Once upon a time, before my eyesight went away, I was a serious bird hunter. Quail, turkey, dove, pheasant (they were imported into northwest Texas 80 years ago and decided they liked it) and ducks. We'd walk the stubble fields for pheasant and traipse through the river breaks for quail, it was a kick every fall and winter.
I was a bigtime Ducks Unlimited member and donor, too. Mostly for the banquets, because hunting ducks is the stupidest passtime ever devised by man. "Hey, it's freezing cold - let's get up at 3:30 and go the to lake and sit by the frozen water and wait for the sun to come up so we can go home when it warms up."
You may not drink when you hunt Ted, but when it's 12 degrees in a wet duck blind, I'm nipping a flask for antifreeze.
Then my eyes went and I couldn't see the front BB much less a dove in flight. I still have my shotgun - it's a simple, inexpensive Winchester 1200 I got in high school but for all the Remingtons and Benellis and Mossbergs I've tried, I've never shot a better gun than that 12 gauge pump Winchester.
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