Spotlighting

CSM Briefs Recruits

OK, you've done your bit for King and Country by sitting in the stand while the sun sets over Texas, and it wasn't bad. Deer, turkey, hawks and all of that, but no pigs, then it was too dark to shoot. So what do you do? Wait for the Ranger to turn up from the other stand and go spotlighting.

Random Rainbow

I acted as spotter and the kids changed guns to a 12 gauge pump and a Ruger American .22. Ready to go! And remember, when shooting over the top of the vehicle your barrel is several inches lower than your scope. So don't shoot the Ranger's lighting rig off, gentlemen.

Room With a View

They didn't, but they did shoot their first coons and rabbits. Well done, boys, good snap shots on the bunnies, and I won't pretend that it wasn't neat to hear the sound and fury of the guns going off overhead and into the night. An AR added to the mix and why not? After all, you have to make sure the weapon works.

First Rabbit

Back at the Compound, the guns were unloaded, make safe!, and I showed the recruits how to skin their rabbits. That was a first for them, and a skill they're not going to learn in nanny state's rainbow hued halls of academe.

Food Isn't Grown in Supermarkets

Evening excitement over, it was time to relax. No internet, no phone service, no Hillary cavorting about like a pantsuit demon, just you, the brilliant stars overhead and the sound of the country at night.

That, just in itself, is no small thing and powerful medicine for the soul.

If you meet the Buddha on the road, shoot it.

Gun rights,

LSP

Stand Up

Wake up! Make your weapons ready, climb into the Ranger and head off for action. That meant driving through the predawn brush to several deer stands and waiting for pigs to come in to corn, molasses and delicious grape Kool Aid powder at around 100 yards.

It was beautiful to be out in the field in the first light and exciting in the stand. That sounds strange, why would waiting around in a small room, some 50 feet in the air, be exciting? Consider the anticipation; would the porcuswine menace take the bait or not, will you get that shot? I tell you, it gets the adrenaline up and we knew the swine were there, no doubt about it; plenty of fresh sign and evidence of rooting. So we waited, in the still Texan dawn.

A Typical Texan Sunrise

And saw lots of deer, more deer than you could shake a Leupold scope at, which was good. It proved the bait was working and there's a satisfaction in getting your cross hairs lined up for a perfect shoulder shot, even if you don't take it.

There were turkeys, too. One minute you're glassing a deer and the next there's something gray in your peripheral vision, on the ground by the corn. Pigs! Or was it? Closer inspection revealed a tribe of turkeys, strutting and pecking at the delicious Kool Aid corn. But no pigs.

Come on, Pigs

Then it was back to the compound on the Ranger for breakfast, weapons hot and ready for random swine, who cleverly stayed out of our way. Still, it pays to be on the look out because you never know when the tusked furies will appear on their snorting path of destruction. Scope covers off, gentlemen.

On The Road

So that was the pattern for four mornings, and while we didn't see any pigs it was all a first for the kids and big adventure in itself. But that's not all.

Stay tuned,

LSP

Wake Up!

You're sleepy? Look here, you bandits. The day starts at 5.

And so it did, starting with day one. By the time the sun was rising, there we were, on the way to somewhere in Texas to hunt hogs. We passed through Gustine, Blanket, Brownwood, San Angelo and weren't too far from Mexico.

Switch on, Bandits

"So whaddya do if you meet an illegal alien, kids?" Moment of silence and then, "Send him up to the Mother Ship?" Another moment of silence, "Well, I'd give them a meal and a beer. Then maybe I'd build a wall."

If You Meet The Buddha on The Road...

We set up up camp and got after the pigs. That meant climbing up into stands and scouting trails, and the result?

Therein lies another tale.

Gun Rights,

LSP