Ranching

Children of the Sun

This small "kebob stand on the information superhighway" (thx. MCP) is supposed to be about country life in Texas, among other things. Part of that means ranching, or in my case visiting them. I had an invite to one the other day -- just a whole lot of fun driving around on an area about a third of the size of the Isle of Wight. Perhaps because of the red soil and the light it reminded me of Africa. Beautiful. The illusion was made all the better by various "Boks" and assorted exotics.

Where's Karen Blixen?

But did you shoot any hogs, LSP? I hear you ask. Well, I tried. The ranch foreman kindly drove our small shooting party around in a sturdy 4x4 and put us on top of a small herd of swine moving through the brush. Embarrassingly, no one scored. I'll spare you the details. That catastrophe occurred after an evening's walkabout for small game. We went out with shotguns and a 22 in search of rabbits and squirrels, but there weren't any. 

Shoot the Pig

There were, however, around twelve hogs crossing our trail at around 30 yards. There they ambled, just taking it easy on their way to destroy something. And there we were, pathetically undergunned. The porcine menace passed calmly towards whatever mayhem they had planned, unscathed. To cap it off, I went for a stroll with a friend's dog on our last day. Just moving down a fence line with a river and bluffs on my left, dog going ahead; I wasn't expecting anything but took an AR along just in case there was some action. Sure enough, there was!

Ford

About 20 minutes into my armed incursion into hogspace there was some squealing, down by the river, as it were. And there, about 150 yards off, was a big pig. Maybe it caught wind of the dog, or me. Whatever, up went the AR, squeeze went the finger and... nothing! The safety was on. Off it went and my next shot echoed out, but no good. The hog was in full gallop and I missed by a couple of feet. Grrrr. That annoyed me; I know better than that. Safety off, shoot, safety on. 2nd nature, or at least it was... Next time.

Typical LSP Hunt

Then all too soon it was back to the compound, which seemed strangely industrial (which it isn't) after the wilderness.

Remember, kids, release the safety catch on your weapon when you try to shoot something.

Cheers,

LSP