Random Cell Phone Pics #9

[One Man Gang]

So many questions about that pic? Welcome. Impressive boat dock/pier/airboat platform

Thanks. I don't post much here. Mostly read.

The pic of the deer rescue is a old one that has been around in my circles for a long time. I believe it was Tom Shirley who worked for our old GFC. He wrote a book called 'Everglades Patrol' about his days on the job when south FL was still a true sportsman's paradise (by my definition). He was a legendary officer. I know his son, Troy, who has done some taxidermy for me in the past.

Back in those days when the water got high in the glades they would try to catch and relocate deer, or hold special hunts to cull the deer so they wouldn't drown, starve, or spread disease on the limited amount of dry tree islands available. Buggies and airboats were used during the hunts as a necessary means to get around and make quicker work to mitigate the emergency. The deer herd thrived for years where those "mercy" hunts took place.

Today, the water managers have unnaturally flooded and artificially kept the water levels too high for the deer to thrive which in turn has eroded much of the tree island soils away. They also close vast areas (hundreds of thousands of acres) out there to the public during high water under the guise of protecting the deer from stress... I won't go too much more into it, as it is a lost battle and a forever destroyed ('altered') ecosystem that will likely worsen as Florida continues to grow.

The crazier thing is, the managers keep restricting the public users, while not doing nearly enough to curb the invasive plants and animals that are over running the entire place.

It's sickening to see. Florida's game and fish agency is now nothing more than a political tool that makes its decisions and carries out its functions under the blanket of political correctness instead of science.

Anyway, I built the boat and motor with the help of a couple good men who have the knowledge and expertise in things I do not. The motor is a junk yard ls3 that I pulled out of a wrecked Denali. The camp with the ramp is very well known down here and if the owner doesn't park his boat there, it's because he may have a helicopter on it instead. It's a beautiful place. If I don't come up to Georgia next week to turkey hunt with my son, we will be somewhere near that camp gigging frogs.

 

[1eyefishing]

Thanks. I don't post much here. Mostly read.

The pic of the deer rescue is a old one that has been around in my circles for a long time. I believe it was Tom Shirley who worked for our old GFC. He wrote a book called 'Everglades Patrol' about his days on the job when south FL was still a true sportsman's paradise (by my definition). He was a legendary officer. I know his son, Troy, who has done some taxidermy for me in the past.

Back in those days when the water got high in the glades they would try to catch and relocate deer, or hold special hunts to cull the deer so they wouldn't drown, starve, or spread disease on the limited amount of dry tree islands available. Buggies and airboats were used during the hunts as a necessary means to get around and make quicker work to mitigate the emergency. The deer herd thrived for years where those "mercy" hunts took place.

Today, the water managers have unnaturally flooded and artificially kept the water levels too high for the deer to thrive which in turn has eroded much of the tree island soils away. They also close vast areas (hundreds of thousands of acres) out there to the public during high water under the guise of protecting the deer from stress... I won't go too much more into it, as it is a lost battle and a forever destroyed ('altered') ecosystem that will likely worsen as Florida continues to grow.

The crazier thing is, the managers keep restricting the public users, while not doing nearly enough to curb the invasive plants and animals that are over running the entire place.

It's sickening to see. Florida's game and fish agency is now nothing more than a political tool that makes its decisions and carries out its functions under the blanket of political correctness instead of science.

Anyway, I built the boat and motor with the help of a couple good men who have the knowledge and expertise in things I do not. The motor is a junk yard ls3 that I pulled out of a wrecked Denali. The camp with the ramp is very well known down here and if the owner doesn't park his boat there, it's because he may have a helicopter on it instead. It's a beautiful place. If I don't come up to Georgia next week to turkey hunt with my son, we will be somewhere near that camp gigging frogs.

I spent the night out on the Everglades in an airboat over a decade ago that was fascinating.
With a commercial frog gigger and an all around adventurer... older feller named Chaffy from coral ridge.
I think we went out about 4 pm and came in about 2am.
His boat was a sixteen footer with a longer nose added and the slick paneling on the bottom. It had a 300hp airplane motor that was aircooled. No radiator and I don't think it had an oil pan full of oil either so it was very light and efficient as a airboat motor. He had a couple of long fiberglass jigs and headlamps. In the front corner of the deck he had about a 12 to 16 inch diameter diameter piece of PVC about a foot or so long mouted vertically so he could tie a croacker sack under it. It had a couple of notches in it so when we gigged frog, we could just park the frog in the PVC tube and pull back on the gig, and the slot would make the frog fall in the sack. We wound up with a giant sack of frogs but apparently he normally gets several sacks in a night working by himself.
The things that boat would do and the sights we saw were unforgettable. Many dozens of gators banked up on the bank of some deeper channel water somewhere...
We were South of alligator alley in the Everglades wilderness so far ee could hear no human-made sound when we turned the boat off and got quiet. The occasional air boat we could hear in the distance.
The most remarkable memory is that of a large camp built on pylons with docks all around. ( Private property built on public land? There were several of those dotted across the glades at the time).The bunk house/kitchen was quite large and filled with hundreds of photographs from over the years. All sorts of game and wrecked boatd and people having fun.
Chaffey said they had a helicopter bring in about a 300 hp diesel truck motor that was converted to a generator for plenty of electricity. I realized why some of the other boats leaving the ramp had up to a half a dozen 5 gal gas cans in the floorboard. They were hauling diesel to the camp.
Seemed like everybody at the camp and at the ramp knew chaffee.
He had gone to high school somewhere down there with my mother in.Had a big crush on her and kept in touch all his life, But he was too wild for her. She hooked us up because she knew I enjoyed that kind of thing.
Chaffey has probably passed by now or at least too old to do that kind of thing anymore, but he will linger in my mind for the rest of my life...
We texted back-and-forth for several years after that tying to get it going again but never succeed.

 

[1eyefishing]

I think Chaffee may have been some kind of game warden.Or wildlife officer at some time.