For God's Sake, Get Out And Hunt.

It started off with a Mexican breakfast; Huevos Rancheros, eggs over-easy, corn tortillas and lots of coffee. "Power up," texted a friend, who understands these things and it was good advice, because one funeral, one Mass and a lot of driving later, I was at a ranch in Teague, spotlighting.

And that was a whole lot of fun; driving about the country in search of pigs, coyotes, rabbits and whatever varmint crossed our path. Sure enough, we shot several rabbits and lit up lots of deer, including several bucks. It was ghostly to see their eyes shine out as they bounded off into cover and this was a good omen, because I wanted to shoot a buck in the morning.

5.30 am rolled around with eschatological suddenness and before you could say 30-06, we were heading down a dirt road to a game-camera-proven buck location. The wind was in our favor and we walked in to the cover of a copse, stealthy, senses heightened. Sure enough, there were large deer on a treeline at around 200 yards. Crosshairs on and... they were does, and there's a county ban on shooting them. So no shot.

Still, it was good to see them in the crisp sunrise of a Texan December morning. A bit like Spring, in Canada.

After checking a few other spots, with no luck, my friend shot a duck. I missed one, but consoled myself with a fresh rabbit, a lot of venison sausage (thank you) and the promise of many more hunts to come.

What a good way to spend a Thursday evening and Friday morning! Clean air, good country, the excitement of a hunt, and fun company. Alright, I didn't get my buck but I did get outside myself, which is no bad thing for anyone, and added a rabbit to the freezer. My wild-eyed dog, Blue Spotlight, had a blast too.

I'd say everything about that is right on.

LSP

Rabbit Hunt

Emboldened by success against the Aoudads, GWB came by for a rabbit hunt and sure enough, before you can say the Episcopal Divinity School is a conventicle of Satan, we were on the trail of cotton tails.

Clanking Spear & Some Clays

The plan was simple. Scout through VS's 10 acre back pasture and flush the bunnies from piles of brush. I got the first shot, as a rabbit streaked like a furry Exocet across my front. I missed, annoyingly; still, excitement was up and before long GWB was able to use his 20 gauge Franchi to good effect. One rabbit down.

Turkeys, Don't Vote For Christmas

I fired at a leaping shadow as dusk was falling, perhaps it was a ghost. My Wittgensteinian ally connected with a final bunny, well done. 

Rabbit For The Pot

As VS's husband said, looking at the two rabbits on the tailgate, "LSP, he smoked ya!"

I won't argue with that. 

A Good night was had by all.

LSP