Fishing, Tree Rats, and Reminiscing

I have recently been considering writing a blog – if for nothing else then to record memories for future generations to read. I’ll do YouTube as well, and post some of those videos here.

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I was fishing this morning in the Florida heat, 80 degrees at 6:30 am…. Always fun. I didn’t even get a bite, but as I walked along a newly cut road through the forest that would give me a little more access to the lake, I was transported back to my childhood… why? Squirrels.  As I fished along, I listened carefully to them bouncing from tree to tree, then finding a nut, then hear them chewing and eventually dropping the empty shell to the ground. It reminded me of when my friends and I would get into the woods well before daylight, sit within shotgun range of the nearest hickory nut tree, and just wait for the squirrels to parade into that tree.

I must have killed 2,000 squirrels in my day… and eaten even more. They’re not the tastiest critters out there, but they’re not horrendous either. I could be wrong, but a squirrel’s eating hickories, is MUCH tastier than a acorn squirrel. And a fox squirrel that’s lived on corn… forget it, that’s like gold.

I remember one particular morning; my friend Josh and I were waiting as usual for the parade to begin… he was packing a .22 short and swore by it. I had a 20-gauge shotgun. We always hunted together, though it would have been better for us to sit opposite sides of the tree. (Safely of course) He had better shots at the first few squirrels that filtered into the tree… and with a nearly silent “pop” the squirrel would fall… we’d remember where it hit and wait for them to move again. They soon would since the shot wasn’t that alarming to them, and he’d shoot again.

Soon enough it was my turn… “BOOOOOOOOOM” the 20-gauge sounded like a cannon in the silent early morning woods. One squirrel would fall… we’d remember where it was but… Josh would get SO mad cause the gun was so loud. and the squirrels would soon catch on and move to another tree. LOL great times.

As a car horn brought me back to reality I thought about how great it was then.. no worries… fishing and hunting when I wanted with my friends. It was always just a phone call away. Seems like a million years ago now… as I sit here in Florida over 1,000 miles away.

As for the fishing…. despite the mosquitoes, and no bites.. it was a good morning.

 

What did you, or do you hunt now? Let me know in the comments below.