We’re fast approaching the end of 2023. It was a great year in some ways. I felt the Lord’s provision and direction in a lot of different areas this year. I got to work with some great clients. Really helped some people along the way. Made new friends and new clients. Experienced God’s goodness and mercy in many areas.
A lot of people are making plans and resolutions for the new year. And while we can and should work towards goals each year and hope and pray for good things to happen. We also have to be obedient and listen to God’s leading. I’m not suggesting that we should pray for bad things, but I promise you this, God’s blessings are not always health, wealth, and prosperity. I find real blessings are more often direction changes that test and strengthen our faith in his good and perfect will for the lives of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
The economy is tough. A lot of things are not as we would like them to be in the world. There have been many times this year when I wasn’t sure where my next project would come from, yet he provided over and above what I needed. And he allowed me to capture some of his majesty on display in the process. That’s such a blessing.
The first image in the video below is of a wren that nested in a gourd behind my house. A good friend of my dad’s grew them last year. I cleaned a few of them up and hung them here and there. This little chain of events led up to this photo. God used us to provide for this little defenseless wren. And in Matthew 6:26 we’re told, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Ponder that a little bit.
We’re certainly responsible for our actions and are to work hard and make wise decisions. But we’re not called to work harder and be smarter on our own. We’re to seek wisdom from the Lord and his righteousness and then the king who owns the cattle on a thousand hills is sure to give us all that we need. And when our heart’s highest desire is for him then we are sure to find what we’re after. That means we’re called to live by faith and be holy as he is holy. We’re called to be the light in a dark world. The economy is crazy and life is full of twists and turns. But we are to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good deeds and honor our Father in heaven. Matthew 15:16.
So with that in mind, I hope you have a fantastic 2024. Look forward to working with you in 2024!!!
Booking projects in 2024 sounds like a long ways away, but in reality, it’s just a couple of weeks at this point. Now I wear a lot of different hats at various times and my project focus varies with the needs of the clients, but I primarily consider myself a photographer. What I enjoy most about photography is capturing moments in time in photos which can tell a whole story all by themselves. I’d love to help tell your story in 2024. But for now, let’s look at a few stories through my lens.
How does that happen
The adage, a picture is worth a thousand words is one you hear often. A single image can capture the viewer’s attention to draw them into the scene in ways that tell both intentional stories created by the photographer and imaginative stories unique to the viewer. Those stories may be told directly through the image’s content, composition, or style, but depending on the audience’s perspective, it also allows them to see their own story unfold in the minds eye. I may make another post about composition at a later date, but a single image can tell a whole story all by itself in a variety of different ways. I’ll share a few examples here and then maybe we can explore them in a little more detail to explain my thought process and what I mean.
Imaginative Story Telling
Let’s dive into these first two images together. Both are some of my recent work and the images both feature young ladies in very storytelling photos. I’ve had several people tell me that both could be book covers. Well, they could be, but what would the stories in those books be about? Now that’s very different for each photo.
In the first book, I have to imagine a farmer’s daughter reading a book one late summer’s afternoon and maybe telling the story from her perspective placing herself in one of the characters in the book. Maybe she even nods off at some point in her reading and wakes up in some antebellum time lost in the past. Now see the first part of that story can fairly easily be discerned from context clues in the image itself. But that last part is my own perspective because I know her dad loves history. A different viewer who doesn’t know that may have a totally different story from this image. We have both a story being told by the content of the image and the perspective of the viewer.
The second photo is also very storybookesque. This photo may even be the story the first girl is reading about depending again on the perspective of the viewer. For the sake of this example, let us assume that is at least part of the story from the book the first girl is reading. Another similarity between the two photos besides the young ladies in them is the use of light. This image features a setting sun behind the girl is back illuminating her and separating her from the background. The other features a light leak of a setting sun coming in from the right. These features help add to the feel of telling the story of a late summer/fall afternoon. The second photo takes on a little bit more of a dreamy feel. Now I didn’t plan these photos for this example by any means but I was very intentional about my light placement and the feel that I wanted to illustrate when I shot these photos. I wanted to capture the dreamy feel here in the image with the horse. I felt like at least from my perspective that this was the dream vision of this girl Clair in relaying the love she has for her horse and the bond that they share. It is me, the photographer using creative lighting and composition techniques to tell her story.
