Being a teenager too

[beagle]

Reading the article below reminded me of when I was a teenager. I was into guns and I mean any kind of guns. Lived in NC and rambled the woods a lot in the summer. No driver's license so it was all shank's mare. People frowned on young kids roaming fairly populated areas and farms with .22 rifles on account of livestock. When I was in the 9th grade, I traded for an old single barrel 12 guage. Sound old gun but someone had cut the barrel back to about 15 inches. I doubt if it was legal. I made a sling from a strap and that old gun went fishing with me for about 3 summers. I killed many snakes with it and on the way to one lake, we had to pass the city dump. A pack of feral dogs took up there and they were aggressive sometimes. My dad worked for the prison department and when they changed out the ammo, he'd bring ragged buckshot loads home to me. Once I had a windfall of Peters Victor low brass 00 Buck that someone ordered by mistake. One encounter with the dogs at the dump and they left us alone from then on.
I wasn't the coolest guy in the mob with my sawed off as I didn't have a .22 but I was never harassed by any of the farmers on account of their livestock danger and I was never under gunned. Many times since then, I have wished for that old gun back./beagle

[centershot]

Very nice post beagle! We all wish for the longer legs and endless energy of our youth. I remember several summers of woods bumming, a single shot Ithaca 12 ga. and a small possibles bag over my shoulder......I can still feel the summer sun on my shoulders as I stalked ferocious killer red squirrels and woodchucks.......

[skeettx]

Great post,
The old time dumps were a thing to marvel at.
Great story
Mike

[Walks]

In my Jr High & High School days in the 1960's I lived in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, CA.
We would strap our .22 Rifles to our bikes and ride up into the foothills for the day.
With an army surplus canteen and backpack full of PB&J's we were a danger to no one but our selves.

[nelsonted1]

A neighbor kid was given a double shotgun. It had a bad bulge in a barrel so he cut it off at about 13 inches. I kept telling him it was short barrel shotgun but they just laughed. Never got caught with it. 40 some years along I wonder if he still has it

[W.R.Buchanan]

In my Jr High & High School days in the 1960's I lived in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, CA.
We would strap our .22 Rifles to our bikes and ride up into the foothills for the day.
With an army surplus canteen and backpack full of PB&J's we were a danger to no one but our selves.

WE did the same thing in Ventura except we were close enough to the hills to walk there. We were 12-13 year old's carrying guns up a street in a housing tract. Nobody ever said anything and we had a CHP who lived up the street. He did take exception to Dirt Bikes with Wide Open Expansion Chambers running up the street in the morning when he was trying to sleep.

Randy

[AndyC]

In South Africa, our thing was to hunt roosting dove with .177 air rifles (many serious discussions amongst 11 year-olds as to whether BSA or El Gamo air-rifles were better)- I learned to stalk to get close enough and to have eyes like the Hubble to spot the silhouette of a dove sitting in the branches of eucalyptus trees. The big deal was to show the other boys you only had 10 lead pellets in your possession, so you either shot straight or went hungry while the successful big-game hunters cooked their prizes over a fire of twigs and munched triumphantly.

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Some of the older boys (late teens) whom we admired and tried to emulate had the popular CBC or Boito single-shot 12-ga's that they would use to take pheasant or guinea-fowl on the wing - and if we'd done well in scouting or fetching their downed birds, they'd deign to let us bruise our shoulders with a single shot. One teen had a SxS .410 which I thought was the coolest ever - and he was lethal with it. About 5 years back I bought a Yildiz SxS .410 and I've shot clays and dove-hunted with it since then, recapturing in a small way those wonderful days.

[fcvan]

Back in the mid 1970s, I hunted with a friend's son who carried an Rem 870 in .410, his first shotgun. His dad wanted him to switch to 20 or 12 ga., because .410 shells were more expensive. His dad reloaded 20 and 12, didn't want to get into loading .410 ga. Bart argued (debated?) with his dad that he shot fewer shells than everyone else and so cost wasn't an issue.

Bart probably limited out on quail and pigeon earlier than everyone and with far fewer shells expended. He had a good point. Man, I miss those early morning hunts with my friends and cousins.

Years later, I knew a foreman from a large commercial farming operation that grew figs. The Company would supply 20 ga. shells to anyone 'running off' the birds getting the figs before harvest. It would have been prudent to buy a 20 ga. just for the free shells. I loaded my own 12 ga. and 'fig season' was just before opening day of Dove season. Good practice, miss having a dove feast in September.

