Catching Birds With Grandpa

by Duane Boyd
(Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA)

Bird-catching grandpa with his oldest great-grandson

One of my earliest memories that I have of my grandpa was catching birds in his cattle barn. There is no moral to the story, but it is special because this is the first time that I can remember spending time with my grandpa.

I must have been four or five years old.

These were just ordinary birds and we let them go immediately after catching them. Grandpa had made a simple two foot by two foot wood frame with chicken wire covering the entire four square foot area.

We propped up the frame with a 6-8 inch stick. Tied to this stick was long string that we used to pull the stick out from under the wood-framed bird trap.

At the opposite end of the string was grandpa and I waited
for the the birds to go into our trap. They'd go in for the grain, or whatever it was that we sprinkled under there.

I just remember being impressed with how easy it was to catch those birds. And, of course, I was impressed at what a genius my grandpa was.

I was fortunate to have my grandpa around for approximately the next 30 years or so, before he passed away in the year 2000.

Those were wonderful years...years that I will never forget.