Thread: Wayne Baldwin's Amazing Story: Baldy's Eual Eldred Baldwin

  1. #491
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    The first group of racers besides Jack to show up for the hunt were Bruce Nicholson and Bill Knipe on the weekend of December 3rd.. What irony. These were the two guys that finished first and second ahead of my brother Mark and I at the first race we ever ran. Bruce was always kind of quiet and reserved and had already made a mark for himself on the national racing circuit. I was in awe that he was spending the weekend at Baldy's.

    Bill Knipe, however, was more gregarious and was always had a smile for Baldy and the rest of us at the races. Not to say that Bruce wasn't friendly, but we talked a lot with Bill and the races and not so much Bruce. They had a great time at Baldy's and were each able to bag a buck. Bill also shot a turkey, which is not an easy thing to do.

    The guests generally showed up late afternoon or early evening on a Friday and Baldy would cook supper. We would get up around five or five thirty in the morning, depending on the size of the party and whether or not Baldy cooked breakfast. From Baldy's house at Pernitas Point to the front gate of the lease was exactly twenty minutes. (Just a little longer at night.) So if there were only a couple of people to drop off, it wouldn't take long. We tried to get everyone in their stands at least a half hour before sunrise.

    We would not pick the first one up until the sun dropped below the horizon. Baldy always timed the first one just at that moment. Even though you could still see well enough to shoot something ten or fifteen minutes after sunset, the law was the law, and Baldy was not going to jeopardize the lease because someone broke the rules. He made that quite clear to everyone who hunted. Trouble is, sometimes the game came out just after the sun set. Fortunately too, though, some of the best hunting is also just after sunrise, and during the next hour or two after the game is making it's way back into the shelter of the trees, and brush.



  2. #492
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    The following weekend was the largest group consisting of referee Homer Alford, his wife Joy who was a scorer for the races and their son Ronny. Mr. and Mrs. P.G. Stepleton and his wife came down from Houston, as well as Jack Chance, his grandson Eddie "Coon" Chance, and Don Skinner. And from San Antonio, Joe Bowdler and one or two others, but I can't remember who.

    Baldy had a heck of a party going when all these people arrived. Jack and his bunch stayed at Baldy's and I think the rest stayed at a nearby campsite or motel in Mathis. But they all spent most of the waking hours either being entertained by Baldy or at the lease.



  3. #493
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    I wasn't there when this part of the story happened, but it was a big topic amongst the particpants at the time, and for the rest of the weekend. The people who do not know Baldy, as I have mentioned on several occasions, think him gruff, overbearing, loud and way too outspoken. Joe Rome, Clayton Elmer, and Bill Van Steenwyk have seen this side, but they also know that it's only a brief moment of frustration that brings that out. He's otherwise very outgoing and boisterous with laughter. The side of him that can instantly grasp a situation, seize the opportunity to get it under control, asses the damage, and calm nerves as well as being sensitive to a very awkward moment is illustrated in this next story.

    My memory is not so hot on this part because too many people were in Baldy's car when it happened. I'm thinking they preferred to have a big breakfast and not be out to the stands so early. Instead, they wanted to drive around in the car and hunt, and sometimes we did that, although it was at the time in between being legal or not. On this big ranch, I think Baldy went with their wishes to get a good night's sleep, and cruise around looking for game. Baldy knew all the best places to go.

    From what I remember, P.G. Stepleton was sitting in the seat behind Baldy on the left, and his wife was in in the front seat to the right of Baldy. Joy Alford had never been hunting before and was sitting on the right side in the back seat. Baldy had plenty of extra rifles, and loaded ones, but Joy's husband Homer did not hunt, and wanted to fish. Joy wanted to take in the wildlife, as she had never hunted, and wanted to experience that. Jack had taken his party to their hunting stands earlier as he knew every inch of the ground. I had taken Joe Bowdler to a particular stand I wanted him to go to because I figured he could get a buck there.

    Now that I think about it some more, there were too many people to get to the stands in the proper time, and so Baldy chose to roam, and open up some opportunities. He did just that with P.G.

