Before too long, bird season will be winding down. I’ve decided, to help pass the time once the season closes..I’m going to start jotting down some old memories from days gone by. I’d like to share them with all of you here. I hope you can enjoy..and relive them with me.
“Havelina’s Shack”
When I was a boy, growing up in Connell Washington, times were good! My two best friends were the Dougherty brothers, Blaine..and Jeff. We spent our days running around the countryside chasing rabbits, squirrels, lizards, snakes, and quail..or whatever else we happened to run across. Hunting seasons had no bearing on what we would pursue. These were “old school” times..and boys will be boys!
Jeff and I were the same age..and Blaine was a year and a half older. He was the brains of the outfit! There was a special place we liked to go for our adventures. A place we called “Havelina’s Shack”. It was located on an old abandoned dry farm owned by the Havelina family. This delapadated old barn/building was a virtual wonderland for boys like us. Inside, there were literally hundreds of wild pigeons, rats, mice, and even an old Barn Owl that we vowed to one day catch! We all had our own pigeon coops that were continuously stocked compliments of the “old shack”.
One day, while hanging around the Dougherty home with nothing to do..we decided it was time we devised a plan to catch the old barn owl out at the shack. There were four windows in the old shack that were about 4’x 4’ and 12 or so feet off the floor. One of which, the old barn owl always flew out of apon our arrival. We got some bail‘n wire from “old man Dougherty” (he was a rancher/ dry farmer) and he always had whatever we needed for what we had up our sleeves. We scrounged around and came up with some nails and a hammer as we were certain some modifications would be needed on the old shack! My dad was the Chief of Police in our town and he also served as the local dog catcher when he wasn’t apprehending "hardened" criminals. He had a huge Salmon net that he used to catch stray dogs so I “acquisitioned” it for use in the capture of the old barn owl.
With Salmon net and the rest of our supply’s in hand, we headed out on our bikes for the shack. When we got there, we realized much work needed to be done to get the shack ready for catching the old barn owl. First, we had to build a ladder tall enough to reach the windows. We searched the area and found enough wood to build the ladder. The wood was old and rickety but, we determined it would hold Blaine. He was the smallest..and the toughest, so it just made good sense he should be the one to climb it. Well, on his first attempt to climb up the ladder, it snapped in half and Blaine came crashing down! He wasn’t too bad off, so we fixed the ladder and after more than a little encouragement from us..Blaine was back up and had driven nails in around three of the windows and had woven the bail’n wire from nail to nail in different directions..effectively cutting off the old barn owl’s escape! Now mind you, we had to leave one window open so the old barn owl could get in. But, we knew.. if we only had to worry about one escape route..our chances for success were pretty good! Finally, the shack was ready!
Three days after getting the shack ready for capturing the old barn owl (that was the amount of time we figured the old owl needed to get used to the modifications) we headed out to do the deed. About a block from the old shack, we got off our bikes. From this point on..it was “stealth mode”. Once at the shack, Blaine snuck around to block the back door. Jeff and I (cuz we were taller) took the net in through the front door. All heck broke loose as the old barn owl flew straight into one of the wired windows. He bounced off it and flew directly into another blocked window. This gave us the time we needed to get the net up in front of the open window just as the old owl plunged right into it! We had caught the old barn owl! But, now the net was tangled in the bail’n wire and we couldn’t bring it down to subdue our catch! After a lot of scream’n and cuss’n..we got the net free and we had the old barn owl! Such jubilation! A plan well made..and carried out! We relished our moment of victory!
Funny thing though, we all started to feel a little strange inside. Like maybe..we hadn’t done such a good thing. After a few moments, we decided to let the old barn owl go. He deserved his freedom!
We didn’t go back to the old shack much after that day. I guess we had started to out grow “Havelina’s Shack”.
Good Hunt'n,
Rick