Alabama Boys are Hunters, Huh?
Posted by Pete | Posted in News | Posted on 08-05-2013
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All Alabama boys are hunters, aren’t they? Well, I did some hunting in my youthful days in Alabama, also. Killed a few squirrels I saw running up in trees myself. Took part in chasing some coons around Coalfire Creek swampland. That’s Pickens County for some of you folks who don’t know. But did I ever tell you about the time I came face to face with a grey squirrel? I had just started sneaking around to smoke and so I took our 22 rifle down to the swamp looking for some squirrel for supper and for a chance to smoke a couple. I was sitting, leaning up against a hickory nut tree. My .22 rifle was leaning against the tree. This squirrel came down a nearby tree and started chewing on a nut.Had it stayed up in the trees I could have shot it or at least shot at it, It took me a long time to ease my hand over, get the rifle and slowly get it up to my shoulder. All this time the little squirrel kept chewing on that nut. He had it between his front paws standing on his hind legs. It was a really cute squirrel. About the time I got a good bead on it, it looked at me…..looked at me square in the eyes, no, he stared at me as my bead was drawn right on his little bitty head….and I read his mind…It said, “you wouldn’t really shoot me, would you?”, looked even cuter and repeated, “would you?”. That made me mad really, cause I could not pull the trigger. Well, I was not going to let it get away without at least scaring it so I pulled the gun a few inches or so to the left and shot at the ground. The dang squirrel went to running and climbed about 1/2 up a nearby tree, stopped, then looked back at me. I was still mad so I shot about a foot under him, hitting the tree and he scampered on up the tree. There was no way I could have shot that little feller. I learned a lot about myself that day. From then on I left the squirrel killing up to Dad and did my smoking at various other hiding places. I am not a good hunter. Don’t get me wrong, if I had to put some meat on the table I think I could. But it is a lot harder if I’m looking it right in the eyes. Thats so for squirrel or deer. Now, I prefer to buy my meat already butchered and packaged. But I’m glad for you if you can hunt…I’m not good at it…Pete
This is an excellent story to explain away one’s lack of markmanship. So, you missed a few inches to the left and a foot below. It sounds alot like my shooting. I’m only kidding. If I was looking face to face with a squirrel, I would have done the same thing; but, in my case, I would have likely just missed. Lucky squirrel!
My cousin Cecil and I were excellent marksmen with 22 rifles and we shot many boxes of shells trying to get that way. We hit what we shot at and I’m not bragging. That was a fact and I think just about ever Alabama boy who wanted to shoot could perform as well as we did. By the time you came along there may have been very little for you to target practice on, reckon?
Obviously you and your cousin Cecil were not that good because I always participated in the eating of the game that Cecil shot. I don’t remember ever participating all that much, at least not until he began to use a shotgun in the hunt. even then, the squirrel was almost always full of lead shot. The moral is that, if one wants to become an excellent marksman, just use a shotgun with an excellent scatter pattern. If one wants to become an excellent marksman in the Army, just use an automatic weapon with plenty of ammo. This is the American way. The markmanship of the backwoodsman of the Continental Army of history with their long rifles is a thing of the past. Later, they good make an excellent movie about markmanship in “Annie Get Your Gun”, but the markmanship of the general population is mostly history.
You can have your opinion of course but you are wrong. We both could clip sunflowers off their stems. You are wrong on this. Sorry.
Perhaps! The proof of the pudding is the game on the dinner plate. Where’s the game? In retrospect, it has been a long time. Perhaps there was more game than I remember. It taste so good, there was never enough. Slow bowled and, then, fried squirrel for breakfast is better than fatback any day. I enjoyed squirrel hunting down in the swamp. I just couldn’t bring myself to kill many of the pretty little, fuzzy animals. I am happy, though, that others could, especially when they turned up on my dinner plate.
You don’t give up, do you?….I explained we were not shooting at game….except a lot of turtles…So it ok if you do not believe me, but we were excellent shots. No further response will be forthcoming from me on this one. thanks for your comments…