[fabsroman]

I'll agree with everybody about how people are just terrible in general. If I told you half the stories I have about people being mean, I would be here for weeks, maybe even months.

Hunting has been tough this year, but at least better than last year. Where I usually hunt on opening day, the landowner is in California and he has been letting a guy stay at the farm house the past several months. I've hunted with them before, but for some reason I just don't think I am very welcome up there, with maybe the exception of the farm owner. I have hunted up there on opening day for the past 10 years because it was more like a party than actually hunting. I have another place to hunt but just don't feel like going tomorrow.

I also have a spot to hunt deer right down the road from me, but won't be able to get out there until Monday when my buddy can go. The land is pretty much park land and the deer over there are insane. The geese and ducks are crazy too, but I cannot get permission to hunt them. The only reason I have permission to hunt the deer is because they have crop damage permits and the park is allowing us to kill them. This place is 5 minutes from my house so it makes it all the sweeter.

At the end of the day, I think I am just going to have to buy a boat next year and hunt on some public land over by Elliott's Island or somewhere thereabout.


Del,

I hear you loud and clear about the kids being priority #1. That is how it was with my dad and that is how it will be with me. I will never forget the first time I was supposed to tag along on a dove hunt. My dad was going to pick me up from home when I got home from school (i.e., kindergarten). I didn't want to admit that I was sick, but my mom figured it out and also figured out that I had a fever. Well, my dad scrapped the hunt and stayed home with me. I remember another time that he stayed home with me when I was sick and we didn't go hunting. That night he came into the bedroom with all kinds of ammo and we started going over what everything was. I think he knew I was addicted at a young age.

The first pheasant I "killed" I have some serious doubt about. I think I hit him, but I know my dad pulled the trigger too. He told me that I killed it and I was really happy, but being the thinking type of kid I was, I have always wondered if he shot it. To this day, he denies that he shot it and continues to say he was shooting at the other bird that came up. I guess it doesn't really matter because I connected on another bird that day and I was the only one that shot. I'll never forget that day either and I can remember exactly where the birds came up on the farm, the A-5 I was using, and the shells I was using. My mom even tool a picture me and my two brothers that day and I included it in my wedding video. I just wish my dad had been in that picture too.

At the end of the day, people can say whatever they want about me, but they had better not let me hear them saying anything bad about my dad. I hope your kids will feel the same way toward you.