Vernon Loved to Hunt and Fish by Esther

He was a man who was born too late. He would have been great as an early American when this country was being settled many years ago. He was happy to wander every where and could of lived off the land. All he needed was a place to bed down, cook his meals over a fire and a pond big enough to bathe and have the equipment to hunt and to fish.

I met him when he was stationed at San Bruno. He was a sailor and would be going over seas soon. We dated and then wrote letters while he was stationed on Guam. When he was discharged from the Navy in San Diego, he came to Redwood City and we were married in little ceremony in my sister Marion's home.

He loved to hunt deer as often as he could, and with my brother Abby, they always came home with one dressed and ready to cook. It was Mom who knew how to season it and have it tender and delicious. Vernon was a good cook him self, and he learned a few tricks from her. One thing he did like was having the whole family together to eat, and we never failed to send out the call, “come eat” .

Vernon enjoyed being outside hunting or fishing. I learned to enjoy surf fishing with him. I did go with him when he hunted for deer but it was not my thing; fishing though was really great. When we moved to make our home in Baton Rouge, I did not like to go fishing as there were too many critters crawling and bugs that bite or sting. They never seemed to bother Vernon.

One of his favorite hunts was to gather up frogs to eat for supper. When my brother Charles came to spend a few days with us, Vernon took him hunting with him. Vernon outfitted him with a head light and battery, and a gig pole to catch the frogs with and a gunny sack to keep them in while they continued on to look for more frogs.

They started out late in the evening as the best time to catch frogs is in the night time. Frogs love swampy watery places to live in but so do snakes and other critters, not to mention the bugs, some of them are very large but the tiny bugs are the worst: they bite.  I can still imagine Charles out there in the swamp with Vernon. Charles did not like bugs or snakes and to add the dark of night and swampy waters to wade through would have made it even worse for him.

As they walked along they would see a frog, they would grab it with the gig pole and get it in to the gunny sack. They did not have to wade into deep water. The gig pole was as long as they needed. Any thing farther wasn't safe. They had good luck and there were enough frogs to have a nice meal of frog legs for all of us.

Charles was not too sure if he would ever go hunting for frogs again, as there were too many snakes and other critters to worry with, but he did love eating frog legs.

It was my Mother that show me how to make hush puppies. I loved them and they were a hit with the whole family. She learned them when they had a fishing camp in Florida. Hush puppies are small balls of corn bread batter fried in hot grease. We would fry the frog or fish and then the French fried potatoes and last the hush puppies. That is a great meal.

The name “hush puppies” comes from the story that these would be given to dogs when they would bark to quiet them and that was where the name came from: "hush puppy". Anyone would hush up and enjoy them.

I have five brothers. They all loved fishing and some of them did hunt. I know Abby was always with Vernon when in California. When they came to Louisiana, Mickey, Charles, and Jerry would go out with Vernon. The three of them found work in the gulf of Mexico and settled in Texas and when they had time, they came to visit.

My brother Richard, used to go fishing. Richard was more of a student. He was always in class and after graduation he went on to college. He did what he said he would do, and he worked to get there. He followed his dream.

[Editor's note: This story was written by Esther]

Hush Puppies