On cold winter days John Allen Edgmon, as a young boy, would sat a wooden box on the ground in their front yard with the open side down. He elevated one end of it to about 45° and held it in place with a stick to which he attached a long cord. The cord was run into the warmth of the house, by a window. Around and under the box trap he strew grain on the ground.

The hungry birds would soon find the food and start eating. Eventually they had to go under the box for more grain, and when they did, John would pull the string and down came the trap. He would dress the little mourning doves and skewer them over the fire in the fireplace until roasted to a golden brown. This was as much a sport as a quest for food.

Life in the South was very difficult after the Civil Rebellion, and well into the twentieth century. People did things that would seemed barbaric to modern man, but it was all in a day's work to them.

Submitted by J W Henson

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