Upland Hunting

[bburtner@moran]

Upland game season is over again but just cleaning my AH Fox "A" grade double,I was looking at my Hunting Clothes hanging in my gun room.Filson tin cloth jacket,La Crosse boots,Orvis upland pants & game bag.The license tag on my Filson was from 1991!It has been that long since I have walked the old apple fields and hemlock groves of Delaware County NY.Every year come bird season I plan to pack the double and springer in the Rover and head for the coveys.Have I become an armchair hunter? Reading Nash Buckingham stories,looking at the Purdy guns(that I can not afford),and talking about next season.Am I getting old?

 

[Bourbon Guy]

Yes.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Upland game season is over again but just cleaning my AH Fox "A" grade double,I was looking at my Hunting Clothes hanging in my gun room.Filson tin cloth jacket,La Crosse boots,Orvis upland pants & game bag.The license tag on my Filson was from 1991!It has been that long since I have walked the old apple fields and hemlock groves of Delaware County NY.Every year come bird season I plan to pack the double and springer in the Rover and head for the coveys.Have I become an armchair hunter? Reading Nash Buckingham stories,looking at the Purdy guns(that I can not afford),and talking about next season.Am I getting old?

I'm now fifty-two, so I've been hunting about forty years. I still go several times a year, but I can't remember when I last pulled the trigger of a shotgun. I simply no longer have any desire to kill. Instead, I go to enjoy the camaraderie of my friends, the barking of the dogs, the early morning breakfasts and the long, complex tradition of hunting.

I think as a hunter grows older, bag limits and rack sizes become all but meaningless to him. Instead, his time in the field and the memories he creates become his sole reason for looking forward to each year's hunting season.

AF