for 7 NOV 06: SQUIRRELS AND NUTS

It's been perfect weather for going outside in nature, to do some hunting. While I've never personally done it, several friends of mine do. One tries to get enough deer meat to last the entire year. Perhaps with the right preparation and spices, you can make it taste just like fried chicken.

Two men in my neighborhood went outside to hunt the other day - only they didn't leave the neighborhood. They shoot for sport around my apartment complex. Yes, my downtown-area apartment complex. That's a creative way to avoid burning high-priced gasoline, you know.

I actually saw one of the men running around the courtyard a couple of days earlier. He walked almost to my window with his BB-gun - which admittedly gave him a bit more exercise than his usual firing from the front porch at a birdhouse.

But on this late afternoon, both hunters were out and walking when I came upon them. I'd stepped outside for a late-afternoon jog, and found the men staring at a fully-leaved tree and pointing their BB guns up from the trunk. This was an Elmer Fudd cartoon simply waiting to happen.

Realizing the situation, I put up my hands as I walked past the men. After all, my T-shirt wasn't reflective orange....

"Squirrel hunting," one of the urban hunters explained. He assured me I had nothing to worry about, so I went on my way -- even turning my back on the men to start the run. Looking back, maybe I shouldn't have done that. If these guys are brilliant enough to hunt squirrels hiding in trees, maybe they aren't brilliant enough to aim straight.

I didn't think anything more of the moment while I ran -- but as I walked home, I checked on the two men again. One of them held a dead squirrel by the tail. "We got him," he told me. I have no idea what the hunter planned to do with him. I've never seen that man wear a squirrel-skin coat or cap.

I shared the story of these urban hunters the other day on WLTZ's "Rise-N-Shine," and host Nan Floyd stopped laughing long enough to ask a very pertinent question. "Is that legal????"

"I hope so," I answered. "I don't want to have to call police on them." Why, their very presence might keep burglars away....

That question lingered in my mind -- can you hunt inside the Columbus city limits? On Monday I called a place which I presumed would know the answer. The man who answered the phone at Shooters on Milgen Road had to get a "consensus of opinion." So he actually asked questions first, BEFORE shooting.

The man at Shooters eventually advised me there are designated areas in the Columbus city limits where hunting is permitted. The man didn't know exactly where they are, but he said there apparently has to be sufficient space for shooting. Be thankful my neighbors don't live near Lakebottom Park.

The man at Shooters admitted BB guns are "another animal." But he didn't think it was wise to go around residential neighborhoods shooting BB guns at animals. I agree with that - especially since these are grownups, not six-year-olds.

So it appears I can't call the police on my neighbors, if they're firing BB guns up trees. But before you consider these squirrel-hunters a bit squirrely themselves, think about this. They're smart enough to stay in their own complex - and don't walk a few blocks down the street to the Booker T. Washington Apartments.

Next in this politics-free Election Day post, we look at news which may have been drowned out by the campaigning:

+ The Ledger-Enquirer reported Columbus Police made 20 more weekend arrests, in its crackdown on Broadway crime. Many more people must have been chased away by the Fire Marshal - or did the "guaranteed over 5,000" people really show up at that Bradley Theatre football after-party?! Was the handout I picked up made by people drunk on "Crunk juice?"

+ The Columbus Health Department began offering flu shots, one month after supermarkets and department stores did. Now I'm wondering about those commercials telling me to "ask your doctor about Prevacid." I should make a tape of the ad, and break the news to the Health Department doctors.

+ The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled the state legislature can redraw House and Senate district lines any time it likes. This decision is clearly a big victory for moving companies....

+ Saturday's Georgia-Auburn football game was moved to a midday kickoff, for the first time that I can remember. Both CBS and ESPN decided not to show the game - giving Georgia fans one more reason to e-mail President Michael Adams, and demand the return of coach Jim Donnan.

BURKARD'S BEST BETS: Gas for $1.98 a gallon at Petro on Cusseta Road.... Grandma's Cookies three for 99 cents at Spectrum.... and FREE campaign signs along the road for political collectors, after 8:00 p.m. ET....

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Believe it or not, we may not be able to post an election wrap-up until Wednesday night! We'll explain, next time we can....)

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