Childhood Memory: First Shotgun

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When I was a kid, my Dad would take me hunting with him mostly for dove but sometimes for quail. For my eighth birthday he decided it was time I had my own shotgun so I could also hunt. He gave me a 20 gauge single shot one. Then he took me to place that was only a couple of blocks away from our house to shoot my new shotgun. This was on the edge of town and the place had a relatively open area with brush, a few small trees and one really large tree. This large area had small woods on three sides and a street on the fourth side. Going through the woods on two sides would lead to pasture land and to houses on the third side. So as we were approaching the large tree which was deep in the brush part, a dove flew at high speed out of the tree. I raised my shotgun, aimed and fired and down went the dove. So the first time I ever fired a shotgun I got a dove. I was the one eating dove for supper that night.