It was mid August and My husband and I decided to go on a hog hunt together. I had hunted hogs before, but this trip was going to be a new experience for me because we were going to use dogs. I had never used Dogs to hunt so I was very excited. A few customers from the taxidermy shop had told James and I many times that they knew of the perfect spot to get some huge wild boar and that they would let us use their dogs. My eagerness dropped by a few points when they told me we were not allowed to shoot the hogs because they were worried we might shoot one of their expensive hunting dogs by mistake.

I asked them what seemed to me a reasonable question Well, how will we kill them? They all laughed and said “you will have to stab them.” My heart dropped in my chest. Stab a WILD hog????? are these men crazy? I thought to myself. I looked around at the 4 men standing in my shop (one which was my husband) and I quickly answered my own question. Yes they all were crazy.

My husband arranged for the hunt to take place that upcoming weekend. I was excited but very nervous. I know I can shoot….. But I had never stabbed an animal before especially one as dangerous as a wild boar. Over the next few days all the stories the hunters had told me in our meat processing plant kept replaying in my mind. They had always boasted how dangerous they were and how they got knocked down or charged by them. I always just laughed at the stories but never paid them any mind. I never thought I would be putting myself in a position that one could get close enough to hurt me without the security of my trusty AR 223 in my hands.

The morning of the hunt arrived and as usual I didn’t get a good nights sleep. My husband could tell I was a little uneasy so he told me,” honey, you know I wont ever put you in a position that I cant save you. Just relax and have a good time. This hunt is for you. ” So I took a deep breath and decided at that moment I was going to stop worrying and start having a blast. We left the house at 5:30 am and headed to the Waffle House (a tradition we started back when we were dating). After a good breakfast and 3 pots of morning Joe we headed to the guides house. Once we all got there he loaded up the dogs.

Now let me take a second to say these dogs were not what I was expecting. I was thinking they would be huge muscle dogs like a bull mastiff or something. The dogs consisted of three small pittbull dogs none weighing more than 45 lbs and a loud yelping schnauzer mix. I leaned over and whispered to my husband,” Are these the kind of dogs most people use on these kind of hunts?” That real sick feeling washed over me again when his reply was,” UMM honey I am really not sure.”

We all loaded up and headed off for the “secret” spot. When we all arrived I was super anxious. The guide let his four pitiful dogs out and off they went through the woods just a barking. My heart went to raceing when the guide hollered,”Grab your killing knife they got one!” I grabbed my knife and my husband and I went running through the woods in pursuit of barking dogs. The whole way there I was getting so scared. All the what if’s were running through my mind. It seemed like I had been running for miles when my husband slowed and finally stopped in front of me. I jumped up front to see my trophy……..

It was a tiny piglet. I couldn’t help but laugh. It was no bigger than a house cat. I had gotten so worked up over this baby pig. We decided to load up and try another “hot spot” I had calmed down a lot bye  this time, and was looking forward to the dogs tracking down the next one.

We arrived at the new location and the dogs were set loose. They just wandered off this time and I was quiet for a little bit. Then all of a sudden you heard the dogs barking and carrying on. Once again the guide instructed me to “grab my killing knife” and we took off through the woods after them. When we got to the dogs I bout had a panic attack. I saw three dogs holding down the biggest darn pig I had ever seen in my life. One dog had it by the nose, one by the ear and one by the back leg. I will never forget the sound of the pigs tusks clamping down and the god awful screaming it made.The guide, my husband, and the two tag along men started all screaming at me to stab it. I was frozen in place I asked my husband if I could tape my knife to the end of a stick he laughed and said hell no.

They all were screaming, the dogs were barking and growling, the wild boar was screaming, and most of all my heart was pounding. I finally took a deep breath and ran up to the only thing I have ever known to be scared of and went to stabbing. I stabbed the pig three or four times but all It did was make the pig mad even more. My husband went to yelling, “HERE!! STAB IT HERE! STAB IT HERE BEFORE IT KILLS ONE OF THE DOGS!!!!”

I took a deep breath and gave the hardest stab I could. I thought for a second I must have been screaming while I was stabbing, but then I realized it was not me screaming…. but my husband!

