Diversions, pigs in the heat and in praise of Eotech...

Wow, what a week! My wife told me Tuesday night that the car was suddenly running funny after having been fine all day. Probaly something simple-right? Well, it's in the shop getting a replacement engine because that was cheaper than the fix it needed! All because of some small problem with a sensor.. Makes me want to take up my threat of buying an early 70's family truckster and rebuilding it stem to stern! You could work on those in your driveway! Plus I was only getting 14mpg in town in our Expedition anyway. I can build an 'oldie' to easily get that or better while living up to 20 on the highway! Have we really progressed that much? Alas, time and money, time and money..

So how 'bout those pigs!?!?! I shot two last week in the blistering heat! Poor buggers are having a devil of a time as water dries up statewide. The first one I shot was in the creek channel, just a few feet from a pool of water. The second one was part of the group that ran away when I shot. They just came back because they didn't want to leave the water! I shot him at about 25ft from where the first one lay! Everything happened so fast that the 'rush' hit me about the time I was narrating on camera how everything went down. Oh well, I normally look like a dork on camera anyway, if this is worse it should be obvious that I was pretty stoked. If it ever makes TV maybe folks can relate to my excitement!

Our hunting grounds of choice are in and around a major creek northwest of the DFW metromess, because it still has some water in it, unlike most of the rest of the county! I hunted with my buddy Glenn's AR because it's new, it's a 6.8spc, and because I like it and wanted to shoot a pig with it. In addition to that, it's topped with an Eotech HWS (holographic weapon sight), which is my favorite type of sight for pig hunting. Some folks think of this as a battle sight only, used primarily for close quarters, however this is by far a myopic (get it-nearsighted, huh, huh?) view of this extremely versatile sight!! If you have the chance to hunt with one of these sights you should go for it. There is nothing out there that is faster for target aquisition at either long or short range! This sight also has a 1moa center dot which allows great accuracy out to 100yd and beyond! If you really want to reach out there, there are flip away magnifiers available as well.

I do a lot of daydreaming about how to set up a rifle to be versatile enough for any condition. I used to think that a scope with quick release rings, and iron sights for backup was all a person needed. Well, considering how much better an Eotech is than irons-and faster-I'm now working out how to add that capability to my bolt action rifle. Brownell's catalog, here I come! Well, after paying for an engine anyway.

Have you put yourself in a box?

Sounds silly and cliche, doesn't it? Well, in so many things it seems that our perspectives and attitudes form our opinions to a point that we limit OURSELVES. This is especially true in hunting. It's almost fun for me to push people's buttons when they start talking about what a pig will or won't do, or always or never does! This is because I have had MY eyes opened so many times, either by accident or luck. I'm gonna call all my eye-openers luck because I wouldn't be nearly as successful without those experiences! My great friend Glenn Guess likes to say that 'pigs can't read your dang rulebook' and whoever reads this would do well to tattoo that into their palms. Why palms? That way you can see it coming when you slap yourself in the forehead-the pigs just outsmarted you again!!

We just can't help it, we're creatures of habit and we know that animals are too, usually. Our lucky advantage over the animals is that we can engineer our surroundings to suit our needs. As such, we let our ideas bleed over into our interpretation of animal behavior. Most of the time this works. However, these ideas begin to fall apart when the hogs don't do what they're supposed to, after all, we know the rules!

If you're willing to put in the effort, and can keep an open mind about what pigs DO vs. what you always thought they did, you have a leg up on others. Get out of the same old hunting blind you've been stuck in so often and find those pigs! Take notes of where you found them, be observant and try to figure out WHY they are where they are. It's gonna take time and dedication, and you will be dirty, sweaty, tired and maybe even bleeding a little, but you will probably never want to go back in the box (blind) again!

If it was that easy, everybody would be doing it! Wait..it seems like they ARE!

Have you SEEN the price of gold lately? At $1600/oz there really is a new gold rush in America, heck, probably worldwide. Everybody would love to get their hands on some to cash in right now to help offset the Obamaconomy..duh, right? Well, MY particular way of doing that involves a metal detector. I hit lakes and other areas that should hold gold, and most times do, but hey, times are tight and it seems that people are being more careful about losing stuff. Or are they?

Of the several times I've been out to the lakes lately I've noticed a sharp increase in competition. Being a friendly person and talkative, I've gathered some information that those in the metal detecting industry would be happy to hear! About half of those I've talked with have new detectors and don't really know how best to use them. This is good for me, wait-GREAT for me because they certainly will miss much. A lot of these new detectorists have mid to high end machines because they want a powerful tool to find GOLD. Well, they now have it, and it's up to me to take advantage of the time they're fixing to spend on the learning curve!

Then there are the more savvy detectorists. Most detectorists will be ready to talk about everything like the weather, the economy, what their favorite color is..etc. However, what you won't get out of any conversation with a seasoned expert is anything that you can use to go find something! I mean, some of this stuff comes down to 'tricks of the trade' or hard earned knowledge that the newbie probably won't actually understand anyway. So I see lots of those guys now when I used to see only a few. It's not that they weren't there before mind you, but they're having to branch out now because so many folks are out there swinging detectors right now!

Then there are the ghosts. The ghosts are experts that know they have to beat the crowd. There are only a few ways to do this, and I can guarantee they miss some sleep in order to make this happen! These are the guys (or gals but not many) who are almost finished by the time you're still drinking coffee and rubbing your eyes. You may catch a glimpse of them but they will avoid you in every way they can! I cornered one once just to talk, not a good idea! The thought of a sand scoop upside the head SHOULD be a deterrent to most sane people, but in the quest for knowledge, sometimes sanity must be pushed to the side. It only took me a few attempts at being nice and trying to start up a conversation to realize that it just wasn't gonna happen! Do these guys find stuff..well..THEY won't tell you but maybe the equipment will. If you know your gear, it'll be easy to recognize those high-end detectors under the coating of scratches, dirt, fading, bits of tape, etc. It's almost a rule in detecting..if the detector looks like it's been groped by the TSA at a New Year's party, the guy probably knows how to use it WELL!

So here I sit after getting 4 hours sleep last night. I'm seventy cents richer and full up on Advil right now. But I'll get 'em, I've done it before...it's just gonna hurt a little.

Wait for it...

Well I just submitted another article to Boar Hunter Magazine! Hopefully this one will get published! If you hunt hogs and haven't read the mag, you should check it out. Sources vary but they have a list on their website of outlets that carry the magazine. As far as hunts go, I'm getting WAAY behind..it's just so dang hot outside and I've been doing this thing called work. Work sucks-did you know that? Well, once I get PAID from doing WORK, I'll be back out there and have a story to tell and some pics to share.

So I'm a blogger now..?

Wow..sure is big and quiet in here. Hope I have enough to say! How 'bout this, if it moves I probably hunt it, if it swims I'm liable to be trying to catch it! If somebody hid it, I'm probably trying to find it, and if you lost it, well..you better hope you put your name in it! Get ready for pictures of dead critters, metal detecting finds, general rantings, poking fun at those who can probably least tolerate it, and general nonsense that means something to me whether you like it or not!