Leave Nothing In The Tank

Leghold traps in pristine trapping condition ready to hit the dirt were recently passed along to the author as a way to continue the tradition of trapping.

I was running my trap line one morning recently when the phone rang. 

“Ready to come get this stuff?” my buddy asked.

I whirled around and five minutes later I was standing in a barn drooling over a workbench full of trapping gear. My friend’s dad passed away some months back, and he knew I loved to trap. He asked his son to make sure his collection of gear got into my hands at some point. Wow…

I left there with I’m not sure how many hundreds of dollars worth of steel, bait and lure to be put back into the Georgia dirt. I can assure you it will be used just that way.

Here is the real irony of that morning.

A few hours earlier, as I was riding through the woods on my 4-wheeler checking legholds and DPs, I was reminiscing back to a late December story I did in Swainsboro for the Georgia Trappers Association Youth Trapping Competition. I spent two days on the line teaching two sisters from Ball Ground what I knew about trapping. I was honored to be asked and blessed to be a part of an event hosted by a group of guys who spent time away from their families over the holiday week for something that had nothing to do with them and everything to do with kids and the future of trapping.

So as I continued my way around food plots and through swamps thinking about my new trapping buddies from that weekend, I thought about how I want my life to be a continual motion of pouring into other people—spiritually, emotionally and in passing on the rich outdoor heritage that God put in my blood for hunting, fishing and trapping. When I leave this earth and take my Heavenly flight, I want to leave nothing in the tank. 

Zero, zilch, nada. 

I thought about how rewarding it would be for me to pass from this place with no knowledge, no skill set, no trade secrets, no stuff and no wisdom that had not been passed along to the generation behind me. It made me smile, it gives me something to shoot for, and I believe it starts now in day-to-day interactions with people.

Summer Sausage Run For WMA Hogs – By Glen Solomon

Then, my friend and late GON writer Glen Solomon, who still gets a lot of worthy mention on GON.com and in GON magazine, came to mind. This guy consistently wrote articles about public-land places for readers to go and be successful in killing hogs. I mean who does that on a regular basis?

Then the phone range. 

“Ready to come get this stuff?”

Glen Solomon, the GTA boys and my friend’s dad made plans to leave nothing in the tank.

GON Editor Brad Gill (left) with a Chickasawhatchee WMA hog from 2005. The hog was well-earned and came with a serious education on hunting hogs and woodsmanship from Glen Solomon.