I was just 16 or 17 years old. I worked all summer and saved up enough money to buy an Ithaca Model 37, 20 gauge pump with a solid rib. The first time I went hunting, I want over to a farm that was never worked, near my house. After I had been hunting for a while, I finally kicked up a rabbit and I took a shot at him. And I missed. The rabbit ran down the fence line and it wasn't long after that I heard another shot from a shotgun. I noticed two guys who were hunting also, so I walked down to where they were. One of them held up that rabbit and said, "Here ya go!! Here's your rabbit!" I thought he was joking. I just looked at him- kinda puzzled, I guess. He said, "No!! Take it!" "It was your rabbit. You kicked it out for us." I refused to take it a couple times and finally they insisted, so I reluctantly said okay. "Thanks". I walked home with a rabbit that I skinned and my mom cooked for me. That was my first hunting experience. I never knew those two guys and I never ran into them again. I don't remember most of the many squirrels and rabbits I got with that gun. Many- over the years and I still have that gun. And I never forgot those two fellas and how they made me feel on my first hunting experience.
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