My missus of 39 years is a dead ringer for Annie Oakley. Her keen eye, steady nerves and hair-trigger finger quickly dispatches any varmit that has violated the pecking order on our homestead. That pecking order is birds and pets get to eat, pilfering furry critters get to die of lead poisoning. Coons, possums, skunks, squirrels – they all experience justice at the business end of her .22. It doesn’t take long for the hangin’ judge to restore peace and tranquility to our little corner of paradise.
Whether its rain, snow, sun or dark of night, thieving varmints are sent to the hereafter. That is where this tale begins – the dark of night. The dog is barking up a tree. The missus reconnoiters the situation and hollers “Charlie, the dog has treed a coon!”; we leap to action to save the dog’s voice. Now I cannot hit the broad side of a barn on the sunniest day, so with it being the dark of night my job is to “shine the light” on the trespassing coon. I take a position below and to the East of the treed coon. The missus is 30 feet away to the West and slightly North.
My light dimly o
utlines the still, shadowy form with its two beady green eyes. The missus takes aim and the 3rd shot is followed by a thud. Now things get complicated as the mortally wounded coon scampers towards the light, and I am holding the light. The scene plays out like this; I’m shining the light on the coon, the coon charges the light, the missus is yelling “hold still, hold still !”. I’m stumbling backwards yelling “don’t shoot, don’t shoot !”.
A revelation comes to me, “Turn off the light !”
1st Lesson Learned – stand behind the shooter when “shining a light”
2nd Lesson Learned – varmints have a decided advantage at night
Fast forward several months. This night the dog has cornered a coon in the barn. We leap to action to save the dog’s voice. This time I stand behind the missus and shine the light on the bandit. The missus takes aim and 1 shot is followed by a thud. This is how the varmint looked in its final moment.
3rd Lesson Learned – a Laser Gun sight provides a decided advantage at night
4th Lesson Learned - a Laser Gun sight spares the environment from lead pollution
5th Lesson Learned - a Laser Gun sight reduces bullet holes in the barn roof