He screamed “WHAT ARE YOU DOING???” I screamed back,” I am stabbing the pig”  He hollered back,

“I THINK YOU STABBED ME!”

I looked down and to my horror.. I had indeed stabbed my husband through the middle of his hand with my “killing knife”. It had pinned his hand to the wild boar. I snatched the knife back out before I had time to think if that was the right thing to do. There was so much blood. I couldn’t tell If it was coming from him or the pig. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand. I had seriously wounded both my husband and the pig. The guide told me to stab the wild boar one more time, but to be sure to miss my husband. I did just that and finally everything got real quiet.

I thought my husband was going to be really mad but to my surprise he was excited at my kill and told me I had done a great job. My trophy pig weighed in at 389 pounds. My husbands stitches counted in at 43. Now that’s a hunting trip My husband and I will never forget.

Around 3 o’clock in the afternoon a customer came in the shop to check out our work and ask a few questions.; My husband was chatting with him as I was diligently working (I mean fighting) with skinning out a water logged turkey. It was hot and I was pretty nasty at this point so I let him handle the customer. The man was inquiring about his options on a turkey mount and he mentioned that he would love to have a whole body mount done but his wife was ” TOTALLY” grossed out about animals, hunting, and yes…taxidermy work. He even went on to tell us that she was out in the car because she refused to come inside.

My husband decided he would take a bash at using his good southern charm to coax her into coming inside to help ease her mind about the taxidermy business. He just wanted to help the poor guy out. I truly thought my husband was wasting his time when low and behold.. here she came, walking in like at any moment one of the animals might jump off the wall and eat her. My husband talked to her for a bit and slowly you could see she was beginning to relax.

Mean while I am still fighting.. I mean working on the darn turkey. As I am finishing it up the lady gets curious and ask me what I was working on. I tell her I’m skinning out a turkey. She walks over and stands right next to me like I might save her if the bird were to try to hurt her. I take one of my tools to pop the eye out of the socket, and to my surprise she leans over to get a better look. It was hard to believe but that lady was no more than a foot or so away from the head of the bird. You could tell she was interested, but scared to death all at the same time.

When I went to pull the eyeball out of the bird to my horror…. ” eyeball juice squirted out and landed across her face and in her hair, ” and on her white North Face  pullover. I just gasped, and wanted to see what her reaction was going to be. I thought she would laugh I would get her a clean towel and that would be it. I mean that’s how I would have handled it.

Well her eyes got as big as half dollars.. her head turned white as a paper towel and she let out this God scream. She went on screaming over and over as though someone was being hacked into little pieces in front of her. I ran around the table to help and comfort her..(trying my darned hardest not to bust out laughing).

When I reached her she shoved me away and screamed…..

” LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE  TO ME! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? I THINK I AM GOING TO DIE!”

I calmly told the woman I meant her no harm and that eyeball juice could not kill her. I even added in a little joke that eyeball juice was good for your hair. WOW was that a huge mistake. She flew into a rage that it was in her hair. Screaming over and over to get it out that it was burning. My husband and her husband are just standing there with their mouths open watching me trying to get this woman under control.

She would not let me help or touch her. She really thought I did it on purpose. Well as each second passes she is getting more and more upset. Finally she begins to hyperventilate. I beg her to sit down and let me get her a glass of water but she acts like I am going to put eyeball juice in the glass.

People this woman has went completely bonkers. She tells her husband that she is getting light headed and that she thinks she is having a panic attack. Her husband calls 911 and an ambulance picks her up from my shop about 15 minutes later. Her husband apologizes as he is getting into his BMW and speeds off after the ambulance. My husband and I are dumbfounded. We couldn’t comprehend what just happened.

I mean one minute we are working, the next a lady is sprayed with eyeball juice- has a panic attack, and leaves our shop in an ambulance.

“Dude that one heck of a day.”

Well about 2 days later I sent the lady a card in the mail hoping she was alright and telling her how sorry I was. About 3 days after that I got a letter from the Better Business Bruea stating that our business had personally attacked this lady with eyeball juice causing her to have a panic attack and that if we did not pay her medical bills she would take us to court stating that we had caused her humiliation and pain and suffering.