Commercial Story Telling
Jimmy Corley
This image is much different than the other two. In this image, we have a hunter, sitting in the snow with his back against a tree while aiming his rifle at some distant target. By the composition of the photo, we are drawn to his bright orange jacket and his sight line carries the viewer from the dark wooded area on the right across the image to the expanse on the left.
The story being told here is obviously of a hunter, on a cold winter day, but it allows the viewer to imagine what he might be aiming at. What does he see through his rifle scope? Is it a 160-class whitetail or could it be a giant elk? This created interest in the photo, makes it a very useful photo for marketing purposes. There was no specific client in mind when I shot this photo, but it could have easily featured the latest Leupold optics or Christiansen Ridgeline rifle or some other outdoor brand. I have published this image and used it for a client’s Christmas sales ad for firearms.
All images tell stories, but I think its important for effective images help tell good stories. Some just come alive to me more than others and some tell better stories.
Documentary Story Telling
Here’s another recent example and I’ll wrap up with this one.
Along with some of my commercial-type photos, seniors, and outdoor photography, from time to time, I shoot some rodeo and action sports photography. I love capturing the action found in moments in time that tell stories as well.
A few weeks ago, there was a bull riding event at the Evers Arena here in El Dorado, Arkansas. There were some great bulls and great riders. The whole thing was an event put on to help Colt Cates, brother of PBR bull rider Reese Cates, raise money to help offset some medical expenses from a recent car accident.
Well, the photo below is another one of those photos that tells a story but this one is not planned in any way. The photo is more of a documentary image captured from live unscripted events as they unfolded. There were lots of great action photos from the event, but this one photo speaks volumes to me and is unlike any of the other photos from the event. Partly because of the firm beliefs and values that I hold that give me and many like me a unique perspective on what’s happening. I won’t go into any technical details of how the image was shot here because this all happens so fast that there is no time for that. I shoot what I see unfolding in this type of situation. In this photo, I turned and snapped.
So whats the story
I’ll try to condense this down a little bit to just the story it tells me, but there is a lot there.
This bull had just been ridden and bucked off its rider. I forget now whether the rider covered him for the full 8 seconds or not, but I don’t think so. This was a pretty mean, rank, snorting bull who wanted some more action. He was not ready to leave the arena. You can see by the ropes on him that the cowboys had tried but not yet convinced him that his show was over and it was time to leave the arena. He hit the fence pretty hard just seconds before I shot this photo. The little boy running off had been standing at the fence when the bull hit it hard enough to bow the fence out and the boy took off running back to his mother a little startled but no worse for the wear.
I think he was mostly oblivious to any real sense of danger. Part of that is because of the strength of the fence but also because you can see his father standing firm and confident staring the bull down as he stretches his arm out to usher the little boy behind him. Nothing comforts a child more than the presence of their father. The father in this picture is protected himself by the fence also but should the bull come through or over, he stands watch, ready to protect those he loves.
It’s a powerful image because the world we live in is full of rank bulls and evils intent on destroying everything in their path. Some are as equally ugly as this bull, But unfortunately, some aren’t so obvious as a snorting bull. In this one image, you can see the purpose for which God intended husbands to fill in their roles as fathers. To take on the world and subdue it is what God commanded Adam to do when God created the family (Gen 1:27-28) and he blessed them in that context. It is the duty of husbands and fathers to provide for, and possibly more importantly to protect their families from the evils of the world. But it is the sanctity and safety God ordained in the marriage covenant which is the image of the love that Christ has for his church that does that. God never intended for fathers or mothers to go it alone, but instead, to be united in the covenant of marriage he blessed them in that context.
He created men to be strong and women to be tender so that men might stare down evil with the strength and faith he has given us and women to be equally faithful, nurturing, and caring for children to run to when evil shows its face. The two became one for this purpose in order to create a cohesive and complimentary family relationship. Gender roles and male headship are important biblical concepts under attack by the world for a reason. But when strong fences like marriage vows before God don’t exist, chaos ensues. Even then, when sin creeps under the fences it wreaks havoc on marriages. It requires men to be obedient guard dogs, discerning and ever watchful.
