An Exciting Morning in Hunting Season

*WARNING.  If you are not a hunter or do not enjoy hunting stories, please skip this post*

This morning started off easy and lazy.  We were just moving around, making a late breakfast, with the doors and windows open.  It was a beautiful morning.  That’s hunter “code” for “not seeing any deer” and we certainly were not seeing any deer inside the camp.  Out the window, we saw Cory coming back to the camp from his morning hunt.  Considering Cory usually stays out all day during this time of the season, Jeff immediately knew he got his deer.  We anxiously awaited his story.

Cory had been watching this atypical buck for weeks.  This guy had points everywhere and a big body, but his antlers were short, stubby and strangely shaped.  Cory is an excellent and diligent hunter.  His patience paid off this morning when he finally got a shot on this guy.  However, he was not confident in his shot . . . it only took a little investigation to see it was not a good shot, which is uncharacteristic of Cory.  All-day hunts do make for a tired hunter by the end of the weekend.  He was disappointed in his shot, but he knew to leave the area and let the deer bed down.

We ate breakfast and got the play-by-play of his hunt.  We were all excited to track the deer.  After the deer had about two and a half hours to be still, we suited up.  Roux (our tracking Lacy dog) started jumping around wildly when I picked up his GPS collar.  Off we went!

I am always excited to take Roux for a tracking adventure.  Today, our friend, Clifford, was in the area and stopped by for coffee.  Clifford breeds Lacy dogs and, secretly, I was really excited to show him that Roux is an awesome tracking dog.  Jeff’s grandmother used to say that all crows think their babies are the blackest . . . and even that is probably an understatement when it comes to how I feel about Roux.

At the spot of the shot, before I could give the command to track the deer, Roux picked up the scent and took off.  Just for good measure, I yelled “Find It!” in the direction of Roux’s tail.  Hey, I had to act official . . . we had spectators.

From my handheld GPS monitor, I could see that Roux was about 100 yards into the woods.  He has a different bark when he has an animal bayed and that is the bark we heard.  We knew the deer was still alive and we stopped moving forward.  Roux had him bayed (the GPS showed he wasn’t moving), so we started moving in again.  The deer wasn’t willing to challenge Roux, but Jeff and Cory got to within 10 yards and the scent of humans was too much . . . the deer bolted before Jeff could get there with his gun.  Oops.

It is interesting to stand in the woods, surrounded by palmettos as tall as you are, listening to your dog chase a deer.  The buck was crashing through the palmettos making lots of noise.  We can’t see a thing, but you learn so much from the sounds.  The deer ran through the waters of the slough and over a ridge.  Along the way, he slowed down from his injuries.  Roux was with him the entire time.  Then silence.

We were about 150 yards from Roux.  By the time we got there, the deer was down in the water of the bayou and Roux was with him.  The water was deep (for Roux), so he would swim to the deer but turn around to the shore when he couldn’t bite or pull on him while swimming.  Cory got there first, just in time to see the current start carrying the buck down the bayou.  When I arrived seconds later, I saw Cory emptying his pockets and taking off his shirt.  Before I knew it, Cory was in the water . . . in January!  He made more noise than Roux when that water hit his chest, but he made it to the deer and pulled him to the shore on the opposite side.  

Talk about dedication!  I was in awe of Cory.  Roux wanted to be there, but I kept him on our side of the bayou.

Cory was wet and cold, but smiling big. 

Here is the atypical buck.  He weighed 226 pounds.  An excellent cull buck.   

A great Agriana adventure and a truly beautiful morning.

Jeff's deer hunt this afternoon

Jeff really enjoyed his hunt this afternoon . . . the only shots he fired were from the camera.  You can enjoy the hunt with Jeff here:  Agriana Photo Album

You can also "like" our Facebook page here:  Agriana 

Jeff & Karen

A Black Bear Adventure

It looks like at least one of our black bears is a little camera shy.  Or maybe he's just playful.  While Mom and Cub #1 check out the feeder, Cub #2 dismantles the camera.

I love living here

Since I was a very young boy I have seen myself retiring to a large tract of land. At seven years old we lived on 23 acres, which seemed like all the land in the world. When I was twelve we bought another 30 acres behind the original 23, to create a long tract of 50 acres. Again this was all the land in the world.

At 37 years old I bought this place. It's 2200 acres. At 48 years old I retired and moved here.   That boyhood dream came true.

It's surreal to see so few people during the week. I have one man who works here full time to help with general maintenance.  And yes, maintenance here is more than one full time person. I tried for about six months to do it by myself and it was exhausting while falling ever further behind. In the summer the grass grows. That requires cutting in the open areas and applying RoundUp along 12.5 miles of fence.

