Hank Cranford's Page
Another story.....
Like the 7 foot rattle snake in my puppy pen foxpen ? That my WIFE killed. With a HOE !Frog gigging , stuffing them in your pockets , till you get back to the bank. Then noticing the gator following you and gigging him - your buddy wanting to shoot it underwater then the gig breaks off in my hands as I got him pinned down and we're standing on each side of the gator ?
learing to bass fish at "the hatchery" - built as a hatchery on the lower lake of santee cooper in the 40's I think . It's got about a 60-80 foot canal around the 400-600 acre stump fields about 3-6 ft deep. we didn't have a boat. So we'd stuff pockets with bullet weights, mustad hooks, put your rod in your mouth and swim it. We wore docksides cause it didn't matter if they got wet. stringers of fish in tow behind you as we fished the lilly pads and stumps. my buddy and i got wet 4 or 5 days a week when it was warm - he bass fishes tournaments now. You can go there any day of the spring and summer and see gators that are in the 15 ft range.
Running a red fox up in the ATTIC of an old abandoned house - dog up in the rafters.
Heating up cans of food on the exhaust manifold.
Fishing one day , by myself naturally , storm blows up and trying to out run it in my stratos - bad wave catches me and I duck as the foot control trolling motor rips out the floor, flies by my head and i'm able to catch the wires that go to the foot part.
In a big boat one day and a storm blows straight up the diversion canal - between the 2 lakes (marion and moultrie) , nice big boat - 20 ft or so. Each time the bow goes down it goes under water, pulls up and sends 10-12 inches of water around your ankles out the back. had to pull over and ride that one out.
Fishing the big flats outside the hatchery once - about 7-8 ft. of water. me and another buddy in a chinoo , low riding boat/canoe thing , rated for a trolling motor and we slide a 15 on it. catching fish. tony leans, I lean , overcompensate and bloop , down it goes. gas tank floating, tackle boxes floating. we're hearding stuff together and floating and dragging boat and all to where we can get our heads above water.
These are all pretty much , beer free stories - some of the ones involving beer drinking get out of hand ......
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My one grandfather was a little reserved when I got to know him not really an outdoorsman. My other had died before I was born in a car wreck , but was a little reckless as the stories go. I'm not sure how it would officially be , but my grandmothers sisters husband has always been like another grandfather to me. Grandy Mac has some legendary tales. Got bombed at Pearl Harbor - thought he was gonna disown me when I bought a toyota 4x4 in '84. Haven't bought one in 25 years since then cause of that. He took up flying on a dare - in ww2. Took off not knowing how to land. He learned to reskin staggerwings, j3 cubs, had a few along the way. One summer I helped him build a hanger in tennessee. I would work while he was at work and he'd come home at lunch and help me flip trusses over so I could finish in the afternoon. Then he'd take up flying - that's how I learned to fly. One day we were up and I saw some kids I knew at a church , so I circled around, tilted it pretty good towards them - and the damn door came open , I'm looking straight down into the air - tilted it back up level and pulled the door closed. All he did was laugh.
They lived in Tullahoma, Tn at the time - he taught me alot about things from there. Mom probably wouldn't be happy
