A boy’s introduction to hunting and armadillos
By J.B. Salter
For The North Jefferson News
Editors note—the following article first appeared in the Jan. 24, 1991 issue of The North Jefferson News.
After many years in the great outdoors and having the privilege of sharing unforgettable times beside hunting partners of all ages, I’ve come to the conclusion that hunters are born and not made.
Over the years, I’ve seen many hunters introduce their sons to the great outdoors only to be disappointed to learn that there was be no further interest in hunting on the youngster’s part.
However, I don’t think that a certain young man who still lives in Fultondale falls into that category.
His name is Brett Swann, and he was 6-years-old when his father David first took him hunting.
His dad had just brought Brett a new BB-gun and the pair would practice shooting the new gun with near-disastrous results. David said his son just couldn’t seem to get the hang of aiming and hitting a target, even at close range.
Brett’s dad realized he had many years ahead of him and no pressure was placed on him to continue shooting practice.
Just a few days later, Brett and his father went hunting and Brett was also armed. Brett with his trusty BB-gun and David with his deer rifle. As the two hunters took their stand on one of David’s favorite spots, the young hunter was sorely tested as he tried to sit still for a very long time.
As the day wore on, the time arrived for the deer in the forest to start moving. Suddenly, the hunters heard a noise in the dry leaves. As they craned their necks to see and strained their ears to listen for another sound, the unseen creature drew nearer.
Finally, as the suspense mounted, David spotted a movement in a thicket and identified the mysterious noisy animal. While David was disappointed, Brett had not as of yet, seen the creature.
The animal had tiny watery eyes, a long pink snout, long ears, a large humped back, a long tapered and pointed tail and what appeared to be scales all over its body.
When Brett saw the the creature, he wasn’t at all disappointed. He was experiencing his first close-up look at an armadillo. As the animal approached, David noticed Brett had a death-grip on his new BB-gun.
David quietly asked Brett if he wanted to shoot it and of course Brett nodded his head up and down without taking his eyes off his quarry.
As the young hunter tried his level best to to control his racing little heart, his little body surrendered to what is know as, “buck fever.”
Brett missed his target, but the armadillo depends almost entirely on his acute sense of smell and as the animal ambled on, not realizing that anything had happened, the young hunter quickly reloaded for another shot.
This time the hunter’s instinct took over and Brett’s aim was true. The BB hit the armadillo squarely in the side. The startled animal jumped up almost two feet into the air.
When the animal hit the ground, he must have set a world record for the armadillo 20-yard sprint.
After looking around for a few minutes, the animal put his nose back down into the leaves and began looking for his next meal.
For a few moments the two hunters looked at each other. Then they started to laugh.
Just when they were supposed to be watching for the elusive white-tail deer, the father and son surrender to what is know as a good old fashioned knee-slapping roll-in-the-leaves belly-laugh.
Nobody knows if Brett Swann was born a natural hunter, or if his first hunt turned him into one. We’ll just have to wonder about the answer to that one, because we’ll just never know.