CraigPages Hunting in Pennsylvania As I read this article on hunting it brought back many memories of my father, Robert LeRoy Craig, my grandfather, Martin Burton Craig and my uncle, John Clair Rhea. Early Thanksgiving morning we would leave home in Kent, PA, and arrive before dawn at Parkwood, PA. Gathered there would be several relatives all ready for the hunt. I can recall at least two occasions. One was hunting around the old Craig homestead near the house in Parkwood, and the other was hunting the "Old, old homestead about a mile or so on the other side of the trestle of Parkwood. A number of cousins would be along and I especially recall Eddy Rhea being there. We would be known these occasions as the dogs. We were sent a few yards ahead of the hunters – all armed with varying gages of shotguns. Our duty was to stomp the wood piles, thickets of shrubs and various other places where the rascally rabbits might hide. We would have a kid's contest to see which one of us would be the first to rustle out a rabbit. I realize that today this would be impossible. There would likely be outrage at our parents to condone such an activity. I am so happy that there were none of these natty-petty people around in those days! We had more fun and covered more of Parkwood land because of our being permitted to participate in this activity. This experience was very special and had long lasting effects on our futures. We learned obedience, safety and the presence of danger, as well how to deal with them. We often returned to the Craig Home in Parkwood with many squirrels, rabbits and ringneck that would be part of the Thanksgiving day meal. With eleven children and numerous grandchildren we would all crowd into that small six room house for thanksgiving meal. The table would fill the living room – elbow to elbow. What joyous memories this floods over any one reading this that participated in this annual activity. During the 1940's we knew the reverence (if you will) of God's supply of food and how precious each of the game was in providing food. I feel our experience closely mirrored many such occasions that happened on the very land we hunted years before we came on the scene. Johnnie Rhea and his son, Eddy, and their home on a farm not far from Marion Center, PA, was also the backdrop for such occasions. Although I recall dear hunting more that the small game, very early on in my life I recall the duplication over and over of the above. There was no case where any of us kids were harmed in any way. There was one day as we hunted for rabbits and I was walking ahead of the hunters looking for bushes and places where rabbits might hide and was startled when one jumped out ahead of me. I shouted to the men with guns, "there he goes" and my dad quickly pulled up his 20 gauge and fired a shot knocking down the rabbit. It seems that one of the pellets hit the trunk of a nearby tree, glanced off and hit the back of my cap. I felt it but it was kept from my head by the thick red cap I was wearing that day. We retrieved the pellet (round lead pellet) and I proudly carried it in my pocket and used the occasion to brag about my endeavor. Deer hunting brought on a much more extravagant experience for us not yet old enough to carry a gun. I surmise that the author of the heading article on this page was of southern extraction. He talked about dogs on the hunt. In the Pennsylvania hills often dogs chasing deer were shot and killed. Uncle John Rhea was furious when a wild dog would join our hunt. Often as many as 12 or so older men would make up teams and we would stratigraphically plan a plot of ground, usually hill, sometimes covered with snow, and work through those areas in an organized way with us children spread out between the men. Our purpose was to make as much noise as possible in order to drive out the deer. None of us early teens were allowed to carry guns so our main task would be to keep a hunter on each side and keep the deer from doubling back between them. At the other end of the parcel of land we hunted would be men strategically placed at exposed areas so as to see and shoot the deer should they break out of the woods. What joy this brings back to my memories. We learned so much about planning, working as teams and the appreciation of God's gifts to us all. Today things are so different. Men with children all carry loaded guns and most of them have no experience at all of the woods or the hazzards they present. Here in Virginia hunting consists of finding a stand and sitting for hours hoping a deer might wonder in to the line of sight. The land is mostly flat here so a wayward shot can carry many yards and therefore even unseen hunters are in danger of catching a stray bullet from a itchy trigger finger of someone that knows not to shoot at something you can't see. It is a danger today that we did not experience back then. At the time of my youth our fathers were accustomed to hunting for food. Today, hunting has become a blood sport. I don't condemn the activity, I only wonder at the safety of it and question even going into the woods during hunting season. This article is an effort to raise the fact that our world has changed in every way. In my childhood I can recall no accidents while people from all over entered the woods for the hunt. Today, everyday, during hunting season, you hear of someone being shot by accident. Folk from the city merge into the unfamiliar woods of our state and many mix alcohol with fire-arms as they look for anything that moves as fair game. I haven't hunted for many years and really, even though I ponder with fondness my childhood experiences, I have no desire to attempt to recapture the moments so fondly recalled. As I reflect on my experiences in the hunt I remember my dad, how he taught me so many things. I remember our other family Uncles and Aunts – how we respected each other and looked forward to spending a day with nature – and the rewards of the great taste of game (rabbits, squirrels, grouse, ringneck, deer and rarely a wild turkey). In those days they made no effort to disguise the unique flavor of the wild food. And, the wild taste of deer gravy was something we relished as we would take a mouth full of deer gravy and mashed potatoes followed by a swallow of fresh milk from the farm. The wild taste would then form on the roof of our mouth and we would know that it was deer we were eating. My oldest son loves to hunt. He usually gets sever deer a year. He has become an expert in how to cook the deer. He goes to grate measures to disguise the flavor of the meet. Just two weeks ago we were invited over to celebrate his son's birthday. The feature of the meal was deer smothered in some of the best flavored gravy I have ever tasted. But, alas, the deer flavor was lost to modern flavor – unique, and good. But not the taste of home. I reckon (as LeRoy Craig would say) we need to move on. Those days of yesteryear are long gone. They were the days when families were special. And the hunting brought them all together for a time that celebrated relationships, lessons to be learned, things that needed to be taught, and they all when relived in the heart and soul makes one happy to have been there. There being a place in time that will never be repeated while on earth. Oh, – one more thing. The deer have changed as well as the times. Seeing a deer in those days was a rare experience. We hunted days, not hours, and it wasn't unusual to not even see a deer. When you saw one, it was huge. One deer my dad brought home from Clearfield County, PA, hung on the porch and was at least eight feet tall (from neck to rump likely five and a half foot). There was enough meet to feed the four of our family through the winter. Mom canned deer meet and we enjoyed regular meals. Today, the deer are more like a large skinny dog. When one is harvested and then divided among the hunters one is lucky to get two or three meals. There are now wooded areas that are full of groups of deer. All of them quite small but big enough to do much damage if hit by a car. In the 1940's the limit was about 3 months and only one deer to license holder. Now, because of sportsman groups, and management with regulations, the deer herds have grown significantly in numbers. As a footnote: to find deer in the early 1940s, dad, Harold Fleming, Grandfather Fleming, and others had to travel up to the central North of PA to find deer (Clearfield Co), then, as farming became land banks and there was not fields of corn for them to eat they began to move out of the mountains and into the lower areas where there were still active farms. Then those farms began to become pray to the government land banks and farms were sold to developers the deer now have to roam anywhere they can find a patch of woods. ~~ Bob C October 24, 2003
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The unformatted article above,
"Hunting In Pennsylvania" is a
reminder to us that the day,
"Thanksgiving," is a day that
has been changed in meaning in
most every respect. The day is
just around the cornier when
Thanksgiving will be renamed to
some other "Inclusive" meaning
far removed from what it was
originally intended to represent.

