OVER MY SHOULDER

I recall having more snow during the winter when I was a youngster---(in fact I recall having more snow when I had to decide on whether or not to run those school buses). When I was in Junior High and High School, it seemed to me that we had snow on the ground much of the winter. I don’t recall that it bothered me as much then as it would (or does ) now. I suppose that it bothered Dad---he was the one who had to worry about the livestock and getting to work. On the other hand I do not remember very many days that school was ‘called off’ because of the weather.

After we got our single shot rifle, we boys and sometimes some of our ‘friends from town’, when the chores were done, would start out with rifle and a box of shells to hunt rabbits. Much to his disapproval, we would leave Corky at home on the rabbit hunting trips---he was an excellent hunting dog, but would soon run the rabbits into a rock pile, a burrow or far enough that we could not find them. Often, he would just ignore us when we returned.

There was always a fence row where either hedge posts or wood had been cut and the brush had been piled in a row along the fence waiting to be burned after it had dried out. Then there were always some of those same piles of brush that the owner had failed to ‘get back to’ that had been there for several years. It was in all of these brush piles and rows that the rabbits had their runs, that the pack rats had their nests, and that one could find several covey of quail during bad weather. One could find rabbits sitting in these brush piles, thinking that they were hid.

It was always an exciting time to get out to the fence row or the little thickets just after a ‘new snow’---before it was marked up with anything except rabbit and animal tracks. One could ‘track’ the animal from their hiding place to the brush pile, the den, or a new hiding place. If you got to the plum or sumac thicket or the hedge row when there was new snow, the sun was shining, and it was still reasonably early in the morning, there would be cotton tails everywhere.

We usually hunted rabbits with a rifle and on those occasions that the rabbits were ‘out running’, you could stand in one spot and wait until they came out into the open. I remember that if you would whistle softly, the rabbit would stop to hear what the noise was, and make a much better target than when he was running. On good days like this it would not be unusual to see 6 or 8 rabbits out and around at one time--often, we would have 4 or 5 carcasses on the ground before we would move to pick them up.

On the days that the rabbits were not out running, we would hunt the brush piles. It was much better hunting when there were at least two of us---one on each side of the brush pile or row---otherwise, the rabbit would slip around to the other side of the pile before you would get to him. It was always interesting to ‘creep’ along the brush row trying to ‘spot’ the rabbit, and on occasions ‘stomping’ the pile to make the rabbit move and to ‘give away’ his position.

I t seems to me that there were a lot more cotton tails then than there are now. There were even a few jack rabbits left in the area--- the jacks are all gone now, but then there are not nearly as many cotton tails either. During the time that I was in High School, we not only hunted rabbits to eat, many of us hunted them for sale. There were buyers for ‘field dressed’ rabbits in Pleasanton, Mound City and I think for a while in Blue Mound.

Later when Dad was working in Kansas City, and if we wanted to completely dress and package the rabbits, he would have a market for them on or near the housing job site. We would try to send a couple or three dozen with him back to Kansas City when the weather was below freezing, so as to keep them frozen.

It was always cold, but I do not remember being cold at the time. I suppose that we had our ‘long handles’ and a couple pair of pants on. I do recall that it was great fun trudging through the snow---particularly if it was snowing one of those wet heavy snows at the time we were out hunting.

There were those special occasions that Dad would go with us. Those occasions were special, as he always had some hunting tips, or tips on keeping warm that we had not yet learned. Those were the times that we especially enjoyed the outing , and we were out only the price of a box of 22 shorts.