After listening to Mason and Jake Woody talk about all their deer hunting adventures, Christmas day, we scheduled a day to work up some of the deer that they harvested into summer sausage and bologna. On the following Friday night we meet. The Woody boys brought two friends, John Beason (aka Beeston) and a friend they called Clinton, to help in the sausage making. Everyone enjoyed the time spent together and the fresh grilled venison back strips and sausage that were served. Usually it takes two hours to make up 200 lbs of sausage which it did and 30 minutes to clean up the equipment and work area. The clean up time was doubled if not tripled due to the large amounts of ground meat spread everywhere; most of the boys where wearing quite a bit as well.
Two days later, Mason and his dad returned to help slice and pack up the hundred pounds of bologna they had made. That is when Mason and I decided to give the deer a break and take his brother and go trout fishing below Norris Dam, New Years Eve.
After they finished up with basketball practice, we got all our stuff together, ate lunch and arrived at the ramp around 1:30. The first float trip we had boated 6 keepers and had several fish followed the lure to the boat. 3 hours later we had our 21 fish limit; mostly consisting of brown trout with a few rainbow trout and 3 brook trout. We also released a few smaller fish and two that fell into the 14 inch to 21 inch slot that had to be released. Another highlight of the trip was watching two bald eagles lock talons and fall spinning downwards, to releasing just feet above the ground.
Two days later I smoked up the fresh fish and grilled some more of the venison back strip for the young fishermen and their families and friends. I had forgot how good fresh trout are and looking forward to another trip soon.
The last juvenile deer hunt is January 15 and 16.
Take someone to experience the outdoors, Greg Jones