The Wrights have a history of hunting and fishing. God has blessed this country that we live in with wild game to hunt and fish, and we should be thankful.
The experiences that I am going to share with you were told by grandparents, parents, uncles, cousins and brothers and some I have witnessed.
My dad told me about his dad having a good bird hunting story. One day a few hours before supper, Granddad said he was going to get some birds (quail) for supper. Dad said, “When a covey gets up, 4-5 birds were killed, but if a single got up, you could set the plate.”
Dad’s father and all his brothers were expert shots. They had to be good marksman to survive. If Granddad gave his sons the rifle and five cartridges — five squirrels or three squirrels and two cartridges were brought back to the house. So they did not miss. During the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s and early ‘50s the family walked up coveys or singles. There were plenty of birds during those years.
I remember when I was in the second or third grade — 1950 or 1951 — Dad carried me squirrel hunting. A squirrel jumped, and Dad shot. We walked over to the spot and found two squirrels side by side and both had shot wounds and were still warm. Dad said, “I am glad you were with me because no one would believe that I killed two squirrels with one shot.”
Dad was deer hunting and he shot at a deer three times and missed. What is so funny is that at each shot the deer raised his head, looked up and kept on eating. “Something is wrong with my gun,” he said. Dad went back to the house and put his target up and propped his gun on a post and guess what? He hit the bull’s eye. He said, “I know what the problem is. It’s the shooter!”
Hillory, my oldest brother, went on his first coon hunt with Dad (Ervin) and Hubert Trussell in Tombigbee Swamp near Pickensville, Alabama. Hubert turned the light on the coon and turned the light back off. He tried to turn it back on, but it did not come on. Hubert said, “I will walk to the truck and get a light.” After a while Hubert hollered, and Dad said come on in. Hubert was walking in circles. Dad had some matches. They built a fire and had two matches left. Dad put a coat on Hillory and they spent the night in the woods and walked out the next morning.
Let me mention another story about shooting and targets. Dad (80 years old) and all the sons (five) were shooting and sighting in the rifles. Dad said, “Put a dime on that sweet gum tree.” We did and Dad took the rifle and nicked the dime. He said, “If I can see the object I’m shooting at, I can hit it.”
Dad had a heart attack at age 70 but lived 15 more years. After bypass surgery, the doctors told him he could eat all the deer meat he wanted. Dad would kill six to eight deer a year. In Alabama, a person could kill one deer a day. Dad had a freezer for deer meat and one for other food. He built shooting houses on the ground or two-three feet off the ground. “Now, I’m too hold to climb,” he said.
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Elton Wright, a longtime coach before retiring, is a former sports writer for The Star-Herald.
