Dad was a trapper: As I grew older I helped skin and stretch animals. "The possums are yours, they're good to learn on," Dad told me. I learned to make stretchers, groom pelts and properly pack the catch for shipment. I learned how to prepare and cook coon and possum, delicacies in their own right. Dad taught me the art of hunting, trapping and surviving. I learned to live up to Dad's idea of surviving: "Go into the woods buck-naked, with no more than a single bit axe and build shelter, put clothes on your back and fill your stomach." Some more of Dad's seasons. "Trapping Seasonstarts when the weather gets cold enough for the hides to loose their blue." "Rabbit hunting season is any month with an R in it. That leaves May, June, July and August for them to mate and raise their young." "Possum eating season begins when the persimmons get ripe."