God, the ultimate good shepherd, built good fences. He formed the sanctity of marriage to surround this union as an image reflecting of his love for us, his children. Its purpose is never to subject women or for men to be used as purely providers, but to protect and provide for women and children and for husbands to be honored and respected. Men step up to the fence at the altar before God and man in a promise to love and to hold, to cherish and protect their families until death do us part. It is husbands and fathers who stand at the fence to guard their loved ones as a sacrificial last line of defense. But it’s those fences that are the boundaries for healthy families to exist in. They are only as good as the steel, the welds, and the concrete, they are made of. God gave us his word in truth as a firm foundation that can not be broken as long as we cling to it and build strong biblical marriages within to keep the world out.
The world doesn’t like that. The world wants to tear down fences, with open borders like our southern border with Mexico, and along with it, the family structure God intended. This is a major piece of Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter talking points. Our culture says “Men can be Women.” “Strong women don’t need men”. “Just live together.” “Traditional marriage is outdated”. “Masculinity is toxic”. “end the patriarchy” But it is the strong biblical foundation of the covenant of marriage that is under attack because when it fails, society falls with it.
The world does not want strong men to be the spiritual leaders of their families in the context of Biblical marriage. The world attacks those who do. Our society paints the father in almost every TV show as the village idiot. But without men standing at the fence in the covenant of biblical marriage always and forever, women are at risk. The world needs more Godly women (and men) striving to be more like the bride of Christ (the church) and less like the world, and whose husbands are respected at the city gate. (Proverbs 31:23) A healthy family cannot be built if either partner has one foot out the door. Marriage is the promised covenant that protects the intimacy building trust between husband and wife. Men have to boldly step up to the proverbial fence at the altar accepting responsibility to love their families regardless of what society says. And women are not subjects they are equal in submission to their husbands when their husbands are living in submission to Christ. It is therefore men who must kneel before Christ to stand against the world.
The world needs more than just cowboys. The world needs Godly Men, Husbands, and Fathers who will stand firm on God’s word without flinching at the angry bulls roaming through the world and without apologizing for what His word says on every front. Who will stare down evil as the last line of defense to protect their families? The world doesn’t need more manipulative, greedy, Beth Duttons. It needs more Godly wives and mothers, for children to run to and learn from. Those who will stand on God’s word with their husbands as one.
Storytelling Images Stimulate Action
Now some of that stuff may be more than you want to think about, but that can also be part of the role storytelling images play. That’s exactly my final point. Good images tell stories that cause action. It may be a thought to ponder or it may be a physical action or it may even be a purchase decision. Maybe the image below will make you want to buy a new deer feeder, a sack of deer feed, or maybe it empowers you to take your son hunting to teach them about the outdoors and conservation. But one thing is for sure that good images tell stories that invoke change none the less.
Now we all love cute family photos too, and not every photo has to have a deep story behind it. Some are simple stories and maybe personal stories that just highlight your life or lifestyle. And that’s ok as well. But all photos have a story to tell and not all photos have to be agreed upon to illicit a warm fuzzy feeling like puppy dogs and rainbow photos do.
Some photos though, like the bull photo, do both depending on your perspective. But with good photos, some scream at us, and sometimes they whisper, but great photos enact change. Like the old quote goes and I don’t know where it came from, but “a man never steps in the same creek twice. For when he returns, the creek has change and he is no longer the same man.” So, Imagine a world without images that stimulate us to be better people. Imagine a world where there was no tank man in Tiananmen Square in 1989 or no Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima?
There are volumes more that I see in the story of the images above and many others. There are an infinite number of other stories that need to be told. There are stories of true happiness, joy and powerful images yet to be captured that encourage positive hope-filled things in the world. I hope that you’ll look closer at these images and those you see around you to see what stories they tell. How do they speak to you? What do you need to change for having seen them? If you have a story to tell, and we all do. I’d love to work with you to help tell your story through my lens in 2024.
But for now, I’ll leave you with this, Its one of my favorite images. What story do you think is being shared between this young boy and this giant horse?
I’ve been to Nashville a handful of times over the years. Last week though, I got the opportunity to hang out in Nashville at Banjo Ben‘s Nashville Experience.
