I wrote this stroy after Eric Cottrell and I finished up last season. I have never finished totally, you may find some typeos in it. There are 6 parts, I will just let yall see the 1st. Maybe one of these days I will finish it. LOL.


Windows to the Soul
Part I


As the sun slowly began its assent into the morning sky, I set out on my journey. The shadows of the night life receded into a gray glow, as the light blue eastern sky raced forward into the darkness of the western hemisphere. The steam rose from the water like ghost dancing off into the heavens, blown from a soft gentle breeze. The air was crisp, fresh and very cold. With every breath from deep inside, came a bellowing cloud of white smoke blown before me. With out seeing them, I could feel my wind battered cheeks were rosy red, with the feeling of a thousand ants biting them at once. In the distance I could hear a lone mallard duck calling for his lost flight. I marveled for a spell at the wonder of God’s creation and how wonderful it is to be alive in it. As my mind raced back to, fear gripped my thoughts.

Three weeks earlier I had been making a cat set on a pond levee in the Red River bottoms. The sun was out and the temp had climbed to near 50 degrees that Saturday afternoon. It had been a slow morning after weeks of rain the water was at flood stage and the roads near impassable. My ATV was 50 lbs heavier with all the gumbo mud stuck to it. I was ready for a change when the tune “Sweet Home Alabama” began playing from my cell phone. I did not recognize the number on the caller ID.

“Hello!” with a sigh and loss of breath from being bent over for several minuets making the cat set.

“Hello, Mike?” came the reply with a loud booming voice, “This is Don Black with UR&D Laboratories. I was given your name and number, and told that you could take care of a beaver problem for me.”

“Yes Sir, I have been known to take a few beaver.” I replied with confidence.

“Well, I was told you are the man I want for the job. I have 10,000 acres of land with 5,500 acres in lakes and pounds. All of it is fenced and you will be the only trapper inside the fence. What will you charge to remove beaver?”

As the conversation moved on, Don explained where his land was located. I knew of the area since childhood and had tried for a number of years to gain access to this property for the rich fur that lived with in its boundaries. The property was located less than 5 miles from my home and had once been part of a paper mills water treatment and disposal site, along with a testing facility for genetic modifications of pine trees. The ponds that once held black water for the mill were deep with miles of levees and a great bob cat population. I made Don an offer he could not refuse and we set a date to meet the next after noon to ride the property and go over what was to be expected of me. With a smile on my face and an “I look forward to meeting you” I ended the call knowing that my cat count was going to go up.

The next morning I speed to the river bottoms some 45 miles away in the pulling mode. I knew that the 10,000 acres would take up the better part of my day just to check sets, so I removed all the sets I had been running for the past 10 days. That after noon I met Don’s business partner and co–owner Terry Tidwell to ride the property and make a plan of action for the removals. Don had to leave out of town on business and had asked Terry to show me around. Terry stood 6 foot 2 inches and was much a man with a full head of red hair. He wore a full beard that looked like a rusty wire brush. He appeared to be in his mid 50’s and was quite talkative. We met at the main gate to the property some 2 miles off the state highway just a few miles south of the old paper mill site. As I pulled to the entrance, I could see warning signs on both gate posts. “WARNING AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY PROPERTY OF UR&DL NO TRESPASSING, VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.” Terry explained first and foremost, every gate was to be locked behind me, either in or out. He also explained that I was not allowed on the property at night.
“Not a problem” I remarked.
He told me that he would take his truck to a parking area then we would take my truck around the property. After locking the gate back we drove for 2 miles winding through the woods and along side the largest pond levee called Blue Water Lake to another gate inside the property. Terry left his truck there and joined me as my tour guide. With his knowledge of the property it would not take long for me to find a gold mine of beaver sign and sets. This was going to be a cake walk with easy pickings. The over all size of the property was amazing to me, I had only seen a small portion as a child, and did not remember the pond being this large. Terry explained that it was no longer considered a pond, but, rather a 3800 acre lake filled with special hybrid bass which had come from their own hatchery inside the property.
“It is a pay lake and for this reason we would love for you to also catch the river otter that are eating our big bass.” Terry explained. With the price of otter up that was just icing on the cake.

