On Saturday Fred Bowden passed away.
i first met Fred a long time ago. I was hunting a new place to me in my little 12' plastic boat when in the distance a roar was closing fast. As Fred came around the corner at what seemed like 300mph in his airboat i stood in awe and waved. Fred ripped past me not so much as a way or even a glance, I was hunting his water. This would continue for sometime. I would get bigger and better boats, a 15' jon then a 16' with a mud motor. Still Fred would rip past....
Do not Leave your decoys out, men with airboats will smash them into the mud
Over time i got to know Fred bit by bit. The camp where we now had a trailer accepted us as much as any new guys could be and i got to know Fred better. He was very committed to the memory of folks that had hunted the river and passed. The tradition of passing the bottle around and talking about the past was a regular occurrence. i fear with his passing that some of that will be lost.
Fred called me up one day and said hey do you want to buy an airboat? Now when someone says that you should say no but like a true duck hunter i said yes! Fred sold me my first airboat a 16' hurricane with a built to the hilt 454 and a slightly used carbon prop.... We were now part of the team. ( note to self do not buy boats that have more than one can of starting fluid in the box) where does one even find peanut port heads? Does a v8 need all 8 to run? fiberglass is great because you can fix it so easy right? Would not trade what that boat taught me for anything and i killed a lot of ducks with Fred and that boat.
if you have stock in boons farm wine its time to sell. i will stop shooting the bottles that are stuck on branches all over the place. They are priceless reminders now that "fred was here" Well ok i might shoot a few more there are hundreds of them and i am not kidding.
i got lucky on Friday night, i went to his trailer and had a nice talk with Fred and his wife. He said something that ill keep private but meant a lot to me.
Godspeed buddy and save me a good spot when its my turn.
i first met Fred a long time ago. I was hunting a new place to me in my little 12' plastic boat when in the distance a roar was closing fast. As Fred came around the corner at what seemed like 300mph in his airboat i stood in awe and waved. Fred ripped past me not so much as a way or even a glance, I was hunting his water. This would continue for sometime. I would get bigger and better boats, a 15' jon then a 16' with a mud motor. Still Fred would rip past....
Do not Leave your decoys out, men with airboats will smash them into the mud
Over time i got to know Fred bit by bit. The camp where we now had a trailer accepted us as much as any new guys could be and i got to know Fred better. He was very committed to the memory of folks that had hunted the river and passed. The tradition of passing the bottle around and talking about the past was a regular occurrence. i fear with his passing that some of that will be lost.
Fred called me up one day and said hey do you want to buy an airboat? Now when someone says that you should say no but like a true duck hunter i said yes! Fred sold me my first airboat a 16' hurricane with a built to the hilt 454 and a slightly used carbon prop.... We were now part of the team. ( note to self do not buy boats that have more than one can of starting fluid in the box) where does one even find peanut port heads? Does a v8 need all 8 to run? fiberglass is great because you can fix it so easy right? Would not trade what that boat taught me for anything and i killed a lot of ducks with Fred and that boat.
if you have stock in boons farm wine its time to sell. i will stop shooting the bottles that are stuck on branches all over the place. They are priceless reminders now that "fred was here" Well ok i might shoot a few more there are hundreds of them and i am not kidding.
i got lucky on Friday night, i went to his trailer and had a nice talk with Fred and his wife. He said something that ill keep private but meant a lot to me.
Godspeed buddy and save me a good spot when its my turn.
