Ever hunted pigs in tennis shoes? Your nice tennis shoes that haven't even been broken in yet? What about your nicest pair of jeans, the kind you'd wear to a non formal event but when you still want to look nice. Well that's what happens when you're not prepared! After all, why would it ever occur to anybody (me) that getting together with hunting buddies only a few scant miles from the piggy woods might actually result in going hunting?
It's a graduation celebration!
One of my buddy Glenn's daughters, his second oldest child, just graduated from high school! I'm certainly proud of her, and knew that when I got the invitation to dinner with the family, I had to go. The place was in Denton, midway between where I live and where Glenn's family lives. It's a bigger city than Glenn's hometown and there's more to choose from for restaurants. So there I was in my normal work garb, just hanging out with Glenn's family. I hadn't loaded the truck with any hunting gear-after all, this was a celebration dinner and I didn't want to take advantage by entertaining my selfish interests! I mean, as I prepared to leave, it SEEMED selfish to load the truck with gun, ammo and gear, and maybe even a waste of time. Somehow though, I just sort of forgot how my friends think, and so when the offer came up to go hunting, at first I said 'no'.
What's wrong with ya?
'What do you mean 'no'? Just because you don't have any of your huntin' crap shouldn't be holding you back!' That's almost the verbatim quote that came from both Glenn and his wife Michelle. Simoultaneously. Both with the same tone that could just as well have been translated to: 'what the hell's wrong with you, boy?'. Well, hell...what WAS wrong with me not to be prepared for a spontaneous outbreak of pig hunting? I must be slipping.
You can already predict what happened next. You see, it's almost a perverse rule about hunting and other endeavors-the less prepared you are the more success you'll have. Now I'm NOT suggesting going afield unprepared, and in fact, Glenn had everything I would need to hunt without really even missing my gear! No, the perversion in that rule is that the lack of preparation MUST come by never having planned on doing the activity in the first place! Being stupid or forgetful before executing your premeditated plan for a specific event is excluded.
'You know what's gonna happen don'tcha?!'
Yes, I knew what would happen-pigs and plenty of 'em! Mud, blood, wet grass and tons of fun! It's usually on a hunt like this that you encounter massive herds of pigs at night that blend themselves in with a herd of cattle. It's one thing to target a pig at night and the challenges of the dark. It's another to hunt in, around, or through a herd of cattle! Combine both and you have a high adrenaline, high concentration and extremely cautious hunting experience! So after huddling ourselves together and maneuvering through the herd in order to get a clear shot, WITHOUT getting stomped by freaked out cattle, we had our second pig of the night! The first one, the one I shot, wasn't nearly as cool as the stalking through half crazed, rabid longhorn hunt. No, just a run of the mill trot across a plowed field, in tennis shoes, trying not to face-plant in the stubble and still manage a shot on a very young sow. But hey, for being unprepared I think I did pretty good!
