As I sit here getting ready to watch the Colts play a little football, I am thinking about 50 years of hunting of some kind or another. My first kill in 1959 was a jackrabbit with a rock, I would rather be lucky than good. I had bet my dad and his friend while they were shooting at targets I could kill the jack as he ran off after being scared off by the gun fire. Well off I went and 2 hours later after several dozen misses I finally connected. I dragged the, flee covered beast back and to my total surprise I was in deep trouble. My dad and his friend had finished shooting over an hour ago and they are very unhappy with me. For all my success, I get to ride home in the back of the truck with the dog and my trophy was left behind.
My dad felt there were lots to be learned about being a hunter before you ever used a gun, and being as I was born 100 years too late, I had to use very primitive resources to accomplish my hunting and gathering desires and needs. We had 350 acres of river bottom that held all types of imaginary dangerous game for a young mountain man armed with his 50 cal stick and a very select pocket full of ballistic perfect rocks. It is not that people who live with the land have better eye sight than others but that they learn and know what every bush, stick and hill should look like. I spent days spying on any critter that I could find, and since I did not have any binoculars my tools were my hand and knees to creep close.
Finally I am a legal hunter with, hunter safety class and hours of the does and don’ts of handling a gun. I get to use a family antique 1892 win 25-20 that becomes the elephant gun of my dreams. We are hunting a big dry draw with lots of little fingers coming off of it. I step up to the edge of one of the fingers as a doe mule deer steps out. My first shot connects right behind the ear and the deer drops, an amazing shot of about at least 12 inches. Hunting is a piece of cake and I just became 10 foot tall and bullet proof. My next shoot a big game animal came several years later in a totally different state. My life had other adventures where looking at the inside white walls of hospitals limited my adventures physically but not my dreams. The days spent crawling, sneaking and spying on critters along with outdoor magazines stories of the world had prepared me to have a wonderful world to visit no matter if walking or laying flat on my back.
I tried to hunt in places my parents moved but success was not in the killing of an animal but in learning about friendships and sharing in an experience good and bad. Finally I end up in wonderful Wyoming. One year of residency is required here in Wyoming and it was kind of worth the time, because I met and got to know others that shared my desires to wonder the hills and valleys. My first deer hunt was with a one leg man who owned some land next to some mountainous land. I did not sleep for several days and when I met him at his house he was in no big hurry to go and I was going nuts. We arrived at mountain just as the sun is showing its face above the hills. We see a couple of deer and since he cannot walk fare in the rough county he makes me hunt with him from the truck. I want to wonder through the hills and valley’s but no I have to stay put. What now, knap time for hunters? Yep he tells me take a nap and curls up against a coat on the door and begins to snore. I have had it beat into me to do what you are told by your elders and if you are a guest of anyone do what you are told. About 2 hours later the man wakes up and says well you ready to kill a deer? Well I want to tell him that is the dumbest question in the history of hunting but I just nod my head and off we go. He pulls up to a draw and says well kill that deer. Laying there by a bush is the most beautiful deer I have ever seen. I get out of the truck and sit down trying to remember all my instructions as the deer stands up and stretches. The shot is true and I have gust collected my first buck a marvelous 2x2.
Now 35 years later I have just complete the first year that I did not fire a shot at any big game animals. I only purchased an elk tag that was a limited quota draw. I was unsuccessful on antelope and deer. My excuses could be very profound, colorful or tear jerking but they are not. I did have vehicle problems, weather issues, and some old body stuff take place but I think attitude played a bigger part than anything. Both of my hunting partners do to other things in their lives could not join me this year. The joy of the kill evidently must not be my motivation anymore because my sadness or regrets are the memories not gained or shared. I do miss my elk stakes and my winter hobby of making sausage to give as Christmas presents but this will pass. Have a Happy Holliday Season and remember the good times.
My dad felt there were lots to be learned about being a hunter before you ever used a gun, and being as I was born 100 years too late, I had to use very primitive resources to accomplish my hunting and gathering desires and needs. We had 350 acres of river bottom that held all types of imaginary dangerous game for a young mountain man armed with his 50 cal stick and a very select pocket full of ballistic perfect rocks. It is not that people who live with the land have better eye sight than others but that they learn and know what every bush, stick and hill should look like. I spent days spying on any critter that I could find, and since I did not have any binoculars my tools were my hand and knees to creep close.
Finally I am a legal hunter with, hunter safety class and hours of the does and don’ts of handling a gun. I get to use a family antique 1892 win 25-20 that becomes the elephant gun of my dreams. We are hunting a big dry draw with lots of little fingers coming off of it. I step up to the edge of one of the fingers as a doe mule deer steps out. My first shot connects right behind the ear and the deer drops, an amazing shot of about at least 12 inches. Hunting is a piece of cake and I just became 10 foot tall and bullet proof. My next shoot a big game animal came several years later in a totally different state. My life had other adventures where looking at the inside white walls of hospitals limited my adventures physically but not my dreams. The days spent crawling, sneaking and spying on critters along with outdoor magazines stories of the world had prepared me to have a wonderful world to visit no matter if walking or laying flat on my back.
I tried to hunt in places my parents moved but success was not in the killing of an animal but in learning about friendships and sharing in an experience good and bad. Finally I end up in wonderful Wyoming. One year of residency is required here in Wyoming and it was kind of worth the time, because I met and got to know others that shared my desires to wonder the hills and valleys. My first deer hunt was with a one leg man who owned some land next to some mountainous land. I did not sleep for several days and when I met him at his house he was in no big hurry to go and I was going nuts. We arrived at mountain just as the sun is showing its face above the hills. We see a couple of deer and since he cannot walk fare in the rough county he makes me hunt with him from the truck. I want to wonder through the hills and valley’s but no I have to stay put. What now, knap time for hunters? Yep he tells me take a nap and curls up against a coat on the door and begins to snore. I have had it beat into me to do what you are told by your elders and if you are a guest of anyone do what you are told. About 2 hours later the man wakes up and says well you ready to kill a deer? Well I want to tell him that is the dumbest question in the history of hunting but I just nod my head and off we go. He pulls up to a draw and says well kill that deer. Laying there by a bush is the most beautiful deer I have ever seen. I get out of the truck and sit down trying to remember all my instructions as the deer stands up and stretches. The shot is true and I have gust collected my first buck a marvelous 2x2.
Now 35 years later I have just complete the first year that I did not fire a shot at any big game animals. I only purchased an elk tag that was a limited quota draw. I was unsuccessful on antelope and deer. My excuses could be very profound, colorful or tear jerking but they are not. I did have vehicle problems, weather issues, and some old body stuff take place but I think attitude played a bigger part than anything. Both of my hunting partners do to other things in their lives could not join me this year. The joy of the kill evidently must not be my motivation anymore because my sadness or regrets are the memories not gained or shared. I do miss my elk stakes and my winter hobby of making sausage to give as Christmas presents but this will pass. Have a Happy Holliday Season and remember the good times.
