On November 24th I ponied up to the hospital to have a hernia fixed. It all went well and was much less painful than I had imagined. I am on the mend but still have to pay attention to doctors orders, lift nothing over 5 pounds. So I am laying low. My tackle bag weighs 18. A couple of days before the operation, I took Mary Grace White, Harley IV’s girlfriend deer hunting in the rain. We drove into the woods in my truck that has street tires and had no problems as the rain had just started. We chose the last covered stand that was available and made the 400 yard walk without getting soaked. Pretty soon a doe walked out and crossed the disked up lane that had a good stand of wheat on it. The deer was at a 90 degree to the way we were pointed and time was spent scooting chairs around to get in the right direction. The deer took that time to cross the lane and get behind a bush. Mary Grace is from Seattle WA and had never held a rifle before. Some instruction before we set out on where to shoot the deer, safety, and how to hold the rifle was accomplished. I felt confident of her competence because his summer she did shoot a crossbow with a scope and bulls eyed the target offhand.

The doe was turned the wrong way and would not cooperate by turning around. About that time a hog, that I estimated at 75 pounds, came out into the other lane.  Again we scooted around and she got lined up for the shot. It was dead on and the hog dropped dead in its tracks, at which time there was much happiness. There was conversation about how good the hog was going to be after spending some time on the grill. Then some smaller hogs came out and one of them bit the dust, or rather mud as it was still raining. After about a minute that one scuffled off into the woods. We stayed a little longer, went back to get the truck, and drove down to the spot, spinning tires all the way. When we drove up, after the first try to lift, I had to go up on my weight estimation to 175 pounds. We struggled, tried a rope and anything else we could come up with to get the hog into the truck without even coming close. Finally as it was getting dark we gave up in disappointment and decided to try to get back to the camp. I was a little worried about the condition of the muddy road but we encountered no trouble. Back at the camp we reported in and when asked where was the hog we said it was still in the woods with a pair of deep ruts leading right to it. A couple of young boys said they would go down and get it for us.  How wonderful ! We went back to the cabin to change clothes and have a celebratory pop. By the time we made it back no one was visible except Rob, that when asked about if the boys found the hog said “its in the cooler”.  Again, how wonderful !

The next day I came and butchered the hog and put it in my freezer. On the day they returned, I had wrapped 1/2 of a backstrap, put it in a ziplock and put it in the checked luggage. It was still frozen on arrival.

What a great time we both had! Just don’t let me judge the weight of the hog you are about to shoot.