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