Night Fishin’ Table Rock

Republic, MO angler Scott Bollinger and one of many nice bass caught on a Chompers jig and trailer.

All through the 1970’s we always took vacation in the late summer. This was much to Dad’s chagrin; he would have much rather taken vacation during a better time of the year to hunt or fish. However, Mom made him go because it was the only time my sister and I were out of school. So, even though it wasn’t the preferred location and activity for the girls or the perfect time for the boys, every year we went to Indian Point campground on Table Rock Lake for a week of camping and night fishing.

Back then we didn’t have a lot of extra money and Dad said you couldn’t fish from a camper so we camped in a tent and spent the money on a bass boat. I completely understood and agreed with that course of reasoning, but the girls just didn’t agree at all. They would have preferred a camper (or fancy hotel) over a bass boat. The nerve of some people! While they were comfortably and peacefully sleeping away the night on the soft ground, in the pleasant 85° night air, in that nice tent that even had a mosquito net that kept out some of the critters, Dad and I were fighting off the mosquitoes and slaving away all night in the Bass Cat trying to catch the next day’s dinner. Remembering back today I’ve come to the conclusion that those two were just downright selfish. But Dad and I stood our ground and didn’t give an inch; we kept the boat.

Ed Larson with a good bass caught dragging a jig over a point in 25 feet of water while the dam was running water.

Last week I revisited all those old memories as I went night fishing on Table Rock with an old high school friend, Ed Larson, and my brother-in-law, Scott Bollinger. Ed was our guide. Ed is a former professional Table Rock Lake fishing guide and the current General Manager for the Table Rock Bait & Tackle Company. The company produces the Chompers brand soft plastic baits and a compliment of premium jigs and spinnerbaits. My brother-in-law Scott, a formidable fisherman himself from Republic, MO, was our boat captain and we took his Ranger boat for the trip. Both of these fine fishermen are accomplished tournament competitors and they each know the lake well. I was confident we would have a great trip.

We put in at Kimberling City about 7 pm to start our night. The lake was at 913.5 feet and a quick call to the Army Corp of Engineers verified that they were running water through the dam. This was a good sign. When there is water running through the dam it creates a current across the points in the lake and the fish will suspend on the points and wait for dinner to come floating by in the current.

To take advantage of the feeding fish we employed two different tactics during the evening. First, while the water was running we positioned the boat in 25 feet of water just off a point at Mill Creek. We tied on Chompers skirted brush jigs with blue flash skirts and the new Wild Hog soft plastic trailers. This was a deadly combination as we traveled back and forth across the point dragging the jig and trailers across the bottom at 25 feet.

Proof they were trying to make me look bad - they took the picture while my eye was closed and they cut my fish in half! The One-Eyed Hillbilly and a nice bass caught in submerged timber using a new Chompers wobble head jig and worm.

Second, after the water stopped running later in the evening and with the boat positioned 25 yards out from some submerged timber under about 40 feet of water, we tied on new Chompers wobble head football jigs with 10 inch blue fleck plastic worms. The wobble head is a great jig that produces great life-like action. We pulled the worms through the timber waiting for the bass to attack. Throughout the course of the night, with each bump we each set the hook on several largemouth and a few Kentuckies. It was a great night-fishing trip in the Ozark hills.

Sadly, there was a conspiracy effort under way during the trip. After dark I hooked what I’m sure was a wall-hanger and my brother-in-law accidentally missed him with the net. Scott says the fish shook off the jig right at the boat but I think he knocked the jig out of the fish’s mouth (on purpose) with the net frame. Since it was dark I can’t be sure. It seems it was a team effort too because Ed said he saw the fish and that it looked to weigh only about 3 pounds. I’m sure it was 9 pounds if it was an ounce. Scott and Ed, of course, deny any conspiracy. As the night wore on and the wind came up they wanted to call it a night and seeing the writing on the wall, I knew they were teaming up for my misfortune so I reluctantly agreed. We wrapped up the trip and headed home.

The last time that I wrapped up a summer night fishing trip on Table Rock was 30 years ago. Dad and I had to race a thunderstorm back to the boat ramp at 3:00 am. We were just ahead of the wind and rain as we came in to the buoys at the marina. As he jumped out on the bank and headed up the hill he said, “Some poor soul is going to be very unhappy when they get back to the truck tonight.” You see, up in the parking lot where Mom and my sister had left the car and trailer there was a rig in the lot with some very dim headlights that someone had accidently left on when they exited the vehicle earlier in the evening. Just about the time the storm hit with full force Dad was walking back down the boat ramp and carrying on something fierce and I knew we were the poor souls! We got soaked. You don’t reckon the girls did that on purpose do you? Maybe we should’ve got them that camper. So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.

