couple of doves with their youth model shotguns while the younger three claimed to have killed literally hundreds with their BB guns. I sense the making of real hunters in this younger pack as they already know how to stretch the truth.
 Precious memories !

South Georgia weather

As we say down here,"If you don't like the weather,just stick around because it will change". We had our first freeze and a killing frost last Wednesday,Nov.13th. When Martha and I went to visit with our grandchildren on Saturday afternoon of the same week, I wore shorts and a T-shirt because it was 79 degrees. It had been getting dry here lately and someone mentioned in prayer meeting that we needed to pray for rain since most of our crops have been harvested. I politely declined as I told my friends that I made myself a promise never to pray for rain after our river floods of 1994 and 1998. I might remind the Lord that it's getting a little dry, but I do not pray for rain. Well, someone must have because as Noah would say,"It come up a cloud this morning", and the bottom dropped out of the sky. We received 1.6 inches of rain in less than two hours between 8:30-10:15 this morning.. They say that two things a man can want the most and catch up on the fastest are sex and rain. We just caught up on rain!

Our first freeze of the hunting season

This has been a spectacular fall in south Georgia. We opened our quail hunting season on Oct. 17th, and have not had the first unseasonably warm day yet. As a matter of fact, we hunted many days in January of last season that were warmer than any days we have hunted in this October and November of this season. The weather man who predicts the weather like I do the stock market is now saying that we will have our first freeze of the fall on Wednesday morning,Nov.13th. Bring it on as we are ready for it ! The dogs and guides will love it as will my wife who can quit complaining about when she is going to be able to use the clothes that she has moved to her closet in preparation of colder weather.
 As we start our fourth week of hunting season, I am still trying to play myself into shape for the longer hours we spend here. I can honestly say that I totally take back all of the times that I didn't want to take a nap when I was younger. I am struggling to remember the last time that I wasn't at least kind of tired.
 Business is good this fall as we are seeing more hunters than last fall, and the hunting is great ! With apologies to the fine folks who have already visited this fall, the hunting is great,but the shooting could use some improvement. If I were giving odds, I would say that the quail are winning over the hunters in the first three weeks. Every now and then, I am fairly certain that I can hear quail giggling in the woods as I ride around the Plantation.
 Oh well, I need to get back to the old salt mines now.

Hunter's Moon

Well, if you are part werewolf and part historian like me, you are certainly aware of the fact that we have just experienced a hunter's moon.The native Americans took this full moon in October as a signal that it was time to start hunting and curing meat for the winter months. They didn't have microwaves and grocery stores; so they relied on nature and instinct for survival.They also did not have Washington looking after them, and that was a good thing. I don't know about you folks, but I am mighty glad that the circus in Washington has closed --at least temporarily.
 Our forefathers also knew how to live off of the land. Have you ever been asked the question,"why do you hunt"? I have, and I think that this hunter's moon has helped me define my answer. I hunt for the same reason that I eat and breathe. It is in my DNA code, and it is a part of who I am and my heritage. Hunting also gives me a connection to the land, a connection I can't ignore. I feel sorry for people stuck in front of televisions or computers who no longer relish the changing of the seasons and the richness and smell of the earth. We hunters hunt because we love the outdoors,we love the excitement and challenge, and we enjoy eating what we are fortunate enough to bag.
 In conclusion, let me just say that this is our first week of the quail hunting season at Riverview. God has blessed us with a crisp fall weather for our opening week. We got just enough rain to make the scenting conditions good for the dogs, and we have had some hunters actually manage to shoot a quail. I am tickled for that because I am real tired of my guides shooting birds under the guise of "dog training". We had better have some of the best handling dogs in years based on the amount of shooting I was hearing last week in our final preseason tune up prior to the real thing.If you have not booked your hunt for this season, i would encourage you to call soon. Open dates on our reservation calendar are disappearing fast!

Fall season

My favorite season of the year is fall. I think that southerners probably appreciate fall more than anyone.After living through repressive,heat,humidity,and bugs for so long,that first hint of cooler,drier air feels like the breath of God promising better times ahead.It was 51 degrees here this morning with almost no humidity in the air. Fall is also the time of the year when Mother Nature shoots for her grand finale. There is an explosion of colors and smells. It reminds me of the end of the big fireworks shows on the Fourth of July.
 And,of course, there is the smell of gunpowder in the air as hunters take to the woods again in the timeless tradition of their ancestors.I was disappointed upon renewing my hunting license to see that they had not added a couple of Congressmen to my bag limit. All of our winter grass has come up around the lodge grounds now, and we are running water sprinklers day and night. The soft,damp ground attracts the armadillos. Armadillos,like Congressmen, serve no useful purpose, and only destroy our beautiful grounds.
 However, there is no bag limit on these pests,and we have declared open season on them. My only concern is that someone will drive up one night and catch me walking around in my underdrawers in the middle of the night with a miner's lamp on my head and a shotgun in my hand. I'm afraid that they might send someone with a butterfly net to catch me.
 We open the 2013-2014 quail hunting season next weekend, and we are all ready to get started!

