Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/769056
N o one thought much about my driving an F250 into the fields to scout for deer. My 13-year- old legs were long enough to fully depress the clutch pedal, so I wouldn't grind the gears, and my torso was tall enough that I could see well (enough) over the dashboard. All kids drove young in farm country, and there were even a few lanky 10-year-olds who drove pickups with a hay wagon in tow. I wasn't quite tall enough to see above the standing silage corn, mind you, so I'd bring a step stool along. I would place my stool on top of the cab, step up, and glass for deer. Trucks were made of steel back then, so I didn't need to worry about my weight stoving in the roof. Those were the same trucks we took to the drive-in, only there we would lay on the hood and use the windshield as a backrest. If I did the same today, my vehicle's roof and hood would cave in—the combination of poor-quality materials and my excessive weight. Back then the land was inadvertently managed for game diversity. Select-cut trees for lumber or firewood grew back and offered primary and secondary growth for grouse and woodcock. Wild pheasants zig-zagged through the rows of silage corn, and in the fall migrating Canada geese pitched into either cut corn or fields planted with winter rye. Deer were in the adjoining hardwoods feasting on hard mast like acorns and beechnuts. A rack offered bragging rights, but in reality, they were really targets of opportunity. The real prize was a good meat deer, particularly a young, heavy doe to fill the freezer. We'd scout in the mornings and evenings, and when opening day finally Destinations by tom keer Whitetails are adapting to the suburbs, and savvy hunters need to do the same. rolled around, there would be several deer hanging before the week ended. All of the farms of my youth are now either suburban sub-developments or shopping malls. Jobs, too, moved into the city, regardless of the size. That's nothing new; jobs have been migrating from farms to cities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. But what happens when the blood in a freshly minted city slicker runs thick with sporting heritage? They just look for creative solutions to complex problems. Unable to discharge a firearm because S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S • 79