An Outdoorsman’s Journal

By: Mark Walters

Big Storm in Mississippi

Hello friends, There is some adversity in this column but all you can do when bad luck hits is do your damage control, take care of business and be happy that you still have a heart beat...

This is the second and last column on a 9-day adventure that I took to Delta National Forest near Rolling Fork, Mississippi where I camped with my brother Tom and took part in a trophy whitetail and hopefully wild boar hunt.

Sunday, December 29 High 64, low 49

Last night this part of Mississippi was hit by some hard storms and not very far away a tornado did some damage and took someone’s life. Tom and I have a regular way we start our day. He sleeps in his toy hauler; I sleep in mine with Ruby and Red. Long before daylight we get up and I leave camp by duck skiff for my hunt and Tom drives to his.

Today would be day 5 of our adventure and on day 1, I passed up 2 bucks that I probably should not have. To harvest a buck here it has to have a 15-inch inside spread or an 18-inch antler. Both bucks were that big, but I was 2 minutes into my first hunt when they came by, and I was not confident.

Tom has seen one shooter but could not get a good shot as these deer spend most of their lives in what the hunters here call thickets and there is no way you can get a shot in a thicket, much less walk through them. Thickets are generally surrounded by massive oak and cypress forests and that is where you have your best shot opportunity.

I have written several times about the very good friends that I have made from the Dustin Hariel deer camp. This gang numbers maybe 25 hunters ranging in age from 6 to 70 and they are the toughest group of people that I have ever met. They are from Poplarville, Mississippi and have a large cabin that is built 8 feet off the ground due to flooding. Dustin and his gang hunt deer with dog’s “beagles” in the morning and hunt in the afternoon. They are strong Christian men and have welcomed Tom and I into their group. The dog season began on Christmas Day which was my first day on my 7-day license and this year as much as I love every bit of this type of hunting, there were too many hunters. On average 2 to 3 groups a day would come through wherever Tom and I were hunting and just so it does not sound like I am whining, even the dog hunters felt there were too many dog hunters.

A lot of the groups use beagles as they are slow and methodical, each dog is given a collar with telemetry. One to three hunters run the dogs and the rest of the group scatters out over what might be at least 2 square miles, where they think the deer might run.

Tom and I did this one day and the deer pretty much seemed to stay ahead of the slow moving beagles and no deer were harvested. Like I said, I love the dog hunting option and are privileged that we were given the chance to take part in, but next year Tom and I are going to come a week or so later as most dog hunters and every other type of hunter take off the week of the 25th to the 1st.

I said earlier that I do most of my hunting by paddling to it, much of it in the dark. There is a very large population of flying carp, and it is insane to be paddling in the dark and have one of these monsters from the deep jump and fly by you in the air.

Back to this morning and the storm; I keep my Bar 300 in my truck at night and this morning I went to get it and could not believe that I had left my driver’s side window open. I hadn’t. During the storm the top section of a tree had fallen and blown over and onto the cab of my truck causing massive damage ($17,000 to be exact) and my windshield had a hole and was shattered, a lot of dents, both door frames were toast and the cab had a new shape.

Tom went on his hunt. I got in my skiff and could not do it. That would be the only hunt I missed. I pulled on my big boy pants and lived large for the next 3 days. My friends from Poplarville picked up plexiglass and lots of Gorilla tape.

The GMC Hotel was a mess with shattered glass everywhere. Pulling my 7000-pound toyhauler I made the 952-mile journey home without being pulled over and the estimated date to get my truck back is 2/28/25!

This all bites in a very large way, but we are already working on a new plan for next year’s hunt!

Sunset

Every dog used to run deer wears telemetry so the hunters know where it is during the hunt and when the hunt is over.

Mark Walters’ good friends from Poplarville, Mississippi were a huge help in getting his truck back on the road for the trip home to Wisconsin.

Tom Walters on the inside of a massive cypress tree.