Old pictures bring back old memories. It’s nice to get a snapshot of a special moment from decades ago. It may be a picture that you had lost or forgotten.

My buddy, “The Black Prince”, sent me an old picture the other day. It was a picture that I took but had lost the original. I have not seen the picture since the1970’s. The old memory was from a time when Pennsylvania pheasant hunting was amazing. 

Vernon and I met in college and have hunted and fished together for over a lifetime. We both owned German Shorthaired Pointers. My pup was named ‘Krieg Jagerin Von Soukup.’ Kriegie was what I called her. My Dad had been a POW in WW2 and told me the story about how the German soldiers called them ‘Kriegies”. 

Vernon’s dog was name “Willamina”. She was a tall pup that got along well with Kriegie. Two dogs with two decent bird hunters were tough to beat.

We hunted on Amish farms in south central PA. In a 30-mile area every family was named the same or similar. Hockensmith, Hockersmith, etc. They farmed the old way and as a result there were a lot of ringnecks. 

One farmer also raised Pigs, so we called his land the Pig Farm. One ditch on his property was full of roosters and Osage Orange trees. We hunted that ditch often and used to throw the softball sized osage oranges, into the thick cover, to scare up the birds, before we had dogs.

With dogs, life became easier. On this opening day morning, Vernon and I unleashed our dogs and hunted down the ditch. Both dogs went on point, and together we flushed the birds with the dogs. In moments 4 roosters were down, and the dogs made quick work of the retrieving. Opening day lasted 15 minutes!

Old pictures are great, but the memory is often lost. Now you all know the story.

Montana Grant