Pickleville Philosophy

Road Trips

By Jim Stone, The Pickleville Philosopher

I took a big road trip today.  My hunting buddy just wanted to sleep in, but me and my dogs filled up the gas tank, got some road snacks and off we went on a road trip to a very secret duck hunting place. We traveled over to mountain ranges, through a marsh and by some big rivers and lakes to a place where in my life I’ve had some best of times.

We had an awesome time duck hunting.

When I am driving a long way to a special place I always think about special people, dogs, wildlife and great memories.  One man came to my mind who I think very highly of, Mister Robert Bouer.  He was one of the first All American College football players.  I don’t think he went pro.  He did a cool thing, he invented one of the first off shore drilling bits to drill for oil at the bottom of the ocean.  His patent for his oil drill brought him $50 million over sixty years ago.  I met Robert guiding water fowl hunting.

He loved to hunt birds.  He was a huge man.  I’m 5.9”, he was probably 7.3 foot tall! I had an old Toyota land cruiser I had bought and got it running.  I was so dang proud of it.  In the mud marshes, it would get you just almost anywhere. Give it a little gas and off you go.

We harvested our ducks and geese early. It was one of those fabulous days on the marsh when everything just comes together, the birds get fooled and they come to your decoy spread. We were on our way back. I got a little bit heavy on the gas pedal and there was one of those high humps in the road with to signs, one on both sides of a railroad track. Well, I was going a bit fast so we got airborne going over the train tracks.

Mister Bouer was not so happy with me and gave me that look.   Since he was triple my size, he had me a bit humbled and awaiting his little discussion that was heading my way. I had fun getting airborne in my awesome Jeep but am bracing myself to get um… kinda chewed out.

Mister Bouer said “Jimmy, I have 27 grandkids and 7 great grandkids and I want to live to see all of them grow up, so slow this crate of bleep bleep bleep down. Well, I slowed down.

The next day we followed huge flocks of ducks to a field over fifty miles away.  It was a tornado of birds. When there are so many birds, they tornado.   The head flyers come in and make a circle, then big numbers of birds get in line and funnel into where they are going.  It’s a sight to see but it’s hard to explain a bird tornado.

We had our limit before the big flights really had come so I asked Mister Bauer if he wanted to just stay in the field and watch a duck tornado. 

“I will stay here all night as long as I don’t have to ride back in that old jalopy of a Jeep that you drive,” he said. “I might hire a chauffeur to escort me while we follow you.  That Jeep of yours scares me.”

We had our possession all the birds we could harvest till we ate some or donated them to try to stay legal so Mister Bouer wanted to go hunt deer.  It was ten below and I had no heat in my awesome Jeep so I picked him up and headed out to hunt deer at a place over 8000 thousand feet high in the mountains and it was cold.  He yelled out, “Jimmy, pull this frozen barge, piece of bleep bleep bleep over. I can’t feel my fingers and toes.”

I would never let him see I had a chuckle inside and a small, but big smile on the outside. I’m smiling now.

He was a giant of a man but a bit soft.  I had no heat at all and it was chilly but I knew my Jeep so it was unfair but I was dressed for it. I was warm right down to driving with gloves on and a stalking hat inside my awesome Jeep.

He got out and started jogging around my awesome Jeep. He was jogging and punching in the air like one of those Rocky movies. Then he pulled out a solid 24-carat gold flask with diamonds and precious gems in it, full of one of the world’s finest scotches in it.  He had a couple pulls on it than ran around my spectacular awesome high dollar Jeep again, then had another pull of his flask.

“Let’s go for it,” he yelled. We did go for it. I went cross county in my sweet Jeep and we found a huge buck mule deer, it scored 243. Mister Bouer never said a word after that big buck was loaded on top of my awesome Jeep. 

His last complaint was wondering why I had brought my three dogs with me.  “I want my big trophy buck inside this hunk a junk, not on the roof,” he said.

I just for once said, “My dogs and this hunk a junk is all I have. Your big buck is fine on top.” Well, I loved Mister Bouer.   The next year I finally got a brand new Chevy truck. It only had 3 miles on it. The person I was most wanting to pick up and go hunting with had passed away.  I never got to be with him again.

On my road trip today I jumped the same railroad tracks and shut the heat off and rolled the windows down.  It was 49 degrees, not 10 below but I thought about Mister Bouer.  It was a great day for me thinking about important things in my life that are life to me.