It’s cold. As I try to get this edition of “Guns and Cornbread” out to you, this may seem obvious — it is wintertime, after all — but it’s best to be up front about things.
Sitting here in my luxurious office (OK, that is a stretch), I’m in my ragged sweatshirt, a pair of flannel Wally World pants and an old toboggan-style hat I found somewhere. (Toboggan, beanie, wool hat — what do you call this pull over your head, nobody looks good in-type headwear to keep warm?)
While I’m thinking about it, is everyone good on coffee? Need more cream? I started out this morning drinking it black, then switched to adding half and half for the next four cups. Some of you doing breakfast as you read this latest sermon may want to get a refill on Wheaties or Cocoa Pebbles, whatever you are having.
OK, if you are ready, let’s see what the next couple months have in store.
Here we go to the SHOT Show: As I write to you this frigid morning, I am festooned in getting ready to go to the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show. We have talked about SHOT many times here before — and will again, I’m sure.
However, in case you just tuned in, SHOT is the big show of all hunting and shooting trade shows. If it has anything whatsoever to do with a firearm (and now archery), hunting, shooting sports, ammunition, optics for firearms, and about a jillion other things, it will be seen at SHOT, in triplicate. Almost all major gun manufacturers will be present, as well as anyone who makes anything related to said guns.
(READ MORE: SHOT Show the gift that keeps on giving for outdoors writers)
SHOT is held in Las Vegas every year, and if you like Vegas, I’m glad for you, but it may not actually be my cup of tea. Still, I go each January because that is where this great mecca of firearm-related treasure trove can be found. Also, there will be editors and other outdoors media-related staff for most any guns and hunting publication you can think of.
Getting there is mildly horrible, staying there is sometimes no picnic, and the cost of both has become enough to put you in debt for the next year (but here I go anyway). I’ll have a report on all this for you in a week or so.
Life after SHOT: It’s about squirrels, cur dogs, rabbits, guns to be shot and tested, and the first hints of gobbling turkeys.
After we live through SHOT (hopefully), first there will be a usual time of recuperating for a few days, then it will be off to the satellite office for “Guns and Cornbread,” otherwise known as the Turkey Track Lodge in Monroe County, West Virginia. Here we can dive into reviewing guns we may have seen at SHOT that hopefully some editors will be interested in.
Nobody will believe that this can turn into work, so I won’t say it. Getting all of the good pictures you need and the data on the guns is all part of the process. Along with this, we need to do something very important, and that is get Abby the cur dog in the woods.
(READ MORE: Tree dogs, hot water heaters and the first week of deer season)
January and February can be a good time to get the squirrel dogs back out there. If the weather and the snow aren’t too bad, the lack of leaves on the trees allows you to find a squirrel after your dog trees them. Now there are other factors going on here, like by this time of the year squirrels can be really wild and may not hold in a tree, and they will take off through the branches to get to a den tree (usually a large one with a hole in it). If they do, that is OK; you and the squirrel dogs just go look for another bushytail.
Rabbit chasing we will talk about another time, but if you have a buddy with a pack of beagles and he invites you to go along, well, go!
While we are out there chasing the cur dog around in late February, you can’t help but think about scouting a little for turkeys.
Usually when we get into March and have some stretches of nice weather (Yes! Please!) the gobblers go into overdrive making all kinds of racket. While the spring gobbler season will start in Florida in late February, most of us have to wait a while. Georgia, I believe, has some areas that open in March; Virginia will be the first week or so in April, with West Virginia following a few weeks later.
Some mornings before the season comes in will be spent out listening for that raucous gobble. When the season opens, Lord willing, I will be hunting in Virginia. I also hope to do some guiding in that state at Potts Creek Outfitters in Paint Bank and see my friends there.
Well, planning ahead for three or four months is pretty good for me. Now who needs more coffee?
“Guns & Cornbread” is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.