July 29, 2019 - When I became Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Mauriceville, Texas in 1964, I learned early that the men loved to hunt—especially squirrels. Thamar Dickerson took me and his dog “Yeller” to scout out the best Mauriceville woods for squirrels. “Our best woods are at the “S-Curve” between here and Orange”, he said. From that day on, I hunted there with my hunting friend, Buddy White. Unlike most of the other men, Buddy and I preferred “still hunting” to hunting with a dog.
We drove to the S-Curve, walked east into the woods, jumped across an irrigation lateral, and entered the woods. We always entered at the same place by walking near a discarded thermos bottle at the water’s edge. These woods worked alive with mosquitos and we never went in them before rubbing plenty of “Off” on our arms and face. Back in these days, deer hunting with dogs was legal and on this particular day, Buddy White and Bubba Shannon were running dogs close to my squirrel woods. I heard the dogs getting closer to me when a big buck jumped the lateral near me. Without thinking twice, I wheeled around, fired two shots and he fell. I had never shot a deer… never wanted to and was instantly sorry that I shot this one.
What was I going to do with him? I was a half mile from the highway… and how would I get him out? Besides that, I had no idea on how to dress one. So I drug the deer to a brush top and since this was well before the time of cell phones, I drove to the house and called Buddy. His wife DeWanda said she expected him at any time and would give him directions on how to find the deer. “Tell Buddy to go to the S-Curve, cross the lateral at the thermos bottle and the deer will be twenty yards inside the woods. I learned later that Buddy had gotten Harry Bilbo’s truck and was able to find the deer.
Buddy, Thamar, and most of my friends in Mauriceville have crossed The Jordan now. Ray Peddy, LeRoy Neel, Bill Hardesty, Joe Daily… and all the others made my six years in Mauriceville a pleasure to remember. They made me laugh, smile, and feel good.
That’s what good friends do.
