Hunting Trip with Coach Pat Dye BY GRAEM

For the first time in the almost three years that I've been blogging, I'm glad to introduce Graem as a "guest" blogger. Except that since this is our family blog, he really isn't a guest. Nonetheless, he has never contributed even so much as a comment, so it is a "first," and therefore momentous.

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A few weeks ago, I took a hunting trip to Crooked Oaks, AL with a broker I've been working with a good bit, one if his friends & another close friend of mine from Colonial. Elana D'Ariciprete, who works with me at Colonial & lives outside of Montgomery, is an Auburn grad & a big hunter. She's been trying to get me to come down for years to hunt at Crooked Oaks because it's Pat Dye's (legendary football coach who led Auburn to 4 SEC Championships) hunting preserve.

Since I am a big hunter & love good SEC football, I've been wanting to go for years. But one thing that has made it even more appealing is that while our deer season ends on January 1st, their's runs through January 31st & their rut comes in the last week of January. So I finally worked with Elana to plan a trip this year & invited Steve Farish to bring a guest.

While I was extremely excited about the chance to extend my hunting season by a few days, I always love the camaraderie formed on a hunting trip, particularly when you stay in a lodge as nice as Coach Dye's.

All 4 of us saw deer & could have taken shots but we all ended up letting them walk. More than anything though, we had a great time hanging out at the lodge & getting to know Coach Dye & his staff.



Chico met us at the lodge & told us when we checked in that Coach Dye is most known for his pork chops, and that he doesn't let anyone else cook pork chops when he's around. Even after that introduction, Elana still tried to tell Coach how to cook pork chops the right way until he finally had to tell her "fine, you cook your own pork chop." If you know Elana, you can completely picture that conversation.



Coach seemed to be a fan of Maker's Mark.



Coach Dye, Chico, Steve & me.

Chico runs Crooked Oaks & Auburn Oaks for Coach Dye. Chico has worked for Coach Dye since he was in high school & is responsible for all of the business management of the preserve. He & Heath (not pictured) were also our guides for the hunts.



Elana & Coach Dye.



Steve & Coach Dye.



Joe Walker & Coach Dye.

This was the first time that I had met Joe & I really enjoyed getting to know him. Many of you know that I was recently ordained / installed as a deacon at Lexington Presbyterian Church. On the ride down to Alabama, I learned that Steve & Joe are deacons & elders in the Presbyterian church. I can have fun hunting & hanging out with just about anybody, but it makes it a lot more enjoyable when you're around a group of people that you really enjoy spending time with.

Here is a link to Crooked Oaks Hunting Preserve and some background on Coach Pat Dye.