For more information on great Chompers fishing tackle visit http://www.chompers.com/

To get up to the minute information on generation schedules and lake levels visit Southwestern Power Administration at http://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx and the US Army Corp of Engineers, Table Rock Lake, at www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Tabrock.htm

Greg Stephens is a life-time student & 35-year veteran of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to http://www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com/.

Diggin’ Roots and Remembering Old Lessons

Ginseng - close-up of a 3-pronger. 3 compound leaves with 5 leaflets each and the berries just beginning to form in the middle of the leaves.

Don’t you just have to grin every time one your parent’s lessons from your childhood presents itself in everyday life? It’s amazing how little we, as children, thought our parents knew compared to how wise we later discover they actually were. Unfortunately, it seems we only discover this revelation after we become parents ourselves. >Seems to be one of God’s little ironies – parents have most of the answers but we, as children, can’t absorb the answers until after we’ve learned by fire. And man was that fire hot this weekend when I was reminded that those same life-lessons my parents preached back then still hold true today even within the laws of nature.

Side view of a 3-pronger with developing seed pod in the middle.

I remember Mom telling me, “Anything worth working for is worth working hard for.” And Dad used to say, “You don’t appreciate something you get for free as much as something you have to work for.” Needless to say, outside of birthdays and Christmas I got very little given to me! Want a new fishing pole? Then haul some hay. Want a new gun? Then cut and sell some firewood. Want some ginseng? Then scout the woods in August and harvest in September while sweating profusely, getting poison ivy, avoiding copperheads and rattlesnakes, and getting full of chiggers and tiny seed ticks.

After fighting all the creepy crawlies there's no doubt Ginseng is worth working for. The One-Eyed Hillbilly with a beautiful 3-pronger.

Harvesting ginseng, or Seng’n as it’s known in root digging circles, is a true Ozark adventure and you will work hard to accomplish the task. Once you’ve invested enough time to regularly recognize the plant in the wild you will have developed an appreciation for the root digger’s grit as well as an appreciation for the natural health treasure you’ve found. And trust me, a time investment it is, for just as a morel mushroom hunter would never give up his favorite mushroom harvesting beds, a root digger will never voluntarily take you to his favorite wild ‘seng hunting grounds. You will have to learn on your own. And, like morels, ginseng is worth its weight in gold for some folks. Ginseng folk lore mixed with some actual scientific studies has created a reputation for the root that makes it a naturally grown panacea, or cure-all. If it even almost lives up to its reputation it’s easy to understand why pharmaceutical companies are, to this day, studying and analyzing the compoundsfound in ginseng in order to determine why those compounds provide relief for the various afflictions and diseases commonly treated by this root.

If you want to find out for yourself about the benefits of this world renowned root, start with the basics. Generally you find ginseng on north and east facing slopes in well drained, rich soil that has abundant leaf litter. The plant grows best in areas with a dense tree canopy shading out approximately 75% of the direct sunlight. There are a few signature trees, plants, and weeds known to grow in the same general areas as ginseng and when you find these different plants you are generally on the right track. Elm, sugar maple, and oak are some of the trees that tend to grow in the same soil and terrain as ginseng. Jack-in-the-pulpit, Christmas ferns, and goldenseal are a few of the plants, or “good weeds” that often grow in the vicinity of ginseng. From the description you can see ginseng grows in the thick, dense areas that aren’t easy to get to.

Jewelweed for getting rid of poison ivy after hunting ginseng.

A mature ginseng plant stands approximately 6 to 18 inches tall. It will have 3 to 4 compound leaves (prongs) with 5 leaflets each and in the late summer red berries are present in the middle of the prongs. Missouri Department of Conservation regulations state that only 3 pronged mature plants can be legally harvested and the 3 prongs must remain attached to the root during transportation to the harvester’s home. Legal harvest season for ginseng in Missouri is September 1 through December 31 and selling season extends through March 15. Personally, I do not harvest any ginseng for sale at the market. I believe we should take great caution in this enterprise for fear of over harvest, much like the market hunting of wildlife in the 19th Century and the wildlife disaster that resulted of this ill-conceived practice. I enjoy harvesting from Mother Nature only what I can use personally. And, state law dictates that the seeds of the ginseng plant must be planted within 100 feet of the harvested 3 prong mature plant.

Jewelweed Poultice applied to area with poison ivy. In a sauce pan in 1 cup of water, simmer crushed leaves and stalk. Pour contents on a piece of gauze and apply to effected area. It works!

