LAST DAY OF SUMMER VACATION

Kids all over Kansas are heading back to school this week.  Summer vacation is over and the days of sleeping in, swimming, camps and the like will soon be a distant memory.  Younger kids tend to like school while older ones would rather it be summer year-round.  I've got a couple right in the middle as they still like school, but sports camps, a chauffeur (my wife is a school teacher so she's off in the summer, too) and a flexible sleep schedule make it hard to say so-long to summer.

My son, Cody, has been asking about going squirrel hunting the last couple weeks before school started back up.  We planned to go yesterday morning but were greeted with the first decent rain showers we've had in months when I walked outside at 5:30 a.m.  The forecast the night before had a 10 percent chance for showers but most of central Kansas was green with radar rain.  I sent Cody back to bed and although he was disappointed he didn't mind a little more shut-eye.  

Our plan was to try it again this morning on Cody's very last day of summer vacation.  As we climbed in the truck it was a cool 63 degrees.  I told Cody we would likely leave with the seat heaters on and return with the A/C blasting as the forecast was for 98 degrees today. 

We pulled into our spot at 6:15 a.m.  Although legal to shoot, it was still a bit too dark to see well in the timber so we waited a few minutes.  As we stepped into the woods I knew it was going to be a beautiful morning.  Light winds and cool conditions make for great squirrel calling.  I carried a 20 gauge shotgun and my .22 rifle.  Cody was intent on using the .22 but I had his back-up plan, too, if the squirrels wouldn't sit still. 

Our first stop with the calls didn't elicit any response.  The next few spots we caught glimpses of a couple squirrels but couldn't get any shots.  It seemed many of our calling locations early had squirrels responding, but they were too far away and didn't move towards us much.  Undaunted after 45 minutes we eased through more timber.

On the next stop I was about 5 seconds into a calling sequence when Cody tugged on my shirt and pointed up.  I hadn't heard or seen the squirrel but he was going ballistic and on a dead run down the tree next to us.  I handed Cody the shotgun and he made a nice shot as the squirrel wasn't slowing down. 

We were on the board now and Cody was excited.  A couple more close calls and the next spot found us with a squirrel barking across a small creek about 50 yards away.  Cody had the .22 and was trying to maneuver into a good shooting rest.  I reminded him about his breathing, squeezing the trigger, etc., to make an accurate shot and told him to shoot when he was on him.  The rifle cracked.

"That's a dead squirrel," Cody said a bit nonchalantly and seemingly not surprised as the squirrel tumbled to the ground.

I was shocked.

"Good shot, buddy!" I said.

We had a couple more encounters but didn't add any more squirrels to our day's total.  Just for fun Cody spent 15 minutes shooting at hedge apples and other targets and his marksmanship was impressive.  Maybe the long shot wasn't too lucky after all. 

As we walked back to the truck I asked Cody how many other 13-year-old boys likely spent their last day of summer vacation hunting squirrels with their Dad.

"Probably none," he laughed.

I was certainly glad there was at least one.