Yep I was an excited kid and had a tough time sleeping the evening before. But the snow thing ? Hardly ! Not SE Louisiana !! Hot as 10 hells, mosquito infested swamp hunting, rowed in --- dogs and all in pirogues. My stand was usually on a big stump of a cypress tree that had been felled decades before, watching a pipeline ROW. My old 12 ga. single shot loaded with 00 buck ... waiting for a pack of soaking wet hounds to drive a deer my way ... and hoping it would be slipping along rather than hauling tail. MAn it was some thick stuff! In 7 - 8 years of that style of hunting, I never saw a single deer. Only deer that I killed before I was age 19 was a bow kill (spike) when I was 14. My dad hunted this way too ffrom 1954 to 1972 and never even got a shot. Were not many deer around anyway down that way back in the '60's. A big season for the whole bunch that hunted together was 4-5. But we had a ball.

Moved to Alabama in 1974 and that all changed. Got me 4 red ticked "English Coon Hounds that had taken upo running deer rather than tree coons. Man they could push a deer! Gave up running dogs in 1977. Loved my hounds. Enjoyed the bawl of the run. Killed a few deer along the waY. But it took thousands of acres to keep away from inteferring with other hunters in the general area and feeding 4 hungry hounds + vet bills ! I gave all but one of my beloved hounds to a good buddy. My dad, brothers and I leased a 450 acre spot in 1978 and we never looked back. Short of owning my own hunting property, this has been the best way for me to go. Now I hunt with 14 others on 3050 acres of good habitat. Getting old, but still having fun. Season opened today .... and I am at work (sort-a) .