Cool Hand Jack

Last night I stepped outside of my cottage here in the Texas Hill Country and saw the unmistakable black outlines of a group of around half dozen or so wild hogs. Right there in the front yard, grazing on the grass. Instinctively I ran straight at them.

After about a week of hunting wild boar on foot and armed only with a knife I have learned a few tricks. Among them is the fact that hesitation means defeat. Many other things can also easily result in defeat, but hesitation is right up there.

This time, as I rocketed across the grass and over mounds of bison dung, the sensation of thorns cutting into my bare feet prompted the reflection that perhaps hesitation sufficient at least to notice that I'd forgotten my shoes might have been wise.

A smallish pig lagged towards the back of the terrified pack of surprised swine. I chose this pig as my target and summoned the reserves for a final push. As I closed to within a few paces of my prey I reached to my hip for the familiar shape of my knife and realized that it was not there.

The absurdity of the situation suddenly dawned on me. I was running barefoot and completely unarmed straight for a pack of pissed-off wild boar, the largest of which was something over 200 pounds. I had forgotten shoes, knife and common sense.

I laughed out loud at my situation and continued to chase the pigs a little farther. I didn't close the deal, lacking a weapon. But nor did the pigs realize that they had the upper hand in every sense, so I escaped unharmed.

Sometimes nothing is a pretty cool hand.

Meanwhile, the November deer class is fully booked. We have a winner for the scholarship spot and then another applicant who was just so darn good that we've given him a scholarship spot for the December class. There are plenty of spots still open for the December deer class, so please sign up! As always, it is a two day class. This will be on December 10th and 11th in Charlottesville, Virginia. The cost is $380. In order to sign up, send me an email at Jack.Landers@gmail.com. A 25% deposit ($95) is due in order to reserve a space and that deposit can be paid via Paypal to the same email address.

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. Yeah, I know this is a buck whitetail, not a pig. But every time I see a wild pig I start running after it and forget to take pictures. I really like this photo of a buck that I took yesterday, so here you go.]