The Teenage Prank That's Lasted 60 Years
Deep Dives
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The article centers on frogging with a gig (a multi-pronged spear), describing the technique in detail. This Wikipedia article covers the history and methods of this traditional hunting practice that many readers may be unfamiliar with.
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American bullfrog
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Traumatic brain injury
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Scottie's character is defined by his severe head injury from a car crash, including emergency surgery to relieve brain swelling. This article would help readers understand the medical realities and long-term effects of such injuries that shaped his personality.
At a time when there’s so much heaviness all around us, revisiting a tale about a harmless teenage prank that’s stood the test of time and that one of the participants took to the grave with him, is a welcome moment of respite we’ll take right about now. Give this a read or a listen to be instantly transported back in time. Bonus question: Have you ever pulled a prank with a lasting impact — or one that was just particularly fun? If yes, please share in the comments!
The gears of a warm spring day quickly downshifted in the late afternoon, and before twilight a cold front blew in, plunging the mercury more than 15 degrees. In search of dinner, Scottie and I rounded the edges of pond after pond at the sandpits, looking and looking. We saw not a single frog. We heard not one deep-throated bellow. In Southern towns where creeks and ponds proliferate, frogging is not unusual. What followed, however, was. Quite.
After darkness fell on the unusually cool evening, Scottie and I loaded our gear into my old 1949 Plymouth Coupe (bought for $50) and headed for the sandpits near the golf course on the edge of town. I knew from prior hunts that our quarry was there by the dozens.
Decades before, truckloads of sand had been dug and hauled out for construction and cement. Left abandoned were about 25 gaping holes — large and small, deep and shallow. Over the decades, rain filled them. In time, water lilies and cattails sprouted; critters filtered in. These old ponds now were fully populated by frogs, tadpoles, snakes, turtles and other creatures.
Frogging requires strong illumination. Thus, I carried a powerful, five-cell flashlight with a tight beam. Because houses were nearby, instead of our usual .22 rifle, we had a quieter, far more primitive device — a gig. This is basically a steel fish spear with three or four barbed prongs mounted on a 10-foot bamboo pole. Scottie was the gig bearer; I was the spotter.
In darkness, the eyes of a bullfrog glow bright yellow when a strong light is shone at them. The technique is simple. Find a frog sitting at the water’s edge waiting for bugs: The person with the light blinds the creature, while the other sneaks up quietly from behind and spears
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