The Christmas Bow
 

Mom went out to finish her shopping so my, "honey-do" is temporarily suspended and as suggested, here is the story of, "The Christmas Bow".

In a previous post I mentioned that I started bow hunting in 1946 when on Christmas day I received a new 25# longbow and 12 cedar arrows. I killed many rabbits with that bow..... and one chicken.

Christmas morning, after tearing the wrapping off of the bow and arrows, I kissed and hugged my mother and father and immediately set off on my first hunt!! All excited, (I remember all of the details of this day like it was yesterday) and heart racing I took off through a couple of neighbor yards to cut through my granmothers to get to the fields and woods behind her house. I hunted hard all day but it snowed a foot or more the night before and the rabbits were sticking pretty close to their brushpiles and burrows. I did some tracking but I was a neophyte and hadn't yet developed a successful technique. So mid afternoon I found myself back at grandma's never having fired a shot. Did I mention that grandma raised chickens????
No????

As I came into the yard the chickens were out of the coop, (they were kinda "free ranging" chickens scratching for whatever they could find. One hen was right in front of me at about 10 or 12 feet and was walking directly away from me. The temptation overwhelmed me and before I could think about it I knocked an arrow and let it go...never expecting to hit it. Well, it went right up her bunghole. I couldn't have duplicated that shot in a thousand trys. Anyway, at that precise moment my grandmother came around the side of the house to the sight of this hen running across the yard squawking and squealing with an arrow sticking out of her butt. I don't know who was screaming the loudest, the chicken or my grandmother but they were both vying for the prize. Granma finally grabbed the hen and wrung her neck, grabbed a hatchet from the chopping block behind the coop, gave her a whack and bled her out. I was really afraid that I was next. I wasn't but that was loooong before the permissive attitudes that are prevalent today, so my butt was red for a long time. But...no one took my bow away and I heard my grandfather tell my mother in polish, "damn that was a good shot".

That was my first bow kill....with an assist from grandma.....

Merry Christmas To All and Yours........

laxdad

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Would that be considered 100% wild and 100% fair chase or game ranch???


Neat story.

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

It would be called, embar...ass...ing and painful.

laxdad

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Cool story and concise. Keep em comming.

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Oh man.......I've actually got tears in my eyes from laughing so hard!!!!! Right up her bunghole...LMAO!!!!!!! Man, that's great!!!!! All I see is this little ole chicken running around w/a burr up her butt.......OMG, that's funny!!!

Sir, you feel free to keep em coming.......I'm enjoying every minute.

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Great story Laxdad! It was so well written that I could picture the whole thing! It had me laughing out loud!:D

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

For some reason I was imagining "The Christmas Story" the whole time while reading this. :D

Great Read!!!

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Question for you laxdad.

Did somebody in your family make the longbow and cedar arrows?

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Great story

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Great story laxdad makes me can't wait for christmas!

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Great story! Keep them coming!

Hatchet Jack

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

Great story! Im still laughing!!!

RE: The Christmas Bow
 

No. My dad didn't hunt but he had someone at work make them for him. He told me his name and I wrote him a, "Thank You" note but I don't remember his name.

laxdad