| It was a Saturday morning in the fall. It | | | | hunting season. I used Jeff's dads 20 gauge |
| wasn't raining, but it wasn't real warm | | | | and Jeff was nice enough to use the 12 gauge |
| either. After all, summer was over, the days | | | | even though he knew it would really kick. I |
| were getting shorter and the leaves were | | | | really liked the 20 gauge. It had very little |
| starting to fall. It wasn't cold enough to go | | | | kick and was light, so it was easy to carry. |
| skiing. In other words, I had no idea what I | | | | |
| was going to do that day. Just when I feared | | | | We walked around the field and shot pigeons |
| that my mom was going to ask me to rake the | | | | whenever they flew by. Most people that shoot |
| leaves, the phone rang. It was my friend | | | | at birds make the mistake of shooting right |
| Jeff. He wanted to know if I wanted to go | | | | at the bird, but I had some experience at |
| hunting that day, naturally I said yes. | | | | shooting skeet, so I was familiar with |
| | | | principles of lead. After we took a few |
| Jeff's dad was an avid hunter who had plenty | | | | shots, I was really glad that I didn't have |
| of guns and two hunting dogs. Both dogs were | | | | the 12 gauge. Jeff was an experienced |
| German Shorthairs, which is a good breed for | | | | shooter, but his shoulder was turning red, |
| hunting. Sally was the older dog; she could | | | | even though he was wearing a coat. |
| barely walk, so Jeff and his dad didn't | | | | |
| usually take her out hunting anymore. Betsy | | | | As we walked around the field, we had to go |
| was young and hadn't been on very many hunts, | | | | around a large batch of blackberry vines. As |
| so she still had a lot to learn. | | | | we walked around the vines, a flock of quail |
| | | | surprised us by taking flight right in front |
| I went over to Jeff's early on that Saturday | | | | of us. They were way too quick for me, so my |
| morning not knowing what to expect. As soon | | | | shot missed. Jeff's shot, however, got one, |
| as I arrived, Jeff got out two shotguns. One | | | | so I got to see where experience helps. |
| was a 12 gauge and the other was a 20 gauge. | | | | |
| Sally, the oldest dog, absolutely went nuts | | | | One time we spotted a pigeon sitting in an |
| as soon as she saw the guns. I couldn't | | | | oak tree. We both threw rocks at it because |
| believe it, Sally was running all over the | | | | we figured it wouldn't be very sporting to |
| house like a puppy. There was no way that we | | | | shoot a pigeon that was just sitting there. |
| could leave her behind as we originally | | | | Rocks didn't work and yelling didn't work, so |
| intended. We loaded the guns and the dogs | | | | I shot it. Neither one of us wanted to take |
| into Jeff's car and only had to drive about | | | | it home though because we were afraid that |
| three miles to the field where we were going | | | | maybe it wouldn't fly because it was sick. |
| to hunt. It was a field then, but 40 years | | | | The dogs performed about like we expected. |
| later the only crops in that field are office | | | | Sally was good at fetching downed birds, but |
| buildings and parking lots. | | | | Betsy didn't know what to do. She would pick |
| | | | up the birds and run around. We ended up |
| After we got to the field I noticed three or | | | | retrieving a lot of the birds ourselves. At |
| four duck blinds around the field's | | | | the end of the day, we had 15 pigeons and |
| perimeter. I figured that the farmer must | | | | Jeff had gotten a couple of quail. |
| rent the field to a hunt club during duck | | | | |