The bad turtles that can ruin a man's hand or leg are usually living in shallow water, where trash and debris has settled and filled in places.
They have a built-in worm-like tongue. He will bed himself down in the trash, disguising himself. He holds his mouth open and only moves the worm like tongue. When the small fish or crawfish come in close trying to get the worm for his own food, he is in trouble. The snapping turtle is very fast, and he snaps out catching the food he has lured to his location.
The catfish will be in a hole wallowed out under a log in the deepest part of the river The ground around and under the log will be as smooth and slick as glass. Most of the time you can tell how big he is or if there is more than one living there by the size of the hole and the condition around the log. Check to see if there is another hole where he can come out, before you feel under the log. You might need someone at that hole. Don't disturb the fish until you plan your strategy There will be only one successful trip under there, at least until they come back. They will come back a time or two within ten minutes or so, then they stay away for hours. If you think there is a fish too large for you to handle, you can tie a strong line to something on the bank. Secure a large hook on the other end, ease down there, hook the hook into him and you can go back to the bank and handle him from there.
Once you go down under the log you must not be afraid. This is very important. If you touch a catfish and jump or flinch, he is gone. When you touch him, keep moving very slowly You can't stop and start again, it scares the fish away Keep moving, you can handle him all over You can, at times, turn him completely over, or turn him around where his head is where you want it.
You can ease your fingers around his mouth very slow and easy He will open his mouth and squirt water on your hand, as if he is trying to wash your hand away from him.
When he does this you can ease your fingers or your arm, depending on the size of the fish, into his mouth. Once your hand is in his mouth far enough to clamp down, you will have a good chance of landing him.
A scale fish is different. They don't live under logs. You will find them on the bottom in deep and shallow water both. They will try to get by a limb, a small log, or between two limbs. Sometimes there will be a group of them, often side by side. You can pick out the one you want. Go easy and don't jump back when you touch them, keep moving. Spread out one hand as wide as you can. Turn your finger down and ease your hand down in front of his nose and head. He can't swim backward so well, that will block him from going forward. Bring this hand in on him first, keeping him from swinging his head and turning to the side. As this hand is closing in, bring your other hand in on his tail. Clinch his tail, this forces him into your hand in front. All in the same instant, crimp the fish, try to make his head touch his tail. When you bend the fish, it will paralyze him, to a certain extent, and he will not move. You can carry him to the bank, and as a rule, there will be no struggle out of him at all.
This is one of the ways we caught our food, so T am talking from experience, not hearsay I have often told people that if they had never dived down in the bottom of the river, went under a log and put their arms around a big catfish they have never really lived.
Life went on, we would gather bullfrogs at night, during the time of the year they were out.
We had no way of securing a store bought light. We selected pieces of lightered pine from the woods. This is pine trees that have died and decayed, leaving only the heart. This part has lots of rosin in it and burns well.
We would make long splinters, three feet long or longer by splitting it with an ax. Some of the pine will split straight. We selected splinters about one inch in diameter and long enough to last a good while, They would stay lit and burn better by putting three or four of these together They also gave more light. You light one end of the torch and hold the lit end in an upward position making them burn slower and last longer.
Rosin drips from the torch while it is burning. It is like hot tar or rubber, it keeps burning. It is mighty rough. on a boy's bare arms and legs. You must pay attention and look out for that. This was our light .to blind the frogs. We still had to out do them.
This was done by one of us staying in front of the frog with the light. We kept the light moving around slowly to keep the frog watching the light. Another one of us would ease up on the blind side of the frog and grab him with our hands, using the same quick action of the snapping turtle.
This was a· struggle for survival. A minute never passed that our lives were not at stake on these hunts.
The torch was the only light we had. You cannot see very well with a torch, even if you have perfect eyesight. You can take my word for it. Where there are frogs, there are snakes. The bottom land is infested with them.
The Cottonmouths are very deadly They are vicious and aren't afraid of man or beast. At times they actually attack you. They will not move from your path like other snakes. They stay ready for trouble. They are always hiding, trying to catch the frogs for their own food. At times you could see twice as many snakes as frogs.
My sisters would help with catching the frogs. It would take about four of us to make it all work. It took one holding the torch, one to carry the extra splinters, one to watch for snakes, and one to catch the frog.
I think the only pair of shoes in the family was girl's shoes., My sisters took turns wearing them. We were all barefooted and barelegged. It was seven miles on foot, one way, to the doctor and twenty-six miles to the nearest hospital. We had no way to get there. We knew if one of those bad snakes bit us the game would be over for the one that had been bitten.
Keen eyesight, good coordination and determination is what kept our family alive.
We had a dog that contributed a lot to our survival. His name was Sputter Someone gave him to us after Dad died. He could run down a rabbit flat footed. He would bring them back to us in his mouth, still alive, kicking its feet and hollering. We had no need for a gun to get a rabbit as long as we had Old Sputter. We went out in the woods and let him know what we wanted. He would find one in a short time and the race was on. The rabbit had two choices, take a hollow tree or try to outrun Old Sputter. If his choice was to run the race never lasted long. If he took a hollow tree, that meant meat on the table tonight. Old Sputter would sit down at the hole where the rabbit went in. He would start barking so we could go straight to him.
We cut a long stick or switch with a small fork on the end. We would run the switch up the hollow, press the forked end against his body, and twist the stick around until it became twisted into his fur and hide, We would pull the rabbit down the hollow tree until we could reach him with our hand.
Old Sputter devoted all his time to taking care of us and helping with what we were doing.
When we were diving for fish he was on the bank watching. He never took his eyes off us.
If we caught a fish and threw him on the bank Old Sputter would start trying to keep the fish from getting back in the water He would drag him back from the water if he started getting too close.
The dog knew how long we could stay down without coming up for air. If we were after a big catfish and had trouble, causing us to stay down longer than he thought we should, he would be out there swimming where we went down.
We teased him sometimes to watch him. We would stay down for an extra long time and when we came up he would be out there swimming in a circle, looking for us. We would start acting like we were unconscious. He would take our hand or arm in his mouth and start for the bank, dragging us In the water If we were really hot after a fish and stayed down too long, he would come out looking for us. When we came up and he saw we were okay he would go back and take his perch on the bank.
He was always keeping us from the snakes. We had to walk to church. It was a one-room building made out of rough lumber, called Jonesville Church. It was located two miles or so across the bottoms, up in the hill land across the creek. There was only a small trail, one foot wide or so. We had to walk a foot log across the main part