Ron Ashbaugh
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Mercer PA
Posts: 4837 |
Here is a post she made a while back after Ray Died to show you what kind of women she was. I believe the question was
HOW IMPORTANT IS COONHUNTING IN YOUR LIFE??
Well, I have yet to know the answer to this question in my own life, as I am just beginning to learn.
But I have had many, many years of Coonhunting in my life. Many in this thread knew my husband Ray Stein. As you know, he lived and breathed his hounds. I may seem presumptuious to answer for him, but this man and I knew each other about as well as two people ever could.
Coonhunting was a VERY IMPORTANT part of his life, his absolute favoirte would have had to have been bearhunting though. No, his absolute favorite would have been the hounds, No, his absolute favorite would have had to have been the feeling and love he had for being out in the woods with his hounds! This was all well established in him when I met him, though at the time he did not have a hound and was trying to live a different life.
Anyway, boy meets girl, you know the rest. It was not long when that first Dolllin's plotthound pup, Shawnee, started making her puppydog eyes at me, and I thought, oh, this might be fun........................................................................................................................
It was!
Now I never much went into the woods coonhunting with Ray, as I am terribly frightened of the dark, therefore coonhunting didn't interest me much. I've been on many a bear hunt though. I quit going with the little ones after the rattle snake almost bit our daughter Katie (4 years old at that time), oh yeh, and when she got into the fire ants in New Mexico. My biggest turn-off to bearhunting was the injuries to the hounds though, broke my heart, and hated the vet bills. Don't hunt a Dollins bred dog, if you don't want vet bills!!!! They WON'T give up no matter how huge and mean that beast is! Ray loved to bear hunt, and all of his beardogs, coonhunted just as well, some on big cats too. Over the past few years, he became interested in the pro hunts with a new breed of coon hunting plotts, as the coonhunt season worked out much better with his wildlife business that he also loved beyond words.
Ray took the all the children to the woods with him as soon as they pottytrained, didn't take me along after the rattlesnake incident, as I worried too much about them, (out of sight, out of mind thing, he said). I still went with him at times thereafter, but when I went, it was a chance for us to be together, ALONE! We have 6 kids!!!!!! I loved to be with Ray when he was hunting, he was at his BEST! He was honestly THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH when he was hunting. Our entire family knew this, and we all loved to go with him, as he was never more his TRUE and HONEST self, as when he was hunting, and it was GREAT!
Ray LOVED THIS FAMILY, he rearranged his life when the family's wellbeing required it, I NEVER had to ask. He was a big boy, he knew. These times were hard times, if there was no hound, it meant things were hard. Believe me, I was more than anxious for the day there would be a hound in the back of that pickup when he came home!
Some of you may wonder, What is she doing coming onto the coonhunting boards anyway? Well, even though I have not been in the woods like you, this has been my world for the past 26 years. With Ray's passing, I miss hearing his stories, those of you that knew him, knew he was a Master at it. The stories you tell make me feel a little closer to him, and I know he's still checking them out too! I truely hope you don't mind. 4 months, 4 years, or 40 years, the things he loved in this world will always be as important to me as he was.
All this, this is the answer to Briar's question. How important is coonhunting in your life? BE HONEST! It IS your life! You cannot be anyone other than who you were born to be! If coonhunting, bearhunting, or ANYTHING truely makes you the person you are, a better, more fullfilled person, don't be ashamed to say it! Let the people in your life see YOU at your best! If they truely care about you, how could they find fault? Don't forget to let those people show YOU what is most important to THEM also though! If you truely care for each other, you will find their dreams will become as important to your happiness as coonhunting!
Be the person the Lord intended you to be, he gave you these talents and joys because it is what he wants for you, it pleases him. He has a plan for your life, don't second guess his intentions for it!
God Bless!
Laura Stein
__________________
The fun is over once you pull the trigger
Ron Ashbaugh
CROOKED FOOT KENNELS
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06-12-2007 09:41 PM