I believe the Creator has presented man with very few ailments for which he has not also provided a remedy in Nature. The Indians and mountain men knew these natural cures and remedies that today many have forgotten. This past weekend I ventured to find some ginseng for harvest later in September while keeping the ancient health and healing lore of our forefathers alive. In today’s world I believe there is great wisdom in trusting to the old ways of those who entrusted Mother Nature for their sustenance, health, and healing. This past weekend my parent’s old lesson of appreciating what you’ve worked for came to the forefront. I got poison ivy, chiggers, and a load of seed ticks while hunting in the August heat. Man, I sure appreciate those roots a whole lot more than any that someone would give me…I think. So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly

Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.

Pink Boots and Archery Season Preparations

The culmination of properly tuned equipment, shooting practice, and precision scouting. The One-Eyed Hillbilly with son, Jason Bass and his 10 pt bow kill buck.

I believe kindred outdoor souls gravitate to one another. Whether it is the first time crossing paths with new friends or a reunification of old friends after a long separation, warm and friendly conversation about the common bond of the Great Outdoors is always the result. Both of these scenarios played out last week while I was down in Clearwater Lake country. As for old friends, the last time I had a conversation with Alan Chitwood was just before I walked out of the Doe Run Lead Smelter for the last time in August, 1991. Other than brief passing glimpses at two funerals, I hadn’t seen Alan since I spray-painted his work boots pink (for the 2nd consecutive year) as I left the smelter heading back for my last fall semester in college. I was told he threatened to …”steal the handle bars off that little one-eyed *†#!@*!#’s Harley-Davidson the next time he comes to the smelter!” I never went back.

Last week I drove up to his house in Ellington, MO, not on a motorcycle but rather in my old hunting and trapping jeep. He was standing at the carport and as soon as I exited the jeep we exchanged ornery grins, shook hands, and struck up a conversation about fall hunting season just like it was 1991. Food plots and the upcoming Missouri archery deer season were the topics of choice. This year Missouri archery season begins Wednesday, September 15th, and extends through Saturday, January 15th, 2011, with an intermission during Missouri firearms deer season from November 13th through November 23rd. The season limit on the archery tag is two deer with only one antlered buck legally taken before rifle season. There are bonus antlerless tags available after you’ve filled your first tag. It has been my experience that success during archery season entails early preparations including three important steps.

The three steps for beginners and old seasoned veterans alike are equipment tune-up, shooting practice, and scouting. Purchasing new equipment or taking your existing equipment into the local archery pro shop for a tune-up is critical. The last thing you need when that 180 inch buck-of-a-lifetime comes walking by is for your equipment to malfunction. If you don’t have the time or just can’t do an adequate job yourself, do yourself a favor and let your local professional provide 30 minutes of disaster prevention in order to avoid a lifetime of ‘what-ifs’. After proper tuning, get to shooting. Practice from every conceivable angle. If you hunt from a tree stand shoot from an elevated position. If you hunt from a ground blind, practice from inside the blind. If possible, shoot at 3-D type targets. Every ounce of realism you can incorporate in practice will provide better success in the field. Finally, scout like a mountain man with the fine-tuned preciseness of a watchmaker. Proper and precise scouting and stand placement will determine whether that buck crosses by your stand in range at 30 steps, out of range at 85 steps, or beyond your sight all together.

As far as deer patterns are concerned there are three distinct phases of archery season. Early season (Sept. 15 through approximately Oct. 15) is a time that a hunter can capitalize on eating and sleeping habits of the deer herd. The deer activity during this phase is a continuation of what the deer have been doing all summer long. Finding travel lanes between feeding and bedding areas are very productive. A hunter has to fight off the bugs but it is really the last chance to catch a buck in any kind of repetitive cycle before the rut starts and his travel habits turn helter-skelter. After the hormones fire-up and the rut gets in full motion, hunting rub and scrape lines as well as travel bottlenecks are good producers for mature bucks. The rut, including the span of time through the second rut in December, is the 4-6 week window when the big bruisers who would not generally make an appearance during daylight hours start making mistakes. With proper decoying, scent and scent control, and calling, this is a very exciting time of the season. Finally, during the late season phase the deer tend to mimic the habits of the early season. They become focused on high calorie food sources to store fat through the winter. Travel routes between food sources and bedding areas are once again in play. Be aware during the late season that while the habits are similar, the food sources of choice can be very different from the early season.