    Baldy had P.G. sit behind him because he could get a better rest for a long distance shot from the back seat. Baldy knew, as Bill Van can attest, where bucks were likely to come from, and in a fairly close time frame. It worked well when Baldy kept watch on certain bucks. They were a creature of habit except during the "Rut".

    Baldy parked his car crossways in a "sendero" (could be a path cut through the brush, or a narrow dirt road) and told P.G. to get his rifle ready. Baldy said that a young buck frequented the area and to get ready. P.G. was not a hunter. He knew how to aim and shoot, but Baldy had talked to everyone when the came to hunt "Not shoot at everything...take their time...not wound animals, etc." To those who had not hunted much he cautioned them to take their time, and take a deep breath and squeeze the trigger.

    Sure enough after about twenty or thirty minutes of waiting, a young buck cautiously waded out into the sendero, alternating between picking up a few kernels of corn and looking up testing the air with his nostrils. After ever so slightly inching forward, and looking around the buck got to the center of the sendero where there were much more corn kernels scattered about in the roadway. His hunger dulled his awareness since there was no sign of danger. Baldy's car was over a hundred yards away and not moving.

    The window had already been slid down, P.G.'s rifle resting on the very top of the glass, which had been adjusted for a comfortable rest. P.G. had taken aim, but was very slow in pulling the trigger. He took Baldy's advice and took a deep breath, held, slowly release some, then was at the point of a slow steady pull on the trigger whenbam!

    The eyes of everyone in the car were fixed on the buck and waiting for P.G.'s shot to drop him when the inside of the car was instantly highly pressurized with a high caliber round exiting the muzzel about six inches to the right of P.G. Stepleton's right ear. The sound was enough to deafen everyone, but the concussion within the close environment really gave a solid punch to the eardrums. Joy Alford was fixed on the deer like everyone else, but unknown to the rest of the passengers, they did not see her pick up a high caliber rifle, aim at the buck and just pull the trigger when everyone else was holding their breath waiting for P.G

    The deer was off in a flash. Baldy knew instantly what happened. He could only blame himself. He should not have left a loaded gun within the reach of someone who had not been given instruction. He looked at a shocked and deafened P.G. Stepleton and was relieved not only to see his head intact, but a living breathing boat racer.

    I do not know what Baldy did to calm everyone down. As I said...I wasn't in the car. P.G. and his wife were soon to split in a couple of years, but I know she was horrified. P.G. as I said was shocked, but not in the literal sense, and Joy must have known, or at least felt from the percussion that she had screwed up. Not wanting to mess up this hunting trip, Baldy brought calm and assurred everything was O.K. while not jumping on Joy for being such an idiot. She was a nice lady, and Baldy was very diplomatic in handling the almost catastrophic situation.

    He quickly shuttled P.G. and his wife to a deer stand and kept Joy with him to drive around to look for something else to shoot. Baldy handled it so diplomatically that Joy soon forgot all the noise and sudden pressure within the car that I think she never realized how close she had come to killing a friend. Baldy had her move into the passenger seat, and drove to a long shaded sendero to wait out the rest of that part of the hunt.



  4. #494
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    Baldy drove to a sendero with lots of mesquite and hackberry shade on the northwestern border of the lease. Thirty feet south of the sendero was 200 yards of short brush, and a couple of feet north was the barb wire border of the northern boundary, and beyond very heavy brush and trees. Lagarto (Alligator in Spanish) Creek was just west of where they parked, and it was excellent turkey hunting.

    It was too late to park in this area and expect a deer to show, but Joy did not know that. Baldy kept her entertained and talked low to keep her expectations up. He had to do this until it was time to pick up the other hunters....usually pull stakes around 10:a.m.

    Baldy was surprised to see a lone gobbler come out into the sendero and stay there. They are a very spooky bird, and can detect the slightest sign of something not being right. So he could help make the hunt more normal, and less bizarre than what happened not long earlier, he coached Joy into a shooting position, told her how to breath and squeeze the trigger, and actually get a shot off out the window where the muzzle is supposed to be. Joy was set. She listened about the breathing, and had done all that, then she stopped to ask Baldy "Where do I shoot him?" Baldy's reply was "In the head!"

