During a Crisis Such as Hurricane Harvey, Here’s Why You Want Outdoorsmen on Your Side
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.30.17
During a crisis like Hurricane Harvey, when Mother Nature throws everything she’s got at us, it’s good to have somebody around who can still slip fishing line through an impossibly small eye hole, even with cold numb fingers.
As the country braces for what’s left of Hurricane Harvey, thousands are rushing to the scene of torrential rainfall and flooded highways. They come by both air and flat-bottomed boats, and they’re banning together to form one huge team.
Sport fishermen and duck hunters alike are riding in on their skiffs, and maneuvering through the chaos, simply to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. Again, we see this army of camouflage wearing, boat launching outdoorsmen, who go by the name “Cajun Navy” descend on Houston in fleets, hauling their boats over tree stumps and levees, and launch them from washed out highways.
There are no DNR officers to check for proper fishing licenses or assure everyone has a life vest on board, which very few have.
Maneuvering around debris and submerged cars is almost like home for these folks, who are more accustomed to the backwoods of Texas and the bogs of Louisiana. Spending hours getting pelted by non-stop rain doesn’t faze them, because they know better than most that ducks don’t just fly onto your plate, and they’ve learned a skill that you simply cannot teach: how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
They may speak a seemingly foreign language of top-water and spinnerbaits, and they might argue over which knot is the strongest. But for the time being, they’ve put down their fishing poles, suspended their pursuit of bass and panfish, and are cruising through subdivisions in the pouring rain.
