OUTDOOR Tales and Trails

BY DAVE BECK

With Christmas just around the corner, the shopping countdown clock is ticking faster and louder every day. We will soon be gathering with family and friends to celebrate by exchanging gifts and making memories.

Out of all the gifts exchanged over the years, my brother Garret holds the record for giving the best gift ever. After Grandpa Wally passed away, Garret and I bought almost all of his old fishing tackle at the estate sale. We dumped it onto a table turning our treasures into the Grandpa Wally fishing lure draft party. It took an hour but when it was done, we each had our share of Creek Chub Pikie Minnows, South Bend Bass-Orenos, Daredevils, and more. Garret took a small part of his collection and made a shadowbox for me, complete with an engraved tag that reads: “From the Tackle Box of Walter Beck ‘Our Grandfather.’” I’ve said it before and I will say it again, all other gifts exchanged between us are distant seconds.

At age 10 I received another memorable gift: An awesome Daisy BB gun. It came with a list of very stern rules from my parents that I still remember: (1) Don’t shoot in the house, (2) Don’t shoot at birds, and (3) Don’t shoot your brothers. I followed those three directives for … awhile. Full disclosure, rules (1) and (3) were broken simultaneously. The Daisy BB gun timeout that followed was enough motivation to get back on the straight and narrow.

I think it was about the time when I was taking my hunters safety class when I saw Curt Gowdy on the “American Sportsman” go duck hunting with Grits Gresham. That was something I really wanted to do, and how! It was also a plus that I lived exactly 104 yards from the Mississippi River. Every fall I watched flock after flock of ducks streaming by our house. The following Christmas I asked for duck decoys. When that magic day arrived, my older brother Tuna unwrapped a box that contained four mallard decoys. I was crushed. Tuna never even saw that duck hunting episode! By the time the fall duck season came, Tuna had forgotten all about his decoys. I hadn’t. I can still take you to the exact spot where I bagged my first drake mallard.

All the great gifts made for some great outdoor memories. As I have gotten older and wiser, I now realize that the best gift of all is FAMILY. To you, my outdoor family: Merry Christmas!

Didn’t get enough Dave this week? Visit “Outdoor Trails and Tales with Dave Beck” on Facebook for photos and video of Dave’s adventures. You can share your own photos and video with him there as well, or by emailing him at [email protected] Also, check out OTT content on Instagram @ thepiercecountyjournal