jackash.com
A Personal Journey...
... Of Surviving the Wilderness
By now I think Paul was getting worried about running out of bullets. He lay down beside me, lined up the sights and said “squeeze the trigger”.
Down from the tree, I’m sure, came the most expensive bird he had ever hunted. And do you know what he said?
“Good shot, now let’s go clean it”.
No ridiculing, no anger, no frustration – just a compliment. He ignored what could have been an embarrassing failure and instead concentrated on the success of our endeavor. On top of that he taught me a valuable lesson.
Do you recognize a pattern here? By the time we get to the 30th or so shot I have gone from standing to kneeling to lying down.
The prairie chicken is still in the tree silhouetted against the gray sky. I may have not shot the bird yet but I had killed every leaf and branch within a foot of it.
Expensive Prairie Chicken ..con’t
Now Paul has always been a mellow laid back type of person. He doesn’t get overly excited about very much. But there was one time when I think I managed to give him an adrenaline rush.
I was about 10 or 11 and we were combining. At that time you pulled the combine with the tractor. Paul was letting me drive the tractor and he was standing along side of me. After a couple of trips around the field I guess he figured I was doing OK and got off the tractor.
He followed along behind the combine checking the straw or whatever farmers do when they are back there.
“Don’t give up – Keep trying – with enough patience and practice you’d be surprised at what you can accomplish!”
Runaway Combine
