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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my experiences in life lessons. This Country Life is presented

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Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast the airwaves have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

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Speaker 1: stories to share. A first and last, A first and last,

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Speaker 1: the beginning in the end. If there is a start

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Speaker 1: to anything, there will most definitely always be an end.

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Speaker 1: We can plan for the beginning, but the end is

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Speaker 1: hardly ever known. From a first world hunt to a

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Speaker 1: last deer hunt, we never know when they'll end, but

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Speaker 1: we hope that the last one will be as memorable

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Speaker 1: as the first. I've got what I believe are great

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Speaker 1: examples of each and I'm going to share them with

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Speaker 1: you now, starting with this story. There are four states

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Speaker 1: in the US that refer to themselves as Commonwealth states, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,

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Speaker 1: and Virginia, the home of this country Life listener who

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Speaker 1: shared the following narrative from forty four years ago. So

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Speaker 1: when his words in my voice. Here we go. My

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Speaker 1: name is Howard Howie Toler from Bluefield, Virginia. My story

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Speaker 1: takes us back to nineteen eighty when I was ten

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Speaker 1: and October was quickly approaching, and I was eagerly awaiting

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Speaker 1: the time to come when my dad, my uncle, older

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Speaker 1: cousins hitch up my dad's camper to the white jeep

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Speaker 1: grand Wagoneer with wood grain panels and head out to

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Speaker 1: Greenbrier County, West Virginia for my first squirrel hunting trip.

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Speaker 1: I've been hearing the guys telling their hunting tales for

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Speaker 1: as long as I could remember, and I absolutely could

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Speaker 1: not wait to get out in the woods. I remember

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Speaker 1: being on the top bunk. I thought I had won

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Speaker 1: the toss and got the best sleeping position, but I

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Speaker 1: was soon reminded that heat and the exhaust of the

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Speaker 1: other guys following chilly with beans for dinner, rises and

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Speaker 1: hangs out right on top with me, and being a camper,

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Speaker 1: there were only a few valuable inches of airspace between

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Speaker 1: my nose and the ceiling. I certainly didn't I get

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Speaker 1: much sleep that night before opening. The morning excitement and

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Speaker 1: the strange smells and lack of sounds except for the

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Speaker 1: occasional acron bouncing off the roof of our camper kept

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Speaker 1: me from getting much more than a few non consecutive

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Speaker 1: hours of sleep. Bout the time I got good and asleep,

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Speaker 1: the mallet on that old wind up alarm clock started

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Speaker 1: banging away at its two bells. Someone, and I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure who, smacked that obnoxious clock and bounced it off

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Speaker 1: the wall, putting an abrupt end to all the racket.

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Speaker 1: Now I shot up, I sung the covers off, and

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Speaker 1: I swear it seemed like I had my boots on

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Speaker 1: before it hit the floor. Everyone was squeezing past each

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Speaker 1: other in the narrow camper, stepping over boxes and duffel bags,

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Speaker 1: trying to get dressed, getting the day's snacks packed, and

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Speaker 1: slurped down a cup of coffee. Except Dad. He just

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Speaker 1: laid in his bunk, looking at his foot that was

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Speaker 1: sticking out from under the cover. Two things to know

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Speaker 1: about my dad. Everyone called him Fudd, and because of

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Speaker 1: an unfortunate accident in the coal mine, he had only

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Speaker 1: nine toes. Sometime during the night someone had tied a

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Speaker 1: game tag who his toe next to the one that

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Speaker 1: was missing, and rode on it. Fud gone to market

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Speaker 1: be back soon. It was probably the the funniest thing

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Speaker 1: I had witnessed in my ten years, and Dad was

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Speaker 1: quick to say it's not many people to get to

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Speaker 1: see their toe tag and live the tell A Mountain. Well.

