Although I had grown up with firearms, my new wife had no such interest. The thought of keeping firearms inside the house annoyed her. As the children came along I began to show an interest in teaching the kids how to shoot. My wife trusted me and went along with my plans to interest the kids in guns and hunting. I had originated from a family where guns were the norm and they were meant to be treated with respect. I kept all of the guns locked up and away from prying eyes at the house. I had earned a respect from my father who on excursions out of the house on the farm always seemed to have his winchester 97 in tow. I marveled as a youngster at the sight of his collection. The thought of his grand father's pistol being handed down to me instilled a sense of inspiration into my being. With several kids to practice with and instill a sense of safety into their education, we began our voyage. The oldest boy enjoyed fishing and target practice at my father's stock pond. While in the boat one wintry day his sense of comedy began to take form. Half asleep ,I was awakened by shouts from his end of the boat that a snake was approaching. The pistol came out and shots were fired. The 22 caliber bullets did nothing for the exterior of my lure which I had left floating on top of the water almost an hour earlier. I thought that he was going to fall out of the boat from excessive laughter. The daughter next in line did not fancy the shooting arts to any degree. I did not push my appreciation of the sport on her. Her pleasure came from backing the car into the lake when I asked her to get in the car and pull the boat and trailer out of the water. I guess that she was getting back at me for pulling a prank on her after a viewing of The Boggy Creek Monster. A film about the exploits of big foot not that far from our front door. The shenanigans he exacted on the local rural population was terrifying. At that point the only thought she probably had in her head was using the gun against me and all of the safety laws that I had taught her went out the window. She was and still is one of the finest daughters a man could ever ask for. She is a pleasure to be around and has made a wonderful life for herself. The next daughter in line was a natural when it came to target shooting. She did not have to take a back seat to anyone when it came down to hitting the target. She accompanied me several times to our deer lease. As time marched on she began to show interest in the drill squad at school and the baton. She has a natural steadiness with the gun that translates into torn targets. The next two boys showed a great interest in learning the art of the gun and hunting practices. The older boy went with me rabbit hunting. We walked the woods and marveled at it's sights on every out door occasion. The shotgun was his first choice. We shot birds and enjoyed every aspect of our time together. This November he has a date with buffalo,deer and hogs. The youngest boy was shooting pistols and rifles effectively at an early age. He had his opportunities at deer and made the most of them. Last year he shot a beautiful 8 point white tail, a 3/4 curl ram and a nice hog. This year both of the boys will be going down to our acreage to sit in their stands and watch for deer coming to the corn thrown out of our feeders. My wife finally caught the bug. She asked for a pistol several years ago. On Christmas morning a bright and shining new 9 millimeter Glock hand gun was under the tree for her. At the practice range she is gaining her mastery over the gun that she got for Christmas under a shining green tree. The grand kids are next if I still have the strength to walk the hills and dales and creeks of our county. The education by experienced people can lead to a valued respect for fire arms. Safety can be taught that in later years can be very useful. A real life scenario is a much better teacher than the act of watching television and trying to imitate every thing that you see portrayed by actors. Those same actors, no matter how many times that they are shot on t.v., will still get up the next morning suffering no ill effects from the gun shot wounds inflicted by their adversaries. |
