My father and grandfather, both had a great inflewence on me, taught me the love of the woods and fields. But 2 others had a great inflewence also. Art Adams, a neighbor, taught me a lesson in sportsmanship. I was hunting with him when he spied a rabit hiding under a small brush pile. He pointed it out to me and said we would not shoot it yet. He called the dogs over and had a run, then said we could shoot it as it passed by. Kenny Douglass, also a neighbor and an adopted grandfather so to speak, was dieing of cancer and still went hunting. His wife didn't alow him to go alone, I was elected to take him hunting. My dad gave me explicit instructions as to how long Kenny could hunt and were we could go, so as not to exhaust him or cause him pain. When we had hunted for a while Kenny said we were going down to the hazil brush(one place I was told i was not to take him as it was a long hard walk there and back) I made up excuses why we should not go there. After failing to convice him I finally said that I was not allowed to take him there. "hummp, I am taking you!" was his reply. He was one of those old timers that were made of all grit and sand. I learned a lot of what it ment to never give up and to be resilient from Kenny. Cancer eventually took him, but he lived 3 times longer than they said he would and did things that they said he would never do again.
Chuck Gilland was another. As a young man lost the frount half of both his feet in a insilage chopper. He continued to farm till the day he died and was a big coon hunter. Taught me to leave enough game in an area to reproduce for the next year never take to many. I had the privlage to grow up with what I feel are some of the finest people and the finest comunity. I feel that they all had a hand in the man I am today and owe them all a debt of gratitide.
Ben
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