Hunting(Dove and Quail, Duck)

 As usual, the context must be put in place before a story begins. Ruth's and my personal family histories of hunting in Upstate New York were of the sort that left a lot to be desired.
Ruth remembered going hunting ducks with her father, in a boat, --about the time he was  about to shoot, she screamed.----That was the end of her hunting career with her father.
My stepfather had been hunting deer in the Adirondacks off and on for several seasons with a compatible group prior to his marriage, when one participant  in the party shot another by mistake and that death finished hunting for him.
As for me, "hunting" was a word without true meaning.  I " hunted Indians and bears " when  my stepfather and sisters were in quarantine for "Scarlet Fever" and I was not allowed to attend school because of possible contagion. (Aside- believe me when your hunting bears and a  pheasant takes off in a semi-dry cornfield you're sneaking along in, the explosion nearly incites instant diarrhea in a 10 yr. old  ! --But it's all over in a couple seconds --and you're safe! Usually!)
 My other "hunting exposure" was puzzlement at the desire of many schoolmates to get out ofschool for "pheasant season".    This outcry usually took place during the World Series which we  were allowed to listen to in the high school auditorium during our study hall periods should our  teachers not object.  The World Series was great to me! I didn't understand their problem!
Oh, incidentally, the city's leading ophthalmologist took off to hunt quail in South Carolina  every fall. (What was his problem?)
With this rather negative background I arrived in The Valley in early 1954 following a history- making freeze and  drought. I had no desire to get out in the rather tormented citrus groves and  open grassy areas to shoot little birds.
 Ta! Ta! Ta Ra! along came an insurance salesman who spotted a likely prospect and one who had little money (at that point) and "nothing but prospects".  Needless to say he talked me into  a policy or two in the years that followed, and into dove hunting, right then.
            Dove hunting sounds rather ridiculous from the outside, but the little birds fly well and are smart.  Even the best grouse and pheasant hunters find that 4 or 5 kills to a box of 20 shells is pretty good shooting.  Therefore it is a challenge and extremely enjoyable as well as relatively inexpensive.
            The season after my first dove hunt there were heavy rains in Starr County, making "pot holes" all over(for the ducks). After that season I went  duck hunting only 4-5 times. The ducks were so large(compared to doves) that the chief problem was to find the sites to encounter the ducks to  shoot at.
            Getting out in the clean free air is a great improvement over the examining rooms and surgical theaters. Finding compatible hunters with similar free times is the biggest problem once hunting sites are located. Needless to say, I enjoyed it the rest of my life.