I had a birthday last week! Woohoo.. I am beginning to notice something though-I still have a list of stuff I want, I just don't really care as much whether I get it or not! This could be because I realize I don't need it too badly, or maybe just because I know I'll get that widget I've always wanted whether for my birthday or when I get good and ready to make it a reality. Almost sounds like birthday fun might be over. I can assure you it's not! At some point it becomes apparent that 'things' won't make you happy, but experiences and friends and family will. So after the family stuff I did what makes me happy these days-I went hog hunting!
I'm very glad to say that this hunt was exactly the kind of hunt I would want for a birthday, challenging both my skills and my fitness level while including a little adrenaline and turning a negative into a positive. All those things could be wrapped up and said this way: I'd rather things not be too easy, and a little pain or hardship makes things much more memorable!
So what happens when you're in a hog infested area and you find yourself with only one bullet? Well I can tell you that you'll feel more pressure not to miss! However, this is a good kind of pressure, one that forces you to draw on your skills and knowledge of both gun and game. Mix in a full bore 400 yard sprint in soft sandy loam culminating in a quick setup and a 200 yard shot and you have an example of some of the finest moments hog hunting has to offer! As I look back on that hunt, I know that it all came together even when things at first didn't go as I would have wanted. And then there's that luck thing. My luck that day came in the form of the decision to tie my boots!
So that day, as luck would have it, I reached down and tightened up my Danners. I don't know why. I do know that as we were running across that wheat field as fast as our 40'ish legs could carry us, it occured to me that I would have been eating dirt and in major pain if I had followed the routine I normally do. Instead, one little detail enabled me to pull off a spectacular shot (if you ask me) under very challenging conditions! Too bad Glenn's camera wasn't rolling at the time...
Oh, why did I only have one bullet? Hehehe..well because I missed the stampeding HERD of pigs we encountered at close range in the woods! Don't judge too harshly though, there's a tree or two that won't be growing the same way after jumping in the path of my bullets! Who knew trees were so protective towards pigs?
