by BigShooter » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:09 am
Grandpa & his legacy
This thread reminds me a little of family reunions. Some families have a few generations that have stayed in the same area. Their reunions have gotten so large they now rent a local hall to get together. So it is with our hunting group. One grandfather was an avid outdoorsman who hunted & fished a lot. His last dog, a Cocker Spaniel is the only dog we remember. He died when my brother, the oldest grandson was 13 years old, but his gear lived on through us. Our dad hunted squirrels & rabbits as a kid but nothing as an adult. We used grandpa's homemade double ended duckboat, the trolling and fly fishing gear, his tools, his hunting clothes and his deer rifle, shotgun & .22. My oldest brother picked up the outdoorsman's bug and led the rest of us. Our dad & we three sons made the 4 1/2 hours (one way) trip to grandma's house at least every other weekend each fall to hunt grouse, ducks & deer. Luckily we had two sisters that kept mom company on the weekends. We found out later in life one of our sisters badly wanted to go along but never got to. Dad's little 1963 two door Mercury Comet, with the 170 C.I.D. six cylinder motor was of course already more than full with us and our gear but never-the-less it's too bad she didn't get a chance to come along. This sister does hunt now.
Fifteen years ago we primarily hunted grouse, ducks, geese & deer. Then we got heavily into upland birds, sharps, huns & pheasants. Although we had dogs growing up, as I recall the only dogs at the time were the oldest brother's GWP, and the other brother's ESS.
Flash forward to our hunting group & the friends that often accompany us to our hunting camp today:
Me - 4 dogs
Four sons - 4 dogs
Zero girls
Friends: man & woman - 2 dogs, 3 young adults - 2 dogs
Brother #1 - 2 dogs
Two sons - 0 dogs
Zero girls
Friends - 1 man - 1 dog
Brother #2 - 5 dogs
Two sons - 1 dog
One stepson - 0 dogs
One step-daughter - 1 dog
Friends - 5 young adults - 4 dogs
The brother-in-law that was introduced to the area hunts - 1 dog
Sister - 1 dog
Two sons - 3 dogs
one son-in-law - 1 dog
four step-sons-in-law - 3 dogs
The brother-in-law & nephews got their own place in the same dying western town that we are in each fall. On the opening weekend of pheasant season we practically take over this tiny prairie town. For us it's a way to keep family and close friends together and to introduce an activity we love to our children and some day, to our grandchildren. For the dogs - it's a riot! No fights - everyone, including the dogs get along but ........ "be careful what you wish for ... you just might get it." We are soon at the saturation point for the numbers of local birds and the land available to hunt.
This all started with one grandpa and the gear he left behind ....
Updated data
Last edited by
BigShooter on Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Housedogs/non-birddogs included. Dogs in for training/breeding/litters excluded.
Eeeek!
