November 2003 Weekend
Short Story |
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Web of Life |
Its a four day weekend in the Big Cypress Swamp,
much anticipated, as the days leading up to the trip just seemed to drag
in time. Its one of the events during the year that I really look forward
to. Not Christmas, Not New Years, Not my birthday, none compare to my
anticipation of opening day of the regular hunting season.
And its really not because of the hunting, although that is part of it.
What motivates me is its my time to spend with people that have the
same love of nature in the Big Cypress Swamp that I do. The swamp is full
of them on the opening weekend of hunting season. Adventurers like me,
that know the roughness of the swamp and take that in stride to enjoy
nature and the camaraderie shared by those that know and explore the
swamp. As one of these friends said, as sportsmen gathered for a cookout
on Saturday night, "Its not the hunt that brings us into the Swamp, its
being together like this that does". |
As we go through life, our time becomes interwoven with those around
us. This web of life contains all the people we come into contact with,
some are just acquaintances, but others become friends. Why? because
we have something in common, an interest that creates a common bond. This
bonding interest, and we all have more then one, is the basis for
friendships that develop and strengthen over time. When we are lucky, the
friendships last a lifetime. |
Bear Prints |
Bears: The
Big Cypress Swamp is one of the areas in Florida that still has
bears in the neighborhood. The picture on the left was taken on Buckskin
Prairie. Two sets of prints not 30 feet apart, going the same direction,
leads me to believe that a traveling pair of bears had passed by, leaving
fairly fresh and large tracks. A bear has been seen for the last months,
this weekend was no exception, living in the midst of the private
camps near Little Deer Airstrip. We don't bother him and so far he doesn't
bother us. What sportsmen wouldn't enjoy watching a bear in its natural
environment, doing what bears do to make a living. I hope my turn comes
soon, to observe this bear in the Big Cypress Swamp. |
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Big Cypress Cookout: As
I mentioned in the October Weekend story, we invited all the sportsmen
from the surrounding camps to come to Six Pack for a Saturday night
cookout. We had a pretty good turnout for the first year of restarting
this tradition. Sam Woods, one of the original sportsmen from our area
came early in the afternoon to visit. I hadn't seen him in at least 10
years. The rest of the sportsmen, arrived after dark. There were a few new
faces and plenty of old ones (like mine and Franklin's). I was
happy to see, all that arrived were greeted like old friends, even the
sportsmen new to the group.
After a simple meal of burgers and beans, we had a friendly competition
between the camps. We had a potato gun Skunk Ape shoot off. After
instructions on the operation of the potato gun, we brought out the skunk
ape and proceeded to try to potato him. It sure didn't seem to be as easy
as it sounds.
This friendly competition was won by Bears Den, Karl Greer delivered a
potato to the forehead that had the skunk ape rocked off his feet. The
prize was the potato gun itself and all the fixins for more shootin. |
The Skunk Ape and Karl share a moment |
Story by Steve - November, 2003
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