Calamity in America (32 page)

“Nine is fine.”

“Wear sturdy clothes that aren’t new, and some sturdy shoes or boots.”

“I’m sure I have something that will work.”

I gave him directions to my place and paid for the license before I left the shop.

I did want to go hunting and I knew very little about it.  It only made sense to go with someone experienced the first time or two.  Obviously that is my only reason to go hunting with Jack.  After all what other reason could there be?

Chapter 6

I worked the week out and soon it was Sunday morning.  Jack showed up right at nine in the morning.  At least he was punctual.  He had a common-looking four wheel drive pickup.  It certainly looked more like something to take hunting than my old car did.  I met him at the door.

“Good morning.  You ready?  We can take my truck.”

“Yes I’m ready.  Should I just bring my twenty two rifle?”

“Yes, that’s fine.  I have plenty of junk in my truck so all you really need is your rifle and some shells for it.”

I had my little rifle in a case next to the door with a box of shells in the case with it.  I grabbed it, locked the doors, and followed Jack out to his truck.

“I sometimes hunt out this direction so I know a few spots we can check out.”

“Wherever you think is fine.  Obviously I know nothing about it.”

We drove for a few miles and stopped next to a woods.  I noticed there was a corn field along one side of the woods.  Jack explained that squirrels love corn and we would see many along that edge of the woods.  He took out a shotgun with a rather short barrel and when we were both ready he told me to walk quietly and slowly while looking ahead both in the trees and on the ground.

We had only walked a little ways when he stopped and pointed ahead of us.  I saw nothing at first and he stepped very close and put his mouth next to my ear to whisper for me to look at the base of that crooked tree just ahead.  Then I saw a squirrel with an ear of corn almost as big as it was.  The squirrel was concentrating on the corn and not us.  Jack whispered again.

“Take your time and shoot him in the head.”

It was an easy shot because I am pretty good with my twenty two.  Jack seemed impressed when the squirrel dropped at my shot.  We walked up to it and it was quite dead with the head shot I had made.  Several other squirrels appeared with the shot, running this way and that.  Some would be way up in the top branches of the trees and jump from one tree to another.

“I’ll clean this one now.  It will allow the rest to calm down so you can get a couple more.”

He laid his shotgun down, got out a couple things, and then showed me how to skin the squirrel.  When he was done he put the cleaned squirrel in a plastic bag, wiped his hands on a rag he had ready, and put everything in the game pouch on the back of his light hunting jacket.

We walked through the woods and I shot three more squirrels.  The last one I cleaned.  Jack praised my skinning ability but I did not do near as good a job as him.  We made a big loop through the woods and once a grouse took off right at our feet.  It startled me, but not Jack.  He was amazingly fast with his short shotgun and the grouse had barely flown a little ways when I heard the boom of his shotgun and the grouse fell to the ground.

Again, he cleaned it on the spot.  Cleaning the grouse was very easy and fast.  When we got back to his truck he put the game into a cooler that had ice in it.  He had come prepared I realized.

We drove about a mile more and did the same thing again at another woods.  This time I shot only two squirrels and Jack shot another grouse.  I cleaned both of my squirrels this time.  We drove again for a ways and when we stopped this time there was a woods but it looked like it was almost surrounded by swamp.  This time when I started to get my rifle out Jack stopped me.

“There might be more grouse here.  I brought another shotgun for you to use if you want.”

He took out another gun case and brought out a pretty shotgun.  It looked kinda like mine at home but was smaller and, when he handed it to me, it was way lighter.

“This is a twenty gauge so it is lighter and kicks less than your shotgun.  It works the same as yours but the safety is behind the trigger instead of in front like yours.”

He went over the gun with me and had me bring it up to my shoulder several times.  Then he pointed out two distant trees, one on my right and one on my left.  Then he got behind me and, with the empty gun, he had me snap it up to my shoulder and point at the base of one of those trees.  Then he would just say right or left and had me bring the gun up and point at that tree and release the safety as quickly as I could.  He did that several times and I could tell my speed was increasing and at the same time I was getting more comfortable with the gun.

“OK.  You ready to shoot some grouse?”

“I’m ready to try.”

He had me load the gun and we started walking along the edge of the woods.  He had me walking in front. 

“Why am I in front?”

“Because when a grouse takes off you can shoot it.  You know how fast they are.  And I am behind you because I am safe back here.”

I could understand what he was talking about.  He had mentioned it in class.  Sometimes you had to shoot very fast when hunting and if you lacked experience you might shoot too fast—before you realized what was in your line of fire. 

I missed the first three grouse that took off.  I never even got a shot off at the first, and the next two I shot at but missed.  The fourth one I hit and it fell.  It was still alive but Jack rang its neck when he picked it up.  I cleaned my first grouse and I was rather proud of myself and Jack seemed to be impressed.

“You caught on pretty quickly.  Grouse are hard to hit.  You did a very good job.”

“Thank you.  This shotgun is great.  Way better than that heavy long one I have at home.”

“I thought it would fit you good.  And yes, it is a nice shotgun I think too.”

We hunted for a while longer and stopped at one more spot.  He always let me be in front so I got all the shooting.  I did get two more grouse and missed three.  On the way back toward my place he stopped at a café in a small town we came to.

“I’m hungry.  I’ll spot you some lunch.”

“You don’t have to buy my meal.  You’ve done so much for me already.  I’ll buy your meal instead.”

I expected him to argue and he surprised me when he did not and just let the matter drop.

We went in and both washed up before we sat down.  There were a couple other obvious hunters sitting inside already.  We each ordered and ate a simple, inexpensive meal.  It was pleasant with some talk and banter between us.  When we got up to leave he just took the slip and paid the girl at the register.

“I was going to pay!”