[murf205]

beagle, you really turned the clock back for me. I had a buddy who lived too far away to walk but when I got my basket case Cushman Eagle running,(8 HP no less), I would use tie-wraps (zip ties for the non electrical people) pilfered from my dads service truck, and attach a zippered gun case with my 94c Stevens single shot to the side of the Cushman. I would ride to his house before daylight and hunt the woods there. There was a power line about 2 miles long that had hollows draining onto it with a ton of hickory and oak trees and a ton of squirrels. I killed my first squirrel with his 410 and it still seems like yesterday instead of 1960. When we got to high school, his dad bought him a 1941 Chrysler and we would put his pack of beagle rabbit dogs in the trunk and head out rabbit hunting. Man, what a time we had and those wet dogs really gave the wool interior of that old Chrysler quite a scent of it's own! We are both 73 now and he and I still hunt and fish as much as we can together. If 2 kids could have had more fun, I don't know how.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Back in the mid 1970s, I hunted with a friend's son who carried an Rem 870 in .410, his first shotgun. His dad wanted him to switch to 20 or 12 ga., because .410 shells were more expensive. His dad reloaded 20 and 12, didn't want to get into loading .410 ga. Bart argued (debated?) with his dad that he shot fewer shells than everyone else and so cost wasn't an issue.

Bart probably limited out on quail and pigeon earlier than everyone and with far fewer shells expended. He had a good point. Man, I miss those early morning hunts with my friends and cousins.

Years later, I knew a foreman from a large commercial farming operation that grew figs. The Company would supply 20 ga. shells to anyone 'running off' the birds getting the figs before harvest. It would have been prudent to buy a 20 ga. just for the free shells. I loaded my own 12 ga. and 'fig season' was just before opening day of Dove season. Good practice, miss having a dove feast in September.

We had a similar thing at the Dump in Oxnard. They would pay you $1.25/hr and provide 100 12 ga shotshells a day for you to go out and shoot Sea Gulls of which there was literally millions of. Only restriction was you had to shoot them on the ground?

After the first shot it was difficult to get close enough to hit them with a shotgun, and they would swarm over you crapping everywhere.

I only did it once and only fired 3 shots that day and hid in the car the rest of the time. Had to go direct to the car wash afterwards.

They are vindictive birds and a menace to all. We had to give all the unfired ammo back, too boot!

If you think shooting Sea Gulls is bad Don't worry,,, Plenty more where they came from.

Randy

[chsparkman]

Love these posts about the good ol' days. I grew up in a small desert town in So. Cal. I could leave my house carrying my Remington 580 and a pocket full of 22lr, walk through the streets to the edge of town, then walk one mile north before I loaded the chamber and set out to hunt jackrabbits. I would wait to kick one up, then stop and watch what direction it ran. I'd pick up the tracks then walk slowly and watch carefully until I spotted it. Sometimes I'd have to lob one in from 100 to 125 yards. Got a lot of jacks that way, and a lot of good memories. Happy New Year everyone.

[murf205]

We had a similar thing at the Dump in Oxnard. They would pay you $1.25/hr and provide 100 12 ga shotshells a day for you to go out and shoot Sea Gulls of which there was literally millions of. Only restriction was you had to shoot them on the ground?

After the first shot it was difficult to get close enough to hit them with a shotgun, and they would swarm over you crapping everywhere.

I only did it once and only fired 3 shots that day and hid in the car the rest of the time. Had to go direct to the car wash afterwards.

They are vindictive birds and a menace to all. We had to give all the unfired ammo back, too boot!

If you think shooting Sea Gulls is bad Don't worry,,, Plenty more where they came from.

Randy

We didn't have sea gulls but the dump in the adjacent small town had the dump for about 1/2 the entire county and we had gopher rats by the thousands in that dump. About dusk my hunting buddy in the previous post would rig our 6 volt battery on our belt with a headlamp on an elastic strap and get to shooting. I had to get my dad to buy me a Lyman Vandalia press to reload the shotgun shells because we were shooting 3 or 4 boxed a night. They were W-W Super x's and I remember they were $3.05 a box at the GES Store, so dad said save those hulls and reload them. The guy's that drove the garbage trucks even tried a few shots when they were there to unload. Today, you would get arrested for such fun.
Back then, our boys adviser in high school was a hunter as well and when I rode my Cushman to school with my shotgun, he would let me store the unloaded gun in his office during the day! Try that today.

[hoodat]

I'm trying to create those kind of memories for these little scudders during these modern times. Her after school freedom won't be as wide open as mine were, but we're lucky enough to live in an area where fun is still allowed. That little chick is a ten year old, and she's got a single shot cricket 22 and a single shot Topper 410. Squeaks and jacks are our main game for now. jd

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[murf205]

I'm trying to create those kind of memories for these little scudders during these modern times. Her after school freedom won't be as wide open as mine were, but we're lucky enough to live in an area where fun is still allowed. That little chick is a ten year old, and she's got a single shot cricket 22 and a single shot Topper 410. Squeaks and jacks are our main game for now. jd

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Good job dad. She is very fortunate.

[hoodat]

Good job dad. She is very fortunate.

Make that "GRAND DAD". I'm nearly old, and she aint got no daddy. I guess I'm about the main man in her life right now, and these circumstances have been a blessed gift from God for both of us. May the Lord give me strength and energy - and the skill to do right by her. jd

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[murf205]

I have my 6 yr old grandson and at the tender age of 73, I know what you are up against. It’s still the best job I ever had.