By Jerry Angst © 1996
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When I was a teenager, hunting, whether
it was for deer, pheasant, rabbit, or grouse, was near and dear to me.
It was the center of my life. I basically lived from one hunting season to the next.
But now that I'm older, I've gotten way too wimpy to enjoy hunting that much. I have nothing against
hunting, you understand, it's just that if I were deer hunting for example, and had a deer in my sights,
I'd be too wimpy to pull the trigger anymore. I used to do it, and I've had some success at it,
but now I just couldn't. Even though I couldn't shoot a deer anymore, I have no problem with anyone
else doing it. In fact, I'm not above taking a nice piece of venison from any deer hunter who would
happen to offer it to me. It's just that I couldn't shoot one myself.
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In spite of my inablility to shoot deer anymore, I have still been known to enjoy grouse hunting
from time to time........perhaps because my chances of hitting one are quite slim. Most Autumns, in
fact, my friend Randy and I
take our shotguns out of the closet and go out into the woods in search of
the illusive grouse. Sort of, that is. Mostly what we do is enjoy the fine Autumn weather, walk down
the most "open" trails that we can find in the woods, and talk smart; none of which is particularly conducive
to successful grouse hunting.
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In spite of our method of hunting, occasionally we do see a grouse or two and take a shot at them.
I don't consider shooting at a grouse to be a bad thing, even in this wimpy stage of my life.
But there is a concern here. If we shoot at them often enough, one of these times we might actually
hit one, and if that ever happens we'll have two problems facing us. First of all, we'll
have to deal with the fact that we killed something that was doing us no harm, and secondly,
we'll have a dead grouse on our hands which we'll have to do something with.......a situation which
I don't necessarily consider pleasant. But if it happens, I'm sure we'll handle it well and
we'll have a delicious meal besides.
Incidentally, I have cabin rentals available this fall for hunting.
If you're interested, send me an e-mail (or give me a call if you'd like to talk about it).
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