From The Rack Room …. By ~ George
While sitting here on the cusp of a new beginning for our organization I can’ t help but to think about how my journey to here began ….
As much as I would love to tell you of some romantic stories about hiking the hills and crawling through brush in search of that monster buck, sorry to say, I can’ t. I didn’ t grow up hunting. I guess it just wasn’ t my Dad’ s thing. Oh, he liked guns and had many. However, when we took them to the hills, it was aluminum cans and paper targets that were in danger-nothing else.
Looking back I believe I was about 21 when I went on my 1st real hunting trip. Oh, my friends and I shot at rabbits with our 22’ s from time to time. I grew up in the city of San Diego, so it wasn’ t like we would drive a couple of miles out of town and go shooting or hunting. Anyway a friend of mine called one evening to ask if I would like too go dove hunting with him the next weekend. I didn’ t even know you could hunt dove or that dove was a hunted bird. I did have a shotgun, so I got a license and away we went. We never shot one on that trip, but fun was had, and I was taking the bait soon to be hooked on hunting. Within a few days I had studied the regulations and found out from the local Fish & Game office, I just needed to come by and pay for a deer tag. Now I had no idea what to do to shoot a deer but I was getting my tag. So here I come with a deer tag and every hunting, shooting magazine I could find telling me: How to hunt in the Southwest. After talking to my Dad and some of his friends my hopes were falling fast. However, I had a tag and the weekend off. So, I went hunting or camping with my
Winchester, whichever you want to call it. I knew of a canyon in the forest where I had seen deer tracks so we( Dad & I) went there first.. And guess what, I jumped my First deer. I’ m still not sure if that deer or we were more surprised!
After not filling my tag on that first weekend I was back up by myself the next weekend. Of course mother nature decided the Earth needed to be cleaned up and it rained for most of that weekend. I did manage to do some hiking in between a few storms though. I didn’ t see any deer that weekend but I did find tracks and quickly learned some of their routines and patterns so that it would help me on my next trip out.
Weekend number three, No rain and the wife came along this time. We hunted hard that Saturday, but no deer. Sunday we headed to a different area, using what I had learned between reading magazines and studying the hills we headed into a canyon next to one that appeared to have other hunters being there. It wasn’ t long until we spotted a buck, and this is where I get taught one of many lessons. While stalking that buck I thought I was going to shoot, up pops another larger and smarter buck-BUSTED, over the hill they all went! About another 1 / 4 mile of hiking we found another and this time the stalking was working.
As I squeezed the trigger a whole new world began for me. Approximately 4000 tags were sold in Zone D16 in 1989, less than 350 were filled and I had one! Over the years there have been many firsts in my hunting adventures. It wasn’ t long before I shot my first quail, duck, goose and dove. I have been with friends and family when they had their‘ firsts’. So how did all
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