Church of 29 and Squirrel Hunting
Sunday, we went to their church in downtown Honea Path - Covenant Presbyterian Church. Excluding me, I counted 28 other people in the congregation. It was yet another new experience… far from the 4500 people I grew up with at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville or the 2000 people at Christ Church Fulwood in Sheffield, England. The pastor talked about “Trusting Jesus in the Face of Opposition” from Mark 2:13-17. It was a good sermon… after church, we had lunch at the church, followed by a second lunch over at Sam Anderson’s house. We tried the pork brisket that had spent a good eight hours smoking over burning mesquite wood the night before. It was delicious.
After lunch, we drove back to the May’s house. Mr. May showed me his collection of shotguns and rifles collecting dust on a wrack in the “man-cave” upstairs above his workshop. They were beautiful… One of them was an old 22 rifle that had previously belonged to his grandfather. Mr. May tossed me a box of 22 bullets and told me to head down to the woods behind their property to see if I could find a squirrel or something. You know me - with a smile like that of a 12-year old boy, I carefully took the old rifle and ammo and headed down to the treeline several hundred yards away.
I had been hunting plenty of times with Nick, my brother-in-law, before… but I had never gone alone before. I practiced loading, unloading, and cocking the rifle. It didn’t have a scope on it, so it was going to be a little harder to shoot a squirrel. Squirrels don’t exactly like to sit still for you, and they’re usually running and jumping from tree to tree some 150 feet off the ground. I was optimistic, none-the-less.
I got out into the woods and headed down to a dried-up creek bed at the bottom of the wooded valley. Not 10 minutes later, I heard branches crashing and leaves blowing about three trees away from me. I looked up to see a squirrel jumping from tree to tree about 150 feet up. It wasn’t about to stop and let me take my time in shooting it. I followed it with my rifle. Suddenly it stopped behind a group of branches and leaves. I couldn’t see it, but I knew where it stopped. I eased the safety button off, aimed in the direction it stopped, and pulled the trigger…
I got to go. I’ll finish this later. :)
Published on 14 Oct 2007 at 8:44 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under A Day in the Life.
is this elizabeth may’s dad…im assuming no but someone from camp?
Olivia on 16 Oct 2007 at 5:31 pm.
Great story!! this reminds me of my days as a young boy. I look forward to passing the old hunting tradition down to my son and future children.
Joshua Smith
Quest Graduate 2007
Group 247
Joshua Smith on 16 Oct 2007 at 7:29 pm.
Ah! The suspense is killing me!
Susannah on 17 Oct 2007 at 6:29 am.