alleyyooper
Pinnacle OPE Member
- Local time
- 2:58 AM
- User ID
- 8210
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2018
- Messages
- 640
- Reaction score
- 1,666
- Location
- Michigan.
I grew up on small farm mid Michigan roughly 20 miles south of Cadillac mi. As a very young boy we had pheasants that would come into the barn yard to pick in the winter manure pile to gleam food from it.
We also had rabbits running all around the yard easy to see on those full moon winter nights. We made it back in the winter woods to one place, where we were building the buzz saw pile of fire wood for next fall/winter.
We would see lots of deer tracks back there where they came in and were eating the tree tops we had cut down.
Then in the summer we were also going to the woods where the cows pastured during the day. Scaring up flocks of partridges dusting them selves in the sandy spots of the old logging roads.
Yes like most farm wood lots of the late 1940’s early 1950’s all the timber had been cut off. Our place was mostly popple when I was a kid, thick stands hard to see far in.
My folks were not a hunting family, My Mom started taking us fishing as kids about as soon as we could lift a cane pole and bait our own hooks. Learned to love fishing and getting frogs liked to eat either one by the plate full.
About the time I turned 10 I delvoped a want to be able to hunt. Dad had a old single shot 16ga shot gun and some where found a old Ivers Johnson 410 44lug in one shoot gun. As soon as small game season arrived brother and I made it a practice togged out of the house as soon as morning chores were done. We would walk thru the neighbors woods to get to ours about a mile down the road. Then walk the logging roads thru our woods and connecting woods chance jumping pats dusting them selves. Every so often we would luck into a rabbit, in that area could be a cotton tail of a snow shoe.
As kids we were lucky to get 25 to 50 cents a week to spend. As luck would have it there were 3 hardware stores in town, the ace one we did not like the owners and their older college age kids, the Western auto store was out of town about two blocks so we didn’t go there much. The gamble store was our place to buy shells for our shot guns and all or fishing wants we could afford.
The owner would sell us shot gun shells by the piece, try to find a place to do that today?
He would also keep us up to date on when the real hunters we called them were doing and how the game was.
I read every thing I could get my hands on about hunting books on wing shooting, magazines, did not like sports afield but got a copy of outdoor life every month some one got me for a birthday gift or some thing.
By 1963 brother and I were ready to improve our arsenal. Started pestering Santa clause for different shot guns like pump guns we saw in magazines and in gun racks of hardware stores.
In Cadillac Michigan there was a big neat old hardware store Johnsons. Squeaky wood floors place smelling of oil and leather as they still sole leather harnesses for horses used on farms.
They were also one of the biggest gun shops in the area. Even sold used guns. My folks scraped up enough money to buy 2 used shot guns there.
Mine was a western field 16ga with a poly choke and Robs was a Wards western field 20ga pump.
Now we were equipped in high style.
Al
We also had rabbits running all around the yard easy to see on those full moon winter nights. We made it back in the winter woods to one place, where we were building the buzz saw pile of fire wood for next fall/winter.
We would see lots of deer tracks back there where they came in and were eating the tree tops we had cut down.
Then in the summer we were also going to the woods where the cows pastured during the day. Scaring up flocks of partridges dusting them selves in the sandy spots of the old logging roads.
Yes like most farm wood lots of the late 1940’s early 1950’s all the timber had been cut off. Our place was mostly popple when I was a kid, thick stands hard to see far in.
My folks were not a hunting family, My Mom started taking us fishing as kids about as soon as we could lift a cane pole and bait our own hooks. Learned to love fishing and getting frogs liked to eat either one by the plate full.
About the time I turned 10 I delvoped a want to be able to hunt. Dad had a old single shot 16ga shot gun and some where found a old Ivers Johnson 410 44lug in one shoot gun. As soon as small game season arrived brother and I made it a practice togged out of the house as soon as morning chores were done. We would walk thru the neighbors woods to get to ours about a mile down the road. Then walk the logging roads thru our woods and connecting woods chance jumping pats dusting them selves. Every so often we would luck into a rabbit, in that area could be a cotton tail of a snow shoe.
As kids we were lucky to get 25 to 50 cents a week to spend. As luck would have it there were 3 hardware stores in town, the ace one we did not like the owners and their older college age kids, the Western auto store was out of town about two blocks so we didn’t go there much. The gamble store was our place to buy shells for our shot guns and all or fishing wants we could afford.
The owner would sell us shot gun shells by the piece, try to find a place to do that today?
He would also keep us up to date on when the real hunters we called them were doing and how the game was.
I read every thing I could get my hands on about hunting books on wing shooting, magazines, did not like sports afield but got a copy of outdoor life every month some one got me for a birthday gift or some thing.
By 1963 brother and I were ready to improve our arsenal. Started pestering Santa clause for different shot guns like pump guns we saw in magazines and in gun racks of hardware stores.
In Cadillac Michigan there was a big neat old hardware store Johnsons. Squeaky wood floors place smelling of oil and leather as they still sole leather harnesses for horses used on farms.
They were also one of the biggest gun shops in the area. Even sold used guns. My folks scraped up enough money to buy 2 used shot guns there.
Mine was a western field 16ga with a poly choke and Robs was a Wards western field 20ga pump.
Now we were equipped in high style.
Al
