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Post by Woody Williams on Nov 16, 2013 20:33:43 GMT -5
There is a barn that sets in a piece if propert that Woodmaster and I park on to access our hunting ground. The home itself burned down many years sgo. This at one time was home to the Genie Shelton family. They farmed 80 acres there. The crop fields are now surrounded on three sides by stripper put spoil banks. While I was there waiting for Woodmaster to come out from his morning hunt I kind if pondered what this old barn might have seen in its days.. Undoubtedly it gave shelter to Genies many farm animals but it was also a spot where he dropped the hammer on a great amount of deer. The hay loft was his ideal shooting perch. He is long gone now and the farm is owned by his grandson who lives on Missouri. He was a pleasant man to talk to..just a good old boy. He killed a bunch of deer although I'm pretty sure that a lot of the deer were killed for table fare and never saw a tag attached. I asked Genie once if he could remember his first deer and he said he could and described the "hunt" to me. I asked him what year that was. He said he couldn't remember but it was the first year that they were stocked in Indiana. That was long before a season was established. He was a good old boy...just putting meat on the table..
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Post by HuntMeister on Nov 16, 2013 21:12:57 GMT -5
Oh the stories that barn could tell...
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Post by GS1 on Nov 16, 2013 21:53:07 GMT -5
I like that barn. Hope the mines don't dig it up
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Post by schall53 on Nov 17, 2013 9:50:16 GMT -5
Looks like it's days are numbered, A big wind and it will be gone.
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Post by tomthreetoes on Nov 17, 2013 20:27:00 GMT -5
That old farm house used to be the hangout for some real characters during deer season. Back in the day all the die hard hunters, outlaws, and wannabe kids like me had to make at least a couple stops there every season. There were probably more deer killed over a drink during a big card game than in the woods! When we were all riding dirt bikes back in the sixties, that area was wide open to everyone and Genie's shack had a well with the coolest water and we always had to stop and have a drink. Those were indeed the good ol' days!! Genie was one of the last old time woodsman that I knew. His general store in Degonia Springs was a hang out for anyone who liked to hunt. I remember him sittin' on the drink cooler smokin' his one nightly cigar with his feet up on the counter holding court and a bunch of us kids and old timers too, drinkin' a soda and trying to catch every word. More than one tall tale was told during these sessions, more than a few couldn't be repeated here, LOL
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Post by DUCKMASTER1 on Nov 17, 2013 20:59:10 GMT -5
That is really neat pic, you do not see them very much anymore standing around.
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Post by HighCotton on Nov 18, 2013 8:11:18 GMT -5
I love old barns like that! For those of us growing up, the barn generally meant work...hard work. But some of my fondest memories came from the fun we had in the haymow. My Dad didn't hunt, so no hunting stories told there but man o man did we have some "Porter County basketball tournaments."
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Post by Woody Williams on Nov 18, 2013 8:20:41 GMT -5
tomthreetoes,
Those were some wild an open days back then. You could deer hunt just about anywhere and no one cared.
The house got burned down when a group of deer hunters was staying there and fired up the old stove too hot and the old brick chimney couldn't handle it. They were lucky to get out alive.. The Sheltons weren't too happy about that.
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Post by tomthreetoes on Nov 18, 2013 14:06:34 GMT -5
About the only place where you couldn't hunt was the infamous bird lease. Genie delighted in tormenting those guys. Right or wrong, in those days leasing was not very popular with the guys who hung out around the ol' place.
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Post by Woody Williams on Nov 18, 2013 17:23:42 GMT -5
Except for the "bird lease" I don't recall any ground being leased for hunting back then. Those guys even stocked their own birds.. Half of the deer hunters in Evansville and probably all of Boonville and Chandler hunted back in the spoil banks around and behind the Shelton farm. It was a constant parade of cars and trucks going back there on opening day of gun season. I had a stand exactly 44 yards off of Ebenezer Road and could watch the vehicles go by. I recall one morning about 8:30 a truck drove by headed back to the pits, they spotted me in the stand and I could hear them talking, pointing at me and laughing. They went on and about 10 minutes after they left I killed a decent eight pointer and he was DRT. I got down and started field dressing him when here they came back. They stopped, got out and walked in to me and then it was my turn to laugh...I told them you just never know where a deer will show up. That stand produced many a deer.....
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Post by tomthreetoes on Nov 18, 2013 22:13:55 GMT -5
Most all of the land due east of the road from Ebeneezer Church to Barren Fork road down to the creek was leased for $.25 an acre by several doctors out of Evansville. I know how much they paid because they tried to lease ours soon after my folks bought it. You're right about the released birds. Genie used to joke that the foxes ate most of them and the rest scattered off the property. Was your stand on top of the hill north and back against the spoils?
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Post by jordanffemt on Nov 19, 2013 15:08:21 GMT -5
nice
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 10, 2019 18:07:34 GMT -5
Bump
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Post by jimstc on Feb 11, 2019 14:52:13 GMT -5
Great thread! Thanks for the bump Woody
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 11, 2019 15:13:17 GMT -5
The front half of the barn has fallen. That is the side that you see in the picture. The owners and I first thought someone came in and pulled some hand hewn beams out of it. Closer inspection showed they were hidden in the grown up weeds.
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 11, 2019 15:27:09 GMT -5
Most all of the land due east of the road from Ebeneezer Church to Barren Fork road down to the creek was leased for $.25 an acre by several doctors out of Evansville. I know how much they paid because they tried to lease ours soon after my folks bought it. You're right about the released birds. Genie used to joke that the foxes ate most of them and the rest scattered off the property. Was your stand on top of the hill north and back against the spoils? That was John Trout Jr.'s stand, although a lot of us hunted it. John bow shot a buck out of it and for some unknown reason hit it in the head at the base of the antler. We weren't the best of shots back then. Anyway the buck was dazed and started walking around in circles around the stand.. Every time the buck walked past John's opening he shot at it. He had two misses and one smack dab in the shoulder hit..that only went in a couple inches. The buck stopped circling and was leaning against a tree. John was out of arrows so he snuck down and circled the deer to get to the truck. Al Rinehart had some practice arrows in the truck so John grabbed them and went back. He snuck up on the buck that was still leaning against the tree and shot him point blank with a practice arrow. The buck jumped and then fell over on all the arrows and bent or broke every one of them. We kidded John a long time about the Merry Go Round buck he killed.
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Post by tomthreetoes on Feb 12, 2019 8:58:38 GMT -5
I haven't been back there in years, is the cable still across the lane? I was in the same class in school with Genie's grandson till his dad followed his work to MO.. He never had his grandpa's love of the outdoors.
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Post by chewbacca on Feb 12, 2019 9:01:02 GMT -5
You can't beat hearing old time stories like that. I feel like I was there even though I've never been to Evansville. Thanks for sharing, Woody!
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Post by Woody Williams on Feb 12, 2019 12:26:41 GMT -5
I haven't been back there in years, is the cable still across the lane? I was in the same class in school with Genie's grandson till his dad followed his work to MO.. He never had his grandpa's love of the outdoors. The grandson owns it now. He and his two sons come over for opening weekend of the firearms season. All three killed out on buck with one being pretty decent. No cable anymore. I think that was Tony Long doing that. The family did a land swap of some sort and now own the road (Buck Road) Going Back to the farm. It is now gated as soon as you make the left turn. I keep an eye on the place for them and in return they let me park at the barn to access my place and I can turkey hunt their place.. Nice people..
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Post by tomthreetoes on Feb 12, 2019 16:25:25 GMT -5
Good to hear the heritage is being passed on, I haven't seen Bobby in years. It's nice to see the old place is still being used by the family.
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