Hunting With Pop

[Bill Murphy]

Dad was raised in hunting and pigeon raising in Hazleton from the early 1900s. When dad and I started hunting in Adams County, Pennsylvania when I was about 14 years old in 1958, pheasants were very numerous, and there were many hunters. However, we had good bird dogs and it seemed like no one else did. Most hunters worked standing corn, but we ignored that method and hunted the brush. One aging Irish Setter was skilled at heading off cock pheasants in corn rows, but that wasn't our preferred method. Two pheasants a day wasn't enough for me, so I early on started shooting quail when no one else was bothered. There was also a week or more in the beginning of November when the season was open for pheasants, quail, and doves at the same time. I took advantage of that and worked a dove roost behind the Hanover shoe factory in the evenings. My little pointer was white as snow and seemed to realize his "whiteness", remaining still in the blind while the birds were active and only standing up when it was time to retrieve. All this ended when I got my letter from Uncle Sam and was gone for two years. When I returned in late 1969, the birds were less numerous and family and work took some days away from my old hunting schedule.