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Illustration Ryan Kirby/NWTF |
Communication
by Tom Kelly
In this era of cell phones, Blackberries and PCs it is sometimes difficult to realize just how challenging communications were in rural areas as late as 30 years ago. The majority of hunting camps at that time had no method of communicating with the outside world, except by means of personal visits.
Many hunting clubs deliberately denied themselves the use of telephones in their clubhouses in order to limit interruptions. Some camps had grudgingly installed a single line to the outside, a line that was attended by persons who had strict instructions to limit its use. An instance of a camp in the latter circumstances leaps immediately to mind.
Choctaw Bluff is a hunting camp in Clarke County, Ala., that was formed by Mr. Fred Stimpson. In the ensuing years Mr. Fred and his sons, Billy, Ben and Gordon, managed the club. Today, the club is managed by Mr. Fred’s grandsons and hunts land purchased and leased by Mr. Fred and his boys.
They specialize in deer and turkeys and, in common with most clubs that have been in existence for nearly 80 years, operate in a climate of relaxed conservatism.
The club, deliberately, has a single telephone, located in the foyer of the main bunkhouse, and during the spring turkey season a member of the staff mans this phone at certain times, especially during the afternoon nap period.
Spring turkey hunts at Choctaw Bluff have followed the same format for years. Guests, especially guests who have limited turkey hunting experience, are furnished a guide, on a one-to-one basis. After eating breakfast, the hunters and guides are in the woods at daylight.
Unless pinned down by an uncooperative old gobbler, everyone is instructed to be back at the camp by 11 for a roundtable session of what the club calls “Turkey Tales,” during which the details of the morning’s triumphs and tragedies are openly discussed over a couple of midday beverages. After Turkey Tales, a hot lunch is served. The effects of the beverages and lunch cause the hunters to retire for a midday nap before going back for the afternoon hunt, which generally ends about flying up time, hopefully with the location of a roosted turkey.
Nothing is allowed to disturb the nap, and the word “nothing” is carefully chosen.
During the administration of Ronald Reagan, when the President’s chief of staff was the Hon. James Baker, Mr. Baker was a guest of the club for one of their spring turkey hunts. That Saturday, during the nap period on the first day of his hunt, the guardian of the clubhouse telephone answered an incoming phone call. The White House operator asked to speak to Mr. James Baker. The retainer on duty, an individual named Evan Wiggins, told the operator that he was sorry but that Mr. Baker could not come to the phone and hung up.
Immediately, the phone rang again, and the operator said that the call was important and that Mr. Baker should be summoned at once. The guardian replied that Mr. Baker was asleep and could not take the call. The operator insisted he be waked, and the guardian replied, “No sir, I can’t.”
Now thoroughly peeved, the operator said, “This is the White House calling, and the President wants to talk to Mr. Baker!”
Without turning a hair, and in the most patient and forbearing tones of which he was capable, Mr. Wiggins said, “Well, sir, dis here is the clubhouse, and Mr. Stimpson said, don’t wake up nobody,” and hung up again.
The next time the phone rang, Billy Stimpson answered it to a barrage of abuse coming over the line. Within a few moments, and some candid, to-the-point dialogue, Mr. Stimpson determined that it was not a national emergency and assured the dumbfounded operator that when Mr. Baker did wake up he would have him call the White House.
There is a codicil to the event.
President Reagan sent word to Mr. Stimpson later that he wished people who worked for him would follow instructions as well as those who worked at Choctaw Bluff.
And let us devotedly hope that if the nation is ever in peril, and the Joint Chiefs are having their naps at Choctaw Bluff, Evan Wiggins is not guarding the telephone.
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