As you probably know by now, I have a new book out that is part-memoir, part autobiography with a selection of humorous and touching stories from growing up along a red dirt road in rural Louisiana.

The title of the book, “Bamboozled by a Bobcat” highlights one of the stories about a time when I really believed I was about to be eaten alive by a big bobcat.

Here is a portion of the chapter in the book about my encounter with the bobcat and wolves…

Bamboozled by a Bobcat, Scared Witless by Wolves

When my daddy worked for Wildlife and Fisheries as a predator control agent, aka wolf trapper, it was always a thrill to go with him to run his traps.

Once on a hot dry summer day, I was with him when he approached where he had set a trap and it was gone. Something had gotten in it, and the ground was dry so there was no track and no way to know what had gotten in the trap.

His traps had an eight-foot chain which was attached to a drag hook. When something got in the trap, it would take off dragging the hook behind and become entangled in brush after going a short distance. He told me to go search one way when he went another.

As I was walking slowly along looking for any sign of what was in the trap, I noticed a rotten log with the bark disturbed like something had gone over it. Growing beside the log was a sapling, and as I approached the log to about six feet, I happened to look up.

Something caught my eye, and there in the sapling with a trap on its foot was a big bobcat.

I’ll never forget the look on that cat’s face. In its eyes, it was as if it was saying, “Go ahead buster. Take two more steps, and I’m on your head.” I jumped back and yelled for my daddy.

That about scared me to death. You talk about a hair-raising experience!

On another occasion, my brother Tom and I were permitted to spend a week with Daddy as he trapped wolves in Madison Parish. Daddy and the caretaker of the hunting lodge where we stayed had located a wolf den back in the swamp, and they hatched a plan to get the wolves.

Daddy had taught me how to howl like a wolf, and the plan was for Tom and me to stay at the Jeep while Daddy and the caretaker sneaked in halfway from the Jeep to the den, and for me to howl after ten minutes. He left me his watch.

The plan was as the wolves responded to my howling and headed our way; they’d be ready with their shotguns to ambush them. I howled after ten minutes and got an immediate response from wolves at the den.

I waited to hear shots but after a couple of minutes, I decided to howl again. The wolves answered, and suddenly here they came, three of them looking for the howler. They had somehow slipped past the two with the shotguns.

Daddy kept a pistol under the seat in the Jeep, so Tom, sneaked out, got it, and fired, not to hit a wolf but to scare them and keep them from eating two mighty frightened little boys. The wolves skedaddled out of there, and when Daddy and the guy showed up, they found two little boys white as sheets and shaking.

The 129-page book is illustrated and contains more than 40 chapters. Should you wish to check it out, it is currently available at Amazon.com. Book signing dates will be announced as soon as they are scheduled.