![]() 410's hammer with my thumb, I had to make sure the movement was slow so as to not spook the bird. I watched them for nearly a half hour, and finally the second in line passed a 20-yard white oak trunk, and stood at 19 yards. ![]() Using my range finder, I noted what trees they had to walk past to be in range for the little gun. About an hour later, two jakes slowly made their way toward me, feeding on past-bloom gooseberry flowers as they approached. We separated - I took the high elevation and he took the low. We estimated them to be about 250 yards to our west. It was a beautiful early evening when my hunting partner and I got two birds to gobble. In early May, I was hunting at the Yellowstone Lake Wildlife Area in Lafayette County. 6 shotgun shells, and found it provided adequate hits out to 20 yards. His unexpected death was such a shock, it changed me and my family forever.īeing a passionate turkey hunter since 1989, I thought it would be a fun challenge in the 2017 spring season to harvest a turkey with the little. 410 mean a lot to me, even more so since my dad died in 1985. He was never a very excitable man, so hearing him tell the story with such delight still makes me smile. Returning home, he explained to my mom how surprised he was that I had hit the rabbit. My dad's laugh is still clear in my memory. I proudly lifted the rabbit up, grabbing it by the hind feet. Much to my dad's amazement, and mine, the rabbit was lying there. I found the rabbit at the same time Lady did. I handed the gun back to Dad and ran to where I'd shot at the rabbit. Lady, at the sound of the shot, hit a high tenor voice and now was coming through the snow like a freight train. I fired and a cloud of snow erupted, blocking my view of whether I had hit the target or not. In awe, I carefully took the gun and aimed. "It's cocked and ready to go, see if you can shoot the rabbit," he said. Much to my surprise, after my several failed attempts at pointing out the rabbit, Dad did something that still amazes me today. Lady's turbo-thrusters kicked in as the scent got hotter, and she was coming fast! It would be only a few moments before the rabbit would decide to gain more distance between itself and the incoming beagle. I could see the rabbit, but Dad couldn't, and I tried in earnest to point to where it was. Moments later, the rabbit came bounding through the brush from our right. Dad and I were on high alert, waiting for the first sight of that rabbit. Well, Lady was getting closer, and her barking intensified with every second. Those who rabbit hunt with a hound know that rabbits make a circle when being chased. ![]() There was about a foot of snow on the ground, and I was standing a few feet to my dad's right. Our beagle, Lady, was hot on the trail of a cottontail. I was walking with my dad as we hunted for rabbits on a friend's property in the Marshfield area in central Wisconsin. 410 as our first gun while small game hunting for rabbits and squirrels. One can only imagine how much $20 could have purchased to support the household in those days.įast-forward to the 1970s. As the story goes, my grandfather didn't tell Grandma he was going to spend the $20 on the gift, and she was a bit upset at such an extravagance. My dad got the little gun on his 8th birthday in 1928, the year before the Great Depression. Some have their great-grandparents' silverware, or maybe an old bed or trunk was brought over from the "old country." In my case, I'm the caretaker of my father's Iver Johnson "Champion" single-shot. There are many who have family heirlooms that have been handed down from generation to generation. 410 gauge shotgun passed down from his father. Author Kevin Feind bagged a turkey in spring 2017 with the Iver Johnson.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |