The Curse - Is It Hereditary?
Any of you who know me know that I am either hopelessly incompetent, or jinxed. Or both. I have foiled assitants who have tried to help me get an elk, who attempted to guide me into Coues, and especially - have broke the confidence of many people who thought they could help me kill a javelina. Finally, after waiting 10 years, I could put the phenomenon to the test; was “the curse” hereditary?
Reaching 10 years of age, my daughter took her Hunter’s Ed class this year, and I took it along with her. She loved the class, and I was a proud papa when her classmates voted her Top Candidate. Now to put those newfound skills to use!
Our javelina hunt was off to a stumbling start - it should have been an omen. We missed the draw, and patiently waited for leftover tags. Finally, sent in our apps for the leftovers and.. “Arrrrgggh” - Promptly had them sent back because they arrived a day early. We turned around and re-mailed them, and Mikaela was ecstatic when our tags arrived. A 37B archery tag for me, a 33/37A/37B Junior tag for her.
The next step in the process was Christmas. “Excited” was an understatement when she unwrapped her new (new to her), appropriately-sized, break action .223 Time marched on, and a cloudy, rainy day in early January found us at the Usery range, getting used to the new rifle. I was nervous - she didn’t do well on the range for her Hunter’s Ed class, and that was with a .22 I had a bit of trepidation as we got set up at our shooting station. She is right handed, but left eye dominant, and that was the root of some of her shooting issues. I let her shoot left-handed, so she could close her right eye. I coached her on sight picture, breathing, and body positioning. She aced the afternoon - the first full box of rounds, shot at 50 yards, saw every round in a 3″ circle. Moving out to 100 yards for the second box saw her put every one within an 8″ circle. Out of bullets, and not wanting too much of a good thing, I decided she was good to go. Up next - “The Hunt”
You couldn’t have assembled a more proficient bunch of pig killers. From AZSJ , JLG - The Pig Whisperer, a virtual javelina doomsday machine, along with his 2 learned compadres dank and kphunter (hangs out at both sites) are Master Glassers; add in our own rk - rk is a “flats-pig-hunting specialist”, and myself. I like to think of myself as a well-read student of javelina hunting - a theorist, if you will, but one with no practical success….
The plan was made - meet at the Circle K in Oracle. From there, JLG would lead us to javelina land. Miky and I arrived a little early, and added to the whole experience by indulging in a breakfast burrito and coffee/hot chocolate while we waited. Soon the others arrived, and we headed convoy style, into the wilds beyond. If we were a yard off of the main road, we were 20 miles. Narrow, winding trails through canyons and around switchbacks; single-lane bridges, muckholes and along a road where there was no shoulder, and nothing but air when you looked out your side window. Finally, we arrived, and to add to the beauty, within view of snow covered mountains and clouds lower than the peaks.
We quickly divided into vectors, and started to glass.
We glassed and glassed, and glassed some more
rk headed off to the south on foot. Looking for Coues or pigs.
Every hour or so, we pulled up and moved along the canyon, to re-set and begin the search again. All those eyes, all those optics - there just [I]had[/I] to be pigs out there somewhere!
And so it went. 9 o’clock, then 11. Stop for a snack. Then we move on. A deer here and there. Lots of cows. But not a javelina yet….
We could see the clouds burning off of the Galiuros to the east…
Tons of open country to the north, on the opposite side of the canyon we were on..
To the west, rolling hills at the base of the snowy mountains. Pig nirvana, in every direction!
The weather was awesome - sunny, and warm. Imagine being in your t-shirts, within view of the snow!
We worked our way east, and finally - began to work our way back. Never did the confidence of the Javelina All-Stars wane. These guys knew what they were doing, and their mission was an honorable one. Nose to the grindstone, we never let up for a second.
Finally though, the afternoon was drawing to a close. Unfortunately, my wife is not well, and had been alone since noon. With an hour and 45 minute drive ahead, Miky and I reluctantly said our good-byes, thanked those assembled for their efforts and companionship, and headed back towards civilization. We really needed to be heading north.
Imagine my surprise when the phone started ringing. I answered it, heard “Marshall??!!” and immediately the call was dropped. A few minutes later it rang again. It was the Pig Whisperer, and in spite of the bad reception, I could hear the excitement in his voice. “Pigs! Marshall! We have pigs!!” No way, I thought to myself. “How many?”, I asked. “At least 3, but I think more! Are you coming back??” I looked at the clock, and did some mental calculations… 20 minutes back, 30-60 minutes, stalk and shoot. Clean kill, another hour to lug, clean and pack into coolers. Not a clean shot - who knows how long? 2 hours, best case scenario. With a lump in my throat, I told JLG that I was sorry - we couldn’t turn back. Mikaela was really upset, but after a nap we talked about it and she started to come around. She’s already chattering about “the guys” and a fall tag.
I want to thank JLG, dank, kp and rk for giving up some time, gas money, and a lot of effort in trying to hook my daughter up with her first javelina. They all volunteered - there was no browbeating involved, JLG especially, even after the fact, was still wracking his brain trying to conjure up another jaunt! My family situation isn’t typical, and a short day afield for Mikaela and I is probably equivalent to a week for many of you. We try and pack a lot of fun and experience into our limited outings. She’s a good kid, and has had a lot of responsibility put on her since she was little. I explained to her last night how disappointed I was too but that inevitably she will learn that doing the right thing is never the easiest thing. Some day she will be glad that we made the choice we did that day. All in all, we had a blast, and that day will last forever.
Posted on 31st January 2009
Under: General, Hunting | 1 Comment »