Hunting season has arrived

By Rennie Phillips

Fall in Missouri means it's hunting season. Where I grew up in Nebraska hunting and shooting were just normal activities for most everyone. It didn't really matter whether one was a boy or girl, most hunted or used guns to shoot targets. My first gun was a Red Rider BB gun. It didn't have much power, but I could get a bird now and then. Back then the birds didn't have much to worry about. But I did go through a lot of BBs.

When I got a little older my uncle gave me a single-shot, .22-bolt-action rifle. The extractor was broken, so I'd shoot a shell, dig out my pocket knife, pry out the spent shell casing, and then I'd be ready for the next shot. Slow to say the least. My favorite shells were a kind of bird-shot .22. It was like a miniature shot-gun shell. Birds still didn't have much to worry about.

Finally, Dad let me start using his bolt-action .22. I think it was a Stevens tubular magazine .22. Now the birds could worry. It probably was the best .22 I have ever shot, bar none. I shot everything: Bottles, bottle caps, jars, birds, rabbits and cow chips were all in danger when I got to use Dad's rifle.

I also shot a .410 some, but the shells were expensive, so I didn't use it much. When I got older, Dad let me use his 12 gauge. So we'd drive from windmill to windmill checking if there was a pond by it and if there were ducks on the pond. Now and then we'd get a duck. There was also a pond up by Grandpa Piihls, and now and then I'd get a duck on it. I never was much of a duck hunter. I hunted geese a little at my sister's place in Lisco, Nebraska. I had more fun just going to the goose pits than anything.

Dad usually got a deer license, and most years he would get a deer. There weren't many deer on Dad's land, so we'd hunt on Triangle or sometimes up on Farrar's, both huge ranches in excess of 50,000 acres. Most of the time we'd go up to my Uncle Mick's place north of Whitman, Nebraska. It was always fun going to Uncle Mick's. I usually got a deer as well.

I did some deer hunting and enjoyed it growing up. When we lived in Nebraska, coyotes was what I loved to hunt the most. My favorite way to stir them up was by using a hand call that sounded like a jackrabbit. Normally they were really close, so it was super exciting. A good friend of mine, Junior McMullen, helped me a lot with my calling. He would give me suggestions on how to sound more natural. He was quite a guy. He built a gyro-copter in his basement. His wife would pull him through the sandhills while he flew his gyro-copter.

I bought a coyote gun from a store just North of Ogallala, Nebraska. I can't think of his name, but he was a nice guy. The gun was a Ruger .220 swift-varmitt rifle. We drove up to Cabela's in Chappell, Nebraska, and bought a scope. At that time Cabela's was mostly on one floor of an old house. There was some stuff down in the basement, but not much. Hate it that Cabela's sold out. I got a lot of coyotes with that Ruger.

I pretty much quit hunting when we left Nebraska and I began studying for the ministry. During those years, we didn't have a lot of finances, so I pretty much studied and worked. When we moved to Missouri, I bought a Marlin 30-30 and began to deer hunt. That first year, I think there were more hunters in the woods then there were deer. It was almost scary when everyone went to shooting. It was about that time when Missouri started a muzzle-loader season that was separate from the rifle season. So we drove to Union City, Tennessee, and bought a muzzle-loader kit. And with the help of Dallas, I learned how to shoot it. Best part of muzzle-deer season was most of the hunters didn't hunt muzzle season. I was pretty much alone in the woods.

I shot several deer with that old muzzle loader and some other muzzle loaders that I built. I still like to hunt with a muzzle loader. I usually fire up the wood stove in my little building, get a good bed of coals and then proceed to pour some round balls. There is something satisfying about getting a deer with a muzzle loader that I built from scratch, using round balls that I poured and black powder. I still remember Dallas showing me how you could take a little crock or jug, roll the ball around and around in it and how smooth and shiny it was by the time I was done.

Rifle-deer season in Missouri begins Saturday. If I get a deer, we usually skin and process it ourselves. I am a fanatic about not wanting any hairs on our meat, so I do the processing myself. Back a few years, we took some of the meat to have it turned into snack sticks and summer sausage by Tilsit. We went back the second year and found out he had come down with cancer and died. Nice guy. I miss him not doing our deer meat, but also miss visiting with him.

If you go deer hunting, duck hunting or any other type of hunting, follow the rules set down by the Missouri Department of Conservation. If you see someone hunting illegally, call (800) 392-1111 to report the activity. You can report them and remain anonymous.

Don't get in a hurry to shoot; make sure it's safe to shoot. Don't rely on the safety to make your loaded firearm safe. A safety is mechanical and it can fail. Wear the blaze-orange vest, hat or cap. Be safe! Have fun!

Last of all, and most important: Treat the game you are hunting with respect.