The Rock Wall

Davis came into my office last Tuesday and told me he had been trying to find a good time to talk to me but couldn’t. So he launched into it. “I’m getting married Saturday.”

I had the presence of mind to congratulate him. I had met his fiancé twice but couldn’t pick her out of a lineup.

He and Erica met nine years ago when he attended Crowder for summer classes. They re-established contact in December of last year and started dating. They got married Saturday in Eureka Springs, AR. They will live in their house in Nevada.

-Finally. It takes a lot longer to get an article printed in somebody else’s publication than I’m accustomed to here at home.

At least four years ago I read an article by Gordon Hutchison in Louisiana Sportsman magazine in his Shootist column that I loved to read. He is an expert on all sorts of firearms, but I detected something was lacking in his column on patterning a shotgun for turkeys.

I got his phone number from the magazine and spoke with him. He told me he’d like to see an article from me on the subject, which I wrote and sent to him. Then he wanted photos which Kimball helped me shoot.

He thought the article was worthy of the Louisiana Sportsman but said he’d have to co-write it to get it published since I’m way outside of Louisiana.

Well, after about four years, my (and Gordon’s) article hit the magazine racks in the March issue on Page 76.

Google: Louisiana Sportsman magazine tuning up for turkeys.

I did gather that Gordon, although he loves horses, is not a farm boy when he added the bit about the cows in the pasture looking strangely at me when I bawled like a calf to fool the gobbler which had to hear me walking as I sneaked into position an hour before daylight near where he was roosting. But Gordon made several suggestions which improved the article and the photos.  And, he got it published.

Meanwhile, about two years ago, he taught the Concealed Carry class which Adrian and Cain took in Baton Rouge. I have a new friend I have never met.

My calf trick worked because the gobbler landed 15 yards from me just after daylight. He soon figured me out and took off running. I cut a wedge in the fescue at 40 yards and gave him a ride home with me.

– I plan to wrap up my series on guns in schools after the El Dorado Springs School Board meeting Thursday night when Superintendent Koca and the board discuss the topic. My interviews with the police chief and three sheriffs have opened my eyes to some realities. Going in, I thought arming teachers would be the answer. I have learned that there is a lot more to the topic than just guns. St. Clair County Sheriff Scott Keeler told me that a teacher, whose career is based on nurturing students, would have a tough time sitting across the lunchroom table from a student one day, then have to look down a gun barrel at him or her the next day and decide whether to stop the student from his or her next bad act.

I haven’t heard the answer yet, but I pray that no one in this area, including me, has to make that decision. KL