“Banjo” Ben Clark is a talented musician from Kilgore, TX who has played professionally for several years with acts like Craig Morgan, Josh Gracin in his early days in Nashville. In 2007 though, Ben was called on to help an up and coming young artist who was just getting started skyrocket to fame you may have heard of named Taylor Swift. They set out on tour that year with the king of country, George Strait and country music legend Ronnie Millsap. The rest as they say is history, but according to Ben, after a few years of playing 300+ nights on the road, he was burned out. He left the arena sized crowds to begin doing what Ben seems to really have a passion for and that’s teaching others to play banjo, guitar, and mandolin through online courses.
As his youtube channel and online business began to grow, Ben stared doing what he calls “Cabin Camps”. Here, musicians from beginner to advanced, come from all over to hone their skills as musicians. At these camps, he along with his equally talented sisters of a popular Gospel Bluegrass group called “The Purple Hulls“, Katy Lou Clark and Penny Lea Clark Gimble teach in-depth music lessons.
Last week was a little different though. I believe this was the first “Nashville Experience” Cabin Camp. This time, the goal wasn’t so much instrument focused about learning how to become a better musician, but rather, what it’s like on the inside of the Nashville music industry. Everyone got to experience the music industry in a much deeper way than just a normal sight seeing trip to Nashville.
After a quick lunch at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, We started off on music row by going to Sony Music Publishing’s Studio A where we got an inside look at how songs are cut and produced. Here I knew it was going to be good when we didn’t go in through the front door lobby. Entering through the artist’s entrance would be a theme for the two day event.
Then we moved down the road to Gruhn Guitars where we met with George Gruhn. George is the largest Martin guitar dealer and THE expert aficionado on all things guitars. Here, once again, we may have entered the front door, but we were quickly taken up to the second floor which is not open to the general walking public. Never before have I seen or heard a $300,000 guitar before or an equally valuable and rare mandolin. Watching a group of young musicians get to play them and play them well was amazing and a testament to the things that they have learned from Banjo Ben’s online guitar lessons and lessons at other banjo camps. Sitting there listening to them play amongst thousands of rare and valuable instruments is cool. Casualy Looking over during a conversation at an unassuming guitar sitting there in an open case and seeing the luggage tag on it that says “E. Scruggs” was interesting, to say the least. And yes that is the Earl Scruggs as verified by a certificate of authenticity from George and it can be yours. It’s on sale currently on the Gruhn Guitars website for $100,000.
Later we went to dinner at Ole Red downtown before heading to Springer Mountain Farms bluegrass nights at the Ryman where we went backstage to visit with Rhonda Vincent before the show. Something tells me it wasn’t just chance that we met her in the alley between the Ryman and Tootsies. However, that happened, It was a welcome surprise and a cool chance to meet the artist. Once again, entering the Ryman from the back alley instead of the main public entrance proved this wasn’t your ordinary family vacation trip to Nashville. The show itself was one of the only things we did that the average Nashville visitor could participate in.
The following day, we met up at Storytellers in Bon Aqua, TN. This seems like an unassuming building but it is a historic general store building where Johnny Cash and others performed years ago. More on that later.
There we of course got to hear Ben and The Purple Hulls perform and hear Ben’s full story. We also got to hear from people like Radio legend Kyle Cantrell as his career has moved from Broadcasting on WSM, to Satellite radio and his latest endeavor to start BanjoRadio.com Later we heard two time IBMA Guitar player of the year Kenny Smith and his wife Amanda play and share their story.
I don’t know if it was intentional or not but one thing that I loved and that stuck out in all of the stories that were told is how pieces of the Gospel couldn’t help but be woven into their stories. How God’s sovereign and providential will moved these people all from humble beginnings to where they are in their careers and lives today and where they are headed in the future. It was a testament to not just the work of God in their lives but character building and the quality of character found in pretty much all of the people working with Ben.
I mentioned before that Johnny Cash was involved in the history of the building now know as the “Storytellers”. Well, there is a little more to that story. Right down the road from Storytellers, a hand hewn log cabin sits on a 100 acer farm that Johnny once owned. The property is now known as Hideaway Farm. It got it’s name because this is the place Johnny and June chose to hideaway from their life of fame. The home is still filled with many of Johnny’s things almost as he left it including the “one piece at a time car”.
