Gary Greene’s Memories from an Old Hunter
Gary Greene and son Nate after a Wisconsin duck hunt.
As an adult hunter, I have taken trips to six different states to hunt pheasants or waterfowl. As I think back, it is possible that the trips I made as a boy were just as exciting and successful as my trips that cost me significant amounts of money and hundreds of driving hours.
My first hunting trip that I recall was with my mom and dad pheasant hunting in Muskego. I was probably five or six and we left our house in Franklin by foot. We walked through a few neighbor’s yards with my dad carrying his Browning shotgun in full view with King, his Chesapeake Retriever at heel. My mom was carrying a brown bag of food and a cast iron frying pan. Me, I brought myself. We said hello to a few neighbors and no one asked where we were going or what we were doing. After about ten minutes, we entered Muskego and Waukesha County where we could start our hunt. My dad beat the heavy cover with King and my mom and I took the worn path that was used by many before us.
After my dad had shot a pheasant and king made a good retrieve in the tall canes, my mom declared it lunch time. I think she sensed I was tiring and somewhat bored. I sat in the shade under a tree as my parents gathered some firewood and started a small fire. My mom placed the frying pan on the fire and added ground beef and onions to the pan. That was the best non-shore-shore lunch I ever had.
About six years later, my friend Mike and I planned an all day hunting trip during the first day of vacation due to teacher’s convention. We had made plans on what we were bringing and where we were hunting. We hunted squirrels early then moved on to pheasants. We broke for lunch and ate our jelly bread sandwiches and drank water from our army canteen. That held us until later in the day. We had to stop at the Party Store, a local convenience store. We purchased ten cent beef sticks and ten cent Hostess apple and cheery pies. Now we were really eating and we both spent 50 cents. We didn’t shoot anything that day, but we were as happy as if we shot our limit of squirrels and pheasants.
A few years later, I reenacted my mom’s non-shore-shore lunch as I hunted squirrels on a friend’s farm in Waterford. It wasn’t as elaborate as my mom’s, but I roasted hot dogs on a stick on a similar small fire of branches. After my lunch, l stretched out and I watched the clouds pass me by and the shadows of the trees moving with the wind. I can still feel the mild breeze as it hit my face as I became sleepy. I dozed off thinking of my mom over the open fire with that skillet in her hand. I believe I shot a few squirrels that day, but all I remember is my non-shore-shore lunch.
Today, my wife and I live on a small lake in the East Troy area. My youngest son Nate is very busy as a veterinarian student at UW- Madison, but he manages to get out with me once a week for some waterfowl hunting. Where we hunt is about 100 yards off my pier, so for me it is not much of an effort. The concept of the trip is still there, but it couldn’t be easier and we still bring the food. We both have our coffee, however mine is decaf and his is some gourmet coffee that he personally grinds and makes with some special water. It’s a plus for the day, if we see some ducks. However, this trip is successful no matter if we shoot ducks or what type of weather we are fighting. We get to spend time together in the blind and discuss life and eat our hard boiled eggs. Now that’s a perfect trip and my shore lunch is just eggs and the trip is just 100 yards from home.