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Click to Enlarge The Wests have been hunting together for nearly 30 years.

“We want everybody with all points of view involved.”

James West Sr. started hunting when he was 10 or 11. When his son, James West Jr., reached that age, it seemed like a good idea for him to go hunting, too.

The Wests, who live in Hayti, which is near Caruthersville in Pemiscot County, have been hunting together for nearly 30 years. They mostly pursue rabbits and some quail, but during the 12-day pheasant season in the Southeast Zone, the two Jameses follow a Brittany spaniel named Simon across public hunting land. The elder James said Simon has a good nose for the big birds.

James Sr. said he moved to Missouri from Arkansas in 1951. He said even though rabbits are scarcer than they were back then, he and his son still have a good time pursuing them.

The younger James became so enthused about hunting that he joined a multi-state hunting club and has traveled to Iowa and Nebraska several times to hunt pheasants.

When they first started, they were more like teacher and student, with the senior James imparting to his son hunting lore he’d learned on earlier hunts.

James Jr. said he and his dad are now more like buddies hunting together. “We don’t talk like father and son,” he said. “When we’re out hunting, we just talk about life in general.”

James Sr. said he was happy his son took so well to hunting. “It kept him out of trouble,” he said.

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