Attribution: Henry Thomas Alken , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper using this bright Oct. 18, 2024, to jerk his memory machinery back 50 years or so to the days when he and John Lawton wallowed in the glory years of ruffed grouse populations across the state. Armed with side-by-side shotguns and each with a springer spaniel, the keeper and John spent October weekends patrolling the creek bottoms and the wooded hills while frequently producing the grouse hunter’s identifying – Bang-bang, “goddamn!” as yet another grouse sailed away unscathed.
Because John’s “Pupper” and the keeper’s “Doc” were never able to settle which one was top dog despite countless fights, it was necessary for the keeper and John to travel in separate vehicles, and for one or the other to end a hunt early and get his dog safely enclosed in a vehicle. On one occasion when Pupper was so restrained in John’s station wagon he ran around in a frenzy trying to get at Doc with the result that he pushed down all four of the door lock buttons, and since the tailgate was also locked, it had been necessary to break a side-door window to get on to the next hunt.
“Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end…….”
Photo by Bill Stokes