Mommy, I want to learn to hunt." It's amazing how a simple request from a child can change your life! All of the following was at the urging of my 5 year old son, Justin, who has been telling me for over a year now..."Mommy, I want to learn to hunt!" "Dad" said he really didn't want to do it, so I decided I'd try if it meant so much to Justin.
It was my first hunt, ever. Because of my lack of experience, I thought it would be best to go with a guide. So I planned a visit to Primland Hunting Reserve in Claudville, VA. Justin and I were going alone, but at the last minute my husband, Eddie, decided to come along. We arrived at Primland on Friday afternoon, Sept. 18th, 1998, and were greeted by Steve Helms, the General Manager. We had booked 2 mornings of pheasant hunting over the weekend, and were excitedly discussing our chances of success as we drove up the mountain road to our beautiful cabin, the "Bobcat." On our first morning of hunting, we headed out at 7:30AM with our guide (and also the General Manager) Steve Helms. I don't think Steve normally guides, but Primland was hopping that day with both archery & sporting clay tournaments going on. The Suburban pulled a trailer with 6 dogs inside, Pointers and Setters both. It was going to be a hot day, so we'd be rotating dogs often. We drove a few minutes to one of Primland's sorghum fields, got out of the truck, and Steve gave me a few safety instructions. This was my first hunt, and I was nervous, to say the least. I was to keep the safety on the gun at all times except when I was actually ready to take a shot. Several times I swung the shotgun to take a shot only to forget to remove the safety. Duh! Steve was kind about it, saying he'd rather have a client who forgot to remove the safety, than one who forgot to put it on! Eddie (my husband) shot a lot better than I did, taking 6 pheasants to my 3 the first day.
It was tough walking...the fields were actually over my head in some instances, and the ground was full of ruts and hidden holes. Would have been easy to turn an ankle. Poor Justin had trouble keeping up, but he was a trooper, and he looked like a real man carrying his Orvis children's side-by side shotgun (it shoots caps).
We ended our 2 mornings of pheasant hunting with 17 birds, fifteen for the freezer, and two for the taxidermist. I had such a good time that I.....
...couldn't get it out of my mind... After I returned home, I just couldn't stop thinking about the hunt. Re-playing every moment, every missed shot...over & over in my mind. It got so bad that the next day I called Primland and asked Chastity, the nice lady at the front desk, if I could come back. She said sure, come on down! So after my husband left for work, my Mom took the kids, and I headed down Rt. 8 for the 2 hour drive to Primland. They set me up to shoot "5 Stand" with a wonderful guy named Chuck, who helped me immensely. The 5 Stand area was beautiful, and I had it all to myself. The next morning I would be hunting a "mixed bag" of pheasant and chukar. Sammy Howell, also known as "Superguide" [at least that's what he told me ] :-) would be helping me that morning. He brought his Pointer, "Frosty", who was a lean mean gamebird machine! By 11AM I had 5 chukar and 1 pheasant, and it was time to head back. I felt a lot better...maybe there was hope for me yet! Though I'm certain I'm many years away from being a "good shot", I did improve some, and I'll do better next time. (Yes, next time is already in the planning stages.) On Thanksgiving Day, I'll be going on my first-ever seer hunt. Lots to learn, but it's exciting and loads of fun, and my little guy is thrilled. I have to learn a lot more before I'll feel confident taking him for deer, but he understands that, and is waiting patiently. Justin took his pheasant pictures to show-and-tell the following Monday, and he says he told the class "My Mom can hunt!"
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