Obviously I’ve left out tons of details here but, if you are a budding musician or if you just picked up a guitar, mandolin, or Banjo, Banjo Ben is the guy you need to get in contact with. I’m not a musician myself. I can play the radio but sometimes it has a little static in it. But I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a more qualified expert than Banjo Ben Clark and his team. If you ever get the chance to go to one of his Cabin Camps, I think you should jump on the opportunity.
You can find Ben online at www.banjobenclark.com. There, you’ll find all of his latest lessons, how to subscribe as well as upcoming events. Or Like, Follow and subscribe on all the major social media channels. There is a lot of crazy stuff on there sure to keep you laughing as well as the latest tutorials and some great music.
South Arkansas isn’t exactly known for snowy mountain peaks like the rocky mountains. Nor is it known for the foggy mountain breakdown bluegrass music you’d find in the hills of Tennessee. Arkansas does have some beautifully mountain ranges in the Ozarks of north Arkansas. The Piney hills of the Ouachita’s that run through west central Arkansas are beautiful in their own way. But, here in south Arkansas, a few very gently rolling hills is about the closest thing you’ll find to a mountain. I think the highest elevation in Union County is about 150ft above sea level. What we do have is an Iron Mountain Road and there sits a beautiful old barn that I had to photograph. But is it really old?
Although I’m not exactly sure, where it gets its name from, Iron Mountain road runs south from US 167 just south of El Dorado and after it enters Louisiana, it runs into LA15 at a small community called Mount Union. Ironically, not exactly any mountains there either. I think this route is a very old route that was used to connect north Louisana and South Arkansas in the 1800s and maybe earlier. But if I were guessing, and this is only a guess, I think the name Iron Mountain may have something to do with the Iron Mountain Rail Road company that once operated a railroad through Arkansas and I think had some saw mills in Louisiana. I could be completely wrong about this, but thats the best guess I’ve got.
As I said, Iron Mountain Rd is a main travel way between North Louisiana and South Arkansas. It just so happens that a lot of my work is in North Louisiana so I travel Iron Mountain Rd quite often. It was on one of these work trips that I noticed the most gorgeous barn in the setting sun. Having traveled this road quite often I wondered “Why have I not noticed this barn before?”
Turns out, It’s new
As you drive past, you’d swear this barn has been siting here for ages, but its actually new. Well, sort of new. The barn I first noticed looked like it was in disrepair. Actually, it was being built. As I passed by over the next several days, the barn was coming together nicely but all of the materials were old and original looking.
Philys Davis’ Grandfather’s barn. Built in the 1950s. Moved to its current location in 2022.
I never saw anyone working there when I passed and I was unsure of who the owners were so I never stopped to ask. I’ve just admired the old barn when I’ve passed it. But just the other evening I passed by right at sunset and as spring rains have brought new growth to last year’s hay fields that surround the barn, the sun was glowing on the tops of the tall grasses an hitting the sides of the barn. I had to find out more about the barn and get some photos.
I could have just taken some photos from the public highway, but I knew to photograph this barn properly, I would really need to get closer.
Trespassing is a serious thing though. I wouldn’t want some stranger wondering around my property and neither would most people. So I had to find the owners. Plus, I’m always looking for cool places to take clients so I would love to be able to take some other pictures there in the future.
Luckily, my good friend Rachel Thurmon lives close by so I asked if she knew and sure enough she knew the owners. Ricky and Phylis Davis. Rachel gave me Ricky’s number.
After talking with Phylis, she gave me the rundown on the barn. Turns out, the original barn belonged to her grandfather and was built in the 1950s on a separate location. The property the barn was originally built on had been inherited by a cousin who wanted to remove the barn from the property to use the space for other uses. Phylis had so many fond memories of her grandfathers barn that she just couldn’t bare to see it torn down. It had to be moved.
Phylis and her husband worked with a local contractor who took the building down piece by piece and moved it to its new location. Ricky said he was initially a little apprehensive about it, but It turned into a fun “little” project. Hopefully, with a new foundation under it, the Iron Mountain Barn will have a long life and see many more sunsets for years to come in its new location.
The Barn
All of this may be more than you really wanted to know about the barn’s history or the history of Iron Mountain rd. So, If you just came for the pictures. Here you go. Enjoy.
To view other photos or to purchase, visit our gallery page.