So outside of one hired hand, we have only one friend who visits.  She's very nice and like us, retired with the time to make the trip over to see us and participate in what we are doing.

On any given week we see the hired hand, our friend Donna, and usually one of the oilfield people. Outside of these it's got to be someone with a specific mission to come through the gate. Today it was Bubba from Delta Fuel bringing 2000 gallons of diesel for the spring and summer. And the truck driver bring rock for some road repair. Tuesday it was the driver from Sol's Pipe and Steel bringing a delivery of steel for various projects on the agenda.

And then there's Karen. She and I have some critical common cultural components. We are both first-born, intelligent, and driven. She grew up in an area with about the same "ruralness" as I did. She was closer to the smaller town of Covington while I was further from the larger town of Baton Rouge. While she never would have imagined herself living in a place like this with its severity of isolation, it's become her cherished way of life to live here and take loving care of me. Chalk one up for love conquering all.

Living with Karen is divine. She's supremely competent, beautiful, active, diligent, funny, and my over the top loving wife. She was made for me. I am incredibly lucky to have her.  Well, we are lucky to have each other.

How long will I love living here? Who knows.

Beyond any personal choice of staying here, I am very concerned about what is happening around the world and our national debt. The vast majority of  sovereign debt, theirs and ours, will never be repaid. The western world just does not produce that much. And the other financial obligations here including Medicare and Social Security you can just forget. There is absolutely no way future workers in this country, of all income levels, will ever be productive enough for the government to confiscate that much money from them during their working years.  You can forget all of those touchy feelings about social contracts and such. Contacts, written and otherwise, are worthless if either side can't fulfill. And to be frank, your children can't fulfill. And why should they? They didn't pocket anything in exchange for the debt we are leaving them. Okay, that's all for another blog posting later, but the point is that the world live in now around here might become a FSU (Former Soviet Union) style pot of crabs.   And I'd prefer that the nearest crabs are down the road at least.

So yes, I love living here.

Wildlife

The wildlife here is really incredible.  If only I had a dollar for each time I thought "I wish I had my camera with me!"

Just a few days ago, Jeff came into the kitchen to get me . . . "Quick!  Come see!"  I ran to the porch and there was an otter playing in the front yard.  Before I could even think about my camera, the otter trotted off into the woods.

Here is a link to some pictures on my Facebook page.  Our friend, Paige, took the first half of the pictures and I took the second half.

The picture of the black bear by the food trough has a story.  A few days prior to the picture, we had spilled sunflower seeds just outside the feeder.  Then it rained and made the area and the seeds soft.  We were driving by the feeder, which is about 100 yds from the road, and saw the bear on the ground.  He was a cute little thing!  It was one of those moments when I had my camera and quickly started snapping photos.  The bear wasn't really interested in us, so we watched him for a little while.  He was using his front paws to work the soft seeds into a mash, then eating it.

Jeff urged me to get out of the truck to get a better picture.  My first thought was "no way!" as I'm not too keen on getting attacked by a bear . . . but Jeff urged me on, telling me it would be okay.  Since I trust him (or maybe I am a fool), I got out of the truck and walked a few steps to take more photos.  The bear didn't seem to care.  So I walked a little closer.  And so on . . . and so on . . .

Before I know it, I am closer to the bear than I am to Jeff, still taking pictures.  Funny how brave you become when nothing bad is happening as you try something that, just moments ago, scared you.  I was about 30 yds away from the bear when the bear finally decided I was bothering his mealtime.  He slowly got up and sauntered off into the woods.

I walked back to the truck, quite proud of myself.  Jeff was grinning at me, with his gun by his side (just in case he had to scare the bear away).  And, yes, I was also thankful I was still in one piece.

Welcome to our blog

What is Agriana?  Jeff selected the name for it's literal meaning, "a collection of farming."  Agriana is located in Tensas Parish, Louisiana.  We have beautiful hardwood trees, sloughs (swampy areas), a man-made lake and scenic paths.  We believe this area was once an old oxbow lake, as we have concentrated areas of underground sand as well as distinct high and low areas in a river shape.

The wildlife is abundant here.  A list would include (but not be limited to!) deer, black bears, coyotes, bobcats, otters, beavers, opossums, armadillos, ducks, doves, buzzards, crows, other birds, snakes, fish, alligators . . . and 3 cats and a dog.

We hope to share our adventures here with you.  We look forward to interacting with you through your comments and feedback.  Thanks for reading.

Jeff & Karen Lewis