My granddaughter, Demaris Darnell, has grown up. Since she was a tiny tot, she has been my fishing and hunting buddy. Through the years we caught sunfish and bass in our kayaks on the San Marcos River. She still holds several junior fish records on the river, Lake Walter E. Long and Bastrop Lake. She especially loved the trips up the Guadalupe above Canyon Lake in the spring in pursuit of white bass and stripers. I have a beautiful picture of her with a 12-pound striper caught about 12 miles above the lake at “the rapids”.
But our duck hunting excursions were some of our favorites. Years ago she told me, “Daddio I need a gun that will shoot harder and more times than this little .410 gauge.” So I bought her a youth model semi-auto .20 gauge. Last year we put an adult stock on the little .20 gauge.
Then in August she moved to Florida to attend college at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. I tried to get her to go to Texas A&M in Corpus Christi. Since I have a fishing and hunting cabin in Aransas Pass, we could work lots of outdoor exclusions around her classes. But no — it was Florida.