“I’m sorry.  Just habit I guess to take the slip up and pay.  You can pay next time.  I promise.”

He seemed sincere, like he really did just forget that I was going to buy him lunch and it wasn’t a big deal anyway.

On the rest of the way back to my place he seemed to be driving slowly. 

“Not in a hurry?”

“No.  I enjoy your company and I am in no hurry to drop you off.”

He turned and looked at me.  I didn’t know what to say so I said nothing.

At my place we talked a little about how to cook the squirrels and grouse and then after I thanked him he said goodbye and drove away.  I admit it was a very pleasant day.  And I now had some meat besides.

I fried one of the squirrels for supper and while it did taste good there was not all that much meat on the thing.  Kinda like eating chicken wings, tastes good but not much to them.

Over the next month Jack and I went hunting together two more times.  Duck and goose season was open but I did not hunt them.  I would have had to buy the duck stamps and different ammunition for my shotgun and some hip boots or waders.  Just way too much money spent for too little gain. 

I did want to hunt deer and that season was fast approaching.  Jack told me he would not have the time to hunt deer with me.  Even though their gun shop was normally always closed on Sundays that changed the Sunday before deer season opened, and it remained that way all through the season.  They were open every day during and just before the season.  Jack said they had to make hay while the sun shined.

So I was on my own for deer hunting.  I expected no problem because I saw deer in the fields next to my house just about every day.  Jack told me that would change abruptly when season opened, but the first day I would have a good chance.  He explained to me how to attach the deer tag and how to field dress the deer. 

We talked about whether to take the deer in to be processed or do it myself to save money.  Jack had a friend who processed deer at his home for people and suggested that for this first one maybe that was the best answer.  This guy had no overhead and did the work well and charged little.  So that was my plan for this first deer. 

It was rather anti-climactic on opening day of the deer season.  I had the day off without even asking for it.  I got up early and was out where I had seen deer many times well before sunup.  When it was light enough to shoot I saw several deer and shot the closest doe.  Jack had talked me into buying cheap, long ‘gutting’ gloves and I’m glad he did.  I field dressed the deer without any problems and was able to drag it the short distance back to my house without too much trouble.

Getting the dead deer into the tarp-covered trunk of my car was an issue.  But I had many lumber scraps around the place and I leaned a couple of the longest boards on the open trunk.  I then dragged the dead deer as far up the boards as I could and, grabbing the ends of the boards, I had enough leverage to easily lift them up and the deer slid right into the trunk.  As slick as could be.

Then, after clean up and waiting for businesses to open, I drove and had the dead deer registered as required by the state, and then it was on to Jack’s friend’s house where I dropped the deer off for processing.

I also called Jack at the shop and bragged about getting my deer before he even got up for the day.  Several days later, on the way home from work, I stopped and picked up the wrapped meat from my deer and paid the man for doing the work.  I have a very small freezer besides the one built into the refrigerator and I had no problem getting all the meat to fit.  I now had a good supply of meat and would likely still shoot a few more squirrels and grouse.  If you have never had any grouse I can tell you that grouse meat is excellent.  All white meat, and it is absolutely delicious.

Chapter 7

While hunting was going good for me, everything else was not going roses for myself and everyone else.  My hours, along with everyone else’s at Walmart, were cut again.  And like Walmart so the world, so to speak.  Over the last couple years many businesses had closed and none of them ever reopened.  Now even more were closing or cutting the hours they were open.  It was not just retail businesses either. It seemed like every business was feeling the crunch. 

Businesses were not the only ones.  More people were getting laid off or having their hours cut back at manufacturing places, delivery places, semi truck drivers—every place where people worked.  Food pantries were begging for donations of food or money because of the increased demand from the people who had no jobs.

More and more cities across the nation were declaring bankruptcy.  The state of Illinois and California were in dire straits and states could legally not file for bankruptcy they said on the news.  The states with the worst problems, their only real option was a bailout from the federal government, but I don’t know if that was going to happen.  The bickering in Washington DC was worse than ever before.  Everyone was blaming everyone else for our nation’s problems but no one was offering any solutions.  The national debt had now well exceeded twenty-three trillion dollars, and it was still rising. 

Crime was skyrocketing both here in my city and all across the whole nation.  After years of declining crime it was now really taking off, higher and higher.  Both violent crime and lesser crimes were on a very sharp and steady increase. 

Despite the rapid increase in crime, states and the federal government were doing early releases of supposedly non-violent criminals.  To my thinking that could only lead to more and more crime.  But it was said that prisons were over crowded and the cost of keeping someone in prison was increasing dramatically.  I don’t have an answer but releasing convicted criminals does not seem like the correct choice to me.

I could understand the cost of keeping someone in prison going up because everything was going up.  Food was really going way up.  I’m not much on all the worldwide financial stuff but I do know when peanut butter is one price one week and substantially higher the next week.  Gas prices had been relatively low for a couple years or so but now it was well on its way up higher again. 

It stands to reason that if fuel goes up so does everything else.  I was kinda surprised just how much electricity has gone up in the last year.  I saw in the newspaper that the electric companies had to ask some group before they could raise rates.  And this year they had to have a special meeting because the electric company had to get two increases in the same calendar year.  Something that had never been allowed before or even considered before this year.

When I saw that gas started to go up I called and had my propane tank filled.  I figured if one kind of fuel went up then they would all go up in price.

With the big increase in crime, our state (along with a couple of others) now allowed concealed carry without a permit.  It made no difference to me because I carried concealed all the time anyway.  Legal or not.  While at first I never carried my pistol at work (only a knife) I now carry both all the time.  When I saw another well-made leather fanny pack at a yard sale I bought it so I would have a spare.  I always have that fanny pack on with my pistol inside and my first one is now getting a little ratty from all the use.