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Speaker 1: Soon after me and Dad were parked on the lot,

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Speaker 1: me looking uphiling him downhill. Or at least that's what

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Speaker 1: he said. I had no idea because it was still

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Speaker 1: dark to say I was a little uneasy sitting in

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Speaker 1: the pitch black in the woods was an understanding. I

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Speaker 1: was sure every twig and falling up with some unseen

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Speaker 1: toothy beasts planning to make breakfast out of me. The

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Speaker 1: Dad kept scooting me down, saying if I get any closer,

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Speaker 1: I had to get in his pocket. Soon enough that

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Speaker 1: old son did what it does and started to rise

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Speaker 1: above the ridge. I got my first looks at where

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Speaker 1: I'd been sitting, and even though it was really no

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Speaker 1: different than the woods I played in behind the house,

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Speaker 1: I was certain that our four feet were the only

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Speaker 1: ones to ever leave tracks in that portion of the wilderness.

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Speaker 1: And even though that wagoneer that we had rode in

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Speaker 1: on was within sight just to hundred yards away, it

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Speaker 1: was shooting like now Dad pulled out a three inch

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Speaker 1: number five four to ten shell from his pocket and

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Speaker 1: told me to load up, but don't close the breech

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Speaker 1: on my single shot. We sat there on that log

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Speaker 1: for what seemed like days but was probably only an

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Speaker 1: hour or so, and Dad reached over and took the

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Speaker 1: shell from my gun and told me come on, close

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Speaker 1: her up. And we stood up, and I snapped the

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Speaker 1: four tenth closed, and I followed him over the ridge

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Speaker 1: to another spot, where we repeated the process of finding

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Speaker 1: the log and looking in the office of directions again,

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Speaker 1: not so much as a chipmunk made an appearance. My

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Speaker 1: dreams of shooting herds the squirrels from the tree off

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Speaker 1: were quickly fading and bored them cold, and my butt

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Speaker 1: getting numb on that damp log started setting in. By

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Speaker 1: now it was close to time to head back to

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Speaker 1: camp for lunch. I think my dad knew I was

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Speaker 1: losing a little my excitement, so since we were leaving anyway,

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Speaker 1: we found an old vial in the sausage can, stuck

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Speaker 1: it on the branch and stepped off a few paces,

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Speaker 1: added me a shell. Let me shoot my gun and

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Speaker 1: kill that camp. I was glad to do it. We

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Speaker 1: headed back to camp, and after lunch, Dad knew another

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Speaker 1: place where he had found squirrel cuttings under some hickory trees.

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Speaker 1: We parked ourselves on another log, looked in the opposite

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Speaker 1: directions again, and I got my shell in my open breach.

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Speaker 1: Four to ten and I'm ready. I was beginning to

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Speaker 1: question repeating this same approach to squirrel hunting. Walk and sit,

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Speaker 1: walk and sit, walk and sit. My thoughts were wondering

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Speaker 1: where everything ten year old boys ponder on, namely Daisy duke,

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Speaker 1: and watch that weird bug? And can't I squish it

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Speaker 1: with a stick that I'm playing with. I pretty much

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Speaker 1: giving up on looking for squirrels and basically just keeping

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Speaker 1: Dad company while he hunted. Suddenly, a flash of movement

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Speaker 1: and a tree caught my attention. I'm thinking, sesh, another

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Speaker 1: stupid bird. Ain't gonna minute. That bird has a fuzzy tail,

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Speaker 1: be Dad, it was a squirrel. Dad slowly glanced over

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Speaker 1: his shoulder and began scanning to locate what I was seeing,

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Speaker 1: and in short order he locked on Son, get ready,

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Speaker 1: that's a big one at a snail's pace. He swung

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Speaker 1: his legs over that log and it was now facing

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Speaker 1: the same direction as me. We watched and waited while

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Speaker 1: that squirrel worked its way closer and in de range

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Speaker 1: and my shotgun. Finally it was close enough and stopped

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Speaker 1: while it sat in the crotch of a limb on

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Speaker 1: a tree, just nibbling at a hick or none. Dad said,

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Speaker 1: go ahead and shoot, and for whatever reason, I stood

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Speaker 1: up and got down on one knee like I was

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Speaker 1: going to ask that squirrel to marry me. I rolled

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Speaker 1: the hammer back, I settled the bead, and bang. I

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Speaker 1: recovered from the shot, and my squirrel was still where

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Speaker 1: it was when I shot, only now it was on

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Speaker 1: the trunk, pointing upward toward the kenomy. Dad handed me

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Speaker 1: another shell, but that squirrel lost his grip and fell

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Speaker 1: with a thud walking up. I knew it was a

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Speaker 1: whopper of a fox squirrel, but it wasn't dead. Dad

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Speaker 1: got it by the tail and entered it suffering by

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Speaker 1: swinging it and thumping its head on a tree. I

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Speaker 1: was a little shocked by the violence of it all,

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Speaker 1: and I remember feeling slightly guilty for what we just did. Now.

