ME & GENE AUTRY, BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!

   Saturday was opening day of muzzle loading season for deer. It was great to be back in the woods with my old smoke pole. I built a 50 caliber Hawken from a kit several years ago. I carved out the stock, and made all the parts fit. I drew a deer's head on one side of the butt stock and a jumping bass on the other side. I added a few turkey tracks and put my name on the stock.  I named the gun " Old Iron" and I burned all of this into the stock and stained it. Not a bad job even if I did do it.

   It's fun to try and go back in time and live, even if only for a little while like our ancestors did. I grew up reading about Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett now I can hunt like they did. Well sort of. They didn't have a portable deer stand to climb up a tree with, or a 4x4 four wheeler to haul them deep into the back woods.

   Saturday and Sunday found me in the woods way before daylight trying to get the drop on an unsuspecting deer suitable for my table. You see I love to hunt, but I feel like the mountain men of yesteryear when I go afield. I want the adventure, and a trophy. but I'm primarily trying to put aside enough meat to feed my family through the coming year. This is the only time I can do this, so it's also very serious business. Also I need to obey the game laws and try to trophy manage our deer herd as our hunting club wants us to do. That's alot to think about as a deer is walking or running by you in 3 to 10 seconds time.

   I saw a bunch of hogs and a few deer Saturday but I either couldn't get a shot or they were too little to shoot. On Sunday morning a nice 100 lb. doe walked up the ridge I was sitting on and offered me a good shot. My old 50 caliber barked loud and down she went. I loaded her up on the 4 wheeler and headed back to camp. My old 4 wheeler filled in for the pack mules of yesteryear the mountain men had. I was loaded down pretty good. Me, a 100 lb. deer, my deer stand, hunting gear and gun quite a load for a 24 year old bike to haul. It did a great job! We all got out fine.

   Today the real work of hunting begins. Yesterday I had to drag the deer out of the woods and put it on the 4 wheeler, take it to camp, skin and gut it. Today I must begin the process of butchering all the meat. In the next couple of days my little doe will become sliced tenderloins to wrap aroung jalipenos with bacon strips, butterflyed steaks, hamburger meat, cubed steaks, sausage, and deer jerky. Quite a lot from just one deer. We get the meat and the dogs get to gnaw the bones. Nothing is wasted.

   Soon I get to feast on the healthiest meat God ever made. Venison! Hopefully this will be the first of many deer this year. We need several to feed us till next year . If I can get lucky and get a few wild hogs as well, I believe we will have enough till next hunting season comes around again.

GOOD HUNTING.

Jim Cobb Coleman.


  

  
  

WEEKEND WARRIOR

   Look at all the pretty flowers growing all over my backyard. Their little vines are spreading out and taking over everything. They are almost as bad as kudzu. Soon I will get out there, weed eater in hand and take care of them, but not right now. It was a busy weekend as usual. Deer season is in and my Mom's birthday was Sunday. We stayed pretty busy.

   The local forester is running amuck on our hunting land. They are cutting and removing some 300 acres of woods. It has totally changed the lay of the land. If you had a deer stand on the property you had better marked it with orange flagging tape if you wanted it to not be destroyed by the heavy equipment working on the land. They don't slow down or worry about what they hit as some of our members found out the hard way.


   It was nice to get to the woods again after a week of "civilization". I needed the peace and quiet of the forest. I climbed into my deerstand twice this weekend and saw a few deer. All were in killing range but a good shot never presented itself. No matter, they will come back, and this weekend starts the muzzle loader season. Hopefully one will walk by this Saturday.

  
   Sunday was my Mom's 74th birthday. We came home from the woods and got Mom a ice cream cake, and picked up supper. When we went to put the candles on the cake we discovered we didn't have a number 4. So we wound up with 7 3 1. It stood for 7 & 3+ 1 = 4. After all as long as we're all together and love each other, it really doesn't matter what's on top of your cake or even if you have one or not.

   Happy Birthday Momma!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

COME ON FALL

   Even old Cissy girl is ready for fall. Seems like time we pulled out some decorations and put a couple of bales of hay and pumpkins on the front porch Cissy picked out her spot to enjoy the sunset. I don't blame her at all. There's a spot under my big oak tree that's looking pretty good to me too!

PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE

   Finally! The finished product of my European mount of the 8 pointer I got last hunting season. This was my first time trying this procedure, but it won't be my last. I think it turned out quite well . Total cost was under 25 dollars. I even got a little plaque engraved with the date I harvested the buck.

   This past weekend I got to go bowhunting for the first time this season. It felt good early in the morning, but warmed up quickly. Fall temperatures are still a long way away. It was great to climb a tree again. My shooting lanes I cut looked good, but nothing co-operated and walked by.The forest is still green and bright. I need some cold weather and strong wind to change the color of the leaves and blow them to the ground.

  

  
   I know my time will come, and soon I hope. For now all I can do is be patient and keep on practicing. Soon enough I will wake up one morning to smoke coming out with my breath. That chill that runs down your spine and shakes you to the core. On that magic fall morning the leaves will helicopter down to the forest floor in an autumnal cascade of reds, yellows, and oranges. The old trails and new paths will come alive with the soft footfalls of heavy hooves and hopefully my arrow will find it's mark right behind the shoulderblade in the sweet spot of the heart. Legends will fall to make room for future kings to reign, and meat, fur, and horns will come home to Bullfrog Bottom once again.

