The fire had burned down in the fireplace, and it was a trifle warm, so I stepped out on the back porch to feel the coolness of the oncoming winter, looking down on the dark river valley. The moon was faint, shining through the clouds and it was so still you could have heard a coon cough. Down in the timber below I could hear an old hound on the trail of something. Its deep baying was mournful, and beautiful in the still night.
It made me wish I was sitting on a gravel bar somewhere, before a roaring fire, with a few of those old-time coon or fox hunters who would rather listen to the baying of distant hounds than listen to the music of the finest choirs or orchestras.
Oh I know that if you have never heard it, you can’t imagine it, or appreciate it, but baying hounds in the night are a kind of music you can become addicted to. I have never owned a coonhound or foxhound, but my dad and uncles had some and I cannot forget what a sound it is when they are trailing something through the hills of the Ozarks. Every man knows the sound of his own hound, no matter how large the pack.
Hearing that one made me feel something so nostalgic and fine that I didn’t want to leave. In time, he faded off into the darkness way off to the west, and I wished I could have followed. Ozark houndsmen are the last of a breed of real outdoorsmen.
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If you have a youngster between the ages of 9 and 15 who likes to read I have a free book for them. The name of it is ‘Dogs, Ducks and Hatrack Bucks’. It is a book of short stories about the Ozarks outdoors which I wrote several years ago. I will be signing that book to boys and girls who might like one for Christmas. It sells for 15 dollars but on Saturday December 20 it is free and I will sign it to your youngster for a Christmas gift. You can pick one up between 9 and 3 o’clock that day at my Big Piney nature center… 6410 South Highway 63, about one mile south of Houston, Mo. Despite some health setbacks I am going to work to put up displays about the river and I’m looking for volunteers who want to help with that. I actually hope too open it to the public three days a week next spring.
Back in September we had an open house with all kinds of stuff for sale hoping to raise some money. Lots of folks came, but a heavy rain hit about noon, which ended the whole day. So now I have a roomful of good items for Christmas gifts, which includes fishing lures, rods and reels and carved duck decoys. There are also several valuable framed wildlife paintings and other art. You just might find something special for a Christmas gift. I will have all twelve of my books there, selling for a 4-dollar discount, and some antique magazines. My new Christmas magazine will be there too, on sale for 5 dollars.
If I can get them there I will sell a really nice NuCanoe kayak and a 19-foot square-stern Grumman canoe as well as a 20-foot boat trailer. All proceeds will go toward finishing the nature center for next spring. If you would like more information, call me at 417 777 5227 or email me at lightninridge47@gmailcom. You can read past and future columns on the Internet at larrydablemontoutdoors and see all my books and magazines at www.larrydablemont.com.
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