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Speaker 1: Later on, my dad remarked that if there ever comes

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Speaker 1: a time when you don't have a little remorse for

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Speaker 1: taking a life. It's time to quit hunting. We got

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Speaker 1: back to camp first, and I couldn't wait for the

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Speaker 1: others to make it back so I could show off

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Speaker 1: my price. Soon enough, everyone started straggling in. I had

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Speaker 1: it all planned out. I'd wait for everyone to get back,

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Speaker 1: and when they all pulled up today's squirrels and began

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Speaker 1: the cleaning process, I'd throw my whopper down on top

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Speaker 1: of the pile and soak in all the adulations in

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Speaker 1: the backslaps. And just like I planned, my uncle cousins

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Speaker 1: had a pile of gray squirrels and on wase a

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Speaker 1: nice fox squirrel that they were proud of. Everyone was

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Speaker 1: telling the stories of how their squirrels came to be

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Speaker 1: in the game vest Now they just commenced to clean

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Speaker 1: the squirrels when I walked up and dropped mine on

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Speaker 1: top of the pile like an old West gambler throwing

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Speaker 1: down a straight flush, and said, bam, boys, sure enough,

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Speaker 1: the holy cows, the good gullies, and the way that

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Speaker 1: goes started just like I planned, and I finally had

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Speaker 1: a hunting tale to share. Now that old fox squirrel

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Speaker 1: ended up in a pot with dumplings, and Dad always

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Speaker 1: regretted not having that squirrel mounted for me, but I

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Speaker 1: never really cared that he didn't. I had a memory

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Speaker 1: and a tale to tale that has stayed with me

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Speaker 1: for nearly forty five years. I had more adventures and

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Speaker 1: taking bigger and better game, but that fox squirrel back

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Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty is my favorite memory. Dad and my

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Speaker 1: uncle are gone now, but they are with me every

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Speaker 1: opening morning the squirrel season, and sometimes I'll chuckle out

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Speaker 1: loud thinking about Dad's to tag and a note from

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Speaker 1: the little piggy went to market. And according to Howie

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Speaker 1: Toller of Bluefield, Virginia, that's just how that happened, now,

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Speaker 1: how We included a picture of that day of him,

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Speaker 1: a skinny ten year old boy, his dad, a pile

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Speaker 1: of squirrels on the ground, a normal sized fox squirrel

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Speaker 1: in his left hand, and trophy in his right that's

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Speaker 1: as big as a small child. Thanks for sharing, Howie.

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Speaker 1: If you're interested in seeing that picture, check out my Instagram.

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Speaker 1: It was open the day of gun deer season in

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Speaker 1: Arkansas over twenty years ago, and I was working uniform

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Speaker 1: patrol as a lieutenant and the day shift supervisor. My

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Speaker 1: sheriff was deer hunting, my major was deer hunting, and

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Speaker 1: the Captain was deer hunting. They were all only a

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Speaker 1: phone called away from working, but if nothing happened, they

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Speaker 1: would only see the reports about what took place in

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Speaker 1: their absence. So why was I working on opening Day? Well,

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Speaker 1: I just answered my own question. All the admin folks

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Speaker 1: were off. The standard operating procedure was anything that happened

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Speaker 1: requiring additional personnel to be called out, like CID or

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Speaker 1: narcotics or the coroner. My immediate supervisor would have to

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Speaker 1: be notified, and then he would determine if it was

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Speaker 1: to be passed on up the chain of command and

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Speaker 1: so on. Also, I was leading by example and showing

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Speaker 1: the deputies in my charge that I was willing to

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Speaker 1: work so one of them could enjoy the on set

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Speaker 1: of firearm season at their family's camp. It was an

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Speaker 1: excellent example of leadership. It was also a testament of