All of the roads were nice, well keep gravel covered roads with not even as much as a wet spot in them. I drove my truck as Terry showed me cross over and huts one after another. It was hard to hold back the excitement, but I knew I had to act professional with these business men. As Terry and I talked and drove to the far side of the property, and through two more gates we came to a Y in the road. Both roads had a gate at the Y and Terry told me to take the road to the right. As I pulled up and stopped for Terry to unlock the gate, I could see the left road led to a field with another gate and an 8 foot cyclone fence leading off into the distance around the field. Inside this fenced area, half way across the field stood a large white building at least 50 foot wide and 300 foot long. The building had a blue roof on it that had to be 20 foot to the top. Around this building was another fence with barbed wire around the top. The building had three huge roll up doors on the side I could see. There were all kinds of warning signs posted in the area of the outer gate. As I looked more intently, I could see a camera housing setting atop a pole inside the outer fence aimed toward the gate. After Terry opened the gate and allowed me through, he climbed back in the truck with a smile on his face. I could not help but ask as my curiosity got the best of me. “What is……” I started
“Don’t ask! And don’t try to enter!” Terry broke in. “That is another 2000 acres not part of the 10,000 you are to be working on. Let’s just say that is our private hunting area.”

My mind held images of exotic animals from far off lands, lions, tiger and bears. I knew from years of rumors in the community that there were plenty of investors and something very private going on in the property. I was just happy to be inside the fence working the beaver job and able to take cats as well. The tour ended right back where we started from and Terry explained that even though we had used the truck to ride the levee systems and look at the land, they wanted me to use a ATV to run my line. They did not want to damage the levees with repeated truck traffic. Terry also gave me a small index card with names and phone numbers on it.

“If you see anyone out here fishing from the bank or have any questions, don’t hesitate to call one of these numbers.” He added.

The following morning at sun rise, I was sitting at the first cross over making a set. “Oh”, like a child with dreams of Christmas morning dancing in my head I worked my way down the first levee. Beaver sign on top of beaver sign, with otter scat every where. In fact there was enough sign to justify double sets at most crossovers. Double 330’s on the wide beaver runs and where I found otter scat a 330 on the hut side with the trigger set to one side for beaver and a 280 on the creek side with a upside down V center trigger setting. I had entered a new realm of trapping, unknown to most. I had obtained the ultimate land for which I was to apply my trade. It did not take long to find cat sign. I began finding push ups with piles of droppings near by. As the day wore on and the nice cool chill of the morning left the air, and I began to strip off clothing. It was hard for me to keep setting trap after trap all day, but I knew I had to hit this area hard and fast to make a good impression and not educate any more beaver than I had to, so I pressed on. As I drove onto the top of the largest levee from one of the smaller ponds, I could see a deer carcass off the edge of the road way, half way to the water line. I stopped to see how it might have died with hunting season out, and also to see if any carnivores came to the supper table here. As I made my way to the carcass, I could see the flies had already made their next hatching and once I could see the head, it became clear it was large doe. There were a number of holes in her side and chest area, but with decay so far along, there was no clear cause of death and no real sign of scavengers. I made a set anyway and moved on.

After three trips back to the truck for gear I had watched as morning turned to after noon and then the after noon turned to evening as I was still making sets. The temp began its evening plunge as the sun descended into the night sky letting me know it was time to go home. As I packed up my tools after the last set, I slipped on my insulated wind breaker for the long and chilly ride to the truck. I had to cover over 5 miles on my ATV, making it to this last set. I felt good about the day’s work. I had made over 90 sets total, 70 conibears and 20 cat sets. I knew the morning would bring a full day of remaking sets and removing beaver and otter. What I could not wait for was the big tom that I knew would be walking the levees that night.

