| By the time I was in high school, I still hadn?t been | | | | birds make the mistake of shooting right at the bird, |
| hunting yet, so when my friend Jeff, invited me to | | | | but I had some experience at shooting skeet, so I |
| go pigeon hunting, I jumped at the chance. | | | | was familiar with principles of lead. |
| Jeff?s dad was an avid hunter who had plenty of | | | | After we took a few shots, I was really glad that I |
| guns and two hunting dogs. Both dogs were German | | | | didn?t have the 12 gauge. Jeff was an experienced |
| Shorthairs, which is a good breed for hunting. Sally | | | | shooter, but his shoulder was turning red, even |
| was the older dog; she could barely walk, so Jeff and | | | | though he was wearing a coat. |
| his dad didn't usually take her out hunting anymore. | | | | As we walked around the field, we had to go around |
| Betsy was young and hadn?t been on very many | | | | a large batch of blackberry vines. As we walked |
| hunts, so she still had a lot to learn. | | | | around the vines, a flock of quail surprised us by |
| I went over to Jeff?s early on that Saturday | | | | taking flight right in front of us. They were way too |
| morning not knowing what to expect. As soon as I | | | | quick for me, so my shot missed. Jeff?s shot, |
| arrived, Jeff got out two shotguns. One was a 12 | | | | however, got one, so I got to see where experience |
| gauge and the other was a 20 gauge. Sally, the | | | | helps. |
| oldest dog, absolutely went nuts as soon as she saw | | | | As we walked around the field, we could see a |
| the guns. I couldn't believe it, Sally was running all | | | | pigeon perched up in a tree. We both threw rocks at |
| over the house like a puppy. There was no way that | | | | it because we figured it wouldn?t be very sporting to |
| we could leave her behind as we originally intended. | | | | shoot a pigeon that was just sitting there. Rocks |
| We loaded the guns and the dogs into Jeff?s car and | | | | didn?t work and yelling didn?t work, so I shot it. |
| only had to drive about three miles to the field | | | | Neither one of us wanted to take it home though |
| where we were going to hunt. Back then we were | | | | because we were afraid that maybe it wouldn?t fly |
| out in the country, but now, suburbia has taken over. | | | | because it was sick. |
| After we got to the field I noticed three or four | | | | Sally and Betsy pretty much did as we thought they |
| duck blinds around the field?s perimeter. I figured that | | | | would do. Sally was good at fetching downed birds, |
| the farmer must rent the field to a hunt club during | | | | but Betsy didn?t know what to do. She picked up |
| duck hunting season. | | | | everything we shot, then she would take off running. |
| Jeff gave me the 20 gauge while he used the 12 | | | | Because we wanted to spare Sally from doing a lot |
| gauge. I really liked the 20 gauge. It had very little | | | | of running and Betsy kept running away with our |
| kick and was light, so it was easy to carry. | | | | birds, Jeff and I usually fetched our own birds. |
| We walked around the field and shot pigeons | | | | At the end of the day, we had 15 pigeons and Jeff |
| whenever they flew by. Most people that shoot at | | | | had gotten a couple of quail. |