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Speaker 1: my misreading the schedule weeks before when that deputy had

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Speaker 1: put in for his request to be off duty. Nice job,

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Speaker 1: Stephen Vestel. Anyway, there I was working when I didn't

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Speaker 1: have to, and on a day when I didn't have to,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to be off hunting with my but it

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Speaker 1: would turn out to be one of the best days

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Speaker 1: at work ever, not the best, but ride up there

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Speaker 1: close the day that stands out in the top ten

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Speaker 1: percent of a thirty two year career. Of that in

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Speaker 1: itself speaks volumes of how it affected one singular event

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Speaker 1: out of literally thousands of interactions that to this day.

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Speaker 1: When someone asks for a story, this one comes to mind,

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Speaker 1: but I seldom tell it, not because I don't think

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Speaker 1: they'll appreciate it, because I don't know if they'll appreciate

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Speaker 1: it enough. Besides, most folks only want to hear the

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Speaker 1: stories when someone winds up not being amongst the living

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Speaker 1: before it's overwhet. Those are the ones that I wish

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Speaker 1: I could forget, the ones that I don't talk about

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Speaker 1: unless it's to someone who was there in a setting

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Speaker 1: where folks that weren't can't hear us, and even then

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Speaker 1: no details, usually just to pass and mention of remember

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Speaker 1: such and such, Yep, that was a bad one, and

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Speaker 1: then we go on we talk about something else, but

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Speaker 1: I think about them often. Then there's this story, and

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Speaker 1: it's one where someone passes away and you hear it

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Speaker 1: in a few moments, and if you see it in

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Speaker 1: your head the way I saw it that day, I

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Speaker 1: think you'll agree. Why it's not one that I choose

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Speaker 1: to share in the idle conversation deserves some reverence. I

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Speaker 1: wrote this today. It happened when I got off work.

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Speaker 1: I would eventually find out that all my assumptions in

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Speaker 1: the text of the story proved to be true. So

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Speaker 1: clear your mind and walk with you. Here we go.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know the old man. I had never met

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Speaker 1: him or even heard his name before when they told

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Speaker 1: me who he was. But I'll never forget him. The

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Speaker 1: old man's obituary, we'll read that he was in his

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Speaker 1: eighties and that a wife, chill, and grandchildren survive him.

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Speaker 1: It may mention that he was a veteran of World

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Speaker 1: War Two and was retired after a long career in

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Speaker 1: a mundane job somewhere that he worked to provide for

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Speaker 1: his family for the majority of his adult life. It

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Speaker 1: may even remark that the old man was an outdoorsman.

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Speaker 1: But they'll never be able to convey on a pamphlet

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Speaker 1: handed out by an emphatically somber suit wearing funeral director

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Speaker 1: the way that old man went to Heaven. I know.

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Speaker 1: I know because I was fortunate enough to be able

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Speaker 1: to see what the old man saw. The call came

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Speaker 1: out from dispatch to meet up with a reporting party

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Speaker 1: at a deer camp in a rural portion of the county.

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Speaker 1: The ten coach she relayed to me over the radio

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Speaker 1: was one that meant there was an unattended death, Someone

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Speaker 1: had died alone. I was in that district and answered

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Speaker 1: the call this morning and met with one of the

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Speaker 1: camp members who would lead me to the place with

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Speaker 1: the the old man was. I got there, and I

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Speaker 1: walked the short distance to where the old man had

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Speaker 1: been hunting out behind the camp. The sky was clear

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Speaker 1: and the sun was shining through the trees and the

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Speaker 1: little oak flat where his ground blind was. The air

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Speaker 1: was crisp and just cold enough to stay warm wearing

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Speaker 1: a jacket if you were moving around, or if you

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Speaker 1: were sitting a thick wool lined antiquated canvas coat like

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Speaker 1: the old man had on. A short distance away was

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Speaker 1: a lean up stand that the members of his camp

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Speaker 1: had told me that they convinced him to abandon in

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Speaker 1: his failing health. One of the members built the ground

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Speaker 1: blind that faced this little flat where the cool breeze

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Speaker 1: blew water oak leaves from their limbs. They rustled around

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Speaker 1: like ripples in a pond, settling into a patchwork of