I had the ATV heading in the right direction as I knew that was to be my last set. I pulled on my leather work gloves, turned on the key and hit the lights. As my eyes focused in the dim light of the ATV, I could see something standing less than 50 foot in front of me. It was brown with a white spot on it and at least 4 legs. I could see brush on it and the brush was moving. I hit the bright lights to reveal a massive whitetail standing there looking right at me. His rack was at least 20 plus inches on the inside spread. His G1 had to be some where in the 14 inch range. In all my life in the outdoors, I had never witnessed a whitetail buck with such mass as this deer had. His neck looked to be the size of a beach ball around it, and his chest was larger than a 55gal drum. He made no attempt to run, he just stood there and looked at me. I was dismayed because his eyes did not shine. I thought for a moment that maybe he was blind in both eyes. I could see them clear in the bright lights, but there was no red glow from them. I shifted the ATV in gear and pulled closer closing the distance between us to just under 20 feet. I could see that this massive buck sported an 11 point rack with 6 on his right side and 5 on the left. This buck looked like one I had seen in a magazine of trophy bucks a few years earlier. At once he turned like a large cow and disappeared out of the light down the side of the levee. Excited to see such a majestic animal, I headed for the truck with dreams of the morning run. I had not even shifted out of first gear when I could see another large brown hump in the middle of the levee less than 50 feet away. As I neared the figure, there stood another huge deer right in the middle of the levee. This deer looked to be the same deer I had just observed. I slowed to a stop with the lights right on the him and sure enough, it was the same buck. Again, with his dark eyes he turned and headed off into the darkness down the levee. I thought to myself “I can not believe a buck this size has made it this long allowing humans to get this close to him.” Again, I shifted into gear and headed for the truck. The road on top of the levee made its way through a wooded area and up a hill that overlooked the Blue Water Lake about a mile from my last set. I had gotten up to speed and rolling along when in my head lights, I could see a deer standing in the middle of the road. I locked up the breaks and came to a complete stop to see standing in my head lights the same buck I had just watched walk down the levee a mile back. What is going on with this buck I wondered and how in the world did he cover a mile and get a head of me? The temp had dropped into the upper 30’s by this time and the sunlight was just a memory now. As I breathed deep looking at the huge buck standing there, I could see the steam blown before me with every breath I took. The buck just stood there looking right at me, and not a puff of smoke came from his nostrils. His eyes were cold black with no sign of flicker in them. As I pulled closer, the buck simply turned and walked out of my head lights and into the woods that lined the road. I am not one to be bothered by anything in nature, day or night, but this was getting a little unnerving. I shifted into gear once again and headed for the truck with a chill of terror running down my spin.

I had to open and close three gates between my last set and my truck. This was quite a pain, but it would be worth it in the morning. The thought of the large buck was now in the back of my mind as I made my way through the second gate with less than one mile of road to go. I had come out of the wooded area that surrounded one of the smaller lakes and popped on to its levee when there before me stood another huge deer. I slowed to a stop and watched as the same large buck I had already witnessed three times before, over 4 miles back stood in the middle of the levee looking straight at me with his large dark eyes. I had never taken the ATV out of gear, so I just down shifted and pulled ahead and forced the buck to yield the right of way. He again turned and disappeared out of my view with the head lights. At this point, I had become concerned, I shifted through the gears quickly, and made top speed. I made it to my truck and loaded the ATV and gear on the trailer. With no delay, I headed for the main gate that would get me out of this property. It was not the fact that I had seen the same deer 4 times in less than 20 minutes over 5 miles of road. The thought that it was the exact same huge buck with the massive 6 points on the right side and 5 on the left never bothered me. It was however the fact that his eyes did not glow.

As I locked the last gate which leads out of the property, I jumped in the truck and pushed it in gear. I let out on the clutch petal and started to move forward when out of the woods ahead of me a deer bounded across the road. With just a quick glance, I could see those big red eyes shinning in the headlights of my truck. I then thought, maybe the lights on the ATV are dirty and could not make the eyes glow, there has to be a simply explanation.
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If I have to explain it, you would not understand.