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Have you ever squirrel hunted -
just gone into the woods and sat and waited for one to come
out? I did this religiously as a kid each year before bird
season opened. Just after daylight and right before dark was
the best time, or so I thought, since that was the only time
I could slip off most of the time!
I even hunted on Sundays, even though my mother told me the
devil was going to get me. To back up her warnings she
showed me her Bible with pictures. The devil had horns, one
regular foot and one cow's foot, a long tail, and always had
a pitchfork. I told you all of that to give you a mindset of
a twelve year old sitting in the woods by himself after
dark, when all that could be seen was the outline of tree
branches against the sky.
One day while hunting, I heard a startling noise. If you
have ever heard someone walking through the woods dragging a
pine top, you know what kind of noise I am talking about and
it was coming straight toward me. I was within twenty feet
of a tree that had fallen against another tree lying at a
forty-five degree angle. Suddenly there was a scream,
something similar to a bobcat but louder. Whatever it was
ran up the tree and I saw its form against the sky. It
looked even bigger than me. Then there was another scream. I
fired three shots and was up on my feet all in the same
motion, and headed home! Another
scream followed, which meant I had not killed the beast.
By this time I was fifty yards down the hollow. I was very
fast afoot as a kid and headed toward the house in a blind
panic. I entered the back door, latched it, and peered out
the window to see if I had been followed. The whole episode
about scared y mother to death as she thought I had shot one
of my best friends.
Dad asked me what was wrong and I began to tell the story.
He looked me over to see if I was hurt, then asked me how I
got through the three barbed wire fences, each four strands
high, on my way home. I told him I did not remember crossing
any fences! Apparently, I had been stepping pretty
high. I do not have a clue how I got through or over the
fences!
After three or four days we found out that someone in our
community was out looking for their pet monkey which had
gotten out of its cage. That was about forty years ago. The
monkey was never seen again and I haven't hunted anymore on
Sundays!
?© 2003 By Allen Keith Norris
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