The Red Flannel Rag

When I pulled the trigger, my last bullet went around the ridge and killed the buck on

the other side.”

Uncle Jim made himself the main character again in this tall tale. “I went coon

hu ntin’ and the dogs treed a coon up on a sycamore poplar, out on a dry limb ten feet

above the top of the tree. So I tried to shoot the coon. I used all my shells but one,

which is the regular thing all hunters do, ‘cause they don’t know what they will me et on

the way home. So I waited ‘til daylight, then climbed the tree and went out on the dry

limb that was ten feet above the top. I shook the coon off the limb, the limb broke, and I

fell. I fell down straddlin’ the fence with both legs on one side, fl at of my back, face on

the ground. I got up, got my gun and my coon and started for home.”

Uncle Jim looked at his audience of children for a reaction to his ridiculous tale;

but we were still trying to figure out if we had heard what we thought we heard. Then he

went on with his story. “ As I come down off the ridge I looked up the hollar and saw five

turkeys on a limb. There I was with only one bullet. I eased around until I was straight

out from the end of the limb. I shot right into the end of the limb, the bullet split the

limb open, the turkeys’ legs dropped down through the crack, and the crack went shut. I

cut the tree down and it fell into a nearby creek. I waded into the water to get my

turkeys. As I came out of the water with my five turkeys, I found my boots full of fish.

All in all it was a good huntin’ trip.”

In another tall tale, Uncle Jim claimed he went out one day to shoot a wild turkey

for supper. He hunted until afternoon without seeing a turkey, so he decided he would

lie down behind a log and take a nap. While he was sleeping, a wild turkey flew over and

sat down on the log. When Uncle Jim awoke, he saw the turkey; and, realizing that he

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