Firefly
Old Mossy Horns
And it ended much too soon. Growing up as a teenager in Johnston County NC we had no Deer to hunt back in the days of the early sixties. But three friends of mine and I had a pack of Beagles so we Rabbit hunted. We always met up on Thanksgiving morning just up the road from where I lived and loaded the Dogs into the trunk of a '59 Ford . The car was owned by my friends Dad, the Beagles were kept pinned up there and it was convenient for all us big time hunters to gather up at my friends house for the hunt. My friends Dad often joined us on the hunt, he loved Rabbit hunting as good as any man I ever knew..
We already had a place picked out to hunt the Bunnies, just about anyone who owned land back in those days would let us hunt, most time the landowner would say to us, now boys just don't put out no fire in my woods. None of us smoked anyway and that was good..Sometimes we had a good hunt and killed a few Cottontails and maybe a Swamp Rabbit, sometimes we struck out completely but it was always good to hear the Hound music as the little Dogs were hot on a Rabbits trail..Some of the area's we hunted were just too thick to get off a shot at a Rabbit, especially on a farm near Bailey NC, we never killed a Rabbit up there but there were plenty of them in the thick woods..
As the time neared mid day we knew we had to load up the Dogs and head home for our Thanksgiving feast..Every Thanksgiving morning I remember those three friends of mine and those hunts we went on now so many years behind us.. We all scattered after high school and went our separate ways, three of us to military service and one to college where he earned a Doctorate in education and went on to be a school Principal..Two of my friends are still living, one killed himself a couple years back when he came down with Cancer and just couldn't deal with the pain anymore, RIP my friend we will remember you always.. The three of us that are left are old men now and rarely see each other, but I hope the other two remember those times like I do. It all comes flooding back for me on this special morning of Thanksgiving. Thanks guys for the memories..
We already had a place picked out to hunt the Bunnies, just about anyone who owned land back in those days would let us hunt, most time the landowner would say to us, now boys just don't put out no fire in my woods. None of us smoked anyway and that was good..Sometimes we had a good hunt and killed a few Cottontails and maybe a Swamp Rabbit, sometimes we struck out completely but it was always good to hear the Hound music as the little Dogs were hot on a Rabbits trail..Some of the area's we hunted were just too thick to get off a shot at a Rabbit, especially on a farm near Bailey NC, we never killed a Rabbit up there but there were plenty of them in the thick woods..
As the time neared mid day we knew we had to load up the Dogs and head home for our Thanksgiving feast..Every Thanksgiving morning I remember those three friends of mine and those hunts we went on now so many years behind us.. We all scattered after high school and went our separate ways, three of us to military service and one to college where he earned a Doctorate in education and went on to be a school Principal..Two of my friends are still living, one killed himself a couple years back when he came down with Cancer and just couldn't deal with the pain anymore, RIP my friend we will remember you always.. The three of us that are left are old men now and rarely see each other, but I hope the other two remember those times like I do. It all comes flooding back for me on this special morning of Thanksgiving. Thanks guys for the memories..