Hunting and Trapping Opener and Second Weekend

Opening hunting and trapping season was a beautiful weekend weather wise for me to chase after some ‘coons. I ended up hunting 18 ‘coons on the opening night of November 3rd, and trapping several ‘coons and 1 muskrat. If the prices of fur are as high as they were forecasted to be, then this one night of hunting will have made a nice sum of cash. But this is not why I love to hunt and trap, I love it because it’s the greatest hobby to pursue, and that it is able to pay for itself from the costs of gas, ammo, and new traps.

However, others are responding to this increase in fur prices and are also pursuing this game harder than in previous years. This makes it tough to hunt and trap, when the game has already been hunted and trapped. So, this past weekend, the second week of the season I was finding that much game has already been hunted and trapped.

There was no school on Friday November 7th, which extended my hunting and trapping trip for this weekend. The first night I went by myself and was able to get 14 ‘coons, most of them were in one tree. The next night my friend, Spencer came with me along with my cousin and uncle. We split into two groups, Spencer and I were able to kill 9 extremely large, prime ‘coons that evening and my cousin and uncle got four ‘coons. Saturday, the last night of hunting for Spencer and I we only were able to hunt two ‘coons to our name.

This last hunt greatly surprised me as we got such a low number of ‘coons and we were an excellent spot to hunt. However, this leads me to believe that we were hunting I places that everyone else had already. The fur count to date is 34 raccoons and 3 muskrats.

Offseason Begins

Even though I’ve played every game it never really felt like those were my games or my season. I played my hardest, don’t misinterpret me, but it never really felt like I could say that this was MY season.

However, with the conclusion of the Xavier game that brought our season to a bittersweet note, the juniors are now the seniors for football. The clock is now ticking for the season that we may call ours. We as a class and as the new leaders of the team want nothing less than to go all the way, and bring home a state championship trophy for our school.

To do this we must work harder in the off-season and during practices next year than any other team, this will grant us victory. Personally, I want to be able to be stronger than any opponent I face in next years game. I must commit myself to the weightlifting program and never cheat myself or my team by cutting any corners. I want to go above and beyond and be able to lift and lead the Cougar football team to new heights.

Ever since I was a little boy and was introduced to the greatest game I’ve wanted little else than to win state. This is a huge goal though and I can quickly recognize and see that this won’t happen unless my team is willing to commit themselves similar to as I have. We all want to achieve this goal, this dream, but the amount of desire that our team and as individuals have will determine if we possess strongly the will to win.

Cougar Football 2008

Kennedy played the Xavier Saints on October 29. My team lost to them with a mere 10 to16 point difference. It was a very emotional loss for the seniors as it was for many of them the last time they would every play the greatest sport. The loss also meant that the majority of us would never get to play with these same teammates ever again for the rest of our lives.

Throughout the entire game Kennedy played some great football against Xavier. Kennedy’s defense held the Saints to a mere 80 yards for the entire game, and our offense were performing very well offensively with the passing and rushing game. In the first half we held the lead 10 to 7, but we gave up a touchdown and a safety in the third quarter of the game. We were able to march down the field however in the fourth quarter, with only a few minutes left after Bond Harman made a critical fourth down catch. We managed the clock and were also able to manage the ball down field. With only seven seconds remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter, the Cougars found themselves on the 12 yard line. If the Kennedy Cougars could make push the ball in just the 12 yards we would be able to tie the game and with the extra point win the game.

However, with double coverage on our varsity receiver Jake Heffernen we were not able to complete the pass for the tie. This ended our season, a season that has consumed days and hours of our time throughout the last year, which I believe was still worth that sacrifice. Now my clock is ticking, my last season is just up ahead and I must rally our team to get ready for the next, my last high school, season.