By JOHN MARTINO
Can you imagine buying a whole box of .22s for 15 cents? How about picking up your yearly combination hunting/fishing license for $1.50? That’s how it was when Phil Hudelson was a young boy. The activities of hunting and fishing are something the long-time Kokomo resident has grown up with and still remains an important part of his life.
Although he has seen many changes, some things have always remained the same.
For the 82-year-old Hudelson, things were definitely different back then as a child growing up on North Washington Street.
“I would walk west down Broadway and when I’d hit Philips Street is when I’d load my shotgun. I could hunt from there on,” he reminisced. “Then to the north, the city limits ended at Morgan Street.
“I didn’t have all the warm clothing people have now-a-days,” he added. “I’d usually hunt in an old pair of thin leather boots and a work coat.”
Before her passing, his wife Deloris also loved spending time outdoors with her husband, especially if it meant fishing or hunting mushrooms.
“She was good at fishing but extraordinary at finding morels. She’d find all the ones I would walk by,” he said with a smile.
Hudelson was also blessed with three daughters, Monica, Denise and Maureen.
“They all loved to fish,” he said proudly. “But Denise was the only one that would go squirrel hunting with me.”
The gleam in his eyes resembled the bright reflection off a calm lake as he grew quiet; reminiscing about those special times spent with his now grown children.
For over half a century Hudelson and his friend Bill Garrison, former owner of Garrison’s Orchard located on east Sycamore Street, spent countless days where they would float many of our areas tributaries. Some of their favorites were the Wildcat Creek along with the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers. The men would spend a great deal of time fishing for goggle-eyes (rock-bass) and squirrel hunting.
“We used to take off for days,” he recalled. “When it got close to dark, we would find a sand bar or island to camp on.”
Their meager camping equipment was purchased used from various army surplus stores. For supper the two would eat what they caught or shot.
“I have always loved fishing for largemouth bass too,” he noted.
Although his outdoor pursuits have taken him all across Indiana, his favorite places were little known natural lakes in the northern part of Indiana where he was a fixture.
“Zink Lake is where that fish came from,” he said, pointing to a trophy largemouth hanging on his living room wall. “Have you ever heard of it?”
After shaking my head “no,” a wry smile crossed his face. He looked me in the eye, winked, then said “see John, I still have some secrets” — a typical fisherman indeed.
Hudelson also tells the humorous story about a pet crow.
“I found it when it was young on the east side of [U.S.] 31,” he explained. Raising the bird to adulthood, the crow would sit atop the roof of Hudelson’s current residence on Cornell Road, where he has lived since 1951.
“There were many times when I’d come home from work that bird would squawk at me and start hopping across the roof towards the back porch,” he said. “I knew it wanted to show me something.”
There, on his back porch Hudelson would find coins, rings and other small shiny objects.
“Where that bird came up with those things is anybody’s guess,” he said with a laugh.
Then, after a little over a year, the bird vanished.
“I guess it was the call back to the wild.”
Hudelson was also an avid ice fisherman way before the wintertime activity caught on in popularity. Back then there was very little equipment specifically made for this type of fishing and Hudelson was forced to build almost everything on his own, including his rods. Holes were painstakingly chopped in the ice using an ax.
“After several years I ended up making my own iron spud bar,” he mentioned. “I’d have given anything for one of those modern day augers.”
“There were no bait shops where you could go the day before to pick up beemoth or mousies,” he continued.
Instead he had to plan ahead for bait, usually gathering it in the fall. When the air turned crisp and leaves would begin to change into their brilliant colorful hues, he would gather hickory nuts and golden rod. It wasn’t the nuts or plants he was after, but the grubs that inhabited them. Once shucked from their home, he would store them in buckets until winter where they would be used as bait.
“I know one thing for sure,” he said firmly, “there wouldn’t be as many people ice fishing now if they had to do it like I did.”
Hudelson has also seen an evolution in area wildlife over the passing decades.
“There used to be pheasant and quail everywhere,” he explained. “But now they have no place to hide and their numbers have really dropped off,” he added, referring to the continual loss of suitable habitat. But the long time sportsman has also witnessed a resurgence in deer and wild turkeys. “I never saw a deer until the mid 1970s,” he recalled, “but now you see them all the time.”
Unfortunately Hudelson’s outdoor pursuits have been hampered due to several health related concerns. A stroke several years back limited his mobility. Then shortly after, poor circulation in his legs made it even more difficult for him to continue chasing his passion. There were times during his recuperation where he would get his fishing poles and guns out just to hold them and relive all the memories that flowed from their smooth surfaces.
“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about hunting or fishing again,” said the longtime sportsman, as he sat in his chair looking skyward out his living room window. “I am feeling much better and hope to be on the water again come spring,” he added, his eyes twinkling with boyhood excitement.
Although the mild-mannered Hudelson has witnessed many changes through his long life, one thing has remained constant — his love and deep passion for our great outdoors.
Hunter Education Class
Openings are still available for the upcoming IDNR Hunter Education Class, sponsored by the Kokomo Parks and Recreation Department. This class is mandatory for anyone born after Dec. 31, 1986, before purchasing a valid Indiana hunting license.
Offered free of charge, the 10-hour class will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 17 and from noon to 4 p.m. March 18 at the Kirkendall Outdoor Education Center located in Jackson Morrow Park.
You can register by contacting the Parks Department office at (765) 456-PARK between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Archery tournaments
Full Draw Archery will begin hosting various types of archery tournaments for anyone who enjoys the challenges of stick-and-string. The contests are open to the public and will be held in their indoor range.
Details and times for the upcoming events can be obtained by calling (765) 452-5266.
Tribune catches of the week
Bryant’s Outdoor Store: Jim Lawhead and Ryan Lewis cleaned 39 bluegills and 21 crappies after a recent ice fishing trip on a Kosciusko County Lake. The bluegills averaged 7 inches long while the largest crappies stretched nearly 1 foot in length. The area anglers hooked their fish on tear-drop jigs and Swedish Pimples tipped with spikes and beemoth.
Jack’s Tackle Center: Rick Coffman and his two sons Aaron and Zac hauled in 110 bluegills while plying the frozen surface of an area pond. The fish averaged 7 inches in length and were taken on tear-drop jigs tipped with meal worms and beemoth.
Malone’s Nyona Lake Bait and Tackle: Ken Roe pulled 45 bluegills through the ice from Nyona Lake. Taken on tear drop jigs tipped with spikes, the fish averaged eight inches long.
Aaron Arnett caught a largemouth bass tipping the scales at 4 pounds, 8 ounces while ice fishing Nyona Lake. The fish was hooked on an artificial lure.
John Martino is the Tribune’s outdoors columnist. He may be reached through the sports department.
