Newspapers: Woodlands And Waterways Echoes, Saga of Hayes Huffman, Jr., LaSalle Parish, La. By Jack Morgan Willis Submitted by: Pat Ezell, From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Wed., May 02, 2001 Thank You to Jack Willis and The Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Woodlands and Waterways Echoes The Saga of Hayes Huffman, Jr. There hasn't always been a Louisiana Highway 28 West intersecting US highway 84, that allowed motorists from the east, Jonesville, Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi and points beyond, quicker access to Alexandria, Louisiana. For years, until about 1963, all traffic desiring to get to Alexandria had to go around by Jena, which added about 20 or so miles to the journey. Up until the early sixties the road proceeded towards Muddy Bayou, about eight miles down the road and just played out. It was nothing but a"dump" built in the 20s, with a layer of sand clay gravel on top. It had been constructed with mules, shaker plows, slips and fresnos, with dirt dug out of borrow pits along side the road. Almost at the end of the existing road was where Hayes Huffman, Jr. was born on October 15th, 1932. The Wall St. Stock Market crash had occurred almost three years earlier and times were hard, and getting harder. There was swampy area behind the Huffman house where grobecs were plentiful. To the uninformed, this is a member of the waterfowl family of wood ibises. The meat of this now endangered species was considered a delicacy to many hunters, and was a highly prized kill over many other available waterfowl. They had to be delicious, because they were served up at least three times a week on the Huffman dining table during the Depression years. Hayes Huffman, Jr. enrolled at Prosperity School, located on the south bank of French Forks river in September of 1937. Ms. Maude Scarbourgh taught grades 1- 3 and his Uncle Shepherd Chevalier taught grades 4-6. Meanwhile, a full-fledged war was making its presence known in Europe. Camp Beauregard was being enlarged to accommodate a small military build-up being initiated by the United States Military Services. New construction of housing complexes for military dependents at Forest Glen provided all the incentive the Huffman family needed to relocate to Pineville, La. And since Hayes, Sr. was an expert carpenter and construction worker, Hayes Jr. laughingly stated that his father helped build over half the construction in the Alexandria area during World War II. Huffman enrolled in the Pineville school system in1940, and since Pineville had no high school, he was forced later to commute across Red River to attend Bolton High School in Alexandria, where he graduated in 1951. He enrolled at Northwestern State College in Natchitoches in September of 1951, and attended until 1953 when he was drafted into military service. He spent his forced enlistment on a tour of duty in Germany. Upon discharge in 1955, he re-entered NSC where he majored in math, biology and chemistry. Upon graduation in 1958 he applied for admission to Dental School. The school was very strict and requirements for entry were stringent, to say the least. Huffman had somehow omitted taking a course in organic chemistry and this course was mandatory before admittance to the school. He was not alone. The school had 456 applicants that fall, but only admitted 56. He finally completed all the enrollment requirements and was graduated in 1963 and began practicing dentistry the same year. When you're born and reared in a sportsman's paradise like the Catahoula Lake area, you never ever, ever forget your "raisin", and it's fringe benefits. Some where along the way, Dr. Hayes Huffman, Jr. obtained his pilot's license. Some days he would shut his office down early, preparatory to duck hunting the next day. From his dentist office in Pineville, he would dash to the Esler Field airport, and using a friend's airplane would fly out over Catahoula Lake to ascertain where the ducks were feeding. Ducks have always been plentiful on Catahoula Lake, even when the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. said they were not. On one particular weekend, Dr. Huffman went back home to his grandfather Edward Ejean Chevalier's home to spend the night prior to a hunt next morning. His grandfather lived about two miles down French Forks from where it exited Catahoula Lake. The wind shifted during the night and Huffman was awakened by the sounds of thousands of ducks feeding in Mosquito Bend. He walked out on his grandfather's front porch to better hear all the commotion. About that time he heard two different shotguns shoot a total of ten times. He had a pretty good idea who had done the shooting. He ran into one of the suspects the next day and asked him how many ducks he and the other feller had killed? "We picked up a 103," was the laconic reply. In this particular area a person just had to find a sport out all of the variety that were available to enjoy. There was a vast network of waterways and swamps that stretched southward towards Red River near Larto Lake. One of he most notable streams was Big Bayou. Rumored for decades as a thoroughfare for pirates, brigands and outlaws of all sorts, the waterway bisected one of the prime hunting areas for years, prior to the soybean invasion. There were three main hunting camps on Big Bayou in the 30s, 40s and 50s. They belonged to the Allens, Chevaliers and "Buster" and Rube Williams. Dave and Tommy Joy had a camp on nearby Lick Branch. One thing Huffman remembers about the Joy camp is that growing behind it, was the biggest palmetto bush he ever saw in that country famous for them. It was over head high. On a hunt that took place on Big Bayou one frosty morning an unusual series of events took place. Fred Allen and Hayes Huffman started the day off early putting out "standers" along an oilfield road that stretched from Weevil Lake drain to Big Bayou. They were stationed about 150 yards apart, which was considered a safe distance between "standers". The closer Fred and Hayes got to Big Bayou they noticed they were running out of room. Fred and Hayes ended up a little over a hundred feet apart. Charlie Allen and "Lee Boy" Whatley were mounted on horses and were going to take the hounds and make the drive. Right off the bat, about a 100 yards behind Fred and Hayes' stands, the dogs jumped a little butter-ball fat six-point buck. The deer ran closer to Fred, so Hayes motioned to Fred to shoot the deer while he jumped behind a tree. Fred cut down on the deer on the first shot, knocked him down and rolled him over in a mudhole. They both thought the deer was dead, and about the time Hayes stepped out from behind his protective tree, the deer jumped up and ran. Hayes hollered to Fred to shoot him again. Fred fired two more shots and from all appearances, didn't cut a hair. Then Hayes shot at him three times and his shots didn't phase the deer either. Within a minute or so Charlie and "Lee Boy" showed up and took after the deer on their horses and went out of hearing. Fred walked up to Hayes stand and they talked for about 10 minutes. Then they heard the dogs coming back towards them. The deer crossed over to the other side of the oil field road from the track he had originally took, and ran parallel to the standers. Everybody was shooting or trying to get a shot. The dogs went due west and out of hearing again. Hayes and Fred began picking up "standers" and headed back to the camp on Elm Glade, just off Big Bayou. About the time they got back to camp, here comes Charlie and "Lee Boy" on their lathered horses. Charlie slung one leg up and over and crooked it behind the saddle horn, and got out his Prince Albert and "rolling papers". He fashioned himself a "roll-your-own" and It was very quiet. And then he spoke and made a very wry observation. He said, "Thet deer that y'all shot all to pieces, as best we can tell, has covered about 12 miles since then." Next Month: More Hunting Adventures