Lodge Grounds clean-up

The crops are all harvested except for our late season milo that we plant behind our spring sweet corn crops.Most all of our hunting course preparation work is complete with the exception of woods road maintenance and mowing our jeep trails through the woods. While Ronnie was mowing jeep trails yesterday on the Yates place, he bumped into one of the largest hornet nests that I have seen in years. He was a happy camper to be in a tractor with a cab because he took some photos with his IPhone of the swarm of hornets surrounding his tractor. We are making plans to get rid of those bad boys before the Federal government tries to add them to the endangered species list along with the eastern diamondback rattler. Somehow, I do not think that many of our guests could outrun a bunch of angry hornets.
 While Ronnie was lucky to be in a cab tractor, the same cannot be said for Jarvis. Most of our crew have moved to the lodge grounds for our fall clean up. Jarvis was weed eating along the edge of the lodge lake when he ran his weed eater over a ground nest of yellow jackets. I had no idea that Jarvis was that fast. I happened to be  watching him as he broke the world record for the 100 yard dash. I have never seen yellow jackets give up so quickly. The only small problem has been convincing Jarvis to retrieve his weed eater. At my last check,it was still right there on the ground by the nest. However, we will take care of those insects also.
 We have pruned,mowed, and planted all of our winter grass around the cottages. In another week, it will really look like quail hunting season here. that's a good thing because it is just around the corner with our first guests arriving on Oct.17th.
 While I realize that the NSA will read my blog, I just have to close by expressing my disgust with our dysfunctional government in Washington. Whatever happened to compromise and statesmanship? Wouldn't Mark Twain and Will Rogers have a good time lampooning these clowns we have in Washington today! I would like to criticize them more vocally myself,but I am not overly anxious to incur an IRS audit.

Dog running

Well,today is the day that all of the guides begin working their dogs and running them into playing shape.Hunting dogs are just like human athletes.Conditioning is almost as important as training. During the hot summer months,our hunting dogs mostly just lay around in the kennel barking and eating free meals. They remind me a lot of our politicians in Washington. There is another interesting aspect of dog training at this time of the year.
 Moss assigns each guide 10 dogs. Those dogs are then placed together in adjacent kennel runs so that each guide can load his dogs on his jeep from five adjoining runs. Many of these dogs have not been living together during the summer, and we have to carefully monitor their behavior as some of them just flat decide that they do not like their new room mates.Our vet bill normally runs about $1200 per month,but it always jumps up in September due to dog fights at the kennels. Before the week is out, we will have shifted dogs around like a chess match, and the "top dog" in each run will have established his dominance.Another thing that we have to watch closely with our dogs at this time of the year is "sexual assaults". Again this reminds me a lot of some of the other athletes I read about. However, there is one big difference at Riverview with this problem. We simply take the offender to the vet and relieve him of his family jewels. Society could learn a lot by following this practice.If male dogs could talk to one another, I bet that we would not have to do this but once or twice before they all straightened up. I have often said that if I were a male dog, i would beg my owner not to sell me to Riverview.
 For the next two weeks, we will run all of the dogs for about two hours each morning, and will move up to a half day of work in the third week.We will also be shooting some birds over them with the guides acting as hunters. All of our guides love this time of the year, and there is always a lot of kidding at the guide shack over how poorly some "professional hunting guides" can actually shoot.
 Speaking of dogs, I just have to close this blog by saying that I sure was proud of my Georgia Bulldogs in their victory Saturday over a very good LSU football team. As we would say in Athens," that Dawg will bite you"!

