I began hunting at 13 years old when by Dad took me out on my first rabbit hunting expedition, and I was immediately hooked. Up until my late 20's, all I ever hunted were rabbits and squirrel. It was a common thing to come to the Pierce home and find a pot of rabbit stew or fried squirrel on the table for dinner. I loved to hunt them and loved to eat them even more. Admittedly, one of the most enjoyable aspects of hunting for me was working with dogs. I grew up with the best hunting beagle you could ever want.

Here name was Jill and she was a lovable lush that slept with in my bed every night and spent most of her day laying around the house or following you around the kitchen. Surprisingly, none of this seemed to affect here hunting skills, as she was relentless in the hunt. She was just what you wanted in a rabbit dog, slow moving and nose always to the ground. And when she got on a trail, the crooning she bellowed out was music to my ears!

Send in the hounds

Later on after Jill had passed on, and I had grown up and moved out of the house, I ended up getting another beagle pup. We named this little sweetheart "Misty", but here legal name was "Pierce's Lady Mystique. Like Jill, Misty was a beautiful 3-tone Beagle and a lovable lush that was spoiled daily spending most of her time in the house.

However, unlike Jill, she wasn't exactly the best hunter. She did a good job and had a ball running the Cottontails, but sometimes she just let her enthusiasm get in front of her nose. Nonetheless, I hunted with Misty her entire life and we had an absolute ball together doing so. Unfortunately, Misty eventually passed away at the ripe old age of 14, which was one of the hardest things I've had to go through.

Misty as a pup... what a ball of energy!

Misty in her prime, what a cutey!

Not having any children, Linda and I had come to love Misty like a child and grown so accustomed to here being at our feet all the time that losing here was nearly more the we could bare. Eventually we got over it but have yet to replace Misty. We may one day get another dog, but Misty and here unique personality will never be replaced.

In my late 20's I tried my hand at deer hunting one season but had little luck. I bought my first used bow and tried a bow hunting season with not a shot fired. When shotgun season came in, a took a crack at that and missed a doe, ending up empty-handed for the season.

It became obvious very quickly that hunting deer was nothing like hunting rabbits or squirrel, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I gave up deer hunting for the time but would find myself returning to it later in life.