By Bobby Dale Welch/Staff Correspondent
Hunting season is getting closer every day. Among the many other tasks that need accomplished, we’re already beginning to bush hog, clear roads and make plans for when we plant food plots.
Hunting is hard work, and there is a lot of time invested prior to sitting in a stand.
Quite honestly, hunting one of the most fulfilling and bonding experiences I’ve known, and I enjoy it very much. Running a tractor or a chainsaw for most of a couple of days helps keep me off the therapist’s couch.
Another fun experience is sitting around a campfire telling and listening to stories. I’ve heard some doozies, such as a guy who spent several minutes building up to a story about 15-pound gray squirrels. Seriously!
But one story always makes me laugh when I think of it. Several folks were sitting around a fire, and one guy was a “topper.” You know the type: one person says he saw four deer, and all of a sudden, he saw five. Well, the topper was going on and on about how much money he had and how his family was well-to-do, and on and on and on.
It just so happened that there was a straight-forward, honest, quick-witted older gentleman at the fire that same evening. While the topper continued telling everyone how wonderful he was, he started on a story about when he was young. Apparently, the topper’s family owned a large ranch.
“When I was a little boy, you could leave out at daylight and at dark you would still be on my family’s property,” he remarked.
Then it happened.
The old gentleman replied, “I know what you mean; we used to have an old car like that.”
Have a great week and get that prep work done for hunting season!
Bobby Dale Welch was born and raised in East Gadsden and graduated from Litchfield High School in 1988. He is the founder of and partner in BD Welch Construction and currently lives in Ashville with his wife Tracie and sons Daniel and Dawson. He may be contacted at bobbyd@bdwelch.com.