After last nights cool front here in Arkansas, its finally fall. It feels amazing outside this morning. There are lots of fall posts on social media and people gearing up for fall photo sessions as well as fall hunting seasons that are getting underway. In celebration, I felt like I needed to post a fall photo or two to social media. As I was going through fall photos to share, I’ve got plenty of fall landscape photos but they say one of the keys to improving your landscape photography is placing people in your images. Although I didn’t know her long, this lady is one of my people. Her name is Ann Clark.
Who was Ann Clark?
In the fall of 2015, I got to meet Ann when I was asked to film a deer hunt with “some old lady” in Arkansas. I’m pretty sure those were the exact words Bill first used to describe her in the first phone call. His old high school basketball coach Arden Chapman had set the hunt up and the story of how that all happened is pretty involved on its own but Bills first words were pretty honest after all since she was 90 something at the time. I honestly didn’t know who she was at the time either. I had to google her. Sorry Mrs Ann.
I soon learned that Ann was one of the pioneers of the outdoor industry. She was one of the first of what we would now call a “pro staff” member of an outdoor company. She is a founding member of the Archery Hall of Fame. Her display cases are one of the first things you see when you walk into the museum at the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield MO. Long before names like Michael Waddell, Jim Shockey, or Eva Shockey or for that matter any of the other big names in the modern outdoor hunting industry were even born, Ann Clark was paving the way. Her contemporaries were mostly men like Fred Bear, Ben Pearson or Earl and Ann Hoyt.
Ann said she got started in archery when she and her former husband started a sporting goods store in Cincinnati, OH called Clark’s Archery and Sports Center. They didn’t have all of the archery options that we have to day so her husband tried to make a long bow fit her by cutting a section off of both ends to make it shorter and shorten the draw length. She said it was like shooting a broom stick. It’s a wonder she kept shooting but she did. And she got good too.
Its a Mental Game
Ann Clark became a competitive archery shooter as well as a bow hunter. She told me she had seen in various publications that Ann Webber Hoyt from Hoyt Archery was the person to beat. She was good and was winning all of the matches. At her first big match she found out she was going to be standing on the shooting line next to Ann Hoyt. Ann Hoyt was very intimidating, but in the middle of that match Ann Clark realized that she wasn’t competing against Ann Hoyt she was competing against herself. She said “Archery is a mental game and I couldn’t allow myself to be distracted by how Ann Hoyt or anyone else was shooting, I had to focus on my own target. The scores of Ann Hoyt or other competitors didn’t matter. It was only my personal score that mattered.”
“Archery is a mental game and I couldn’t allow myself to be distracted by how Ann Hoyt or anyone else was shooting, I had to focus on my own target.”
Ann Clark
Mic drop, que the music. Let me re-state that so the world can hear it again. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. You focus on you and being the best person that you can be. You can’t change other people you can only change you. You can’t worry about how many likes, shares, or comments someone else gets. You have to focus on you. It doesn’t matter how much money someone else makes. You have to focus on you. I wish today’s world could get that. You can’t even worry about who else has the vaccine that’s all over the news today. All you have to worry about is you and being the best person you can be.
I can’t remember for sure if she said she’d beaten Ann Hoyt in that first match but Ann Clark scored the highest score she’d ever achieved that day. The two Anns became the closest of friends after that day. I believe they actually lived together for a while in their later years before Ann Hoyt Passed away.
As I mentioned before, She became a pro staffer for Ben Pearson Archery. Ben Pearson Archery was one of the first companies to market themselves with pro staff members. It was especially unique to have a woman like Ann Clark doing the job, but she did it well.
Ann’s daughter Debbie was also an accomplished archer
Images courtesy Ben Pearson family archives
She toured sports shows as she called them and did archery exhibitions in schools and other events all over the country. Here she demonstrates how she used to shoot a balloon from an assistant’s mouth. Can you imagine? She said she stopped doing this when a student popped a popcorn bag right before she shot. No one was ever hurt in her performances but she said she didn’t need that kind of excitement anymore.
Ann Clark demonstrating how her assistant would hold a balloon for her to shoot. No seriously!!
She had spunk like few others that I have known. I got to film her last two hunts with her before she passed away. She had moved to a crossbow instead of her traditional archery equipment. But she could still hunt.
