… is just a good day. 🙂
Went out for a 24-hour hunt with Charles of TacticalGunReview.com.
Feral hogs were the target.
We headed out to his place after work Friday afternoon. Headed out to the field and sat over a stock tank for a while. Lots of deer, turkey, and cows moving and feeding, but no hogs. Charles headed off to another location. I sat and continued to watch, hopeful for hogs, but alas never saw any. I did however see lots of calves running around, charging towards the stock tank at full speed… just like any child. Even thankful for a moment that I did not decide to climb down from the stand and sit behind this one fallen stand. It would have been a better vantage point, but at one point a calf ran up to it and started bashing it with his head. If I had been down there, I would have gotten bonked pretty bad. 🙂
Just before it was totally dark, I heard a shot ring out… and squealing. Charles got something. I was hoping if there was a good sized sounder that they’d come running my way, but nothing. Went and picked Charles and his hog up. About 80#, which makes for good eating.
Cleaned the pig, relaxed with a couple cold ones, and hit the sack around midnight. Went back out around 5 AM but didn’t see much of anything. The most excitement I got was playing “will he bust me?” with a spike, and “what’s that rustling in the leaves? oh just an armadillo…”.
I didn’t “bring home the bacon”, tho Charles was kind and gave me half his pig. Thank you, my friend.
I did realize tho…. this was just what I needed. I was able to get my brain thinking about something else. Something other than computers, programming, iPhones, marketing, sales, business, teaching, whatever, anything and everything that makes up my usual go around. I got to think about the woods. I got to think about the wind. About movement patterns. Looking for signs. The hunt. Pursuit. The sounds of birds. The beauty of nature. It was just a wonderful break for my head to think about something else.
But now, I shall think about something else again: cooking. Specifically, throwing the pig in the smoker tomorrow. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 
I miss hunting badly. Since my back got worse, I haven’t been able to do very much hiking (which is necessary for hunting any type of game around here). It’s been a few years since I could even hunt birds and rabbits. Enjoy it as much as you can.
I was wanting to do an elk hunt with my Dad before he got too old to do it. After looking into it, have to pass. 😦 While Dad’s still in good health for a man of his age, the rigors of elk hunting up in the mountains are just too much. Heck, it’ll give me a workout.
But then, so much hunting in Texas involves sitting in a stand over a feeder. *sigh* I’m not against such things because in essense if you set things up right, it’s just like any sort of hunting: you look at food and water sources and hunt over those or the trails leading to/from them, because that’s where the animals will eventually be. And who knows.. .as I get old, maybe I’ll come to appreciate sitting more. 😉
Pingback: Why lift? « Stuff From Hsoi