Pennsylvania Game News -November 2008 - 32

an intersecting path. Good Lord, there was a deer on the path. It had its head down feeding, and we could see the whole body, but not the head, and only bucks were legal. I raised the rifle and tried to hold it on the deer’s chest, but I was not strong enough to keep it steady and the rifle kept dropping off the deer every time I lifted it back up. Finally, the deer raised its head and, sure enough, it was a buck. I pulled the trigger, but I think the gun was dropping and I shot under the deer’s belly. Regardless, it leaped straight up in the air and was gone. It was the first deer I had ever shot at, and my pal didn’t get a shot — and all those heavy cartridges in the Winchester never came into use. That was probably the biggest racked deer I ever had a shot at, but another miss many years later may have been its equal. As time went on, I became so good at missing I lost confidence in my ability to hit. A few years later, now armed with a .30-40 Krag, I had a quick shot at a deer running up a hillside. I fired just before he got to the top of the hill and disappeared over the top. Obviously, if I couldn’t hit a standing deer I had no chance at a moving target. I assumed it was another miss. A few days later, I learned there was another hunter just over the top of that hill. He saw a deer coming, and just as he was about to shoot, the deer dropped. When he got to the deer it was dead. Could it have been the deer I had “missed?” Deer were not the only recipients of my ability to miss. I don’t count missing grouse as anything special because anybody can miss grouse, no special skill required. But I also had good solid misses at rabbits, pheasants, turkeys and waterfowl. Doves present unique chances at missing. There are two basic methods for hunting doves — pass shooting and 32 walking them up, also known as jump shooting. Pass shooting is so different from jump shooting that you might as well be hunting another species. You can hardly justify consistent missing while jump shooting. Ah, but pass shooting is a real opportunity to excel. The first shot I fired at a dove was amazing — it dropped like a stone. I thought I had found the ideal quarry. What a mistake. At the end of the hunt, with three shells left from a box of 25 and only the one dove in hand, nothing had really changed. Another time, on the first day of dove season, a friend and I were seated alongside each other and facing a long, clear approach. We spotted two doves approaching, one to his side and one to mine. We agreed to each shoot at “our” dove. Just as we were about to fire, they switched positions. Four shots were fired, but the birds continued on without a mussed feather. I also hunted with others, on occasion, who were equally inept. I recall a rabbit hunt in Bradford County when the rabbits were plentiful and cooperated by giving my companion and me many “easy” shots. The problem was that we were especially good at missing that day. Looking back, I’m not so sure the rabbits were that plentiful but, after the word got out, they may have been using us to practice their escape maneuvers. Ducks also benefited from our efforts. My rabbit hunting companion and I were in Jeff’s Swamp in Schuylkill County at a beaver dam. He was home on leave from the service and had only a few days to hunt. We could hear ducks out amongst the alders and other brush. Could they have been taunting us? I volunteered to work my way around and try to flush some in his direction. It worked well. A pair of mallards got up in range and, guess what? A miss! Ducks began flushing and headed in his direction. They were spaced nicely and he shot — and shot — and shot — and shot some more. GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News -November 2008

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