8\30 Trying not to be a sissy

  • By Rick Hill
  • August 31, 2011
  • 268
                        
A buddy of mine expressed his displeasure with the topics I have been discussing lately in this column. He said that this was supposed to be an outdoor column, and that the last few columns were a real disappointment to everyone he had talked to.. According to him there are plenty of idiots discussing politics, and analyzing relationships should be left to Dear Abby. He also took exception with me referring to Cowboy Mounted Shooting as an outdoor sport, since we don't use real bullets in our guns. I countered with the fact that it wouldn't be safe for the spectators if we shot real bullets, and that if conversation topics with his friends were reduced to discussing my columns, that he really needed to get a life. He then muttered something about everyone turning into a bunch of sissies. He went on to say that it was at least tolerable when I was obsessing about dog trials every weekend, because we were at least shooting the birds. I tried to reason with him, but when I suggested the need to stay in touch with our feminine side, he stormed off. In the interest of keeping all the readers happy I will not discuss the mounted shoot in Ashtabula last weekend, and will proceed directly to the subject of killing small animals, and fish. By the time you read this a lot of us will have been dove hunting several times. The season comes in September 1st, and I will be one of the thousands of hunters ready to start shooting at daylight on opening morning. If you enjoy wing shooting then you really owe yourself a trip to the dove field. All it takes is a chair, some camo clothes, a sotgun with lots of shells, and a few decoys. Harvested wheat fields are usually a good bet, and corn fields chopped early for silage are hard to beat. Goose season also opens Thursday, and there appears to be plenty of them around this year. Rail, and snipe are legal game on September 1st, but I don't have a clue where to find, or how to hunt them. For years I have asked every one I run into this time of year about how to hunt these species, and to date I have yet to meet anyone who has hunted them. Squirrel season also comes in Thursday. It's a bit early for my liking to set in the woods, but I know a lot of folks who will be out there. A true diehard won't let the bugs, and leaves keep him from bagging a limit of bushy tails. I guess my buddy was right, I am kind of a sissy. Same goes for heading up to Michigan for some grouse hunting. All the gungho types are heading up Wednesday night, to be there for the first day. I have done it, but I probably won't again. The ground cover is five feet tall, and the leaves on the trees start at six feet. That leaves a one foot opening to shoot one of the fastest game birds on the planet. I like the odds a lot better the second week of October when the ground cover is down, and the leaves are gone. Once again it must be that sissy thing. Something I have got to go do is some perch fishing up at Lake Erie. The hot weather seems to be subsiding, and Captain McNish says he is going to get a new fishing partner if I don't get him up there soon. Catch you later Rick


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