Born in the Ozarks of Southern Missouri, I moved to the Ozarks of Arkansas in 1970. In 1990, I moved back to the Missouri Ozarks. That first spring I was exploring new country, hunting wild turkeys, when I walked upon a young hunter sitting against a tree.
I felt bad about interrupting his hunting but I am glad that chance encounter took place. That young man was one of the best outdoorsmen I have ever met, and he became a good friend of mine. We got to hunting and fishing together and he worked with me helping me get my new place together up here on this high ridge and most recently at our youth retreat up north on Panther Creek. I introduced him to duck hunting, and he couldn’t get enough of it. I never met anyone who loved the outdoors more.
I recall one cold December day when we set out duck decoys in the back of a deep lake cove. My young friend sat there hunting ducks while I walked back into the woods to hunt deer with a muzzle-loader. While there, I watched four or five Canada geese wing over me at tree-top level, easy shots if I had brought a shotgun. My hunting partner had a better story. Sitting there on a log watching for ducks, he heard a buck grunting, and turned to watch two bucks cross the draw behind him in easy muzzle-loader range.
About 18 years ago, my friend, Robert, and his wife had a little boy. They named him after Robert’s father, whom everyone called JD. I laughed when I watched Robert haul that little boy around in a special backpack he had made for him, out in the woods. I loaned him a boat back when JD got to be 10 or 11 years old and father and son would float the river. Robert was always teaching him. When JD turned 16 years old he loved duck hunting more than any kid I have ever seen, and he borrowed some goose decoys from me on occasion.
I am going to tell the remarkable story of his father, Robert Murders, someday in one of my magazines. I didn’t know what a great story his life was until one day when he and I were driving back from Bull Shoals and there was time to ask a lot of questions and hear it all. Robert was an Oklahoma athlete, and he played football at his high school, where he led all running backs in the entire state in yardage gained back when he was a senior.
He did that in spite of the fact that he had been shot in the stomach by a school mate while hunting squirrels when he was about 13 years old, and it took years to completely recover. Robert loved baseball, and had a chance to sign as a catcher with the Philadelphia Phillies until at the age of 19 he lost his parents. Robert put his family’s welfare above his own, and quit college, where he had an athletic scholarship. He returned home to care for younger siblings.
His son, JD, had one heck of a baseball coach in his father. The kid was quiet and respectful and worked hard. I remember when he came over and worked for me to make money to buy baseball cleats. Wish I could have hired him full-time. JD, the youngster who loved to hunt ducks when the baseball season is over, was offered a full scholarship to play shortstop for Texas Tech University in Lubbock, one of the powerhouse college teams.
Can you imagine how proud his parents were?
But the plans got sidetracked. JD was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and now is playing professional baseball in Florida. He did so in part because the Cardinals promise to put young signees through four years of college when they want to leave baseball.
This winter, JD and Robert will surely get to hunt ducks again and I hope they’ll take me with them. Robert’s duck dog is a litter-mate of my Chocolate Labrador, Lightnin’ Ridge Bolt. Will JD be playing someday in St. Louis? Beats me, I don’t know much about baseball. I would not bet against that kid, because I know his dad. The story of JD Murders is well known around here, and will be told often if he makes it to the big time. But someday, when he will let me, I am going to tell Robert Murders extraordinary life story in one of my magazines and folks will get to know all about a remarkable athlete and outdoorsman.
You can write me at Box 22, Bolivar, Mo., 65613, or email me at lightninridge@windstream.net.