Back in the waybackwhens, the US Army Corp of Engineers came thru the area where I grew up, and straightened the creeks around the area, so the water would flow down the creeks faster and the farmground could dry out, increasing production. As usual, they fupped duck things to a faretheewell, and made things a lot worse.
However, when they straightened the creek beds, they left the old channels and those had all kinds of fun and wonderful things to shoot at, turtles, snakes, frogs, some fish that got trapped in there when the new creekbed flooded, you name it, there were all kinds of targets to shoot at. Dad farmed a field next to the old creekbed, and often times during the summer I'd ride along on the tractor with him when he went to cultivate the field. He'd be riding the tractor, and I'd be off in the shade, trying to wear out my Marlin 60/D4 Weaver scope (7/8" rimfire scope). I remember that stuff like it was just yesterday, and I did get a pretty good start on wearing out that Marlin, too. Snapping turtles were my favorites, but regular old snakes and frogs were not to be ignored. There were still a lot of trees along the old creekbed, so I'd pop a squirrel now and then, too.
It sure was a lot of fun back then. I miss the heck outa that.
