NATCHEZ — It is possible to be picky about eating pecans yet still enjoy picking them, as a Ferriday man demonstrated Sunday afternoon.

Shane Wilson, a Ferriday welder of 20 years, spends most his time around hot flames so he said he didn’t mind being outside in the cold and wet weather when The Dart landed in Providence Park.

“I’m used to being hot all of the time, so I don’t mind the weather much,” he said. “The wet ground is not so bad as long as you have your boots on.”

Wilson said he has picked up pecans all his life but never eats them — not even when they’re baked into a pie.

“I know a woman who likes to make pies with them and sometimes I give them to her,” he said.

Wilson said he usually sells his pickings to J.D.’s Fish Market in Ferriday for approximately 50 cents per pound, though the late winter and rainy season make them difficult to find scattered on the ground.

“If you look at the trees you can see that a lot of them haven’t even fallen off yet,” he said.

Wilson said he built his own set of pickers using a standard trash picker upper and a small set of rubber suction cups.

“I drilled a hole and screwed them into the pinchers with a nut and bolt,” he said. “It makes the pecans easier to grab.”

With or without large pickings, Wilson said he enjoys getting outside and away from the noise just the same.

“I like being outside a lot,” he said. “I like to get out when it’s quiet and there are few interruptions.”