Fall is in the air

In my last post, I mentioned that I could smell fall in the air. I couldn't put my finger on it,but there is just a sixth sense that country folks get when one lives close to the land. Well, I can FEEL fall today!My old Lab,Sugar,feels it also. She is  still pouting with me over the fact that I left her in the kennel on our first dove hunt a few weeks ago.I was only doing what was best for her on that hot day,but she is a female and does not need a very valid reason to pout. If this weather holds, I may have a chance to make it up to her.
 All of God's creatures feel the change in the air,especially the deer. Bow season opened here this past Saturday, and deer definitely are aware of that fact. I think that they get the publication of the seasons before us humans do. I read the other day that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that car/deer collisions total about one million per year.About 200 persons are killed and some 10,000 are injured in mishaps.Damage per vehicle averages $3000.West Virginia leads all states in car/deer collisions.I wonder if that means that West Virginia has more deer or if West Virginians are just poorer shots than the rest of us.
 Thank goodness quail are not a menace to society unless you count the times a man has to change his underwear after an explosion of wings from beneath his feet.

Rambling

Yesterday evening around sunset, Martha and I were sitting outside watching the sun go down on our beautiful Flint River. I had my beloved Lab curled up at my feet,and was letting what little mind I have left just drift along. I had just detected the first scent of autumn in the air even though it is still hot in south Georgia. This was more of a smell than a temperature thing, but I know that fall is right around the corner. As I sat staring at the river, I noticed an old lady fishing on the bank on the opposite side of the river. She was casting her line just as far out in the river as she could throw it. At about the same time,a bass boat eased along the same bank with two men in it running a little trolling motor. Those two guys were throwing their plugs just as close to the bank as possible without getting their lures hung on the stumps and rocks. I thought to myself,"if that isn't a classic definition of the grass always being greener on the other side,I don't know what is".
 At any rate,neither party was catching any fish which made me feel better because I was feeling pretty guilty about being too lazy to put my boat in the water yesterday. It is so pretty down here in South Georgia right now that it almost doesn't seem fair to be allowed to live here and still get to heaven.
 As I was writing this blog, I just received word that we have finally managed to receive another 200 cases of shotgun shells.Y'all can keep your gold bullion. I think that shotgun shells may be a more precious commodity to hoard. I still believe that shotgun shells are short because the ammunition makers refuse to stop making rifle and pistol bullets due to fear and demand for bullets from the buying public.
 I am sure that you are all aware of another mass shooting at the Naval Shipyard near the Capitol yesterday. Once again we will hear the hue and cry for gun control,but you will hear nothing about a cry for reform to the mental health or the judicial systems that enables these tragic events to occur.A good friend of mine sent me another example of our country's wrong headed philosophy on guns when he said," Participating in a gun buy back program because you think that the criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors are having too may kids".
 Oh well, I am glad that I live in a part of the world where the seasons change. The change rejuvenates and excites me. I'm ready for the fall and quail hunting season!

First dove hunt of the fall

We have a tradition here at Riverview of having a dove hunt for all of our guides during Georgia's first of three doves seasons. The first season always is a short one,opening on Labor Day weekend and only lasting a couple of weeks. As you might imagine, it is generally hot in south Georgia at that time.Well, I participated in that hunt yesterday, and I fear that I am becoming my father.
 I can remember being amazed to hear my Dad tell me that he wasn't sure that he wanted to hunt badly enough to suffer a heat stroke, and he would often pass on the first season. This is another one of those cases where I should have listened to my father. I had enough sense to leave my sweet,old Lab in her pen because I figured the heat would be too much for her. I conveniently forgot that I am almost 64, and had to run around in the 92 degree heat and high humidity picking up my own birds.Phew, I'm glad that I did not take but two boxes of shells with me,or I might have been stupid enough to stay out there !
 Speaking of shotgun shells, I have never seen shotgun shells as difficult to purchase as they have been this summer and fall. I have heard a lot of rumors as to why, but the fact of the matter is we can't get a definite commitment from any of the major ammunition companies as to when they are going to cease making bullets and start producing shotgun shells. We are scurrying around buying 40- 50 cases here and there at retail just to make certain that we have a decent supply on hand for the start of the quail hunting season. We placed our wholesale order in late March, but the delivery date keeps getting postponed for one unbelievable tale or another.
 I have about decided to retire and live off of my life savings. What I will do on the second day, I haven't got a clue yet!

