As I drove to work this morning I noticed all the tree's changing color ( Always very beautiful) And with this I realized it is Fall ( with everything else on my mind sometimes I am slow to catch on). Anyway, My drive to work is about 1 hour so I have lots of time to just let my mind wander. With november approaching my thoughts turned to Hunting season. I grew up in Cherry Hill New Jersey where I still live today. It's a far different place today from what it was then.
Cherry hill was incorporated as a Township in 1958 and I came along in 1960, I always say Cherry hill and I grew up together ( Ha Ha, chuckle, snicker snort gasp) anyway, Today Cherry Hill does not view the average citizen wandering around with firearms as an acceptable practice, Back then when Cherry Hill was still in it's infancy We Hunters were pretty much left unmolested.
The 60's and 70's were a very different time, for one thing as kids we rode in cars without seat belts, our parents smoked and 9 year old Boys were aloud to go in the woods with Guns and this was o.k. Today if one of my neighbors caught a glimpse of a BB gun they would call the Police. Since the Cherry Hill Police pull their weapons once a year to qualify because their is no crime in Cherry Hill their reaction would be to swoop down on the offending party with 7 S.W.A.T. Teams and prepare to cut him down like Pablo Escobar. God help us if some one reported a shotgun blast with the intention of causing the demise of local wild life, I'm sure Law enforcements reaction would be something far scarier then I want to think about.
Well back to the point, I personally stopped hunting when I was 17 but as a boy outdoor sports ( Hunting, Fishing, camping etc) were all very important My two best friends ( Brothers) were into these pursuits as well so this is how we all grew up. Starting in August we would clean the shotguns, Check, double check, triple check and recheck our hunting gear ( canvas pants, boots, skinning knife, long knife, Gunning jacket) and start lovingly read our cache of Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and Sports Afield magazines so we could tease ourselves in to a frenzy.
Then we would spend all of our waking moments talking about passed Hunting trips and dreaming about the benefits Rabbit Pot Pie, Roast Pheasant, and if we were lucky Roast Venison smothered in onions and bacon, Jeezu those were the days. Finally Hunting season would come around and until the end of December all our saturdays and afternoons after school were booked.
My Dad, who was a gun enthusiast himself and Taught me to respect weapons and to at all times be safe. He also taught me and passed on to me an appreciation and yes, a Love for the Outdoors. When the Old Man and I went Hunting it was'nt about Killing or putting meat on the table for the family, it was about Father and Son Bonding. Many times the scene looked like this....
5:30 saturday morning, two cups of coffee, check gear, After putting on our coats Pop, would put out his Winston and insist I carry my scatter gun broke open and empty over my arm till we got in the woods. The funny part is Thank God we were not after food for the Table or we would have starved, The old Man was not only my Hero but he was also my friend and my favorite human. So we spent many gorgeous fall saturdays tramping through the woods he with a .12 guage side by side and myself with a .20 guage single shot just talking, usually about anything but hunting. My Old man was a great guy, diversified in knowledge and varied in thought and mostly he was truly interesting to talk to and to listen to as well.
As we know the 60's and 70's have faded into history and all of us past a certain age understand that life is all about change. I personally have not hunted since I was 17 and really don't care to. In Cherry Hill we are inundated with Shoprite, Acme, Genuardis and who knows how many boutique type food stores the need to lean toward the male primal instinct of Hunter vs. Prey seems totally unnessesary. But, my thoughts led me to this place and that is what blogging is about is'nt it?
So my friends here is too Herbert D. Carlson my beloved Father who passed in September of 2001 and the many happy hours I spent with him just being Father and Son. And lastly, here is to the sunny slopes of long ago, I missed many episodes of my life from back then but, thats life.
Til later, That's how I see it.
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