The (BBB) closed the complaint. She never took us to court. And I hate to say I think I have lost all of this guys future business. I laugh every time I think about this story and I hope It made you laugh too.

Note to taxidermist… when a customer is hovering over you be careful of what you do.

It was a cool morning for someone to be high tailing it through a swamp two hours before sun up. If ma and Chelle wanted to make my perfect set up before daybreak we had to head out early. Getting into the woods well before daylight was our plan. This would be her first ever turkey hunt and I was going to make it one she would never forget. Her first words was I’m cold when we stopped the truck at the fields edge. I told her that things would warm up soon to just be patient with a little time.

As we walked through the wet grass across the field to the tree line she asked me if anything was going to get us. Just as soon as I told her No she swore up and down that something was following us. I told her if something did get after us the only thing she had to worry about was to out run me and we all know that wasn’t about to happen. I wasn’t worried too much do to the fact that if something got after her it would soon let her go do to all the noise she would make.

Chelle could get kidnapped and before the napper would drive 100 yards he would make a U-turn and bring her back. God could she talk up a storm. We finally got to the swamp and had to head east about 200 yards more to a small dry spot under a tall pine. By the time we had the chance to sit down she heard something roughing up in the bushes about ten yards out. She asked whats that? I said you have to be quite if you plan on killing that there turkey.

What turkey?

The one that I roosted yesterday evening for you. He’s 23 pounds with a 15 inch beard and at least 1 1/2 inch spurs on both feet. So just be quite OK.

I’m cold.

Get over it  and be still. There’s the first Owl just listen to that beautiful sound. God’s creation make all that noise and she was right there beside me making noise too. She would never kill this here turkey. As I looked through the tree tops you could see daybreak and what a beautiful sight it was.

There he  go’s his first gobble and boy was it deep. Didn’t seem like he’s that far away either.

Chelle asked what in the hell was that? I told her that it was the gobbler she was going to shoot if she would just be quite. I yelled out an owl sound of my own and that bird just cut me off like there was no tomorrow. 1,2,3 gobbles in a row. What a show he was displaying for us. As I looked at Chelle she had a grin on her face I would never forget. One of them kind that just melts ya heart and makes you smile.

I placed her between my legs and straddled behind her to help her as she made the shot. She had leaned back so the gun would not kick the hell out of her so bad. By then the gobbler had done pitched down and was looking for us. I laid a three note soft yelp out there and shure enough he answered back so sweet.

Chelle said…I see him…he’s coming in slow.

Ok just wait til I say shoot….OK. He’s strutting now get your gun ready and place the bead on his head..When he clears the tree pop him one.

OK…Now on the count of three shoot…OK…1,2 bang she shot before three but rolled that turkey a flip into the next county. The turkey had started flopping and I said get up and go get him. Don’t grab him by the feet Chelle he will spur you and just as soon as that come out of my mouth she had sure enough grabbed him by the feet of course. She let out a yell as she was trying to stand on his head.

Good the turkey was down for good now as we took some photos. Boy she was as beautiful holding that bird as she was on any given Sunday. Beautiful blue eyes just blended in with the scenery of the woods that surrounded her. She was so happy that all she could do was just shake nervously. As I have said on any other occasion thank you God for allowing me to see a bird that look so beautiful.

As we walked back toward the truck Chelle never quit yapping. Gosh he’s heavy, Gosh I’m getting hot.

Hope you enjoyed another Tall Tales story for Hellohunting. Hope you will continue to click back for more soon.

The stars were shining bright and the moon was full. Most of the guys in camp had not seen anything over the last two days. Mike the camp cook said it was cause of the full moon. “Yall know there ain’t no deer gonna move when the moon is full.” As we all sat around the warm fire enjoying some of our favorite drinks under the stars we all could do nothing but wonder what that big buck of Mossy Bottoms looked like.

We had all heard that he had 31 scoring points on that rack he held on his head. This buck was a legend in Mossy Bottoms hunting club. Even though no one had ever really seen him up close and personal and never had a chance to even say they had shot at him. Don’t get me wrong there was always some very good bucks taken each year.

