One of the most pleasant things I do is tell and listen to stories with friends or people with similar interests. I dont know if this is a common trait of doctors, but every morning one can find the Doctors Dressing Room by the Surgical Suite at Sphon hospital filled with surgeons telling their favorite stories. As they were told and retold the stories always got better and better, and even though they had been heard before they were always enjoyed. During hunting season the subject turned to exploits in the field. I thought they should be saved so I set out to collect and record the best for posterity. I had retired when I made this decision so I had to go hunting for some worthy examples of the great tales I have recorded here.

John Prentiss was the father of a good friend of mine and his stories are a good example of how a very creative and imaginative man and boy thinks and acts. Consider the story of how he started a fire in a dry field while playing with some migrating buzzards. Or the excitement of going hunting in south Texas and being scared off by Mexican Banditos.

Chandler Simms was a dear friend of mine and a good friend to have. He had a problem however which made hunting with him a concern. He was a severe type A, with coronary heart disease, and very stubborn. Being his friend was hard, but being his doctor and his friend was almost impossible.

Jake Jarmon was one of the best liked men in Corpus Christi, and was an industrial strength practical joker. His Pall Bearers' were seen laughing hysterically in the car on the way to the cemetery, because they had been telling stories about Jake. He was a joker and people loved to catch him with a pay back joke, which they did often. Find out what happens when one sets off the alarm in the small bank in Sandia, it is unusual

My wife is one of those people who are very sensitive to the cold, but she had no problem with the primitive sleeping arrangements since she brought our dual control electric blanket. We were on the sleeping porch, of course, and it was a very cold night. We all had been fighting the cold sitting by the fire and internalizing large amounts of scotch whisky. It finally got to be bed time, so we hurried into our assigned beds and after a few bedtime jokes, we got very quiet. Out of this silence, my wife, not sure if I had turned the electric blanket on, asked " John, are we plugged in?" The uproar that followed kept the group laughing for an hour, and today, forty years later we still hear about it.

Another night time story has to do with my good friend, Dr. James Tyree. Jim Tyree and I were on another lease together West of San Antonio near D'hanis. It was a fantastic lease with wonderful accommodations, We were housed in a large building which was mostly one room. It served as living and dining room as well as bunk room. The bunk beds were along the walls and could sleep 12 men. There was a bathroom inside, and a large kitchen. There was a huge fireplace at one end of the living room and the kitchen was at the other end.

Now Jim had a problem and he knew it, he snored. He not only snored, he SNORED Being the gentleman that he was, he always gave the others of us a chance to get to sleep before he went to bed. If he got to sleep before we did, it was a problem. When he snored he could rattle the nails out of the wood work. One night he came out of the bathroom and started telling a story for any who might still be awake. He was sleeping in the bunk above me, and as he climbed the ladder to get into his bunk, he continued to tell the story. He paused at the top of the ladder to make a point, then moved himself into the bunk, still talking until his head hit the pillow. At that point he changed from his narration to his mighty nasal symphony. Those of us who were still awake had a hard time getting to sleep that night.



Judge Walter Dunham tells about how a camp cook obliterates four marriages in South Texas, during what was to be a very pleasant week end to a magnificent hunting season.

Discover what to do when you find you have your wifes .243 ammunition and your Winchester .270. just as you are getting into your blind, or what a friend will do to you when you tell him what you saw near your blind one morning.

There are practical joke stories, unbelievable true stories, and some that are not true but too good to leave out. These and many more stories like them will keep you laughing or crying for hours as you read and re-read BUCK FEVER.