roaddog1m
Well-Known Member
When I was a youngster, my Dad made me a slingshot from the crotch of a small tree. He had spent a lot of time on it as my Dad was somewhat of a perfectionist anyway. I don't know where he found the time to work on it since he worked nights at the Union Pacific Railroad and during the day, he had a small tree service. With his pocket knife, he had inlet grooves for the rubber bands at the end of each limb. The bands were made from two industrial size rubber bands and the pocket was made from a chunk of soft leather he had salvaged from an old leather work boot. I learned how to shoot it half way descent, mostly scavenging the best round rocks I could find in the Missouri River bank sandy soil. It was deadly on birds within 20 feet and I regularly launched rocks at ripples out to the middle of the river. I shot turtles, frogs and other dangerous game along the river bank as my huge black lab named Sam followed me everyday on my big game safari's. One day I found a marble on the ground near my house. I had an epiphany (that's a really good idea) I stuck the marble in my pocket and thought, "Wow, now I have real ammo just in case I come across something big!" I carried that marble around for most of the summer, in search of a deserving game animal. Me and old Sam hung out on the sand bars, swam and hunted all summer with my slingshot. I never did find a critter worthy of using my weapon of mass destruction. I think I eventually lost my big game hunting marble and thankfully, I never did run across a brown bear or a Sasquatch wandering the river banks of western Iowa except in my day dreams.
Tom
Tom
Takes me back a ways and now that I have a son who's 4 1/2 Im reminded of what its like to be a kid with a dad who cares about his little huntin buddy! I hope I can fulfill the role my dad played with his little huntin buddy so my little huntin buddy can have memories like these too like me. 