Hunt at Longbow
For the first of the two hunts we would be hunting at the historic Long Bow Resort in Prim, Arkansas. It would be a fitting hunt since this property was originally her friend Ben Person’s farm and is now owned and operated by his son Ben Person Jr. Its a beautiful property with some of the coolest cabins and waterfalls and especially that fall, it was some of the best fall color I’ve ever seen.
We met Ann and her daughter Debbie at the Little Rock airport. A representative from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was there to personally present Mrs Ann with her hunting license. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had that happen to me. For a lot of people, if a representative from the Game and Fish commission is there, someone has some questions to answer. Mrs Ann though was plumb royalty and it was proof that we were hunting with the Queen bee of archery.
After a short stop at Mikes Place in Conway, for dinner, we made our way on up to Prim, Arkansas where we arrived at longbow resort and were met by Ben Pearson Jr. Lots of old stories were told among these old friends as we toured the property and got situated in our cabins.
Rainy weather settled in the next morning and for most of our hunt. Ann and Debbie were staying in their own cabin and well before daylight we went to pick her up for our morning hunt. When we pulled up, Mrs Ann was already standing outside in the rain when we arrived waiting on us. She was ready. After quite a long sit that morning, we hadn’t seen much but squirrels, Mrs Ann mentioned that she needed to take a break and visit the little girls room. Bill and I trying to be gentleman and me thinking of my own 90 year old grandmother, I said I would run and get the UTV and get her back to the cabin and end the hunt for the morning. She looked at Bill and I and said, no honey, if you’ll just help me get our of this blind, I’ll walk into the woods behind the blind.
Yes Ma’am. And she did. A few minutes later, she came back to the blind and we hunted in the rain for a couple more hours. I know a lot of women these days who would not have done that. Heck, I was ready to end the hunt myself after several ours in the cold rain and not seeing much. Mrs. Ann was not average.
Bill and I cooked dinner for everyone the next night and somehow during conversation, the subject of dancing came up. In my past, I had learned to west cost swing dance. Upon hearing this, the next thing I know Debbie has pulled out her phone a turned on some music. She wanted to learn. I don’t claim to be the best dancer in the world but I showed Debbi a little and then Mrs Ann was not going to let her daughter out do her so I got to twirl Mrs Ann around the floor a few rounds. I swear I’m not making this stuff up. If you know them I’m telling you these ladies are a lot of fun to be around and it’s obvious that with Debbie, the acorn did not fall far from the tree.
Although we hunted hard, we did not get a chance to take a deer with her. However, Bill Petrus has a camp at Davis island in Louisiana which is know for some great white tail deer action. Mrs. Ann and debbie would be visiting family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving so we invited them to make another hunt with us in Louisiana at that time.
Louisiana Hunt at Davis Island
Now Bills show is called T.P. Outdoors Adventures. If you’ve never hunted an island on the mighty Mississippi river, just getting there can be a much bigger adventure than most people ever experience. Fluctuating river levels mean sometimes you can boat all the way in to the camp. Other times, you have to boat across a small section of the river to a sandbar and UTV the rest of the way. During the summer at low water, you can actually drive all the way. Some people even choose to fly in via helicopter or small airplane on a grass strip. It doesn’t matter if you have the nicest equipment, there are always equipment breakdowns in getting there. (although hopefully not with aircraft)
This trip would be boating part way and UTVing across the sandbar and a mile or two on back to the camp. However, it was cold and the wind was howling. The water level was to high to drive in, but almost to low to boat in. Still Mrs Ann and Mrs Debbie loaded up into a boat and were ready for the adventure.
Now remember we are trying to get 6 people including a 90 year old lady plus a dog across the Mississippi river via boat in a blowing late November cold front. After some trouble getting the boat all the way to the sand bar, Mrs Ann still had not had enough adventure so she and Bill set off doing donuts on the massive dunes of the Mississippi river sandbar in the UTV like kids on spring break. We then got everyone loaded up and headed to the camp for the hunt.
Davis island gets its name because in the 1800’s this was part of Jefferson Davis’s family plantation. Currently the island is not owned by one individual but is divided into a small handful of hunting clubs and some private individuals. It’s known for some incredible whitetail hunting due to its habitat created by the Mississippi flood plain. But even with the best habitat and genetics, If deer aren’t allowed to reach maturity you’ll never have a quality deer heard. Davis Island has all of the above due to very strict harvest policies designed to allow deer to reach maturity.
