This story begins in Mid-January of 1998. My friend, Stan Escover, called me one night and asked if I would be interested in going with him to Uncle Earl's Baying Contest in Winnfield. We had briefly talked about it the year before, but it didn't develop because of prior commitments.

This year looked better for both of us, so I told him that I would have my personal travel agent (AKA My Wife) look into airfares in the morning.

We are both avid hog hunters here in California and primarily use Catahoulas. I'm a Drywall Contractor and hunt hogs as much as possible. Stan is doing what a lot of us wish we could - Hunting full time and making a living at it. He has been involved in several projects in California. He also has the best dogs I have ever been lucky enough to hunt with and I've purchased several from him.

About a week before our departure, Stan called and said he had been in contact with a friend of his, Buddy Goatcher, in Louisiana. Buddy is a Wildlife Biologist and is originally from California. When he was working here, he was instrumental in getting Stan started in this business.  Two days before our departure, Stan called again and said that Buddy had lined up a couple of hunts for us while we were in Louisiana. The excitement was building.

Thursday morning, March 26, I arrived in Lafayette, La., and was greeted by Stan and Buddy. Stan had arrived the night before. We went directly to Buddy's house. Out in his pasture, we caught a boar to take to his friend. After we loaded the boar and another small sow, we were off to Covington to see Dr. Claude Stephenson, DVM, a friend of Buddy's. We dropped off the two hogs and did some visiting.

Claude suggested that we go out for some good Cajun food for lunch. We all jumped in his van and headed for town. On the way we made a few stops. One was to meet Clyde Keating and see his dogs. As we pulled up to Clyde's, he and a friend were in the middle of some puppy training in the bay pen. They had one 40 lb. pig that would come clear across the pen to go after a man. Every time it would come at them, they would just jump up and the pig would run underneath them and keep going. At first glance I thought they were training on pogo sticks.

After all this visiting, southern style, lunch had turned into dinner, but it was well worth the wait.

Friday, we got up early and drove to Slidell. There at a boat dock, on the Pearl River, we met up with Dennis Goode, Mike Fradella, Jack Stevens, and some friends of theirs. They brought four airboats with them. About 6:00 am off we went down the Pearl River, hog hunting. Three days before this, if anyone had told me that I would be hunting hogs out of airboats, I would have laughed hysterically at them.

We spent the better part of the day catching and releasing hogs and seeing the marshes in Louisiana and Mississippi. The weather was perfect, the hunting was great, and we had a lot of laughs. I still can't believe where those airboats will go.

When I walked in the door after the trip, my wife's first question was did I buy a dog. I replied no, but I'm shopping for an airboat.

After leaving Slidell, we went back to Buddy's to clean up, pack up, add Buddy's son Adam to our group, and headed for Orval Robert's hunting camp near Grayson. We arrived late at Orval's but he was waiting up for us and made sure that our bellies were full and that we had everything we needed.

Saturday morning we got up early and met Jimmy and Everett Crainer, who had arrived some time in the night. Also greeting us were some of Orval's famous biscuits. After breakfast we headed to Winnfield.

Saturday and Sunday we spent at the Baying. We met a lot of fine people like Jimmy Young, Bruce Hall, Marty Capers and many more too numerous to mention. Stan and I were impressed by how well organized an event of this size was. We also saw a lot of fine dogs. We ran into a friend of ours from California, Orbie Beardon. I also met, for the first time, the Montelli's who live in Napa which is about 30 miles from me.

Sunday, just before we headed back to Orval's, I heard my name called over the loudspeaker. I was the lucky winner of the painting that was raffled off. It is a painting of a dog baying a hog over a Confederate flag background. It looks great hanging on my wall.

Monday, we loaded up the ATV's and went hunting with Orval. We hunted in two different areas and got into two nice groups of hogs. Had a great time and saw a lot of pretty countryside.

Monday evening was the beginning of the end, I guess. We left Orval's and headed back to Carencro, where Buddy lives, to spend the night.

Tuesday morning arrived only too soon and before we knew it, it was time to head for the airport. We said our goodbyes and headed on home to California.

We had a great time, were treated like royalty, and want to say THANK YOU to Dr. Claude Stephenson, Dennis Goode, Mike Fradella, Jack Stevens, and a special THANKS to Orval Roberts for all his great hospitality and for making us feel so welcome.

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Buddy Goatcher. It was because of all his efforts in arranging everything from the hunts to the transportation that we were able to have such a great experience. It was a special trip for both Stan and me and all his effort was much appreciated.

Also, one last THANK YOU to Heather Goatcher, Buddy's wife for letting us borrow Buddy for the better part of five days.

Thank You, Louisiana

Randy Baker, Clayton, CA

Stan Escover, Livermore,CA