TPV's story about midnight rattling of deer (not bedsteads, Piggie! :D) got me to thinking of some hunting activities back in my misspent youth, Lo, so many years ago. Old folk like to reminsce, ya know!

Other than ditching school to go pheasant hunting, one of the more pleasurable pasttimes was to go jacklight hunting for jackrabbits. In the early 50's there was a great abundance of the critters in northeast Colorado and the mink ranchers paid for the carcasses to feed their stock.

a half dozen of us boys would get together in an old pickup (still had the headlights mounted on the big fenders) and take off across the ranch pastures at night with guys sitting on the fenders and several standing up in the bed, leaning on the cab. When a jackrabbit made the mistake of showing up in the headlights he'd get chased with all .22's blazing until he either succumed to the whithering fire or managed to evade down a hole or up a dry wash.

With the appropiate pile of dead rabbits in hand, we'd head into town and sell them, .25/ea in the summer and up to $1.25/ea in a hard winter. After deducting enough for future ammo and gas purchases, the balance was used to fund the purchase of illegal beer and food stuffs for a bonfire weenie roast at the local small lake.

Girls were informed and rode out to the lake with us or met up at the prearranged spot. The night was passed doing kid stuff - beer drinking, hotdog eating, hootin' and hollerin' and driving the night fishermen to distraction. Girls all had to be home before daylight and devious methods used to locate and avoid the local "Gestapo", getting everyone back home safe and sound. Well, safe anyway.

Wonder if kids still do that today?

We did that exact same thing here in California. Many a night was spent chasing jacks. Also skunks were fair game, too.

Another evening game was rat killing at the local dump. .22s and flashlights were all the equipment required there also.

For non-shooting activities we would get an old purse, hang a handkerchef out of it, tie it to some mono fishing line and toss it out onto the road. Nearly every driver would stop and reach for it. Of course we would slowly drag it away from them, laughing like crazy. Some people would get really ticked off and try to chase us down. No problem, we had plenty of woods to ditch 'em in.

I don't think that those kind of games would fly in today's PC environment. :D

We did that exact same thing here in California. Many a night was spent chasing jacks. Also skunks were fair game, too.

Another evening game was rat killing at the local dump. .22s and flashlights were all the equipment required there also.

For non-shooting activities we would get an old purse, hang a handkerchef out of it, tie it to some mono fishing line and toss it out onto the road. Nearly every driver would stop and reach for it. Of course we would slowly drag it away from them, laughing like crazy. Some people would get really ticked off and try to chase us down. No problem, we had plenty of woods to ditch 'em in.

I don't think that those kind of games would fly in today's PC environment. :D

My God, I can't believe there was someone else at a dump at night killing rats while growing up. My mother would have been so proud of you.

TPV's story about midnight rattling of deer (not bedsteads, Piggie! :D) got me to thinking of some hunting activities back in my misspent youth, Lo, so many years ago. Old folk like to reminsce, ya know!

Other than ditching school to go pheasant hunting, one of the more pleasurable pasttimes was to go jacklight hunting for jackrabbits. In the early 50's there was a great abundance of the critters in northeast Colorado and the mink ranchers paid for the carcasses to feed their stock.

a half dozen of us boys would get together in an old pickup (still had the headlights mounted on the big fenders) and take off across the ranch pastures at night with guys sitting on the fenders and several standing up in the bed, leaning on the cab. When a jackrabbit made the mistake of showing up in the headlights he'd get chased with all .22's blazing until he either succumed to the whithering fire or managed to evade down a hole or up a dry wash.

With the appropiate pile of dead rabbits in hand, we'd head into town and sell them, .25/ea in the summer and up to $1.25/ea in a hard winter. After deducting enough for future ammo and gas purchases, the balance was used to fund the purchase of illegal beer and food stuffs for a bonfire weenie roast at the local small lake.

Girls were informed and rode out to the lake with us or met up at the prearranged spot. The night was passed doing kid stuff - beer drinking, hotdog eating, hootin' and hollerin' and driving the night fishermen to distraction. Girls all had to be home before daylight and devious methods used to locate and avoid the local "Gestapo", getting everyone back home safe and sound. Well, safe anyway.

Wonder if kids still do that today?

Ken, If they aren't, they're missing a lot.
Without getting poignant about it, the best hunts of my life have been after jacks, and rats, bullfrogs etc.
Whenever I get too critical of a buck that doesn't quit measure to todays standards , I try to remember that.

I forgot to mention that the guy that ran the dump and the local refuse collection service had twin daughters. They were never seen at the "facility", of course. The only rule imposed on us was the use of .22 shorts, only. I don't think that the trash would've known the difference, but that's what the man wanted. Shorts are only a little quieter than LRs. We used to buy "Gallery" short cartridges, if I'm remembering correctly. Man, that was way back in the late '50s and early '60s. WAY too many lost brain cells since then. LOL. :D :D

Weird that from all corners of the country we would do the same things in our youth. As a kid in the 50's I would go to the dump near my grandparents farm in extreme northern Wisconsin. We would shoot rats by the dozen untill just before nightfall when the bears would come in and we'd go home. I'd forgotten all about that.