Charles Graff
Moderator Emeritus
I lived in Deming NM for a few year and the wife taught at the Univ. in Silver City. This was in the mid-90s. Love that part of the cosmos.
Thanks Charles,I lived in Deming NM for a few year and the wife taught at the Univ. in Silver City. This was in the mid-90s. Love that part of the cosmos.
obssd1958:Doug,
Obssd does stand for obsessed. It has applied to me since I got into hunting and shooting when my oldest boy came to me at 13 or so, and asked if we could go hunting, like all of his friends did. Not wanting to be a total nimrod, I started reading and researching everything I could find related to hunting, so I could teach my kids right. I kinda went off the deep end, and obsessed was such a great descriptor, that we shortened it to 5 letters to fit on my personalized license plate!
The 1958 part is my birth year.
I have this same moniker on every forum that I'm a part of.
I am an exception to that traditional scenario. I never met my father until I was 35 years old. I was raised by my lawyer grandfather who did not hunt nor fish. When I was a teen and old enough to do things for myself, I took up competition shooting, reloading and hunting. I had several older guys who helped me along the way.Good on ya, 13 year old son. The usual scenario is hunting is passed down from father to sons/daughters/ grandchildren.
I would like to see more of that.
Same for me, L Ross. I grew up in the Black Belt of Alabama and I don’t remember anyone who didn’t hunt.Hell, as a kid I thought everyone hunted and fished and a lot of folks trapped too. Dad, Uncles, Grandpa here in Wisconsin, neighbors, farmers, even the male school teachers. Never ever imagined a day when anyone would deign to criticize hunting, fishing, or trapping. Deer hunting was an accepted excuse for absence from school. I feel a curmudgeonly spasm coming on.
Yes Rocky, I believe the majority of trapping for pelts is conducted up north. In all likelihood Illinois may well be about the southern limit of prime furs. Typically it needs to have a darned good freeze for a couple of weeks for skins to get prime. If you rush the season, even if legal, and pelts are blue when you skin 'em all you've done is wasted your time, energy, and an animal's life. Although in the case of coons, any dead coon is a good coon. Hell if it weren't for cars killing them by the tens of thousands I'd swear you'd have to kick them out of your path after dark.Same for me, L Ross. I grew up in the Black Belt of Alabama and I don’t remember anyone who didn’t hunt.
Is trapping a northern thing? I don’t remember anyone trapping. I assume trapping is to collect furs and the best furs are winter coats and winters in the south don’t produce thick coats. I don’t even think the best fur animals are to be found in the south.
I am very fortunate in that my own student population is weighted heavily with sensible people. Many of the other faculty hunt. I was very apprehensive about working in education to begin with, but in the first week, I met the environmental science prof. While standing in his doorway, I was scanning his bookshelf and I saw a LOT of books I have at home, like Stanley Hawbaker's Trapping North American Fur-Bearers. He was a mused that I was so amazed at that.......Deer hunting was an accepted excuse for absence from school. I feel a curmudgeonly spasm coming on.
I have a quirky friend that is fond of saying, "The past was another country". This is true folks of a senior age lived in another country entirely and it is well worth saving and passing that world on to other generations that who can not live there. Write the book!A darned good friend of mine is the author of 19 books. He was a fishin' guide of the old old school, (rowing the boat and cooking shore lunch), and guided 64 years from age 14. He was also a middle school teacher and an avid reader. He inspires me and some day, (and I better make it soon), I feel like I should set down, key board in hand, a write down some of my outdoor experiences.
When I read Gordon MacQuarry or my friends books I wonder if other people would enjoy the recollection of my experiences in the woods and on the water. I always felt those situations to be so common place that no one could possibly have an interest in them. Only now, tempered by time, and the realization that so many people have lived their entire lives in an urban setting, perhaps my memories have a certain allure tucked away in them.