Good Ole Fashion Giveaway - Winners Posted

[Grey_Wolf]

Ok, here goes. ^ yup Dewey I guess it does lol. Though when I first saw this I didn't think I could come up with a good enough story to share. That got me thinking (as I believe was the purpose behind this) about some of the times with out with guns and family..... I've narrowed it down to three

My boy was about nine or ten when I decided that it was time for him to move up from a 22 rimfire. There just happened to be a gun show in town shortly after that. So, we went cruising up and down the aisles looking at all the guns, war memorabilia, scopes, knives and so on. Well I spot a 222 on a rack, a Savage 340. Nice shape, not too big, should be something he could handle so I buy it. He was pretty excited about it and I promised we'd get out to shoot in a day or two. Early in the evening a couple of the dogs start raising a rukus and we go out to investigate. They had treed a squirrel. This wasn't unusual as these dogs were avid hunters themselves always looking for mice and squirrels - they'd even catch the odd squirrel (and more mice than any cat that was ever around here). But this day Billie was pretty worked up, trying to climb the tree, barking, whining and actually trying to take the tree down pulling the bark of in strips! I told my son to go get the 22 (he was well trained and I had no issue sending him - he knew to keep it unloaded) and we'll help Billie get his squirrel. Off he goes to the house grabs the gun and the mag while I keep an eye out on the squirrel. I point the squirrel out to him, he loads, gets set and BANG!!! not pop, BANG! He thought I'd meant the 222 when I said 22. Guess he hadn't heard of triple duece yet. Anyway, he hit the tree beside the squirrel but it came down almost like it had been shot - arms and legs stretched out doing a belly flop to the ground. Billie didn't get his squirrel that day as he was scared of loud noise and went to his house to hide when he saw it. Gotta be specific when dealing with kids....

My boys first deer. It was the first year he was able to hunt big game so he would have been fourteen. Nothing spectacular about it but it will always be with me. We were hunting at a buddies place near Hanna and had walked a couple of coulées and were heading back to the house for lunch when we spotted a group of does (we had started putting him in draws so he could go the first year he was old enough) in a little draw. We got out and he lined up on a nice doe at about a hundred yards and let fly with his Grandpa's old 303 that I had hand loaded for. Perfect shot, down she went! He was so excited he had to call Grandpa to tell him. This was pre every one had a cell phone days, I had one that I carried for work and let him use it. I can still remember the excitement in his voice as he described the hunt and shot over the phone sitting in the field to my Dad.

The last one was just this year. My girlfriend has developed an interest in guns and wanted to go hunting. I first bought her a 223 and took her to the range. That got her interested even more. She is determined to make small holes. She really wanted to go goose shooting so I go about finding a shotgun for her. First I found a 12 gauge semi - I thought it would be good for her as the action would use up most of the energy in recoil but it was too big and heavy for her. Oh, she's a lefty too so hard to find. I was talking with a buddy and he says go get a youth model 20 gauge pump, it won't kill her and it doesn't matter about left or right (he's left handed too). Just so happens Cabelas has a Mossberg youth model on sale so I buy it. We go to the range, go over the operation hand throw some clay and she really wants to shoot a goose. This fall we go with my buddy, put out all the decoys, build a blind, get all set up and then we have to sit and wait. Quiet and patience isn't her strong suit lol but she made it till the geese started flying,and coming in. She didn't hit a thing but was so excited and pumped - she's hooked! Can't wait till next year. Oh, the next time we went out she confessed that last time she was so excited that after her first shot she forgot she had more and didn't work the action to take another lol, just watched as we hammered some birds. I think I'll keep her