quail habitat

I read an interesting quote the other day by one of our greatest American presidents, Thomas Jefferson who said,"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everyone stands around reloading". I liked that a lot, and it kind of reminds me of our state of affairs at the moment.Thanks to our near record setting rainfall this summer, we are breaking out our brush mowers for the first time in several years. Each driver will be issued a compass and machete before heading in to the river bottom courses in case his tractor breaks down. We have waited this late to begin our woods mowing because we have such an abundant hatch of native quail, and did not want to destroy any nests if possible. However, if we do not start now, we are going to make the chicks much more susceptible to predators. It's a bit of a trade off, but we think the time is right to begin.
 We had our first harbinger of fall at the first of this week. The temperature dropped into the mid 60's, and there was almost no humidity in the air. Cader IV and I almost always ride out to the shop together to meet all of the men at 7:00 am each morning. Our dog kennels are only a couple of hundred yards from the gathering area. When we pulled up to the shop about 185 dogs were just barking to beat the band. I turned to one of the men to ask him if he knew what had them so stirred up. He said," Boss, they feel the same thing in the air that you do. They're just getting excited".
 We are all beginning to feel the anticipation, and have picked up the pace a bit here. It really hit me when our first shipment of Beretta Silver Pigeons arrived today. We made the decision to switch from the Ruger as our house guns to the Berettas this year, and will have all new rental shotguns. We figured that we could pay for one new gun this year with gas savings from having to run out to the hunting courses to replace malfunctioning shotguns. Don't get me wrong here. The Ruger is a good shotgun, but ours had gotten old, and Ruger could not replace them with new shotguns in time for the start of the 2013-2014 hunting season.
 I started this blog with a quote, and would like to end it with a quote that every
 According to the Farmer's Almanac, we are going to have a colder than normal fall and winter in the southeast. We are ready for it ! quail hunter can appreciate.One of the great outdoor writers of my lifetime,Robert Ruark, once stated,"You will rarely find a dedicated quail shot who is not a pretty good guy. He has to be a nice guy because he is performing for the benefit of the dogs,himself,and his companions,and all are experts in the detection of fraudulent behavior in the field".

Bird dogs

Well,it's that time of the year when we start filling out our dog rosters with purchases of bird dogs to supplement the ones we have trained here at Riverview. In some parts of the country they are called pointers,setters,shorthairs,etc., but here in the south we simply refer to them as bird dogs. And there is only one bird that we are referring to--the illustrious gentleman Bobwhite quail.
 One of my first of many jobs when I first returned to Riverview was purchasing bird dogs. That lasted until I bought a dog from a lady trainer who was wearing the tightest pair of hunting britches I have ever seen. When I returned to Riverview with the dog, Pop asked me what the dog's name was. When I couldn't remember, he transferred me and gave that job to Mr. Bobby Sharp.Bobby has been retired for years now, and our head dog man,Moss,is doing a great job of dog haggling.
 I love dogs, and feel sorry for anyone who has never known the love of a good pet or hunting dog. It is a very special bond when that pet you love is also a working dog. The first dog that I ever trained was named Bimbo. Well,it would probably be more truthful to say that Bimbo trained me. I was 13 years old, and he was a puppy from a good bloodline.Pop kept 150 acres around the house that he would not allow anyone to hunt on except me and Bimbo. During hunting season, I would jump off the school bus,whistle up Bimbo,grab my trusty 20 gauge single shot, and go quail hunting. Bimbo had two peculiar quirks that I never could fix. If I killed a quail in thick brush, he would go retrieve it every time. If ,however, the bird fell in open ground,he would just sit and stare at me until I picked the bird up for myself. He also only gave me four misses in a row before he would turn around and trot home. Talk about pressure, but Bimbo was a stern critic of my youthful gunning ability.
 One of my favorite bird dog stories also was one of life's great lessons for me. My Dad was one of the greatest wing shots I have ever known. He started letting me hunt quail with him when I was around 11 years old. Pop always had great dogs, and he rarely failed to double on a covey rise. Then he would turn to me and ask,"Did you get one?" to which I would respond,"I dropped one over there." so off the dogs would go looking for a non-existent dead bird. This went on for about two hours when finally Pop leashed the dogs,sat down on a stump,looked at me and said,"Son,there are two things in life that I detest--that's a liar and a sorry bird dog. So I'm fixing to shoot these two sorry dogs that can"t find all of your dead birds."Of course,I confessed promptly and learned a valuable lesson--if you are going to lie,it had better be a very believable lie.
 Hunting season is just around the corner!

We are the proud guardians of the most baby quail chicks that I have seen on Riverview in many years.. Evidently, our full court press with our mamallian trapping program this spring is really paying dividends.Of course,almost perfect timing on our rainfall and great nesting cover has been a plus also. Every time Cader IV and I leave the office to go to the sweet corn fields, I buckle my seatbelt because he slams on breaks so hard when he sees the baby quail crossing the road that my rather prominent proboscis almost goes into the windshield..
 Those of you who visit here from mid-October until Thanksgiving may well be shooting AT as many native quail as early release quail this season. For some reason, native quail are not able to read our boundary signs indicating that Riverview is a commercial hunting plantation. They are no better at sign reading than our deer are at reading the "no wildlife allowed" signs posted around our sweet corn fields courtesy of our idiotic federal government.