John’s brother Joe who was visiting bout two years ago killed a huge 12 point and his wife came the next week and shot a doe with a bow and went back the same evening and shot a big 8 point out of the same stand. We gave the name aunt Sara to that stand even though Joe’s wife was named Sue. She sure was a heavy woman. Show enough could shoot though.

Opening day of bow season old man Jenkins kill two does out of the old oak stand down by the creek. Sara’s brother’s brother-in-law came three weeks ago and went to the pond stand and got lost and we haven’t seen or heard from him since.

Old man Hart said he seen that there 31 point buck two weeks ago but we all claim he is blind as a bat. His wife Karen has killed the most does since gun season has opened up with a count of 10 and still counting.

My sister-in-law’s brother’s uncle got drunk Friday night and he hasn’t woke up yet. Which no one wants to sleep in the same bunk as him cause he snores. We had another visitor the other day and climbed into one of the big trees over on Holley hill in a climber and couldn’t get down. We all told him to tie the bottom of that stand on or it wouldn’t stay up high with him. So it fell as we thought it would.

The president of the club got sick from the catfish he caught off the creek and had to go home. Boy did he mess up that out house. Well for me I’ve killed two does so far and a nice 9 point today to prove to all the idiots that deer do move on full moon days.  I told them that they have to leave the whiskey jug alone long enough at night so they ca get into a stand early enough to see one. But as far as the 31 point I don’t think he exist on this club.

We’ll end the story now before we get in over our heads and I hope you have enjoyed another one of my “Tall Tales.” So keep checking back cause you may never know when the next “Tall Tales” story will hit the site.

Carl and I had grown up together in the sticks of south central Alabama and we swore that there would never be one person to come between the friendship we had. We hunted, fished, trapped, and even bullfrog hunted together.

Both of us knew that the local bullfrog hunting championship was coming up and we were gonna win this year. We only had one problem and it was girls that stood in our way of winning. See these girls just wasn’t plain girls. They were the biggest tom boy girls this side of the Mason Dixon Line and every time you seen them the tallest one had a chew of red-man in her mouth so big you could barely make out what she said. That’s how she got the nickname big mouth Sally.

Now Sally had a best friend named Alley and god was she something else. See Alley was the local doctors daughter from somewhere way up yonder in the North. When she moved down here to Alabama she didn’t know what to think and became the best of friends with Sally all because their stupid names rhymed. But boy was she hot. Them long legs and all them curves in all the right places just made a boys mouth drop open where he couldn’t shut it.

See me I was the hunter that kept Carl straight and forward. Carl had this crush on Alley ever since she moved down here and I didn’t like it one bit. Heck I was about to lose my best bud. My huntin  partner. Who was gonna help me clean all them there bullfrogs when I caught em. Well over time Sally and Alley became as good as me and Carl at catching these here bullfrogs ya see. That was gonna interfere with the championship ya see and I wanted to win and win bad. We had not won in three dang years and I wasn’t about to get stomped another year by no girls.

So me and Carl came up with a little secret. In the championships you had to hunt together in a group of four. And what ya know we got teamed up with the two most outlawed girls in this here state.But boy was it gonna be fun. That’s when me and Carl come up here with our secret.

Our plan was to cut holes in the sack of Sally’s and we would be ok. See Alley she didn’t like to catch them bullfrogs and she was just along with Sally to hang out and be part of a crowd i guess you could say. She show enough acted like she liked it. But you could tell she didn’t. She was after Carl ya know.

The night of the championship was here and we was ready to go. The only thing you had was a empty corn sack and a flashlight. You would take off to them there wood’s and swamps and hoped that yo didn’t get chased by Ol man Johnson’s cows. Getting down to his pond after dark was never a problem until the cows seen you. Then you had better taken off hauling butt. It was something about that pond and the cows would never go down to it after dark so if you made it to the pond and the gully you was ok.

The night had started off so good and the four of us was catching them bullfrogs left and right. Well three of us anyhow. As the hours passed we had to be checked back in at the check in at no later than midnight. Around eleven o’clock I told everyone that we needed to start heading back but to my surprise Carl and Alley was nowhere to be found.

So as me and Sally looked for them we found them two making out under a big oak tree and boy was the faces on them red when we caught them. All I heard all the way back to check in was from Sally’s mouth ” Alley I can’t believe you made out with that there crazy Carl, you gonna have lip soars for a week.” You could actually hear her this time cause she had swallowed all that tobacco after what she saw.

