The Frontier Kid

Well now, I was 15 years old and my folks had inherited a little money from my dad's mother (1933). I remember my grandmother quite well. My dad and I used to walk cross lots to the Ohio line and especially in the fall, we would hunt rabbits going to see her and take several each time. She really loved to eat rabbits. I remember her well. Each time we left, she would give me a dime.

Getting back to 15… I hunted frogs with Mike for a couple years along with hunting coon and mink with Howard. I recall one afternoon, Howard and I were hunting muskrats around the Cambria Mill Pond. We both had good dogs and they had found some rats out in the shallow part of the mill pond. We waded out where the dogs were and stood on the rat houses and let the dogs work around us. We shot 20-some rats. (Note: This was strictly against the law. In fact, the rat season wouldn't come in until a couple days yet.) Apparently, someone around the mill pond heard all the shooting and called the game warden, (which we had thought about and what to do about it). Fortunately, we saw the game warden's car coming down the road before he saw us. We stomped all the rats into the mud and walked off so nonchalantly, right as the game warden parked. When we met, we were very friendly. Howard, who had met him before, asked what he was doing around the mill pond. He said that someone had complained that some hunters were shooting rats, then he asked what we were hunting. Rabbits, of course. And with no evidence, he left. That night, after 12 o'clock, we went back and got our rats. They were worth 60 ¢ apiece.