    Joy scrunched back down, took several long deep breaths, exhaled partly and squeezed the trigger. To Baldy's great surprise, and Joy not really understanding what happened, the turkey began flopping all around. When Baldy drove down the sendero where a dead turkey lay, he saw a gobbler with most of the head gone. You can imagine the talk that night after everyone surrounded Baldy's bar while he cooked steaks and everyone sipped on whatever beverage of choice they had. This story became legend among Baldy's guests when it came to hunting stories....boat racers or not...he told this story many, many times.



  5. #495
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    I myself was thrilled to be Joe Bowdler's guide. I didn't yet really know Denny Henderson, and although Craig Lawrence came all the way from Dallas along with Jim Wilkins to race at that cold November day at the State Park, I didn't know him them either. They were about my same age, but the only one I saw on a regular basis was Joe Bowdler from San Antonio.

    As tall as Joe was, he was apparently as shy as I was. He ran C,D,and F hydro and runabout, and was very good. I had just recently started competing against him, but I thought him aloof and that he didn't even know who I was. I found out that weekend at Baldy's that he knew not only about my racing, but we also had a lot in common. We liked the same music, his life at that time was school and boat racing, and his Dad Sid, and Mom Margaret were 100 percent behind his racing. His sister Barbara was also a part of their team, and they trailered with Raymond Jeffries, and Artie Lund.

    Once Joe and I got the common thread to connect, we became instant friends. I was a year younger in age, and three or four years behind in racing experience. Joe not only had the talent, but he used his height and weight to great advantage in the big runabouts. I was living the life being around someone my age who was already one of the top drivers. Kind of like talking to Buddy Baker who was one of the top NASCAR drivers of his day to find that he acts just like a friendly neighbor.

    Since there were so many hunters that weekend Joe was my guest to take care of at the lease. Dark descends quickly in the winter in South Texas, and I'm not sure why I got to Joe's stand so late, but ten minutes can be the difference between seeing and not. I was driving slowly to find where Joe was supposed to meet me at the road, and I had the window rolled down. I had a song cranked up on the AM station. It was a guy that Joe Rome went to school with. B.J. Thomas was singing that mournful tune "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". I was so into it, I didn't see Joe standing in the brush about fifteen feet off the road. He hollered a couple of times before I stopped. He had a buck and had dragged it close to the road. Two people come to mind every time I hear that song. First is that dark night in 1967 with Joe Bowdler, and then of Joe Rome telling me a couple of year later that the music teacher at their school in Rosenberg told B.J. Thomas that he didn't have the voice to sing.



  6. #496
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    The following weekend of December 17th, Jack Chance was back. This time he brought ,his brother-in-law Fergie Ferguson, Clayton Elmer and Clayton's Dad Slim. Baldy and I knew both Fergie and Slim from our time spent at Jack's and the races at Highlands. We liked both of them very much and Baldy was pleased to entertain them, and swap stories. It had gotten colder by now and the buck's were in rut. It was a very succcessful weekend of hunting.

    It was cold enough to hang the deer in trees overnight and process the next day. Jack knew how to process venison as well as Baldy and myself and help oversee it with the others. I'm not sure if they did or not. A lot of times people don't want to mess with the tedious routine and have it ground into hamburger. If you do that though, you better freeze it quick, and don't leave it in the freezer too long. It is very common to hear people say that venison is too "wild" a taste for them or that it taste's gamey. Baldy had a favorite saying , "If you shot a cow, tied it to your fender and drove it all over town for a couple of days, it wouldn't taste as good either". The real secret is to separate the individual muscles, cut them out and remove the sinew, fascia and the little fat on them. That is what turns rancid fairly quickly and gives venison a bad reputation. Unfortunately most butcher shops that offer to process venison don't have the time to do it, or don't know the secret. Most of them are hired by hunters who just want the main portions cut up and the rest turned into hamburger.

    The two choices that everyone always raves over is the backstrap and the tenderloin. They are the best tasting because they are not only the most tender, but in removing them from the carcass, all the stuff that causes venison to taste bad has to be cut away while removing these two cuts. Unfortunately there are a lot of hunters that leave the tenderloin because they do not know about it, and it's much smaller than the backstrap.

