A Shot in the Foot

In 1934 I was spending the summer on the sheep ranch at Haswell with Grandpa and Grandma Davis. Uncle Johnny, my mother's brother, lived next door to them and worked the ranch with Grandpa Davis.

Elma Louis Brandon and John Arnold Davis
married June 20, 1926

Hubert - Elda - Herbert
early 1940's

Children of John and Elma Davis

The John and Elma Davis family
about 1950

One day Uncle Johnny, his twin sons Hubert and Herbert, and I were going out to take some groceries to one of the sheep camps. When tending camps we always had guns in the car or truck in order to shoot coyotes, rabbits, or snakes. This time we had a twenty-two rifle in the car - a 1932 Ford 4-door sedan.

1932 Ford 4-door sedan
at a car show - not Uncle Johnny's

The twins [about 2 1/2 years old] were riding in the front seat with Uncle Johnny, and I was riding in the back seat holding the gun, ready to shoot a rabbit when we would see one. All at once we hit a big bump on the prairie and we flew up in the air. When we came down the rifle fired down toward the floor. The bullet went through my shoe and grazed my big toe, but luckily, it did not hit the bone.

Uncle Johnny says my sock was off before my shoe hit the floor! There was a neat hole along side of my big toe! We never did figure where the bullet went out of the old Ford, but I guess it just went on through the floor of the car.

I got some instructions about keeping the gun on safety until I was ready to shoot, and for years I heard a lot about “shooting myself in the foot.”