St Judes / JC

[Shaun]

One of the annual items on the St Jude auction is a hunt/visit with JC and the Coots family. I was the fortunate bidder this spring. After Thanksgiving with my family in Ohio it was an easy day drive down to north Georgia. This was the third year of the JC hunt and the tradition so far has been not to kill any game. We hunted hard but kept the slate clean for JC hunt four.

I was surprised that Vance let me win this bid because Miss Kim's cooking is famous. A few of the culinary highlights included smoked pork, marinated and grilled steaks, chops and burgers, real biscuits, sausage made from JC's recent harvest at Ray Hammond's and Kim's famous breakfast casserole (it was so good that as were packing the truck to head south to Flamin' Arras lease after breakfast I told JC. "I don't wanna go" - he assured me she had packed food for the trip). She sent with us some of her extra special sweet potato souffle - one more bite and I would have applied for a Georgia drivers license.

We deer hunted morning and evening each day. First at the home place and then at a club lease three hours south. The home place is open hardwood hills and we saw deer but nothing in bow range. Swirling winds and gun season skittish deer defeated or best efforts. A couple picks from the stand at the home woods:

First sunrise

   

After full light - can you spot the game camera?

 

[Jason Kendall]

Gotta love the looks of them southern woods!

[Whip]

Been wondering how your trip was Shaun.  Well, not really wondering.  I knew it would be good!!
Looking forward to the tale telling....

[Shaun]

At the Flamin' Arras club lease we kept the sunrise and sunset from a tree routine going. Nothing replenishes the soul like a quiet morning in a stand.

 

This place is timber company plantings of pine and mixed hardwood edges with some great food plot plantings.

 

Mid day and evenings we ate and visited. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the other club members including Grady, Jeff and Wayne (Biggie) Hoffman. I knew I liked Biggie from his posts here, but he's bigger and better in real life.

[Shaun]

Grady and Biggie live closer to the lease and they had put in many hours and much effort into establishing the food plots and managing the lease. JC had some stands set up and we moved one to a hot field one afternoon. It was a ladder stand and the young pines at the edge dictated that it be set old man low - I hunted this spot hard.

 

It was so low and so close to the hot spot that I wore my gillie in the tree

 

[Shaun]

I sat a solid tripod of Biggie's one morning. He had generously offered us use of any of his stands with the caveat not to blow them in a bad wind. The wind switched towards the field at sunrise and I still hunted my way back to the camper.

View from Biggie's pod on plot #4

 

It started raining hard Wednesday night and we elected to pull out in the morning before the Georgia red mud got deep.

I had met Joe Coots (JC) in Texas on a Tradgang group hunt and thought he was special. A visit with his family - Miss Kim and sons Conner and Chase - confirmed my first impression. The best of southern hospitality, family values and humble gratitude for Gods gifts filled his log home and spread into the little valley around it.

I headed home on Thursday morning and made a stop at Rob Tattoo's new place in Tennessee to welcome him across the pond. A couple tanks of gas and few discs of books on tape and I was back in Iowa. Cold weather, limited bow hunting till gun season is over, and humming Georgia on My Mind.

[jcar315]

Who is that masked man???

Great pics and sounds like an even better time with good friends. Thanks for sharing Shaun.

[leatherneck]

Sounds like an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing.

[amar911]

None better than JC, Kim and the boys!!! I really enjoyed my hunt there with them last year.

Allan

[Steve O]

I don't know, a good story like that may drive up the bidding even more this year    

Thanks Shaun, nice story in pictures as always.