Spring

Our 2013-2014 hunting season officially ended on March 22nd, and it was a terrific season! We had a big catfish cookout for all of the guides, and then gave them a couple of days off. I have taken my phone off the hook at the house because I do not want to post bail for any of this crowd who feels compelled to blow off too much steam on their pressure release valves. I have always stated that if I did not look forward to the beginning of a hunting season, then it was time for me to get out of the business. I have also always firmly believed that if I did not look forward to the end of a hunting season, then it was time for me to be committed to a mental institution!
 Somewhere in the Bible there is a verse that states, and I am paraphrasing here, every man is born with the innate understanding that there is a God just by observing the awesomeness of nature and the perfect cycles of creation, the rhythm of the seasons, and the ordered movement of the sun, the moon, and the stars. These things could not happen by accident. Personally, spring is my favorite season of the year. Down here in south Georgia, the Azaleas and Dogwoods are in full bloom. All of the native fruit trees are blooming along with the other species that shed their leaves in the winter. We are about to begin our controlled woods burning program this coming Monday.
 I always equate woods burning with new birth. We rid the woods of all of the leftover fuel and undesirable species sprouting up on the hunting courses. We almost always burn late in the evening, and try to get a consistent wind from any direction. We then set backfires against the wind, and the fires just meander through the big pines at about a knee high level in very long strings of even lines of fire. Once it gets completely dark, it is a beautiful sight to behold. Of course, we also have burning crews trying to sneak up on other burning crews in the dark woods to scare the living Beejesus out of one another. Along with the crackling and popping of burning underbrush, you will occasionally hear a horrible scream, and you will know that some unsuspecting soul has been scared out of his life. Had General Sherman been as good at burning as Jerry and his crews are, we might not have lost so many fine Georgia mansions during the War of Northern Aggression.
 My goal for this spring and summer is to try to be as good of a person as my dog thinks I am. In closing and speaking of dogs, someone sent me this cute thought that states that every puppy is born with the notion that his master is God. It is the master's responsibility to never do anything to make that puppy change his opinion!