..... BUT using a shovel as an oar? I suppose its possible, but if going out on a fast creek or river I want a motor and definitely one that can get me back against the current.
This is not about whether I think JB was or wasn't on the river. Its just for those wondering if "anyone" would hunt wild hogs while floating in a motorless boat down a flooded river, with a shovel for an oar. Yes they do, and even the local sheriff was quoted as saying "he'd heard it was something people did." (I posted the MSM link long ago. Not sure how to find it.)
So the Little Tallahatchie River originally twisted and turned through a swampy river bottom a mile wide. Later a ditch was dug for the river (now called the Tallahatchie Canal) to flow in, somewhat drying up the river bottom and allowing parts of it to be farmed. The dirt from digging the ditch was piled beside the Canal forming a bit of a dike on either side about 5 ft high.
Feral hogs live in these bottoms, and as they are an invasive, destructive animal they can be hunted year round with only a few restrictions. (Hunting them from a motorized boat is
NOT legal, for example). The hogs are fairly inaccessible to hunters in the bottoms, excerpt during floods. Then the hogs have to scramble to the only ground above water - the piles of dirt beside the canal. So if a hunter is brave/dumb enough to float, motorless, down the swirling canal, they could legally shoot hogs stranded on the bank/dikes.
A shovel is about the only useful tool to have along. The goal is to enter the water at one bridge, float to next bridge several miles downstream (without sinking), then maneuver to one bank or the other and get out. There's no need to "row" anywhere, the max width near Etta appears to be 200 ft. A shovel is plenty good for padding to the side when done, and it's absolutely needed to stop and hold the boat at the bank. At flood stage there's no bank to slide a boat up on. Just the steeply angled dike. So one would lean out and stab into the mud with the shovel as you swirled by and hopefully, you can hold the boat there long enough to scramble out. The photo below shows a spot on the bank where a boater could attempt to get out near the bridge at Etta.
East bank of Little Tallahatchie at Etta, MS. Water at 20.9 ft.
For anyone curious about the appearance and depth of the Little Tallahatchie,
this is taken from the Etta bridge looking upstream. It is near is lowest depth (8.8 ft):
This is the same location looking upstream from the Etta bridge, with the water depth at (20.9 ft).
Photos from here:
National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
And here is video of it at 26 ft., Feb 12th, 2020.
Flood stage is 25 ft.
This is taken at the CR46 bridge, about 4 miles upstream from the bridge in the photos above:
podtail.com
www.newsnationnow.com
