Daniel Schindler's Journey . . .
Shotgunning is a grand and noble sport. Some would be on the clay target range 5 days a week if they could. For others, it’s the pride of following the young setter up to the brush pile and sharing her first flush, or maybe your Lab’s very last, bittersweet mark amongst the decoys.
I was a military brat. No complaints mind you but, growing up on base limited my opportunities to be in the field where I wanted to be. So I lived vicariously in my magazines, immersed in hunting adventures in far away places. The ballistics in the reloading manuals, I knew them by heart. Had I studied my Math texts as hard, who knows? I do know, when I laid the magazine down, the African wood smoke lingered on my Woolrich shirt.
When I was a young boy, you would have been proud of me. Looking all the way back to the last row in the classroom, there sat Danny Schindler, face hidden behind his History textbook. Had you walked around behind me you would have found me on page 37 of Guns & Ammo reading about which shotshell was best for late season pheasants or geese in the stratosphere.
Growing up, every waking moment I was obsessed with hunting and being outdoors. I was fortunate that my uncles owned farms in Iowa where pheasants lived. Lots of pheasants. When I visited, my uncles were always supportive. Standing between these grown men, they hid their frustration when hunting pheasants with me. The rooster would rise and so would their guns, only to hear a shot and watch the bird fold before they could cheek their familiar Model 12’s. I may have only been 14, but I was deadly in the corn fields. My shooting method? No clue, other than point and shoot.
My heroes were the hunting and shooting writers of the day. I never dreamed that someday folks would be following my work in magazines and books. Mine has been a long journey of detours, miracles and revelations that led me to my desk this morning. With an utterly remarkable woman beside me, I find myself in a career blessed by immeasurable joy. Teaching is not a hobby or a job for me, it is my life and so many of you out there have made it so. I am grateful.