Log Haulers

It's about time that I wrote a totally useless blogg, but I guess they all are.

South of Chunky River I met a eighteen wheeler hauling a load of logs. The bug screen on the front of the truck said "Cane Clutter." I laughed to myself. Now I've seen loads of logs in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Maine, New Brunswick and British Columbia to name a few. I don't know If they display their handles or AKA's on their rigs like some of our old boys down here. They are all working men and have my respect.
The name brought back many memories. I didn't know if the name meant someone who cut logs like one would cut sugar cane. It seems plausible even though no cane is grown in the Pine Belt (a region in the general area between Meridian and Hattiesburg that grows mostly native pine.)

But then I thought about when I was eleven years old and got my first shotgun. We hunted squirrels and rabbits mostly, before I got into ducks and deer. Now I don't know much about lagomorphs except that they have an extra pair of upper incisors for cutting off vegetation.

Sometimes we would hunt the river bottoms of West Tennessee. There is a large rabbit that lives in these watery places. They are called Swamp Rabbits or Cane Cutters. These critters are chased with beagles. I don't see it much anymore. Southerners at one time loved to hear the hounds whether it was running fox all night (three or four men standing by a fire talking about which hound was taking the lead) coon hunting, (we should talk more about this) or even deer.
Apparently we brought this sport from the British Isles. The British still love it. William Faulkner loved to hunt on horseback.
Anyway when a dog or pack or dogs jump a rabbit from a thicket or ditch bank, I'm talking about smaller cotton tails now. He scampers fast. Beagles are short legged and slow. Our objective wasn't to catch the rabbit. We wanted him to run his circle. When a rabbit runs from the dogs, he gets out ahead and runs along just enough to stay ahead. If the hunter will stay close to where the rabbit was jumped, the critter will run back to the same area and start the circle all over again. The hunter will shoot him usually on the first circle.

With a Swamp Rabbit (he's big and husky, but doesn't look like a Jackrabbit.) When he jumps, he runs a much wider circle. Sometimes the dogs will almost go out of rearing range, but eventually he comes back. Sometimes you will think they are running a deer because of the distance he runs. The hunter places himself along a stream or slough. I have shot these big boys running in the shallow water. They are not plentiful anymore fore several reasons.

For people who were raised on concrete or in another part of the country, you may have never thought about it, but there is a proper way to skin a rabbit. The helper holds the rabbit by the Nap of his back with a couple of inches between his hands. The skinner sticks the knife through the skin above the mid-spine. One sticks his eight fingers in the cut pulling toward the head. The other puts his eight fingers in the cut and pulls toward the other end. His shirt and pants are removed simultaneously. Then the head and four feet are removed with the skin. He is gutted washed and ready to cutup and put in the pan.

A squirrel takes more skill. The helper holds the squirrel upside down by the hind feet. The squirrel's belly is facing the helper's belly. The skinner makes a perfect cut across the base of the tail just millimeters above the anal opening. He methodically works his way around the tail with his small knife then severs the tail bone leaving the tail in tact. He cuts a little more to the top of the hips. While the helper holds the hind feet, the skinner digs his fingers under the skin and pulls the squirrel's shirt over his head. Then he cuts the feet off leaving the head with the skin pulled over it. The helper then holds the ball of reversed fur with the head inside. It's just a little knob. The skinner works the squirrel's pants loose at the top around his pretend belt area then pulls the skin down to the feet and cuts them off. The helper takes the bare hind legs. The skinner cuts off the head then inserts the blade into the pelvic area cutting it open and slowly cuts the thin skin down the belly to the breast bone, empties the guts. They wash him and cut him up for dinner. (We'll have to talk about fur bearing animals later. They are a totally different animal. Oops)

Now I don't know if this is common knowledge but I'm told that there is more than one way to undress a feline.
Down here we still have wild game suppers but I don't know of anyone who eats rabbits and squirrels.

You will never need to know things like this unless we have a depression. What are the chances of that?

Oh, one last thing. The National Fox Hunting Association was formed in the parlor of Waverly Mansion just fifteen miles from my house. The home is open for touring every day of the year except Christmas.