Bang Bang Bang

It's not often that I have the opportunity to go hunting, so when the opportunity arose, I figured I'd take full advantage of it. When it Rome, do as the Romans. When in south Georgia, shoot things.

I wasn't sure what to expect since I'm sorta of a nature nerd who likes being outside and likes animals and all that. It's not my usual routine to go disrupting the peace with explosives, but it ended up being a great experience.

In the olden days, quail hunting might have been a little different, but today it's very Americanized. So Americanized that we actually had to go out and buy the birds, throw 'em out in the woods and then shoot them. Buy, spend, destroy. That could describe our day hunting, or it could describe the philosophy of most governments.

It ended being a great day, but anytime one is out in nature surrounded by good friends and family things will turn out ok. Unless of course there's an idiot in the group who shoots someone else in the face.

It was a little trickier then I first thought. My first time out, the safety was on. Next round, the birds were too close to the dogs. Other times, the birds were close to the people. Sometimes the dogs got to the birds first. Sometimes the people got to the birds first. It seemed like I was destined not to get one.

Some people were like, just shoot them on the ground before they fly up. That way you can say you got one. The problem with that is, I would rather say that I didn't get a bird, then to say I shot it on the ground before it even had a chance.

In the end, I nailed one with a brutal shot to the head. The bird fell to the ground admist a flutter of feathers. I picked it up and carried it for a bit. It was very warm, like it was still alive. Little drops of blood poured from it's eye sockets that were closed as if resting. I looked at it for a bit, and philosophized silently about life. Then I chucked it in the back of the cart and went to shoot some more.

After the day was done, the pleasure of cleaning the birds came next. I figured if I shot one, I should clean it too. At first, it was a little gross, but once I set my beer down things went smoothly. It's not good to combine the acts of ingesting food with the act of cutting off limbs and ripping off skin. The two just don't go together.