04 September 2007, 17:43
GrumulkinA Trophy Is Anything You Want It To Be
Sometimes we forget what hunting is all about. My 7 year old grandson, because of various marriages, has ended up with four sets of grandparents and several uncles who all love him. This past Christmas, he was given a BB gun by one of his many relatives. Somehow, many months later, he hadn’t gotten to use it; not that his parents are opposed to him having it but he hasn’t had a place to shoot it in the suburbs. Despite the fact that one of his uncles is one of Ohio’s finest, another is in the the Army Reserves, a grandfather is a retired U. S. Army officer and another grandfather is an avid hunter (having taken much more big game than I), to me fell the privilege this week during his stay at the farm, of showing him how to shoot his gun. 
Of course, I gave the usual lecture about not pointing the gun at anything you don’t want to shoot, the dangers of putting ones eye out, about virtue, the dangers of guns, etc. I told him the story of the careless little boy whose finger I had to take a BB out of. I told him how I was never allowed to have a BB gun until I was in my teens. I probably even told him about how when I was a little boy, I had to walk 5 miles to school barefooted in the snow uphill both ways. After making sure he was sufficiently impressed with the weighty responsibility of gun ownership, we went out to shoot. He had his pump up gun and I brought an old Daisy spring powered rifle I keep in a shed to shoot the occasional mouse with.
Targets were erected and shot at from anywhere from 15 feet to 6 inches. He was very impressed that a BB would go all the way through a shoe box and would break some small clay targets he had. I also showed him the basics of telling exactly where a gun was shooting; he appeared very solemn during this part of the instruction but I doubt he really understands it or even cares that much about it…hopefuly what I told him will help him figure it out later.
He shot both his and my BB gun until his arm was about to fall off and then we went hunting. Big game was to be a mouse if we saw one (we didn’t). Also, any insect; butterfly, bee, cricket, grasshopper, etc. was fair game. I got several insects which was actually a challenge since they’re small and a Daisy BB gun with nonadjustable open sights isn’t exactly a precision instrument. He didn’t do so well but seemed to have a great time.
The next day he claimed his arm wasn’t sore (I can’t see how it wasn’t) and he wanted to shoot again. I asked him to repeat all the safety information I’d given him the day before and he did pretty well in repeating it so I let him out to shoot again. Later that day, his 5 year old sister came indoors with the news that he’d shot a grasshopper. I didn’t get to witness the kill, but from prior observations of his hunting technique, I suspect the range was maybe 6 inches. Photos were in order!
The grasshopper was a mature specimen; a good representative of the species. The antennas had good mass and length; truly a worthy trophy.
I also learned things from shooting with my grandson. He confided that he was glad the BB guns weren’t loud. I didn’t know he had ever heard a gun being discharged. He said he heard it when “mom†and I were shooting. That would have been a year or two ago when we were outside shooting a 9mm handgun. He was indoors probably 100 yards away. I guess one must be sensitive to young ears.
Well, he wanted to shoot again today. Once again, I had him repeat all the safety information I had given him before. I added instruction about the proper way to get a gun over a fence and turned him loose.
I also have an observation about spring powered vs pump up BB guns. The spring powered one was easier for my grandson to cock and, despite being ancient, still shot fairly well. The much newer pump up gun has a leaky cylinder so one has to give it 5 quick pumps and shoot or the BB only goes about 5 feet. I guess I have some Christmas shopping to do. It will be spring powered with hopefully an adjustable rear sight if I can find one.
The lectures aren’t over yet either. When we shoot, we'll review what was learned in previous lessons with additions of some new material. Repetitious…yes; but he might as well get used to being bored since I’ll keep telling him a lot of boring stories when I get really old.