As it now stands it is not politically
correct. For certain God will be eliminated
from it completely. Halloween will more and
more take it's place and likely overcome
Thanksgiving completely. Down the street
there is a home that is covered with lighted
decorations – In celebration of Halloween.
What a scary thought. Celebrate demons,
goblins, witches and ghost. Kick God out
of Thanksgiving and create a neutered day
of celebration of secularism. After all,
we will see nothing but Christmas Sales and
hear nothing but Santa Clause music from
Thanksgiving to Christmas. Why not call
Thanksgiving day, "Secularism Day?"

And, by the way, you (?) Christians that agree
with removing God from the Pledge of
Allegiance are making yourselves party
to taking God out of Christmas. Some muse
that taking God off of our coins and bills
will be next. Possibly, however, it won't
stop there. Satan will not be satisfied
until God has disappeared from every nick
and corner of Earth. And you middle of the
road, so called Liberal Christians are
part of the act. The curtain one day will
drop and you will find that you will be far
outside the theater of God's will. Jesus
said, "Go into all the world and preach
(broadcast) His world." Atheists, deists and
‘so-called-Christians' with the communism
bent to destroy America – guess what! You
are going to loose! You will be left out as
one of those "that call themselves by My
name but deny the power thereof" and I
don't even want to think about where you
will end up. In other words, you are in
for a bad time.

If you have Christ in you heart and life, Have
a thankful Thanksgiving.

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