Thoughts on a rainy day

[TxD]

I wrote this about 5 years ago and Varmint Al ask for permission to post it on his web page.
Looking out my office window at the rain from TS Edouard, I checked to see if it was still there and decided to share these thoughts.

First Varmints
by Dave in Texas (TxD)

It rained all last weekend; couldn't hunt anything. I got to thinking about my first varmint hunting adventures. I was the great locust [Cicada] hunter at the age of six. I hunted almost every Summer day. I used a Daisy BB gun and shot these critters out of the trees and fed them to the ducks. Soon the ducks figured out the plan and upon seeing me with the gun or hearing the first shots, would come on the run.

Sometimes a locust would not be dead as it fell from the tree and would continue to make a lot of noise. This noise occasionally would continue even after a duck had swallowed the locust whole. The noise would now be coming from inside the ducks neck [craw]. Other ducks would now chase this duck, thinking that he was holding a locust in his mouth. Of course he didn't understand why all these guys were chasing him and sometimes it was one heck of a rodeo.

I've been told that it was quite a sight to see the barefoot kid in the bib overalls walking around with 6 or 8 ducks, all looking up in the branches of the cottonwood and pisselm trees.

Now after over 50 years, dozens of rifles, thousands of prairie dogs, hundreds of coyotes, a few fox and bobcat, numerous deer, elk, antelope, one mountain lion, and a bear, on rainy days, I remember most the BB gun, the locust, and the ducks.

Funny.

http://www.varmintal.com/index.htm

[Dan20703]

Ahhhhhhhh! The old BB gun days. Many fond memories myself and my friends. That was when "Big Game" was a stray pigeon or rabbit that happened to cross our path.

The first rabbit I got with my BB gun was proudly displayed, cleaned and presented to my mom to cook. She never batted an eyelash and started to prepare the meal for us. That afternoon 3 young boys feasted on the best ever smothered rabbit, rice, green beans and lemonade. We felt like the greatest hunters ever to walk the face of the earth.

Thanks for starting this thread and stirring up those nice thoughts!