I was reading last week about a hunting incident that occurred recently in the former Soviet state of Muldova. It seems that 32 hunters, members of the country’s judiciary and prominent businessmen, went wild boar hunting. A 41-year-old businessman was accidentally shot and now, apparently, the Bolshevik has hit the fan. The whole country is tottering on the verge of falling apart as a result of the shooting and the charges and countercharges ensuing.

It seems that the shooting has brought back talk of another shooting that happened in the past which had political connections, a shooting for which no one was ever brought to justice. Now, with the “accidental” shooting of this boar hunter, political charges are flying like the lead these comrades were going to use on the boars. Some in Muldova are so outraged by the shooting that they’re charging the country’s leader with being a former blackmarket cigarette-mover and with buying off judges. Honestly, the wild boars in Muldova must be snorting with laughter over the crazy things that human animals can get themselves into.

I was reminded in reading the story of the potential collapse of the government of Muldova over a pig hunt of my own hunting experiences over 40 years ago. I’ve always been a hunter and way back then a friend and I would take to the woods for a week at a time and stay at a hunting camp in the piney woods. It was a camp that, at times, would be frequented by other members of his family. At times, there would a dozen or so people at the camp of varying ages, backgrounds and levels of intoxication, all wanting to hunnn-t!

I always had a vague notion that something might happen at the camp so, when there was a crowd, I tried to stay out of earshot and buckshot range. But it wasn’t a big concern of mine. After all, those were the good ol’ days when Deputy Barney Fife was always practicing his fast draw in the Mayberry Sheriff’s Office and accidentally discharging his sidearm into the floor, oftentimes with Opie and Andy standing just a few feet away. It was funny! “Bar-ney!” was all Andy ever said to him; sure, Andy took his gun away, but then gave it back to Barney with another bullet.

Anyway, a Muldova-type incident did occur one time at the hunting camp in question, only it had a distinct Alabama twist to it. One family member got after another one not with a boar-gun but with a frying pan, which isn’t to minimalize the incident since a frying pan can do fearsome damage to the head. Just like all of the judges and businessmen who didn’t get invited to the boar hunt in Muldova, I was always glad I wasn’t there when the frying pan incident happened.

Bob Morgan is a retired, award-winning journalist and an author.