Gary Greene’s Memories from an Old Hunter.…#50
This is my 50th memory written for the On Wisconsin Outdoors website. Some might call this a milestone, others might say, “Who cares!” I’m an old hunter and not very current with all of today’s on line terms. With that perspective, I’m not sure if my memories are blogs, columns, articles or just plain old memories, but I keep writing them and since I’ve heard from a few readers, some of you actually read them.
Greene with four Bong hunt pheasants and his black lab Elsie and Jim Wick's lab Beau. Beau and Elsie are six year old siblings. (2017)
My first memory was posted (I know that term) on April 16th, 2016. That computes to a nineteen month period with fifty memories and about 2 ½ memories per month. I’m just mulling over those figures and thinking I’m a machine producing all those hunting memories.
Side comment: The Ring-necked Pheasant which I have been pursuing for over fifty-five years in Wisconsin and the Midwest is actually from China and other parts of Asia. With that in mind, a friend, Steve, is teaching in China and he recently took a side trip to a rarely seen section of the Great Wall of China. While traveling, he continually eats the local cuisine at sidewalk and roadside stands. Last week with the great wall in view he ordered some soup. It could have been pheasant and rice and the only meat in the soup was a foot or should I say a claw. He does occasionally get sick from his eating selections and he also had himself duct taped to the wall for a photo contest.
Jim Wick, Greene's hunting partner and his Lab Beau. (2017)
My health has been failing for almost five years with a rare form of Leukemia and when I am physically unable to get outdoors, the writing of my hunting memories allows me to continue to enjoy the great outdoors.
For the last year, I have been surviving on weekly red blood cell and platelet transfusions and just completed my thirteenth round of chemo treatments. On a good day I am able to walk thirty minutes to an hour. During the fall of 2016, I had to stop hunting because I didn’t have the strength to carry my shotgun. This summer, I worked my arms with water filled milk jugs which weigh about the same as my Benelli shotgun. During the beginning of this hunting season, while shooting Canada Geese, I was unable to secure my shotgun properly and as I shot, I kept cutting my upper lip. I never did figure out how I continued to do that.
This week I was fortunate enough to have the strength to pheasant hunt twice at Bong Recreational Area in Kenosha County. The air was crisp, the sun was shining, the fall wind was present but not disruptive as I followed my mother/daughter labs Hershey and Elsie chasing DNR stocked pheasants. As the dogs patterned back and forth, on several occasions, I had tears just from the enjoyment of the entire experience and being able to enjoy my life as I wish to live it. Both days, my dogs flushed a couple of pheasants and I was fortunate enough to have fairly easy, open shots as I came home with my daily limits. It wasn’t a stroll in the park, but both days, I was able to hunt for over an hour. I consider myself very lucky to live in a state that provides hunting opportunities for someone like me that is not at full strength.
For four years, I was on an extremely rigid anti-cancer diet and could not eat most of my favorite foods. Since my cancer has progressed and I am in treatment, I made the choice to eat a somewhat regular selection. After Wednesday’s hunt at Bong, my hunting partner Jim Wick and I stopped at Burger King in Waterford and enjoyed an hour of conversation over a soda and the two whoppers for $6.00 deal. While on my diet, I missed the complete hunting day package which always included an early morning bakery and coffee, and an after hunt junk/fast food meal.
My youngest son Nate and I have a weekly date in our duck blind. This season, like last season, has been fairly slow, but we usually manage a few shots. According to my son’s hunting jinx rules, I am ruining our next hunt because I am stating that we haven’t been shut out yet this season.
Recently, we sat in our blind while the gray morning rotated between drizzle and showers with an occasional downpour. I could not have had a better time doing anything on our earth. I spent four hours sharing life as an outdoorsman, a hunter, a dog owner and most importantly a father. For me, life doesn’t get any better than that no matter how many ducks are seen, missed or harvested.
If I had to be out in the rain for four hours doing anything else, there’s no way I would even consider it.
So this was my 30th hunting memory from an old hunter. I hope to continue writing my old memories while creating a few new ones along my narrow path ahead. It’s currently twelve degrees this morning in East Troy and as the temperature rises, I plan to take my labs Nyjer and Schmiddy to Southern Kettle Moraine for an afternoon pheasant hunt. Then tomorrow morning, I am rising at 4:00am to get ready for my son Nate to arrive from Madison and then proceed out to our blind for our weekly duck hunt and I am packing a six pound ax to break the thin ice around the blind. These days are what my dreams and memories are made of!
I would like to thank Dick Ellis, the editor of this fine newspaper and website. He gave me the opportunity to write and publish my hunting memories, and he has become a great friend. Dick, I think I paid for our last breakfast, so it’s your turn.