   Past, present, and future hunting is a way of life. A legacy that goes back to the time of my ancestors who had to hunt to survive. To myself who lives to hunt and just spend time in the woods, and hopefully to be passed down to my children, and my children's children. It is a way of life.

   It is my life!

Jim Cobb Coleman.

LOOKING FOR CHANGE

   With this big storm front crawling across the country right now I'm looking for a change. Mainly a change in the weather. I'm really tired of hot weather. I'm tired of sweating all day, every day.

   They say after the rain a cold front will pass down on us and begin to cool us off. It's about time. September is over half way gone, we need some relief. I need October, bad! I need to smell smoke drifting slowly out my chimney from the oak wood burning inside. I need to see the orange glow of the flames and our Boston terrier sleeping in his bed in front of the hearth.

   After a long timeof working there seems to be no response at all, as usual. Do I continue? Do I stop? Sometimes I wonder what's the point? Like everything else I touch , It seems like it is a waste of time if no one ever notices.

   I wish things would change.

Jim Cobb.

I WONDER...

   The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things. So now I wonder.

   I wonder if summer will ever end ? It's September now in dixie, and the temps are still in the 90's, and boy is it humid. I wonder if soon fall will kick in and finally cool us off ? The leaves are slowly starting to turn yellow, but I'm ready for orange and reds.

   I wonder if deer season will be productive this year? Last year was a blessing, I never saw so many deer before. Hopefully this year will be better. My family needs as much meat as I can harvest to feed us next year.

   I wonder if life is moving too fast ? My son's have grown up over night it seems, they act like they no longer need the old man anymore. When just the other day I was the one they couldn't wait to run to and jump into my arms. My sweetheart doesn't act as sweet as she used to, there again there was a time I thought I warmed a heart where now it seems one grows colder each day. Dads doing well, but I fear tomorrow when the day may come when he no longer knows me by heart.

   I wonder am I growing older and colder myself, or do I just think too much ? I don't like change! Too much has changed in the last several years and not for the better. Friends and family are gone and life won't be the same without them.

   I need to slip back in time. Back to when the world was right. Back to when I was 22. 22 was a very good year. I was free to live, life was steady and secure. All the people you knew and loved were still right next door, or just a phone call away. You could see the light bounce in their eyes when you saw them and hear the love in their voices when you talked to them on the phone. Life was a joy then.

   I wonder what happened to all of us since then and how do you ever get back there? Can you ever get back that feeling of 22?

   I wonder....?

Jim Cobb.

IT WAS A GOOD WEEKEND , TATER !!!

   This past Labor Day weekend was great! All except for the fact that my boys had to work, and they couldn't be with us. Our air conditioner at home is down and we are currently waiting for the repair man to find time in his busy schedule to come and fix it. If he doesn't come by tomorrow, I'm going to go buy a window unit or 2 and forget about him. Early Saturday morning we loaded up the truck and trailer, and headed down to the hunting club for the weekend.

   Our weather is still very hot and extremely muggy. You become soaking wet with sweat by just going to the mailbox. Needless to say we enjoyed the AC in the truck on the way down. It has been a long hot week. By the time we got down and unloaded the supplies, food, ice chests, and 4 wheeler, we were pretty hot and tired.

   The good thing is that my AC in the camper works GREAT! We cooled off, took a couple of showers, and put on our Alabama game shirts and got ready to watch some football. We watched stacked games on tv. Two tv's sitting on top of each other, we watched the Bama and Auburn games at the same time with my cousin "Hawkeye".  Like I said , it was a great weekend, Bama won, Auburn lost, we stayed cool and got some rest.

   I also got to do some work around my deerstands. I marked the new trail leading into the stands, and macheted my way through the woods to open up the trail. I took my chain saw and removed a few trees to open up some shooting lanes.The woods are getting ready for Autumn. You can see it and feel it in the air, early in the morning and late in the evening. It's coming, it's just taking it's own sweet time.Some leaves are falling already, and some are just beginning to turn yellow.

   Late in the afternoon we fired up the grills and cooked us some delicious protein. A Boston butt was slow roasted on the grill, along with a stack of hamburgers and some boneless chicken. Tacos were prepared in the camper . We may not have everything we need in camp, but we always eat good.

   "Big Mama" needed the AC most of all this weekend, you see she is borderline asmatic, so she did alot of catching up on her chick-flicks while I was rambling around the woods on the 4-wheeler. At night we enjoyed a camp fire to help and try to run off the mosquitos that were trying to tote off the small children in camp.

   All in all we had a great time.One of our neighbors near the club was rolling up hay in his pasture. It reminded me of all the great times coming up from here on till the end of the year. Archery season opens next Saturday, college football is wide open now, soon mums, pumpkins, and hay bales will take over my front porch, and all the friends, family, and holidays we've been looking forward to seeing will be here.

Hang on, it gets rowdy from this point on!

I hope you get to enjoy it as much as I plan to.

   Jim Cobb Coleman.

P.S.---ROLL TIDE!