Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Spring Campfire Hog Hunt (Texas)

It was a damn fine huntin' weekend, and those who wussed outta it should be busier than a one-legged man in a azz-kickin' contest for a good long time (not that I would name names, of course... okay, Les).

It was hot & windy, so we didn't see or kill as many pigs as we might have otherwise, but we sure as hell ate like pigs, and we did kill a few beers. Bart & Pat cooked up some su-PERB vittles. Couple of the boys got Axis bucks (beautiful trophies, IMHO), and some of us collected some porcine protein, but it was mostly just a good time with the dang friendliest bunch of people I've got together with in a while. (Including Yours Truly, although there might be some who will allege otherwise, such as on Saturday morning, when I allegedly uttered some cantankerisms, but in my defense, my serum caffeine titre was seriously low there for a bit, and I ain't admitting ANYTHING on advice of my attorney, Isaac, who pre-paid his inevitable losing 2010 college football bullet bets to many of us to save on UPS charges come fall...) Bart & Pat channelled each other's cousins and kept the rest of us in stitches around the cigar fire, er, I mean the campfire not to mention cooking some amazing meals, as previously mentioned.

There was ZERO cell phone service, which was a blessing for those of us who are cursed to live at the whim of the Electronic Leash. Pat & me had a couple good conversations about that. We pretty much figured out that everyone there has ADHD, except maybe Terry, who is that lovely red-headed gal a couple pages back posing with her pig & her rifle. Bobby was the hero of the weekend, but I'll leave that story to others closer to the action.

Just got back to San Antone, myself... I took the long way back, down thru Rocksprings and Del Rio. I've wanted to see Del Rio since I first read a biography of Judge Roy Bean back in the day and McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" several years ago. One more item off the Bucket List.

That hill country on Hwy 55 south toward Uvalde is simply breathtaking. I had no idea. Then I took a "shortcut" across to Brackettville after getting directions from a couple nice fellows in green fatigues at a Border Patrol checkpoint (they had a beautiful German Shepherd sniffer dog who thought the leftover greasy roadside fried chicken I'd bought in Rocksprings smelled as good as cocaine, but in the end he proved to be a sucker for the dog biscuits I had with me, as long as his Boss was the one that fed 'em to him), switchbacked to Del Rio, and tooled around a bit. No cell phone service the whole way until I hit Hwy 90, which got a bit eerie after about 60 miles of not seeing another vehicle, person, horse, or cow in that lovely open country. Saw a lot of Border Patrol guys workin' hard outside of that lonely stretch, though, which was nice to see.

Had a cup of coffee and an ice cream cone while contemplating Judge Roy Bean's gravesite in Del Rio, which I thought was an appropriate way to end the weekend. I expect the ol' Judge would've fit in pretty well with the 'Fire crowd that assembled in Telegraph, Texas, this past weekend. Or maybe it was us that would've fit in well with the Judge.

It was a damn fine huntin' weekend, and those who wussed outta it should be busier than a one-legged man in a azz-kickin' contest for a good long time (not that I would name names, of course... okay, Les).

It was hot & windy, so we didn't see or kill as many pigs as we might have otherwise, but we sure as hell ate like pigs, and we did kill a few beers. Bart & Pat cooked up some su-PERB vittles. Couple of the boys got Axis bucks (beautiful trophies, IMHO), and some of us collected some porcine protein, but it was mostly just a good time with the dang friendliest bunch of people I've got together with in a while. (Including Yours Truly, although there might be some who will allege otherwise, such as on Saturday morning, when I allegedly uttered some cantankerisms, but in my defense, my serum caffeine titre was seriously low there for a bit, and I ain't admitting ANYTHING on advice of my attorney, Isaac, who pre-paid his inevitable losing 2010 college football bullet bets to many of us to save on UPS charges come fall...) Bart & Pat channelled each other's cousins and kept the rest of us in stitches around the cigar fire, er, I mean the campfire not to mention cooking some amazing meals, as previously mentioned.

There was ZERO cell phone service, which was a blessing for those of us who are cursed to live at the whim of the Electronic Leash. Pat & me had a couple good conversations about that. We pretty much figured out that everyone there has ADHD, except maybe Terry, who is that lovely red-headed gal a couple pages back posing with her pig & her rifle. Bobby was the hero of the weekend, but I'll leave that story to others closer to the action.

Just got back to San Antone, myself... I took the long way back, down thru Rocksprings and Del Rio. I've wanted to see Del Rio since I first read a biography of Judge Roy Bean back in the day and McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" several years ago. One more item off the Bucket List.

That hill country on Hwy 55 south toward Uvalde is simply breathtaking. I had no idea. Then I took a "shortcut" across to Brackettville after getting directions from a couple nice fellows in green fatigues at a Border Patrol checkpoint (they had a beautiful German Shepherd sniffer dog who thought the leftover greasy roadside fried chicken I'd bought in Rocksprings smelled as good as cocaine, but in the end he proved to be a sucker for the dog biscuits I had with me, as long as his Boss was the one that fed 'em to him), switchbacked to Del Rio, and tooled around a bit. No cell phone service the whole way until I hit Hwy 90, which got a bit eerie after about 60 miles of not seeing another vehicle, person, horse, or cow in that lovely open country. Saw a lot of Border Patrol guys workin' hard outside of that lonely stretch, though, which was nice to see.

Had a cup of coffee and an ice cream cone while contemplating Judge Roy Bean's gravesite in Del Rio, which I thought was an appropriate way to end the weekend. I expect the ol' Judge would've fit in pretty well with the 'Fire crowd that assembled in Telegraph, Texas, this past weekend. Or maybe it was us that would've fit in well with the Judge.

Heard thru the grape vine Pat just killed 3 pigs