For this hunt in particular, we would be hunting on some private land. The land owner was willing to allow us to take a deer for Mrs Ann that didn’t quite make the normal criteria in the adjacent clubs given the circumstances of the hunt. He had one exception. We could not shoot one deer that he estimated to be 4 1/2 years old. He had been watching this deer and wanted to see what he was as a 5 1/2 year old which was the typical criteria.
The night before our hunt, Bill Petrus and I left to go setup a blind for the next mornings hunt. When we got to the area, we walked through the woods with just a dim light and we could hear the most awful crashing and clanging racket in the direction we were headed. Not 50 yards in front of us, there were two bucks going at it. It was the fight of the century and they could care less that we were even there. Other deer moved about watching the action and we watched for a minute before they finaly moved away. We were sure the next morning would be good.
A little after daylight we noticed a deer coming our direction. It was a good deer. Mrs Ann looked at Bill eager for him to hand her her crossbow, but Mrs Ann wasn’t aware of the deer on our no shoot list. He had to make sure this wasn’t the deer. We watched him come all the way in and stand there for what seemed like forever presenting the perfect shot for Mrs Ann to take. She was looking at us and the deer wondering just how big the deer have to get to shoot down here and knowing she could easily take the shot but Bill never handed her the bow. He was all but positive this was the deer on our don’t shoot list.
Bill took pictures of the deer and tried his best to send it to the land owner for verification or approval to shoot. However cell service is very spotty on the remote island. The txt messages wouldn’t go through. Knowing how many deer there were on the island and yet being unsure about this specific deer, Bill couldn’t give the green light to shoot. He never handed Mrs Ann her bow.
It was truly crushing for everyone to not get to shoot this deer. Bill had given his word to the landowner so we had abide by his rules. It was a judgment call that had to be made and you have to respect that but everyone wanted Mrs Ann to be able to take this deer. Knowing the number of deer on the island, surely there would be other deer. They never came. We’d missed our opportunity to take a deer for this trip.
I’m sure she was frustrated and disappointed as were we, but she was a sportsman and understood that we had rules we had to follow even if we didn’t like them and wanted to bend them a little. We didn’t. Instead we planned to do another hunt the following year.
Future Plans
At the beginning of December of that year, I’d been working in Texas and on my way home I got a call from my dad saying that I’d received a package. He hadn’t opened it but had placed it inside. When I got home several hours later, I opened it and it was from Mrs Ann and Debbie. They had sent me ice cream. I’m so glad I made it home before it thawed. I had no clue you could even ship ice cream like this. We’d spoken on the phone and she wanted me to attend the next Hall Of Fame induction dinner with her. A series of events happened and I was not able to attend the dinner at the Hall of Fame Induction that year. I ended up working because honestly, I couldn’t afford to make the trip. I needed the money from work. I hoped and made plans to make the dinner the next year and spoke to her and Debbie frequently on the phone and through e-mail and social media in the mean time.
The bible says in Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Even though we’d made plans God had different plans. You and I are not entitled to tomorrow. Mrs Ann passed away due to a heart attack before the next years hunt or the Hall of Fame Dinner. Not making that dinner with her or getting her a deer was one of my bigger regrets in life.
Mrs Ann’s words about shooting and focusing on your own target ring true on so many levels. Each and everyone of us will have to stand before God and answer for our actions one day. Being raised in church won’t save you, having Godly parents won’t save you. Having others pray for you won’t help you either. Being a good person won’t save you because we all have failed at some point. One sin requires punishment. But Jesus Christ made a way that each and every one of us can follow him and place our full faith in him and just like when Mrs Ann was greeted at the airport terminal by the game and fish commission, Jesus Stands waiting on us to accept him as he vouches for us before Holy God saying She’s with me. He’s one of mine. Come with me. It helps to know people but you have to focus on your own target. If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact me.
Every fall since our hunts in 2015, I’ve thought of Mrs Ann and Debbie and the fun we had on these hunts. I still try to stay in touch with Debbie and think of them often. But until we meet again, Mrs Ann, “I’ll see you at the Hall of Fame.”
