I am finally old enough to be a PROF (poor rusty old fart). All those over 80 years of age are automatically enlisted. We converse clearly with each other, but those of the younger set, where words go in one ear and out the other, not being able to understand what is being said, claim it to be wisdom, which these want no part of. Further more, we are able to legally end sentences with prepositions. That is one thing I felt I must refer to.

I have lived longer than I expected I would. The changes I have seen are enormous. I will start at the beginning. The second generation will find some of the altercations unbelievable. (I used altercations because I did not want to use change again.)

My father was a man of many trades: He bought scrap metals, hides, furs, wool, turkey and cattle, also. He trapped mink (raised them for a time) and dug frogs out of springs and shipped them somewhere in Michigan. When my father died, they asked me to ship them some frogs, but I was not in that business. My dad taught me to hunt and fish. I still have his 20-gauge shot gun, which had a 32-inch barrel he had made for reaching high-flying ducks and geese.

My first gun was a BB gun that I wanted to shoot left handed. He insisted I shoot right handed and I switched. I cannot shoot a bow and arrow right handed. The shotgun had some marks toward the end of the barrel. I took it to a gunsmith and told him I would like it to reach out yet, if possible, the smith, Herman Jahnke, said the powder then used would get more distance. He cut the barrel down to 25 inches and a full choke. It still reached out and was so light I would have two birds down before my hunting partner would fire a shot.

A family with five offspring requires a lot of food; providing me with a good reason to hunt and fish, which I liked to do.

I bought a 30-30 Marlin when I was in college. It sufficed for deer, but when it came to Pronghorn (antelope) I purchased a 30-06.

I tied my own flies that caught fish, shot a few pronghorn and got deer every year. I had Ted Jensen make sausage that was better than the store bought stuff. Why do people wait for deer to stand before they shoot? Some I hunted with were amazed when I would knock down a running deer. I always shot for the neck – a certain knock down, three targets: throat, spine and jugular.

A hunting partner shot at a standing broadside deer. Don Kingery hunted with me and he hit that deer near the shoulder. Earl Knaff put a shot into it, and I knocked it down as it ran past us.

A deer that is shot in the heart can run quite a distance before it drops. Keep looking. Turkey buzzards might help you locate it so it is not left to rot.

Bob Hammer is a retired teacher and an author.