CajunBass
Member
Yesterday was the last day of deer season in Virginia, but it was cold, and my wife who is handicapped had been cooped up in the house for several days, so I decided not to hunt, but to take her for a ride in the country.
As we drove along, I realized that we were heading more or less toward the area where I used to hunt with a club (deer hunting with hounds) years ago, and since it was the last day of the season, someone would surely be there. I suggested we stop by and she agreed. We now had a destination.
We got there just after one PM, in time to see trucks leaving going out for the afternoon drive, but we turned in anyway and drove back to the clubhouse just to see if anyone was hanging around. I got out, and walked in and looked around. Nothing had changed in twenty years it seemed.
A fellow was standing off to the right. He looked up and said "Hi Wayne. What happened to all that red hair you used to have?" I laughed and said "I know you, but can't remember the name." He introduced himself and we shook hands. Another fellow came in. I spoke to him, and without looking up he called me by name, just as if he had last seen me ten minutes ago. Frankly I was surprised they remembered me at all.
We talked a bit about who was still around, who had passed on, and such, then I bought my wife in from the car and let her look around. She hunts a bit herself but the club was from a time before she knew me. The fellows pulled out a couple of old scrapbooks and we went through them. So and So killed this one...remember that day? Whatever happened to him? Man, a trip down memory lane.
On one wall there was a score card from the 1978/79 season. Just a sheet of paper. I told you nothing had changed. On it was listed each day hunted and the number of deer killed that day. I pointed to Jan 1, 1979. Two deer killed. I told my wife..."One of those was mine. My first buck ever."
There was a picture on the wall from about that time. It was taken on a day when we had killed five bucks. Everyone who was there that day had gathered around a pickup truck with the deer on top of the dog box. There in the back row, looking a LOT younger, I found me. My wife laughed..."You looked just like Barry" (My youngest son, who's about the age I was then.).
Out back there were a couple of "shirttail boards." Does anyone still cut shirtails? A couple of mine were still there.
One thing that had changed was the number of deer killed. "Back in the day" as they say, I remember we had killed 30 deer that season. IIRC, at the time, that was the club record. As of Friday 1/1/10 they had killed 134, not counting the four or five that were already hanging out back when we were there. I certainly never imagined killing that many.
As we left my wife visited with the dogs, apologized for not having treats for all of them...I rolled my eyes....Women....
Good-bunch of guys there. I'll have to go back and visit sometime again. Soon.
As we drove along, I realized that we were heading more or less toward the area where I used to hunt with a club (deer hunting with hounds) years ago, and since it was the last day of the season, someone would surely be there. I suggested we stop by and she agreed. We now had a destination.
We got there just after one PM, in time to see trucks leaving going out for the afternoon drive, but we turned in anyway and drove back to the clubhouse just to see if anyone was hanging around. I got out, and walked in and looked around. Nothing had changed in twenty years it seemed.
A fellow was standing off to the right. He looked up and said "Hi Wayne. What happened to all that red hair you used to have?" I laughed and said "I know you, but can't remember the name." He introduced himself and we shook hands. Another fellow came in. I spoke to him, and without looking up he called me by name, just as if he had last seen me ten minutes ago. Frankly I was surprised they remembered me at all.
We talked a bit about who was still around, who had passed on, and such, then I bought my wife in from the car and let her look around. She hunts a bit herself but the club was from a time before she knew me. The fellows pulled out a couple of old scrapbooks and we went through them. So and So killed this one...remember that day? Whatever happened to him? Man, a trip down memory lane.
On one wall there was a score card from the 1978/79 season. Just a sheet of paper. I told you nothing had changed. On it was listed each day hunted and the number of deer killed that day. I pointed to Jan 1, 1979. Two deer killed. I told my wife..."One of those was mine. My first buck ever."
There was a picture on the wall from about that time. It was taken on a day when we had killed five bucks. Everyone who was there that day had gathered around a pickup truck with the deer on top of the dog box. There in the back row, looking a LOT younger, I found me. My wife laughed..."You looked just like Barry" (My youngest son, who's about the age I was then.).
Out back there were a couple of "shirttail boards." Does anyone still cut shirtails? A couple of mine were still there.
One thing that had changed was the number of deer killed. "Back in the day" as they say, I remember we had killed 30 deer that season. IIRC, at the time, that was the club record. As of Friday 1/1/10 they had killed 134, not counting the four or five that were already hanging out back when we were there. I certainly never imagined killing that many.
As we left my wife visited with the dogs, apologized for not having treats for all of them...I rolled my eyes....Women....
Good-bunch of guys there. I'll have to go back and visit sometime again. Soon.
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