As Alan and I wrapped up our conversation planning an October fishing trip on Clearwater Lake, it occurred to me that the outdoor spirit is alive and well in the Ozark Hills. We talked of hunting, trapping, and fishing seasons past as well as the old days at the smelter. There were just 30 of us working in the plant back then and we all shared at least a few common bonds between us. Besides the workplace, the great majority of us were active participants in the Great Outdoors. And, after 20 years that bond is still alive. I hope you try to pass on to a young person that same Ozark outdoorsman spirit. It generates dividends for a lifetime even if you paint your buddy’s boots pink (he didn’t get my jeep’s steering wheel either). So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.

Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.

Of Pirates and Mountain Men

Several years ago singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffet wrote a great tune called “A Pirate Looks at 40.” There’s a lyric in that song with which today’s mountain men everywhere can identify that says…”Yes I am a pirate, born 200 years too late. The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothing to plunder, I’m an over 40 victim of fate, arriving too late…arriving too late.” In this day and age, if you are a student of the Great Outdoors, it’s easy to put yourself in the shoes of Buffet’s pirate. It’s easy to give in and think that the wild days of the Ozark frontier are forever gone. When considering some of the wildlife that existed just 2 and a half centuries ago in Missouri, it’s easy to understand why a mountain man would long for those days 200 hundred years ago.

Elk bugling in the hardwoods. We are not 200 years too late in the Ozarks.

Who wouldn’t have rejoiced in the splendor of a crisp fall morning in these Ozark hills during the rut when the elk still thundered their bugles up the Current River valley? What true mountain man wouldn’t long for the days when you could ride the surging Gasconade River during the early spring as black bears emerged from their winter dens and patrolled the riverbank for food. What lover of the spectacle of Mother Nature wouldn’t love to have witnessed the awesome show of force of the White River at flood stage in the late 1700’s, 250 years before dams tamed the spring floods of the Ozarks. Yes, it seems some of the wild of these hills has left us… for now. But has it really left so much as just changed? I say the wild is still here in the hills, I see it weekly. You simply have to explore with the same spirit as Kit Carson and you will find wild places alive and well in the Ozarks. And who knows, someday sooner than you think, as the heat of August gives way to the fall rut, the wild places might once again hold some sights and sounds not seen in Missouri for over 150 years.

Just as it was 150 years ago, the best way to prepare for fall hunting and trapping season is to scout. In the Ozarks scouting in August is hot but it’s a great opportunity to get a head start on a successful fall harvest. If you can fight off the bugs it’s also a great time to incorporate squirrel hunting with a child. Thus far this year the squirrels haven’t migrated back through some areas after moving out due to a lackluster mast crop last year. This year all indications that I’ve seen point to a better mast crop as compared to last year. This will set the stage for great bushy-tail action for the young and young at heart while scouting for late fall hunting and trapping season. This is an opportunity to get the kids in the woods to hunt and show them all the wildlife signs of the larger quarry of the fall. With squirrel season extending from May 22, 2010 through February 15, 2011 the season is long enough to suit any hunter. And with a bag limit of 10 and possession limit of 20, the liberal limits are more than adequate to allow for many hours of enjoyment as you hunt and scout the Missouri wild places. What more opportunity can a true Ozark mountain man ask for than an opportunity in which you can be in the woods all afternoon hunting and scouting while passing on our great outdoor heritage?

Still finding the wild places in the Ozarks. Greg, Alex, and Coleman Stephens squirrel hunting and scouting for fall hunting season.

In preparation for an August squirrel hunting and scouting adventure try to pack so as to make the young hunter as comfortable as possible. Plenty of water, snacks, comfortable shoes, hats, bug spray, gloves, and insect resistant clothing are all good ideas. Binoculars, game cameras, and any other scouting equipment are also a good idea. Besides a great mountain cur squirrel dog, a youth model .410 shotgun is a young squirrel hunters best friend. It really gives a child a great sense of accomplishment when they hunt in the Great Outdoors and put dinner on the table. It’s a great time to brag them up in order to instill the desire to repeat the hunting and harvesting experience for a lifetime, not to mention to instill personal responsibility for providing one’s own sustenance.

So, this fall take a child with you to hunt and scout the great outdoors. And, don’t let them take it for granted that the wild places are gone. Find your mountain man spirit and pass it on to the burgeoning young outdoors adventurer in order that they will find those wild places once again. Light the fire that will make them long for the awesome adventure of the Ozark Hills in the 1700’s. And who knows, maybe one day soon those children and we adults will once again hear the bugles of bull elk in the Peck Ranch region of the south central Ozarks. Contrary to Buffet’s pirate, we have not arrived 200 years too late. So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.

Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.