But this was my year to shine in the bullfrog huntin championship and I was gonna win. After all those hours while Sally thought she had been putting them there frogs in her sack I was walking right behind her picking them up as they crawled through. Made my huntin easy I should say.

Well as for Carl and Alley they started dating and both went to college together and finished. They are now married and have 4 girls and 3 boys. They became well known in our small town as you can see with the most kids. Sally went off to college and became a nurse and came back to work for Alleys dad. Well for me That’s another story.

I hoped you enjoyed another story of the Tall Tales edition of Hello Hunting. Keep visiting for more Tall Tale stories in the future. I hope to bring you more excitement soon from the Tall Tales collection.

It was a cool cloudy evening and the day before Alabama’s opening day of spring turkey season. I had sat down at the dinner table to think out my first morning’s strategy of how I was gonna outsmart a turkey that had been busting my butt wide open for the past two years. This turkey wasn’t just a two year old bird anymore and he had outwitted me the last two seasons.

I had been scouting this one boss gobbler for the last three weeks and the mornings were shaping up just right for a perfect opening day of spring turkey season. As I bowed my head over my little bit of grub that I had sat aside for dinner I asked the good Lord for thanks for letting me have what I had. I had also asked him for a chance at that gobbler, that had been laying the smack down on me for the past two seasons. My prayer went like this. “Dear Lord thank you for this day and bless me the turkey hunters way Amen.”

Maybe I should have asked him to look down on me with a great big smile and hold everyone back while I eat a while. But to my luck there was no one else in camp but me. I just had this gut feeling that the bird of my nightmares would be in my, fryer by lunch the next day. I ate my food and washed up, and double checked everything needed for the next morning. Can you Imagine that I didn’t get the best sleep that night for the insane reason of worrying about that turkey.

I knew what tree he was in and I also knew that he didn’t have the first hen within 500 yards of him. He was a loaner and a smart one at that. He didn’t live to see five years old for being stupid and dumb. I had only made four shots at this turkey in the past two years and had missed him all four times. This season was gonna be different and I could feel it deep down my spine all the way to my toes.

The night had passed and the alarm rang at exactly at 3 am. I had to make sure I was gonna be in the woods one hour before sun up with my gun and box call in hand. As I grabbed my coffee and my coat, I headed out the door and I had my first whiff of clean air. I stood on the front door step and put me a pinch of snuff in my lower lip and climbed into the camp buggy headed to the one spot that was gonna give me that chance to kill that bird dead.

Sun was to rise at 6:16 am and I was under my tree and standing at 5 am. Everything was so calm that you could hear things walking through the woods from a mile away. I placed another pinch of snuff in my lip about 5:45 am and the first sound of gobbling shook me, and nearly blew my hat off my head. That was him OK and he was very close. Almost too close that I know he could have heard my heart pounding in my chest. “thump” “thump” “thump” I didn’t know how much I could take of it so I spit what snuff out that I hadn’t, already swallowed and took a deep breath and bellowed out the perfect owl sound that I had in me.

That darn gobbler double gobbled, and even triple gobbled at me and then went silent. 6:30 am there he go’s again no more than 40 yards from me and still in that big southern pine no more than 20 feet up. If you were to be sitting above him in a stand you could have spit on him and put his eye out. I took one deep breath and he pitched down no more than ten yards from me. As soon as he hit the ground it was too late for “em”.. The trigger was pulled and I had done what I set out to do and that was to kill a bird that was out to take me down for a third year.

Did you know that every time you hear a turkey tale the bird always weighed over 20 lbs and had over 1 inch spurs and he always has a beard that is over 12 inches. Well how bout this one for size. The bird in this story had two beards and both were over 13 inches long, he weighed 26 lbs and sported 2 inch spurs on both feet. Too bad this was my tall tale huh. I wish I could have seen that bird in real life.

So what did ya think? I hoped you enjoyed reading my Tall Tale of “The Gobblers Last Season” as much as I enjoyed making it up for you to read. Remember dreams always come true in Tall Tales. I hope to bring you more stories like this in the Tall Tales section of Hello Hunting. So visit daily and keep clicking.

