I just posted this on my site in a thread about old pellet guns:
Mine was a Daisy 880 pump I bought from
Gemco (remember that place?). My friends and I would be driven up to "Tampa-land" above Tampa & Rinaldi (Rldgcntr will probably recognize those streets) and dropped-off by our parents on Friday after school. We would have our backpacks/sleeping bags, pellet rifles, water, stoves and a bit of food. The entire weekend would be spent shooting every type of game you could think of with nobody around. Sometimes when we hiked over the mountain to the Santa Clarita side, we would run into some monster Mule Deer and even came across a nudist camp!
My fondest memory was spending a whole week living off the land and the little food we had brought with us over an Easter week vacation. It was great!
I shot my first dove and quail up there and can still remember it like it happened yesterday.
Now, it is an area filled with houses... :(
Thanks for bringing back the memories!
-------------------------------------------------
This was in the suburbs of Los Angeles at the north end of the San Fernando Valley. I would say, teach your kids how and when to use a weapon, make sure he has one with him everytime and don't hesitate to follow your gut if you feel a camping area isn't quite right.
Eric B)