For Doug Pike

Mr. Pike,two recent articles of yours have really brought back Memories.

I fished San Luis from the 60s to the late 70s. I can still feel the sand moving. Only had one scare, but it was on the backside of the pass where the current was not strong. Late evening, and I was almost chest deep trying to catch a trout. Not six feet from me a six-foot-long alligator gar surfaced. I quickly called it a day.

Your article in Saltwater Sportsman was very similar to what happened to my brother, and my three cousins in August of 1977.

We were fishing off Jamaica Beach. We only had a very stiff trolling rod so we used an air mattress float to take the bait out. We talked our middle cousin into wrapping the leader around his toes and paddling out.

He dropped the mullet and started back in. He hadn’t paddled more than 20 feet when my cousin holding the rod said, “I’ve got a bite. He yanked, and a five-foot spinner shark cleared the water. All of us on shore involuntary yelled wow!

Our cousin in the water yelled “What?”

We all said “Oh nothing.” We later convinced him to take another bait out before we told him the truth. 

Bob Matthews

Chester’s October Column

Chester, your October column was very moving and inspiring. I appreciate the fact you are honest about the business you work in and don’t mind sharing your real heart for things. No one else would say something like, “In the outdoor industry the higher you move up, the less you fish and hunt” but you did. That’s admirable and shows integrity.

Your conservation mission is great, but your mission to help kids is at another level. Incredible work. Thank you for being you.

Leslie Aikman

I have never read a column quite like yours in the October issue. For a writer at your position with your large fan base to say he chooses to hit the field more with camera to promote conservation than enjoying himself hunting and fishing is just awesome.

Your work with kids is becoming widely known, and I am glad people get to see the conservation work you are doing. I remember probably 20 years ago when you were so involved in trying to get the Gulf Coast Roundup to Sabine Lake because you thought the area deserved attention. And you helped make it happen.

I know people who know you, and they tell me the things you publish that you do for conservation are not half the story. You do much more.

I love what you have done with Texas Fish & Game since you have been editor in chief and appreciate the focus on conservation.

Ed Winterman

Editor: Your words are too kind. Thank you.

White Deer

Chester, I enjoy very much your newsletters & just read your article online at fishgame.com about white deer.

In a book I am writing re: our family’s history, I am including the following that was told to me by my uncle who was a Baptist preacher in SE Arkansas.

It was called a MAD STONE, and it came from the belly of a white deer that was killed in SE Arkansas about 1909/1910. I asked my uncle if the white deer was an albino, and he said that he didn’t think so. Further, he said that white deer, although not common, did show up every now and then.

It was said that the stone had healing powers for rabies, snake, spider bites, etc.

The stone was porous and about the size of an ordinary doorknob. It was placed in a bowl of warm (sweet) milk for a few minutes and then placed on the bite. It would stick to the skin & draw out the poison. When it had absorbed all of the poison that it could, the stone would slide off the bite.

Then, it would be placed into another bowl of warm milk and the poison would run out. That poison would produce a green color. Then another bowl of warm milk and reapplication of the stone until it quit sticking.

My uncle told me that he witnessed folks being healed from a cottonmouth water moccasin bite and a spider bite. He heard stories about it also curing rabies. There’s more to the story, but that’s the condensed version.

There was even a lawsuit over that stone between the guy who shot the deer and the guy who found the gut pile, cut open the stomach and retrieved the stone. The guy who retrieved the stone won the suit.

Anyway, Chester, keep up the good work & have a good and safe week.

John Powell

Editor: Great stuff. Very interesting.

Email your comments to: editor@fishgame.com

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