NOVEMBER STORIES 2003

November 22, 2003  I went to bed last night at 9:00 P.M. but didn't get much sleep. I was awakened at 10:30 P.M. because of some noise coming out of the closet not far away. I figured it was just a mouse. Still couldn't sleep so I got up to watch T.V. a while until I got sleepy again. An hour later I headed for bed only to find that my wife was up as those same noises occurred again and woke her up. I opened the door and in a few minutes a red squirrel ran by us and crossed the hallway into the other bedroom. I quickly went to the spare room where the quadruped went and shut the door. I went outdoors and got a four foot log off the wood pile and brought in the house. I opened the window in the spare bedroom where the squirrel was and propped the log upright sticking one end out the window. The plan was to get the squirrel to climb the log and out the window to freedom. Tried to get some sleep after that but couldn't. I just watched the clock tick off until it got to 3:30 A.M. and then I got ready for a trip north to hunt with Marc Woormwood three hours away.

7:00 A.M.  After three hours of steady driving I'm pulled over into the parking lot where I'm to meet up with Marc Wormwood. A few minutes later Marc pulls up with his son TROY. Off we go for some more driving and eventually we reach the place where we would hunt. The day is just about perfect. Clear skies, thirty two degree temperatures and a heavy frost that covers the ground as like unto snow. Get out of the truck and meet TROY for the first time. Troy is twelve years old and has NEVER shot a rabbit. We get our gear and hounds ready, and discuss the lay of the land and set our compasses and Marc his GPS.   I brought two thirteen inch hounds SUE and SOPHIE and Marc has his male NATE. We cast the hounds and in a few minutes Sue opens some, then Nate opens a bit, then Sophie. A little picking here and there and all of a sudden they explode into a drive. On and on they run as we listen from the road by the vehicles. Out of hearing they're gone in short order. A ridge in front of us deafens their sounds but pretty soon they roar back and cross the road a couple hundred yards away around a curve and out of sight. We get into the woods to follow the hunt and get positioned for the kill. In about twenty minutes of pretty good running the hare tries to get by me and I nailed him with one shot. One shot is pretty good for me??? Anyway, we get another hare started quickly and this hare heads for the road and crosses it by the trucks to the other side. Without getting too repetitious the hare manages to circle big crossing the road several times before ending up in my MULE vest.  The third hare got the same treatment and before you knew it I had three hare hanging upside down by the truck! I told Marc to leave TROY with me and he could go on by himself, and I would "baby sit" TROY. Troy was carrying a single shot twenty guage youth model gun and I could tell by talking with him that he didn't like the "kick" it mustered when he fired it. It's a nice and light thing but kinda tough on the shoulder for a ten year old.   The hounds couldn't go far after each kill without finding another hare quickly. The pounding continued and all the hounds gave a good account of themselves. One time the dogs split with Sophie running solo and the other two high tailing a hare out of hearing and a mile out of our area. Marc went and followed the brace and Troy and I hunted Sophie's hare. Here comes the hare. White on black almost and very easy to see. Troy "there he is shoot him" said I. No shot. "Troy shoot! No shot. Maybe a little "buck fever" and may be a whole lot of fear of that "kick". Finally I ORDERED "PULL THE TRIGGER".   KAAPOOOW went that monster report and Troy was shaking like a leaf. He wasn't within twenty yards of cutting a hair on that "wascally wabbit". But the important thing is, he fired the gun at a live bunny. I was carrying a Browning auto and told Troy that it was heavier to carry than his gun but the kick was much softer. Sophie is still pounding that hare near us so we switched guns. In a few minutes here comes "CASPER" the white bunny. Troy raises the gun but no shot. I know his mind was still on the "kick" so I encouraged him with some verbal intensity to shoot. No shot. Now the hare is six feet away and spooks by our presence and scoots straight away with some "extra foot". POW the gun goes off and Troy has this smirk on his face like he accomplished something. Didn't hit a thing but wood and he looked pleasantly surprised that shooting the big gun didn't hurt.  Well that was a plus. We moved around some as the hare had us pegged and I told him that once a hare knows where we are, we move to fool him/her. Another while later the hare comes by and Troy is holding my gun. POW the gun is fired then POW again and the hare continues to run. A little rapid fire here! A few minutes later we heard the rabbit squealing and Sophie caught it. I moved up quickly to where the sound came from but couldn't find the hare in the thick cover where Troy just shot. Before I could lock in on just where Sophie was, she started another hare. Never did find that rabbit.   While Troy and I were doing our thing, Marc shot the hare that the other two dogs were running about a mile down the road.  When he got back to us he cast the two he had on a leash and they harked to Sophie. Then TROY tells his DAD the story. Kinda fun watching him tell DAD what happened.    Marc shot a few more hare and later, on another run TROY sent a couple quick shots at a running rabbit with my gun and drew blood. The hounds continued to push this rabbit and DAD killed it a few minutes later. Man, a hit rabbit that we couln't find, and now a wounded rabbit that DAD killed? What's a guy to do? Can't get to pick up a dead one up by the hind feet for all to see and say SEE MY FIRST RABBIT. But by now TROY is really into this "run and gun" thing. Another hunt is underway and to my amazement TROY says that he wanted to try his gun on this one. I've been telling him that when a hare comes by and he shoots it he won't even feel the gun go off. Sure enough in short order here comes the hare. TROY is standing three feet from me "ON POST". "Here he comes" I said and TROY picks his gun up like a "TROOPER" and fires all in one motion. KAAAPOOOW!   HALLELUIA a dead bunny and TROY does not hide his enthusiasm. "DAD..DAD..DAD I got him..I got him" he yells. Father and Son hug like you'd never believe. That kind of bond that makes a relationship tight and a moment that TROY will never forget. Later I ask TROY, "do you remember what the gun felt like when you shot that bunny"? He says "Pappy" I don't even remember it going off.  We all had a great day and the hounds, well; they "WENT GOOD". I had a long drive home to make so we packed it in. Man this is what it's all about. More "stuff" to pile on top of the memory heap. Oh ya while I think of it, TROY tagging along with me wasn't really a baby sitting job. He's alot closer to being a young man than I had thought. YEP, TROY and I are a "TEAM"

Return to hunting stories ARCHIVES

Home Page