Page 88 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2016

SPORTS & OUTDOORS wild child
LMississippi story and photos by Mark Spain
AND GREAT THE
ike so many other great things about Mississippi, we’re blessed to have access to some of the most beautiful forests in the country. Nearly 60 percent of
Mississippi is covered by forests. There are literally thousands of acres and hundreds of species that some locals do not even realize exist. I’ve had the privilege of being able to experience firsthand the beauty and magnificence South Mississippi wildlife has to offer.
Early last spring, my good buddy Paul Delancey invited me, my son Logan, and my new neighbor and friend Paul Aston, along with his
son Blake, to spend the night at his camp, deep in the woods off north Highway 57. We took the long and winding drive until we reached a road mark that Paul had pointed out to us.
I pulled onto a dirt road and proceeded
for what seemed tobean endless
trail.
As the afternoon sun started
to drop behind the tall pines,
Paul Aston spotted a couple of white tail deer bounding out of some thick underbrush. Our sons just missed their first sighting. Logan and his
new found friend soon perked up in the back of my Ford F150 4X4. The truck slowly moved forward, climbing through some deep ruts and water. Finally, we spotted Paul Delancey, alias Mississippi Sasquatch.
The next morning, with BB guns in hand, we started off along a small untraveled trail that Paul D. had pointed out to us. He said that a 300 pound black bear had been lurking around the camp
TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE.
FAR LEFT: Blake Aston with his BB Gun. LEFT: Bear tracks in the sand.
approximately two weeks prior to our arrival. Excitingly, the boys put their eyes to the ground searching for any signs. All of the sudden Logan called out to me, “Dad! Dad! I found a track.” Sure enough, he had discovered a bear track that was the size of my big paws. Both the boys cocked their BB guns and the hunt was on.
Our sons, hungry for more, discovered even more tracks
— possum, raccoon, deer and surprisingly, a few large panther tracks down by a creek we had to cross.
88 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • July 2016
FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net