The EASL hosts a very unique event on the opening
day of squirrel season. It puts on a squirrel rodeo where entrants
weigh in squirrels similar to a fishing tournament. Prizes are awarded
for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place "total weight", and for "biggest
squirrel". All squirrels are donated, cleaned, and cooked up
the next day at a Merle Gautreaux's house. Everyone in the EASL
is invited to enjoy the squirrel stew, and the camaraderie of other
members. There is card playing, tall tales told, hours de oeuvres
served, and sometimes a Saints game to enjoy. Todd Braud cooks up
the stew, and other members bring the side dishes. The squirrel
rodeo is definitely a very unique event, and one that everyone looks
forward to in October.
Outdoor Corner
With
Lyle Johnson
Excuses, Excuses
This past weekend not only celebrated
the opening day of squirrel hunting but the 23 rd Annual East Ascension
Sportsman's League Squirrel Rodeo. The last two years were pure
agony as steaming heat was the order of the day only to be topped
off with the largest pack of bloodthirsty, hungry mosquitoes I’d
ever experienced.
Ah, but this year, it was a picture perfect day. Temperatures were
in the mid 50’s, low humidity and hardly a sign of those pesky mosquitoes,
certainly nothing a little repellant couldn’t handle. At 53 years
old and my memory not quite what it once was, I don’t remember the
last time opening day was anything like this one. Could anything
mess up this beautiful, picture perfect morning? Just wait!
Nowhere else but outdoorsmen, whether hunters or fishermen, can
a group of people come up with so many excuses about why things
didn’t turn out quite like they expected. (Except maybe LSU and
Saints fans) Let’s start with mine.
First there was the full moon; people can’t sleep at night, fish
and game feed at night and depending on your superstitions it’s
the time for werewolves to be on the prowl. I had a pretty good
hunch the full moon and clear sky would allow for the furry critters
to feed at night and about 15 minutes after it was good shooting
time and I hadn’t seen a squirrel I knew it would only get worse.
As the time ticked by, my fear became going to the weigh-in with
an empty hunting sack. Excuse 1; full moon.
We hadn’t had a good rain in about four years so I knew sneaking
up on any wild game would be kind of hard because it was so dry.
To top that off, I was hunting in an area that was loaded with palmettos
that were head high and any hunter worth their salt knows how hard
it is trying to walk through those things quietly. I’d hunted this
area many times and knew where the feed trees were, so my strategy
was to wait on the squirrels and let them come to me. (Hence no
need for sneaking) It didn’t work out. By 8:15 I’d seen one squirrel
with my eyes and a couple of more in some branches. I tried to sneak
up on them to no avail, still no squirrels. Excuse 2; dry ground
and palmettos.
Finally after a move to another area of the woods and a cameraman
with a good eye, I bagged a cat squirrel. Yes, you can see this
sack of excuses on Ascension Outdoors shown on EATEL FiberEdge channel
4 in a few weeks. But I was noticing something; I never saw one
squirrel feeding. Usually they are somewhat busy trying to get an
acorn or some other nut (Not me) from the end of a limb and they
are distracted just enough to creep up on them close enough to get
a shot. But not today! Excuse 3; squirrels not feeding probably
due to full moon. (See excuse 1)
I saw a couple more squirrels but couldn’t sneak up on them. (See
excuse 2) The weigh-in was at Merle’s place at 11:00 until 1:00,
so I stuck it out until around 10:30 and decided to just go and
take my licking like a good hunter should. At least I wasn’t going
back empty handed and I thought about asking if I could weigh the
squirrel in the sack, so I left all my shells in. That didn’t fly.
My total weight was 1.04 and my big squirrel was 1.04. Oh yea, I
only killed one. But the greatest part of the world’s only squirrel
rodeo I ever heard of is the people that show up and the social
aspect that’s involved. I heard more excuses than a teacher that
gives a pop quiz on Monday morning and laughter from good sports
that can take raking over the coals by their peers and laugh with
them.
One guy scouted Tuesday and saw 12 cat squirrels, then on Friday
he went to another spot and saw 5 of the fox variety. Looking for
the weight, he opted for the larger fox squirrels. Not only did
he not see any squirrels, somebody asked him if he saw a branch
moving that he thought might have been a squirrel. The reply with
a lowered head was, “No”! It was so bad that he and another guy
who was probably his brother went that afternoon and the next morning
and still haven’t killed a squirrel.
We had around 20 or so hunters take part in the competition and
four that we know of came in empty handed. There were plenty of
1’s, 2’s and 3’s in the middle of the pack but three hunters made
a decent showing. Carlton Savoy weighed a limit of eight squirrels
that totaled 8.47 for 1 st place. 2 nd went to Dillon LeBlanc with
seven that weighed 6.64 and 3 rd went to Bubba Rumbaugh with 5.68.
Bubba also bagged the big squirrel that weighed a whopping 1.80
pounds.
We were treated to a delicious squirrel gravy cooked by Todd Breaux
on Sunday afternoon at Merle’s ranch and more of the laughter that
is synonymous with the great people of the East Ascension Sportsman's
League. So until next time, have fun in the outdoors, be safe and
may God truly bless you!!