    Bye the end of this weekend, we had plenty of venison for Baldy to fry. He would fry some at each of these weekends for the guests to have a taste of what properly prepared venison should taste like.



  7. #497
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    Jack was back at Baldy's on December 27th, and again on the final weekend of the deer season January 4th. No other boat racers came those two times. Toward the end of January two more boat racers did come, however, this time it was for quail. On January 29, 1968 Lone Star Commodore Charles Fowler came with P.G. Stepleton. Charles was also well liked by us and we were glad to have him and P.G. as guests. Charles ran A/B hydro and Runabout and lived in Beaumont, Texas. He joined BRF several years ago, but unfortunately passed away less than a year later. He would have really loved this Baldy thread. Charles came to visit Baldy a couple of years after he retired from racing.

    Charles was on the verge of retiring from boat racing at this time due to having a young boy to help raise, and didn't have to time or money to continue to race, but he still wanted to be part of the boat racing family, and so continued on with a leadership role.

    Baldy enjoyed taking people on quail hunts more than hunting deer. Hunting quail everyone stayed together and could talk while walking behind the dogs and stalking bob white quail. We would come across the occassional blue quail, but they were in bigger numbers further west. Blue quail are not good for pointers. They tend to run instead of flying, and that causes the dogs to keep moving forward in spurts instead of holding. They can't hold when the quail keep moving, and so it tends to ruin a dog. Makes them sometimes push a bob white covey to hard, or run through a covey on the verge of taking flight.

    P.G. and Charles only did a one day hunt, and both got their limit. It was on the same lease. As I mentioned this lease had the type of terrain to hunt any type of wild game that lives in South Texas. This was the final group from the race at the state park. Of course Charles did not win anything, but Baldy invited officials to come as well, and not all winners or officials could make it, but the generosity of the offer was well taken by everyone, and all who came down thoroughly enjoyed themselves and Baldy just completed his first large scale hosting of a bunch of boat racers over a two month lull in racing activities.



  8. #498
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    This notice is from the February issue of Roostertail.

    It contains the NOA District 15 notice of election of officers. Please note the Vice-Chairman of the Pleasure Boat Division.
    Attached Images Attached Images



  9. #499
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    Charles Fowler was listed as the Chairman of District 15 of the National Outboard Assciation. He was also elected Commodore of the Lone Star Boat Racing Association. Commodore is the head guy in LSBRA. Lone Star Boat Racing Association ran it's own sanctioned races for many years. A lot of Lone Star racers such as Raymond Jeffries, Clayton Elmer, Bruce Nicholson and others traveled all over the U.S. for competition in the N.O.A. World Championships. When we started racing, Lone Star Boat Racing Association began to put on joint sanctions with N.O.A.

    I'm still not clear about the history of the racers around Dallas. They were not in the Lone Star circuit, yet many would race with us. They were not A.P.B.A. as far as I remember, yet they had some first class racers. The same with the guys from Oklahoma like Dudley Malone. We didn't have stock or modified down by the coast, yet they had a strong circuit up in North Texas and Oklahoma. Since they were too far to race with the Lone Star racers on a regular basis, and A.P.B.A. was not a factor in the South then, it was fertile grounds for the beginnings of A.O.F.



  10. #500
    Stanley Henderson shenders's Avatar
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    Default North Texas

    Wayne
    In the early 1950's the main boat club in Dallas was the Dallas Boat Club. This was
    a very large club with a lot members. Boat racers and non-racers. They put on a lot
    of races around Dallas. I think there was a large club over in Fort Worth also. It seem like
    we went to a race every weekend somewhere. You did not have to drive far in those days.
    I can only remember 2 races that was a long drive. Sweet water TX and Lake Village AK.
    I remember Lake Village because my dad and uncle Joe Henderson ran B hydro and
    there where 96 B hydros. Can you imagine that 96. Not only that 2 weeks later at the
    N O A nationals at lake Dallas there where 105. Lord those were some days. It’s a
    shame young folks can’t get interested in the sport like those days. But I guess those
    times are gone forever. Just memories for us old goats that was around in those days.

    Stan

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