The Internet, Medicinal Herbs, & the Spirit of a Mountain Man

E.J. Daily and a day's catch. The last of a dying breed? Not in southern Missouri!

E.J. Daily, famous mountain man trapper from the mid 1900’s, once said of the old breed of dying-off mountain men, “It isn’t men dying off today. It’s a spirit (dying off)”. His great spirit exemplified all that was embodied within the mystic of our mountain men forefathers. Besides just money, E.J. understood that wealth meant many things - just like beauty, it is in the eye, or hand, or mind of the beholder. Through his vast knowledge of all things in nature, his wealth was defined by complete freedom from the confines of society and, at an early age, he promised himself that he would never work for another man, ever. You see, within Nature’s Economy, E.J. Daily was the peer of modern society’s Bill Gates – in his element he was rich beyond imagination.

As much as I respect and admire E.J. Daily for all that he accomplished in his life I disagree with him on one important point. The spirit of the mountain men is not dying. Rather, I believe it is in a deep trance-like slumber slowly and methodically induced by society’s modern conveniences. I also believe there still exists in a small percentage of the population those who possess that same spirit and spark of the mountain men of old. The trait simply needs to be awakened and nurtured into the burning fire that drove men like E.J. Daily, Wildcat Lynch, Jedediah Smith, and Daniel Boone. Each of these men understood the lesson of taking the road less travelled – ‘only cautiously follow the easier path, for just because it’s an easier path, it’s not always the wiser path.’ And, at the very least, never allow yourself to forget the route of the road less travelled – you never know when you might need to travel it again. It was in pursuit of this lofty mountain man ideal that my family and I recreated in the Great Outdoors last weekend.

My wife swears I am not a multi-tasker and I want to keep it that way because that way, from her looong list, she assigns me only one chore at a time. However, on my list this past weekend I wanted to beat the heat, scout for archery season, scout for trapping season, and scout for herbs and roots. In short, I needed to multi-task. So I said to her, “Honey, let’s take the kids along with some hotdogs and lemonade to the creek bank and go for a swim.” I knew it meant that I would have to cook but hey, it got me in the woods for the entire afternoon and it was an easy sell. And so we set out for the far southern reaches of the Meramec River.

After lunch on the creek bank while the kids were swimming, I strapped on the pistol and daypack and headed up river in search of beaver, muskrat, and mink sign for trapping and ginseng, goldenseal, and bloodroot for harvesting later in the fall. The American Indians and mountain men held some of the last vestiges of knowledge about medicinal herbs and roots and natural health and healing that had served humankind for millenniums, all which today seem lost on modern society. Thankfully, during this adolescence of the information age, there is great opportunity to awaken the spirit of the mountain men in each of you and regain this valuable knowledge of medicinal herbs and roots by doing something as simple as searching the internet.

The internet is a great ocean of information that can educate even the most oblivious greenhorn to the great wealth of health and healing power that is trodden under foot with each trip afield. This computer-age resource, along with various available books and guides enable a burgeoning outdoorsman to discover in a few years what formerly took some of us a lifetime to absorb while being passed down from generations of our hill folk forefathers. I believe the internet and information age will organize and revive the vast stores of knowledge our forefathers held from their direct interaction as an integral part of Mother Nature. As I have written before, I believe the perfect storm is brewing in the information age that will, ironically, bring about the resurgence of the mountain man spirit. The knowledge is there for you to read and get a head start but real understanding can only be achieved by actually experiencing and living it in the Great Outdoors.

As the evening was winding down my son and I were heading back down river to the swimming hole when I spotted something ahead on a gravel bar. Walking over and looking down my son said, “Ahh dad, you’re not going to take that with you are you? It’s still a long time until trapping season.” He knew me well and therefore knew that I, of course, had full intentions of taking it with me. It was a largest specimen of bobcat scat that I had ever encountered. It was so large, in fact, I even wondered if it might be from a mountain lion. If nothing else it would provide a valuable attractant for my bobcat sets this winter. As we approached our encampment and my son announced what I was holding, my wife, youngest son, and daughter all screamed and scattered! I, on the other hand, had to smile. I had managed to multi-task very efficiently for the day and I believe E.J. Daily would’ve been proud that the mountain man spirit is still alive and well in southern Missouri. And, like E.J., I’m pretty sure I don’t have to worry about ever working for anyone again if they are aware of my crazy poop-carrying habits. So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly.

Greg Stephens is a 35-year veteran & life-time student of the great outdoors. His column appears weekly in print & online publications. You can email him at gregstephens@one-eyedhillbilly.com. For more columns go to www.one-eyedhillbilly.blogspot.com.