WHY DO YOU HUNT?

Hunting has always been a family activity for me. As far back as I can remember i have been told stories of my grandfathers and uncle's hunting. Back before I was born in Kentucky on Saturday

nights they would get together with the neighbor's and go fox hunting . They would meet on a ridge

turn the dogs loose , build a big fire, throw some potatoes in the coals to cook and pass a jug around.

As they listened to the dogs and told tall tales.

As a child Labor day weekend was a big event as we would go back to Kentucky to visit but mainly to squirrel hunt, for three days they would hunt and dad would take me with him. I can remember like it was yesterday . My grandfather or my dad were always in the lead. In the evenings they would play cards or my uncles would break out the guitars and play sing most of the night. But as the years went by it slowly ended , it became extinct as they all got old and life became to hectic. For a few years a while back my uncle Ken ,Dad , my cousin Lester and I went back for about 5 years in row we camped at the old home place, we ate told stories and hunted. My dad loved to coon hunt, it was nothing for my dad to have four or five coon hounds around even though we lived in the city. He and my uncle Grover

would go just about ever night when season was in. I can still remember going along and listening to Gypse tree a coon and my dad say tree my dog.

In my twenties my uncle Ken retired and moved to Bainbridge

I had not hunted in several years , and a funeral my uncle asked me to come down and deer hunt

with him a day and i agreed. When I got down there we got into the woods and he said Beach why don't me and you just sit and talk and so we spent the morning just talking, 1 month later we were partners in a pair of beagle hounds. Some of the best day's of my life have been spent with my uncle Ken , rabbit hunting, eating dinner in the cab of a pickup,laughing ,telling stories.

I still hunt with my cousin Lester , as my uncle can not see very well now, and i am teaching my son to hunt , but I do most of my hunting alone now and I reflect back in time and remember all the stories of past hunts they make be both sad and happy.

Hunting is never about the kill for me . It is about relationship and time spent with my family. The animals in my trophy room it is not the animal that i am proud of as much as the story that it reminds me of.