Cajun Getaway

[LimBender]

Joe, that is a better picture of our camp than I've got handy - you should win the tradhunters photojournalism award.     :D  
 
One thing that makes me smile every time I think of it is when "stump" shooting, unbeknownst to us, Randy put the plastic bottle on a big fire ant pile.  Jeff made a great shot right into the heart of the pile.            

Heck, even those waders int that pic had a hole in em, so my feet got wet for a third time. I'm putting out a crawfish trap there.

[awbowman]

Maybe Joe has a few deer, elk, bison and fallow pics somewhere.  This camp is beautiful guys.

[tippit]

Side Trip Extraordinaire:

For all you knife makers, you will be absolutely blown away!!

This story started a few years back when Kip was at bear camp and told me about a bayou knife-maker with NO hands or arms...Everett Johnson.  Kip arranged a knife trade for me and brought Everett's knife to bear camp the following year.  To my surprise, we both made knives with deer antler handles.  Now I have a number of knives from makers I really respect and  that have taught me in the past...but Everett's knife is displayed One Shelf above everyone else's!!!

Here is a picture of the knife Everett made me:

   

Here is Everett holding the knife I made for him:

   

The one thing I really wanted to do was meet Everett.  So Kip arranged for us to meet up.  I have to say it was definitely a high light of the trip for me.  The man is amazing what he can do with his feet!  I'll let some of the others add to the story as we were all drop jaw impressed.  

If I can figure out how to transfer pictures from my phone, I'll post them.

[awbowman]

Certainly a highlight of the trip Jeff.  So blessed to have come along with y'all.  

Everett told us that he has taken two deer this year with an open sighted 45/70 that PASSED RIGHT UNDER HIS TREE!  That's right, he has two box stands, two ladder stands and a climber!  Not sure how he gets up there, but watching him do things with his feet, I have no doubt he's up in a stand more than me.  Certainly a day I'll not forget.

Oh and the Swamp Burger that day for lunch,  OMGosh was that good!

[Doc Nock]

Jeff,

Someone told me to email from the phone to your email addy, then edit and post from there...fwiw.

You're more a techie than I am, Hoss.

What an amazing experience!

Being allergic (bad) to onions, leeks, shallots, I cannot imagine living longer than one meal, 3 bites of cajun cooking!

As Joe knows, that was why I volunteered to be camp cook/chef at his shindig a year or 2 back--- seems the St. Jude Gang Auction just fosters incredible hunts with more consuming that predation! But who cares!    

[awbowman]

No doubt we would have all flung arrows at deer during the week if it weren't for the weather Doc.  The stage was set for a BLOOD BATH, but like I said the curse of  "Bad Weather Joe" is powerful!  

[tippit]

When we got to Everett's house he was out back.  He pulled out a small cigar with his foot and put it in his mouth.  Then he pulled out an old Zippo lighter from his pants cuff, held it between his toes and struck the lighter wheel with his other foot.  Then bent over to light the cigar he had in his mouth.  After watching him do that as quick as anyone of us would do with two hands, we all wanted to ask how he did everything!  Out of respect we just listened to his stories of hunting & knife making.  I brought a few knives with me to show.  It was great as Everett seemed to like them plus comment on how he'd made similar styles. Truly a wonderful afternoon.

As Fred mentioned, we stopped at a little dinner Kip knew and had Swamp Burgers...burger with shrimp on top really great.  Half the place knew Kip and sat at our table. I think because of Kip but possibly to get a good look at two northern boys wanting to hunt swimming deer!

[awbowman]

Jeff, it definitely didn't take long to cull y'all out of the bunch in that place with the lack of Cajun accent coming from you and Joe!  

[Mike Vines]

You had me at food.  Now to read the rest of the story.

[wooddamon1]

Great thread, man that food looks incredible!

[awbowman]

To this day I don't think either Joe or Jeff believes that we actually eat like this all the time when we are at the camp ....  but we do.  

And I could go another two weeks minimum without duplicating the menu, or the cook for that matter.

[frassettor]

               

[awbowman]

We are only up to Friday guys, but that experience sure did cure them from hunting in waist deep water    


I think Joe may have more, but he's probably waiting for tomorrow.

[tradlongbow]

Can't wait to hear the rest of the story, you guys had a great time! Cajun folks are the best! Ask me, I'm a Chalmation from down the road.

St. Bernard, La.

[gregg dudley]

What an adventure!  Cool stuff, guys!

[Mark Normand]

Dang Fred, I kinda lost track of this during some family illness back home. I would have liked to meet Whip, we been on tradgang since the beginning.

Too bad the trip wasn't this past weekend or upcoming. The rains have finally raised the woods levels where we like It. I was out Saturday on public land near Fred's camp and saw plenty deer, hog sign too.

Whip sounds like the gang did it up right for y'all. Great bunch of cooks for sure! Your crew was fortunate to experience the cooking and eating in a few days what normally takes ...well....a few days around here!  
Nice job to all !

[Benjy]

Wow! That is just amazing! I have done my share of wading to get to a deer stand but never in a bucket on a tractor...

Jeff, Now I know why you bought those camo'ed crocs!  

[leatherneck]

Now that is some interesting deer hunting!!!! Looks like all had a really good time.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Truly an incredible experience.        

[Whip]

Even after all that excitement Al and Will didn't want to give it up.  They were still talking like "maybe if we....." or "what about....".  These guys don't know when to quit!  But Jeff and I had already had far more than we had bargained for.  Sometimes ya just gotta listen up when the gods of the hunt have spoken.  This seemed like maybe one of those times.

When it comes down to it, we didn't bid on this St. Jude package for the deer hunting.  The Bayou State certainly has some great hunting to offer.  But what really had drawn us down there was to experience the food and the culture.  There was plenty more of that to be had, and I didn't want it to go to waste.  I intended to let it go to my waist.    

I thought there had been a party every night, but the best was yet to come.  This evening we were invited to Fred's sister and brother-in-laws home across the lake for some joie de vivre cajun style!

The menu tonight seemed to be never ending.  Everywhere I looked there was something else being prepared and waiting to be devoured.  We tried as hard as we could to do our part!

I know I missed getting pictures of half of it, but here is a partial summary to get your mouth watering.


Seafood gumbo - incredible!!

 

The chefs tonight were Fred's brother in law John, and Fred's twin brother Freddy. That's right. Fred and Freddy are twin brothers!  Here is Freddy showing the progress of a few slabs of baby back ribs.  
   

A trip to cajun country wouldn't be complete without a sampling of boudin.  
 

There was plenty more that I missed pictures of, but I didn't miss out on dessert.  Three different choices included homemade pecan pie, a voodoo cake.  I should have been taking notes - I can't seem to remember who made the pie and the cake, and I can't remember the name of the dessett in the middle of the picture, but it was prepared by Fred's wife Anna, and trust me - it was absolutely  sinfully delicious!  The hard part was figuring out which of the three to choose.  

No, I was just kidding.  It really wasn't hard at all.  I had all three!