Gary Greene’s Memories from an Old Hunter….#37
He was my high school history teacher for three years and my assistant basketball and track coach. During those years, he took a personal interest in me, realizing that I had potential as an athlete. During and after college, I hunted pheasants a few times with my neighbors, the Swan family and he had joined that hunting party. When the Swan family’s four boys graduated from high school, the family moved to their property on the highest point in Wisconsin, the 1,951 foot Timm’s Hill.
Side Note: I remember back in 1958, when I was in second grade, we were looking at a topographical map of Wisconsin. We were being taught that Rib Mountain was Wisconsin’s highest point, and classmate and future hunting friend, Mike Swan broke into the teacher’s lesson and commented that their hill was the highest point. We teased him badly for he sure didn’t know what he was talking about. Little did we know, he was correct, with Rib Mountain’s highest point being nine feet less at 1,942 ft.
In 1973, after the Swan Family moved, my ex-teacher and coach, Lynn Cutsforth and I became hunting partners. Don’t be mistaken, Lynn is also a man’s name. Lynn always defended his first name, citing as an example, Lynn Dickey, the former Green Bay Packer quarterback. So I won’t bring that name “Thing” up again in this memory.
An old picture of Lynn Cutsforth, friend John and his English Springer Spaniels, and author Greene after a pheasant hunt at Wild Wings Game Farm. (Circa 1985)
We hunted pheasants together for next 43 consecutive years. Then in 2016, at the age of 76, his health prevented him from going into the field. In those early years, we walked a lot of miles on the Wisconsin public hunting grounds and as we got older, at the Wern Valley and Pheasants on the Ledge hunt clubs. Numerous times, we also traveled to Iowa to chase the wild pheasant.
The entire time, the only shotgun he used was his old Remington 870, 12 gauge Wingmaster. Lynn shot a lot of birds with that gun, and missed so many more. I used to tease him about his shooting, but he was the first to admit that he should have hit the shot. Actually, he was a far better shot than most hunters, but not always giving credit when credit is due is all part of our hunting camaraderie.
When we first started hunting together, he had his Brittany Frisky and I had Barney, my aging English Springer Spaniel. For one season, we hunted the two dogs side by side and then Barney passed on. For the next six years, we both hunted over Frisky, who had a great nose, pointed well, but had too much energy out of the gate.
After Frisky died, that left both of us without a dog, as my first wife did not want a hunting dog. I recall a lot of discussions on that topic, all of which I lost and Lynn felt he didn’t have the time to devote to another dog. So with some success, Lynn and I hunted public grounds without a dog, but it was not as enjoyable, not having a dog to watch work and seeing far fewer birds. That’s when we made the decision to hunt private clubs, where we could rent a dog or hire a hunting guide with dogs. When Lynn was not available for a cost sharing hunt, I still pushed the public grounds by myself, usually after a fresh snow, when I could track the pheasants.
We were both teachers in Franklin, Lynn started in 1965 and I started in 1975, but we were in different schools until about 1988, when I transferred to the high school, so at that time, we saw a lot of each other on a daily basis until he retired several years earlier than me
Finally, in 1996 after too many years without a hunting dog, I was permitted to purchase Libby, a beautiful Yellow Labrador and Lynn and I got to hunt over her for the next seven years, when she had to retire due to health concerns.
After that time, I purchased Brooke, another yellow lab and soon after that came Hershey, my chocolate lab. As you might guess, with these additions, after 29 years of marriage, I was single. Then I gave myself permission to buy another dog, which lead to breading dogs, owning five labs and becoming a hunting guide. I have been extremely happy the past twelve years doing all those great things that I always wanted to do. I must also mention that I met a wonderful woman on Match.com (yes, that’s correct) and we have been married for almost four years. Chris, being a Veterinarian and CEO of Herbsmith, loves having six dogs in the house as much as I do.
When Lynn and I were young and pushing the stocked pheasants on the state lands, I shot quickly and often, always carrying five shells in my Remington 1100. That forced Lynn to also shoot fast, which was not his skill set. As I grew old and wiser, I don’t even know how to remove the pug from my gun and I realized that shooting fast was not my skill set either. When we made the move to hunting at clubs, we became more of the “Gentleman” type hunters. We attempted to rotate shots if possible or at least give the man that has the best position for the shot, the first shot, before the partner shoots. We were far less competitive knowing there was going to be a next bird to be shot at.
One main aspect of our hunts was the safety factor, as we never worried that a poor or unsafe shot would be taken. We always knew where each other was located and never shot at low flying pheasants. I never feared for the safety of my dogs when hunting with Lynn.
Through the years and the numerous miles of hunting, we shared many thoughts and laughs, and the great times and the hardships.
Due to health issues, I also had to stop chasing pheasants this past November, so after 43 years, Lynn Cutsforth and Gary Greene stopped pursuing the pheasant hunts that our dreams were made of and then they became our shared memories. For all those memories, thank you Lynn.
I also wish to thank you for almost loving the hunt as much as I did and for sharing all those sticky buns and coffees.