He's smiling now, but- - - -

But what about the day before? We arrived in Rocksprings set up 2 tents tried to sight in a rifle and put corn out and actually got to our respective hunting spots late. Well some of us got there early. Me and Navor (my nephew) didn't have to go far. We were about 5 minutes from camp. Elliott and Ethan went around the hill you can see in one of the earlier posts, and Collin and Chase went even further. To get to where Elliott was is about a 30 minute walk in the daytime. At night if you don't know your way around who know where you could end up at. Elliott has radios that were handed out to everyone so we could keep in touch in case we were able to shoot. They really come in handy.

Right before sundown we hear a shot and immediately after the shot we hear a loud squeel of a pig. wwwweeeeeeee,,,wwwweeeeee,wwwweeeee,,,wwwwweeeee.

Navor is sitting next to me and I'm giving him some hints on what to look for. He's never been hunting or camping so this is very new to him. We saw Elliott, Ethan, Colin and Chase walking off but we had no idea where they were at since we didn't have a chance to scout the area. When you hear nothing, just pure silence, and then you hear a shot and then the distinct sound of a wounded pig, that gets your attention. Elliott got on the radio and told us Ethan had just shot a pig but the other pigs had surrounded it in a defensive position. Elliott wanted to know if I could get down there with my Ar15. I'd love to but I have no idea where they were at I told him. Elliott and Ethan got out of their ground blind and took a step toward the pigs and several of the large ones charged 3 or 4 steps towards them. Elliott said he wanted to get a shot at one of the other pigs, but there were too many and they were not afraid, they continued to charge at them until he backed off. When asked about where Ethan was, he said, well that's another story.

Ethan had run off yelling, "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die uncle bubba, I'm too young to die". You're not gonna die Elliott reassured him. Shortly afterwards, Collin and Chase arrived, and they approached the pigs with Elliott. Elliott said he had one of the pigs in sight, and was following it through the scope when he heard what sounded like hogs running behind him. As he turned to see, that's when he noticed Collin and Chase running for the hills with their rifles in their hands. It looked like someone had said there's gold in them hills. He backed off since he was standing their with a single shot .223 rifle and decided to head back to camp and get me with my AR15. Where Navor and I were at, we could hear the hog squeeling. Navor kept telling me, lets go down there uncle Marc, but I told him I didn't know where they were at, and it would not be a good idea to go wandering at night through the hills. I also told him since I am not familiar with the area, I would not feel comfortable taking a shot not knowing what was beyond the target, so we were not going down there not matter how inviting it sounded. We instead walked back to camp and 45 minutes later Elliott and the guys got back. Elliott said they couldn't retrieve the pig because it was surrounded by a bunch of other pigs and he said, they are pissed off. So what you're saying is I need to take 2, twenty round magazines? Elliott said all I know is there are a bunch and they are pissed. He said everytime we took a step towards them the took 2 or 3 towards us. They were snapping their teeth, and growling. They ain't afraid. Ok, we'll take 3 magazines and see if they are afraid. So we headed back down and when we got there, they had vacated the scene but we were able to find the wounded hog and I finished it off.

Those ribs were excellent

A couple of weeks ago, Elliott gave me a pig that either he or his son Colin shot while hunting in Rocksprings. This morning I put the ribs in a convection oven with seasoning. I thought about smothering them with bar-b-cue sauce and cooking them but decided against it. Instead I used some seasoning from Mrs. Dash (no sodium) and some from Tony Chachere's (no sodium). Since I have high blood pressure I cook with no sodium. Five hours later, here is a picture of what we have. I took this picture after I had eaten 3 ribs already. Unfortunately I have to leave some for my wife, but they were excellent. Very tender, the actual rib was easy to pull out of the meat. No knife was needed to cut through the meat.

Hunting Camp

Here are some pictures from the recent hunting trip to Rocksprings Tx. The hunting party included Elliott, me, Colin, Chase, Ethan and Navor. Navor was new to this since he had never been hunting, or camping. It's my belief that every boy should experience this at least once and if it's something they like then they can continue. Elliott and Ethan are overlooking his property from the back of the campsite. It was a little cold this morning (27) and windy.

Here are some pictures of the area we hunted. A four wheeler comes in handy here but we walked the area so we wouldn't spook the hogs or deer.

I can only imagine what this area would be like in the summer time. High temperatures and big rattlesnakes. Hopefully I can get back here soon. It is rugged but I love it.