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Speaker 1: sunlight that dotted the area where we stood. There was

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Speaker 1: a small buck scrape in front of a blind, and

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Speaker 1: a few small red oaks that showed signs of where

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Speaker 1: a bucket recently rubbed his arms. Beside the blind was

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Speaker 1: a browning rifle leaned against an oak tree. The rifle

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Speaker 1: was old but immaculate. The bluing was worn, and there

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Speaker 1: was a few scratches here and there, but one could

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Speaker 1: see that this rifle belonged to a hunter. Maybe the

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Speaker 1: old man carried a different rifle many years ago when

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Speaker 1: he served our country. I don't know, but you can

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Speaker 1: bet that if he did carry one, it was kept

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Speaker 1: just as clean as this one. A short distance in

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Speaker 1: front of the blind lay a buck that was dropped

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Speaker 1: in his tracks by an old man using this old rifle.

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Speaker 1: And laying beside the deer was the old man. The

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Speaker 1: deer had been expertly feel dressed by someone who had

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Speaker 1: done it more than once, and among the old man's

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Speaker 1: few possessions inventory from his clothes was an old man's

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Speaker 1: pocket knife stained with the blood from his latest and

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Speaker 1: last deer, A single blade trapper sharp as a razor,

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Speaker 1: the blade thin from many trips up and down a

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Speaker 1: wet rock. I held it in my hand, and I

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Speaker 1: saw the pocket war that had rented, the logo, almost unreadable,

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Speaker 1: and the scales slick and polished from years of being

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Speaker 1: carried in his pocket, but immediately recognizable as to what

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Speaker 1: it was to anyone in my circle. I imagine the

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Speaker 1: old man sitting at the campfire at night, telling stories

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Speaker 1: or listening to him while he drank coffee and sharpened

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Speaker 1: his knife. Now I feel like he saw heaven twice

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Speaker 1: that day, the first time around nine fifteen in a

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Speaker 1: little oak flat where his body rested when I first

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Speaker 1: saw him. Nine point fifteen was the time recorded by

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Speaker 1: the old man on the tag that hung from the

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Speaker 1: bucks antlers. The second time he saw heaven was a

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Speaker 1: short time afterward, when he walked the wooded trail home

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Speaker 1: to be with his maker. What a beautiful day, in

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Speaker 1: a beautiful way to go to Heaven. I think about

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Speaker 1: that day now, over twenty years later, and while I

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Speaker 1: know there are folks who I'm sure still mourn the

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Speaker 1: loss of the old man. I feel privileged to have

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Speaker 1: been there as a witness to his last act of

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Speaker 1: being as close to creation as one could be while living,

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Speaker 1: And then a moment later, beside the one that created it,

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Speaker 1: he'd accomplished what he loved to do. He filled his

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Speaker 1: final tag in a place he'd hunted all his life,

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Speaker 1: the place he loved the most, And when he finished

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Speaker 1: the field work, he put everything in his place and

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Speaker 1: laid down to rest forever his heart for over eighty years,

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Speaker 1: faithfully matching the pace of his life, that simply played out,

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Speaker 1: And that was the end. That was the last. You know.

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Speaker 1: I shared that story on a private hunting group form

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Speaker 1: from back in the day, right after it happened, and

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Speaker 1: when you know it, a friend of a friend of

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Speaker 1: mine saw it and shared it with the old man's family.

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Speaker 1: A week or so after his passing. They reached out

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Speaker 1: to me and thanked me and told me they took

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Speaker 1: great comfort in hearing how I had interpreted the old

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Speaker 1: man's last morning. I'll never forget it, And as I

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Speaker 1: sit here now, I can still hear the cool wind

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Speaker 1: and the rustle of the leaves as they tumbled across

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Speaker 1: the ground, and feel the peace that was around us

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Speaker 1: all that November morning. Thank y'all so much for listening.

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Speaker 1: It is my absolute pleasure to bring these stories to

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Speaker 1: you each week and share them with you. Keep sharing

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Speaker 1: and spreading the word Old Clayboa and I appreciate it

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Speaker 1: very much. Until next week, this is Brent Reeve signing off.

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Speaker 1: Y'all be careful, King,