a little hunting story

[crappiemaster]

After Sunday's 1 o'clock football game, I asked my 10 year old son if he wanted to go shoot some quail. "Sure" he said. So we went to one of my favorite honeyholes where a couple of empty irrigation ponds were between a grape vineyard and and apple orchard. These ponds are surrounded by overgrowth and are nice cover for quail and pheasants. As I was driving, my boy asks me if he could shoot one if we saw one. He hasn't taken the safety course yet, but I have been teaching him what my dad taught me about gun safety and he was very succuessful in killing two pumpkins after Halloween. He knows how to handle a gun and so I said well if we see one...we'll see. As I looked over at him, I could see all the scenarios that were going through his mind about his first game bird. We got to the spot around 4:30, hoping to get into a covey heading back to roost. It was getting to be around dusk and shadows were making it hard to see up the orchard rows. As we walked forward, Jacob freezes, and says "Dad, there's a pheasant in the middle of the row!" I looked and sure enough, there was a dark object about 30 yards in the middle of the grass, but I could tell it was not a pheasant. His eyes were wide and he begs, "let me shoot it" So I go along and say ok. I hand him the shotgun, and he drops to knee and tries to steady himself. After almost a minute, he says "ok I am going to fire" Clicks off the safety and fires. The shot sprays around the dark object and he yells "I hit it!!" He hands me the gun and says "dad we are going to eat pheasant tonight" I act just as excited and tell him to go up the row and get his trophy. He goes cautiously and when he gets to it he yell's "Dad, its a weed!!" He comes back laughing so hard he can barely walk back. I didn't tell him I knew all along, I acted just as suprised as he. Someday I will tell him though when he understands the joy I got of watching the excitement he had as he was preparing to shoot his first bird. We laughed all the way home. We didn't see any birds, but it didn't matter.

[Bisk1tSnGraV]

A very good story and priceless memories.

[Rich McVey]

To Fun! Killer Story.

[The Quadfather]

I'm not a hunter, but that is just a great priceless story.