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A drake wood-duck searches for acorns along the
creek
It is part of a circular trail still not totally complete, but it runs along the bottom, then up along the wooded ridge=top, and it is a magnificent place to see wildlife of all sorts, and hyuge trees and flowers and birds.
A
day or so ago, I walked it, carrying my over and under .22—20 gauge, which is
one heck of a squirrel gun. Early
in the hike, I walked upon a fawn that was maybe 6-months old, which I watched
for awhile. It had no spots now of
course, and I don’t think it would have weighed 60 pounds.
Just
afterward I flushed a woodcock in the bottoms along the creek. Next to a food plot of clover, bordered
by standing millet and milo, there was a big buck and a doe, and I wondered if
they might be the fawn’s parents.
Walking
out on a gravel bar, I stopped in my tracks when I saw a drake and a hen
woodduck, and I eased backward without spooking them. They were in shallow
water eating the acorns. I might
add here that I have never in my life seen so many acorns as there are this
year, from both the red oaks and white oaks. A big white oak towering above my open porch on Lightnin’
Ridge has dumped so many acorns you cannot see one that is not touching
another. The plenty which is
afforded to wildlife this year is a blessing. If the winter isn’t really severe, the survival of my quail
coveys should be really good, and I will let them and the rabbits go unhunted.
As
I reached the point where the trail leaves the creek and climbs up into the
woods along the ridge, I caught sight of a creature swimming in the water
below, and figured it was one of the muskrats or beavers I see quite
often. But not so, a head poked up
out of the water several inches above the surface and there was another right
beside it.
They
were young otters, and I estimated that there in that big hole of water, there
were three or four. Then they
became aware of my presence, and all of a sudden there were six little heads
sticking up, peering at me high on the bank. And there I was with my camera back in the cabin.
These
were young of the year, but very close to being adults, and I am quite sure
that the creek is too small to give shelter to fish they search for.
The
stocking of otters a few years ago was done by young biologists who had no idea
what was about to happen. It was
like spreading seed on fertile ground, and the otters burgeoned into a real
problem for those who have private fish ponds. A family of otters can completely wipe out the fish numbers
in a good-sized pond, and they have done it in the Ozarks.
In
creeks and rivers today, they are the greatest enemy that bass, catfish and
trout ever faced. The reason they
are more of a problem now than they were in an earlier time, perhaps a hundred
and fifty years ago, is the lack of trappers in the Ozarks today. There was a time when hundreds of
trappers went after otters each winter.
That
also was a time when every stream in the Ozarks had twice as much water as they
have today, and each stream was much deeper, with rocks and holes in the depths
that today are gone, filled with silt and gravel from the erosion of the
watershed. Fish cover is nearly
gone in smaller streams. Some of those six young otters, and hopefully their
mother and father, will be gone by spring if I can remember what my grandfather
taught me about a creek-bottom trapline.
As
the sun began to fall lower into the woods, I approache a little ridge-top
clearing where the old barn sets, and froze when a group of turkeys stepped out
of the woods. I called a little by
mouth, and soon they were all around me, maybe fifteen or so of the spring
hatch, and I couldn’t see one beard. They got close and an old hen saw me.
I
stepped out from behind my tree and turkeys went everywhere. For a minute I was undecided as which
one to shoot. Then one of them
flew up into a tree at perfect range. My twenty-gauge barrel had only one shell… size 7 shot.
Years
back when my granddad was telling me about hunting fall turkeys as a kid with
his old Steven’s double barrel, he said that the best shot size for big spring
gobblers was size 6, but for young fall turkeys he said there is nothing better
than size 7.
There
was the roar of the shotgun and then the thud of the turkey hitting the
ground. It was a two-year-old
hen. I prefer not to shoot a hen
in the fall, but I can tell you that the hatch along Panther Creek this spring
was good enough to not worry about it this time.
In
our first year, we have had some great success with this Panther Creek youth project, but I am only halfway
finished there at the place we want to use as a new experience for
underprivileged youth, a place that can maybe change the lives of some
kids. Our sports field isn’t
finished yet, nor is our spring-fed trout pond. I do have a shooting range started, but we need an automated
trap thrower, just in case someone out there has one they will sell.
This
coming Saturday, the 22nd, we will have our Panther Creek fish fry
for those who want to see the place. You won’t believe the natural beauty that
is there. Come prepared to explore. It is a free event, but don’t come without notifying us, because we have
to know how many fish to thaw out a day before.
Our
only difficulty is a neighbor to the west that I believe is the most evil-hearted
man I ever heard of. He has tried to extort money from us, has torn down our
west boundary fence, made a false charge of theft against me, and accuses us
publicly of advertising the cabins for rent and making money from them.
I
will put my hand on the Bible and swear before God that those cabins have never
been so advertised, nor have any of the dozens of kids and guests staying there
ever been charged a penny.
I
have a list of names of all who have come here, and all can readily confirm
they were never charged. This man seems determined to destroy what we want to
do, and he gains nothing by doing it.
His last threat was to burn or bulldoze a 12-year old cabin, of which he
thinks a few feet of one corner sets partially on his land.
Somewhere
in the Bible it talks about running into this kind of thing when you want to do
something good. But I know this,
that man will be of no consequence if God really wants this retreat for
youngsters to change the lives of a few or many. He will make it work in time. I have never been patient enough to give God enough
time. I always did think He should
do things faster.
Call
us if you want to come to our fish fry, and we will send you a map to get
there. Phone 417-777- 5227. Or email me at lightninridge@windstream.net
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