He worked hard to keep a roof over my head.  He bought my books and sent me to school.  He took me hunting and fishing every chance he had.  He believed in the adage “Take your kids hunting and you won’t be hunting your kids.”  That was years ago and now it’s my turn.

We may be talking about dad, but we could be talking about anyone who has mentored and provided us with an opportunity to enjoy hunting and other outdoor pursuits. There are plenty of granddads and moms who have introduced youngsters to hunting, but most children begin to hunt under the guidance of their father. We owe our Fathers everything for that. Hunting with your dad keeps you involved in each others lives and allows you to spend quality time together. Life is way too short to let that opportunity pass.

Take in all the joy and reverence of the moment. It may be a fleeting moment in time for both of you but you can be sure it will be a moment not soon forgotten by either. Sharing it is a rare gift of life not to be taken lightly. Taking dad hunting is an opportunity that will not always be there. The more you take advantage of those opportunities the more stories you will be able to share with your kids when they come to you years from now and say “Hey dad, let’s go hunting.

Savor the time you spend hunting with your Father. You will never get to go back and re-live those days, and there will come a time when they are gone forever, with a finality that will stun you and break your heart, no matter how many warning signs you had.

If you have a father like mine, hug your daddy. Tell him you love him. Help him no matter what, without begrudging the time and effort it takes. Help him drag his deer, and let him kick back and tell how he got it while you shuck that critter out for him. And enjoy every last second of it, as best you can. Because before you know it, it’s over. Done. A thing of the past. And suddenly, there is no “next season”.

It was fairly warm the evening before and I had the next day off so I told myself I would take a little hunting trip to Autauga County community hunting area which is located about 20 minutes north of our capital city Montgomery,AL.

I awoke on Dec.15,2005 about 6 am and was in no hurry to get to the hunting land mainly cause I had only herd of it but had never hunted it. The land was mostly steep hills planted in pines with very little hardwoods. The power lines on the property had been planted in green fields and there were a lot of tracks in the one field that I had set up near. I placed my climbing stand about five yards off the green field to only think to myself if I were even in a good spot.

After the hour and a half drive and then taking almost another hour to just find a place to set up where the wind would be in my favor almost told me that I was wasting my time. By the time I had actually got set up and ready to hunt it was around 11:30 am. I thought to myself I’m never gonna see a deer like this but I stuck it out and eased back against the tree and relaxed.

There was a lot of sign to be seen just didn’t look all that fresh to me. Most times I would not even had considered trying to pull off a hunt like this being that I knew nothing of the land and it being public land on top of that. What happen that day was an act of God in my book and he is the only one I could thank after what took place that day.

After sitting in the stand for about thirty minutes I kept noticing that the power pole in the power lines in front of me had larges scratching against it. As I looked back behind me there were about five to ten small pine tree’s that had been rubbed. To my acknowledge I didn’t realize that I had set up most likely where a buck was marking his territory. I knew the rut had not kicked in yet and it was still a few weeks away but there was plenty of sign of at least one buck in the area just didn’t know how big.

Around 1:30 pm I had just about dozed off until something caught my attention. It was one of those moments when you think you saw a deer and there was no deer to be seen. But in this case there was a deer and a buck at that. I just wasn’t sure how big he was until he had gotten to within 25 yards and I just had that gut feeling he was gonna bust me when I tried to draw back my bow. I was nowhere even close to being ready.

The moment of fast heart beat and the chill that ran down my back and should I say my entire body had me so shaken up. The time was now or never as the buck took about five steps to my right and got his head behind some tree’s I then pulled back settled my pins and touched the release only to see the arrow hit a little far back than I had expected.

I took a few minuets to regroup myself and climbed down and took all my belongings back to my truck. At about 2:30 pm I took off back to where I had last seen the buck and only to find about four or five specks of blood. I felt like I gave the buck enough time to bed down and sure enough after about ten minuets of tracking I had my buck’s antler’s in my hands.

As I kneel down on both knees to thank the good Lord for giving me the chance at a great Alabama whitetail. Take your time when you go to a new place to hunt. Cause the first place you set up maybe the best place.