By Camden Huck
CMS, Grade 7
“Beep-beep-beep,” I jerked in my sleep, not fully away yet. “Beep-beep-beep,” this time I finally opened my eyes. It was Friday, but luckily we didn’t have school because it was a teachers’ workshop. I hopped out of bed very excited, because today was the first day of bird hunting season! I put on my Carhartt pants and my wool sweater. I grabbed my shotgun and headed outside. Not even two minutes of walking went by and I saw a bird. I pulled back the hammer on my shotgun, and aimed the little beat at the end of my gun right at the top of the head of this ruffed grouse and pulled the trigger. BANG! A whole bunch feathers flew into the air, but the bird remained still without even a kick. I walked over to the grouse and found that he didn’t have a head! So I must have blown it right off! I picked him up by the feet and struggled to get it into the back of my orange hunting vest. But, the grouse finally fell in. I started walking again. I walked maybe another 20 yards when I saw a head pop up behind a log and could tell it was a grouse, but before I had a chance to aim my gun at the bird it flew. I kept walking maybe another 50 to 60 yards when I broke out of the brush to my tree stand. I hooked the gun on my back and started climbing up.
Not only do my brother and I like to hunt together. But we also fish together. We took a fishing trip early this spring. My brother and I stood in the mudroom of our house getting out fishing waders and fishing vests on. He and I were going fishing to the Aroostook River to our secret spot to catch some trout for dinner. After we had all our gear on, we headed outside to put more gear into some bags that we could bring on our bikes since we were biking to the river. We finally got down to the river after a one-mile bike ride, then we had to walk a long way down to our spot. We got there with about 45 minutes of light left to fish so I tied on my favorite lure to my rod and started fishing. Not long after, I felt a tug on my line and I started reeling in hard. But it wasn’t much of a fight so it was probably a little one. I landed the 12-inch trout and was very surprised that it was that big because it didn’t put up much of a fight. I flipped him off the hook and strung a stringer through its gill and placed him in the water to keep from spoiling.
I started walking down the shoreline to cast into a different spot when my brother yelled at me. I could see his rod was bending really hard so I started running; he pulled a monster trout out of the water but it flipped off his hook and squirmed back into the river. But on the next cast another huge trout bit and this time it did not fall off. He landed the 14-inch trout, then unhooked the hook and added it to the stringer. After, it started getting dark so we started walking back to our bikes. I held the 12-, 13-, and 14-inch trout as we walked.
Both my parents were raised in the woods hunting and fishing, so now they always bring me to do those things. My dad takes me every weekend that we don’t have other things planned or when he has to work or he’s away so sometimes my brother and I go alone or my mom even takes me sometimes.
Because I love to hunt and fish so much I want to be a Maine Game Warden or a Master Maine Guide because in those jobs you are always in the outdoors hunting, fishing, or trying to protect wildlife so there can always be enough game to have a hunting season. Those are my ambitions for life.