I remember my father telling me a story years ago about a very hot day in south Georgia. He said that he was plowing corn with his mule. It seems that it got so hot that day that the corn started popping. The old mule thought it was snowing and froze to death. Well we had a day just about as hot as that yesterday here on the plantation. We are in the midst of our sweet corn harvest; so we are all having to stay out in the fields a good bit. The temperature/humidity index hit 113 degrees at 2:00 pm. When you add about two trillion gnats swarming around your face to the opressive heat, it's safe to assume that we were not happy campers.
 Many of out guests look at these beautiful facilities located here along the flowing Flint River and ask us why we do not operate an off season business. To which I always respond,"you have to be a native to survive South Georgia in the summer time".
 While the farm crew is trying to draw all of the gnats in creation to the field, the conservation crew is steadily planting food plots for the quail. We are seeing so may pairs of quail lately that we have had to institute a speed limit on our woods roads. After experiencing several years of spring and summer droughts at Riverview, we decided to plant a drought resistant sorghum in many of our food plots this year. Guess what? Ronnie bogged down three times yesterday on the lead tractor and harrow that makes the first pass over the ground! Go figure. I think that we guess the weather around here like I do the stock market. If I buy it,you should short it if you wannt to make money.

After abundant early spring rainfall,the clouds dried up in south Georgia for a while. We have finally received enough rainfall to begin planting food plots for the quail. We are also beginning to see some amorous couples of quail beginning to pair off, and know that nesting season is upon us. Since we had one of our best spring,controlled woods burning program in years, we just need to make certain that there is plenty of food available for the next cycle of quail on Riverview.
 We are also in the process of ordering shotgun shells for the fall. I do believe that the ammuntion makers are working overtime making bullets for pistols and assault rifles. I wish that they would get more concerned about starting up production of shotgun shells for the wing shooting public. While I am certain that we will have plenty of shells in stock, I feel much better when they are in my storage room rather than a promise that I will have them.
 I wonder how many of you know how the origin of our "gauges" in shotguns and shells began. Everyone knows that the larger the number of the gauge, the smaller the shell while the smaller the gauge,the larger the shell. This methodology began when shotshell lead equalled the the diameter of the shotgun barrel's bore size.The number of lead balls of a particular size that totaled a pound in weight determined the gauge of the shotgun. A twenty gauge shotgun would have 20 lead balls equalling one pound while a 12 gauge shotgun would have 12 balls per pound.
 After the gauge of the shotgun is selected, then the shot size needs to be chosen. In the south if we say that we are going "bird hunting", you can always assume that we are talking about quail. My personal preference on quail has always been number 8 shot. I do not shoot a 410 gauge anymore because I am not as good of a shot as I once was. Come to think of it, I'm not as good at a lot of things as I once was, but I sure am grateful to still be able to enjoy the sport of hunting. But, I digress. If I were to shoot a 410, I would go with a 6-7.5 shot size.
 Stay tuned for more thoughts later on as the summer progresses. We will  talk about bird dogs,shotguns,and funny hunting stories in the future.

One would think that as you get older, you would require more sleep. I seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Of course, the moon was almost full last night, and I must be part vampire because I never sleep worth a hoot on a full moon. I got up around 4:00 am to gaze at that beautiful moon and reflect on life in the country at this time of year. We have enjoyed one of the most pleasant springs in years in South Georgia. Watching the moonbeams sparkle and dance on the flowing water of the Flint River made me pause to give thanks to all of the brave men and women who died on foreign soils to protect our way of life. We honor those folks this Memorial Day weekend.
 Let us never forget the price of freedom and the sarifices that were made for us to enjoy our way of life !
 Now to our activities at hand. The quail are becoming amorous, and have begun to pair off for mating season. Since young chicks consume a lot of protein in the form of insects, we are primarily creating soil distubances and little plots to attract the bugs. I must say that there is rarely a shortage of insects and critters at this time of the year in our part of the world. Perhaps that is one of the reasons we enjoy such high quail populations. Our major food plot plantings will most likely start in the next week or so depending on the rain. We are ready to go, and our woods look great right now thanks to abundant rains and a very successful control burn earlier this spring.