Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Rambling thoughts

It's  strange phenomenon in this business, but random events far away can affect our business down here in south Georgia. I've been watching the events of the blizzard in the northeast unfold.The Christian in me should be worried about the poor folks who may be cold, out of power, and hungry. However, the businessman in me keeps wondering," Do I have any jets up that way that should be flying to south Georgia for a hunting trip that might be stuck on the tarmac". It's the same thing with oil prices. All of my farmer neighbors are rejoicing over cheap gas and diesel while I fret over oil prices dropping lower, and some of my best customers deciding to forego hunting at Riverview. The folks in the oil patch do enjoy their quail hunting. At one time the coal folks did also, but this current administration has almost put them out of business.
 Speaking of administrations and politicians, I was reading this morning where one regulator was defending Fannie and Freddie's 3% down payment on mortgages. One of my dad's favorite quotes was"those who fail to learn the lessons from history are doomed to repeat them".These folks have short memories and small to non-existent brains. I have said many times that I want to be the person that my dog thinks I am. I can now add that I wish my politicians and government officials were able to learn things and remember them as well as my dog does. I have never owned a dog that forgot his training lessons as fast as a politician does.
 We are having great weather, and a great week of hunting here. For those of you who are covered up in that white stuff that we have heard called"snow", come on down to enjoy some green grass, big piney woods, and some great quail hunting at Riverview over the next seven weeks. I can guarantee you that our dogs are smarter than your politicians!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Of dogs and men

I am a voracious reader, and often read quotes that I say to myself," I could have said that". With the exception of Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill, I very rarely read quotes from politicians that I wish that I had thought of. However, yesterday while starting on a book of short stories about gun dogs, I read the following quote from Woodrow Wilson, " If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience". And, in spite of what my adult children might think, I do not remember Woodrow Wilson.
 I could not help but think of this quotes as I have been giving my beloved 13 year old Lab two pills daily for a skin infection. I began y placing the pill on a cracker and sticking it in a little peanut butter. This ruse worked for all of two days before Sugar ate the cracker and peanut butter while spitting out the bitter pill. Because of that, I had to revert to the old fashioned method of opening her mouth,sticking the pill down the back of her throat, and then closing her muzzle until she swallows. To accomplish this task, my hand is about half way down her throat before I can let go of the pill. On either side of my hand are huge canine teeth that I have personally seen snap an armadillo so hard that its intestines squirted out of its rear end. My sweet lab just looks at me with those trusting eyes thinking," Boss, I do not know why you are intent on choking me to death twice a day, but I love and trust you to do the right thing". I sure would never want to disappoint my dog.
 As I have mentioned to several folks, I enjoy writing when the mood strikes me, and have no idea how many folks log in to read my occasional ramblings. I told Cader IV that I was going to post this offer just to see if anyone responds. We are just about sold out for the entire season with the exception of some March dates still available. Yesterday we had a big group that had to cancel Feb. 16-17 due to an unexpected business development. That date is less than a month from now. If anyone is interested in reserving that date, we will price it the same way we do our holiday rates which is 35% off of the base rate. That amounts to a $369.25 per person per day discount. If interested, just give the office a call at 229-294-4904, and ask for Cader IV.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

People are interesting

I'm certain that it would be a boring world if God made all of us just alike. I understand and appreciate that fact. However, it has always amazed me how people can spend a day together, and see things so completely differently,especially between guides and their hunting guests. I always ask my guests how their hunt went, and then go to the guide room to ask the guides the same question.
 On so many occasions, the exchange goes something like this: Guest, " We killed almost every bird we saw. We just did not see all that many birds this morning". Interestingly these comments most often occur with guests who do not kill many quail. Guide comments on the same party." Boss, we were in birds all morning. These are very nice folks , but they could not hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle".
 Now obviously as the man in the middle, I know that someone is not telling the truth. Our guides are trained to lie, and could all pass a lie detector test while never telling the truth. Also, it's a known fact that all hunters will lie, including me. I find it almost impossible to admit that I missed a bird without some very rational alibi. I have decided that we need to add one more training function to our English Cockers. We are going to need to teach them to talk! That may be the only way for me to get to the truth.
 I would expect that conversation to go something like this; Cocker," I can't rat out my master since he loves me and feeds me, but he did hunt the course a bit backwards from what I would have done. He should know that we always find a big covey on the edge of the Flats field, and we didn't even go there. However, my pointer mates nailed a pile of covies this morning, and the guests made some good shots here and there. We would have found more covies if these hunters didn't just insist that I keep looking for dead birds that even a blind dog could see was not even slightly shot.Humans can be so stubborn sometimes, but I have to play along with them".

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

January weather---Brrr !

I realize that many things are opened by mistake, but none so frequently as the mouth. With that caveat stated, I just can't help myself, and am going to say it anyway. How in the world do you folks who live north of the Smith & Wesson line survive the kind of temperatures and weather that I am seeing on my weather map? Also, at least one of y'all must have left the back door open because these frigid temps are headed our way, aided by a brisk wind out of the northwest.
 Now I will freely admit to normally being a bit envious of my guests as they climb on those jeeps to head out to enjoy a great day of quail hunting in the big piney woods of south Georgia. However, it is not going to bother me one bit to see them head out over the next couple of days while I adjourn to my heated office. The dogs and birds do not seem to mind this cold weather, but old, bald-headed senior citizens of south Georgia could live without wind chills in the low teens. Considering what some of you are enduring, I know that I sound like a wimp, and I guess that I am.
 I received a phone call last night from Michael Gaines. Michael's father, Thomas Gaines, retired last season after spending his entire career here as our top guide. Michael and his family are planning a retirement party for Tommy sometimes this spring. He asked me to post that anyone who had ever hunted with his Dad would be welcome to send a congratulatory letter to Tommy on his stellar career at Riverview. If you would like to do that, just mail the letter to me, and I will get them to Michael before the event.
 In the meantime, stay warm, and I wish everyone a healthy, prosperous New Year !