AZHunter
Iowa Boy At Heart
Ever since his first hunt was filmed for The Mountain Project last year, Jacob has been excited to get back out javelina hunting. Due to circumstances out of our control, hunting with our friends at The Mountain Project were out. Another good buddy of mine reached out and offered to take us to a favorite pig spot of his. As we were prepping for the hunt, Jacob told me he was going to hunt with my AR this time, following in his big sister's footsteps from two years ago. Who am I to say no?
Opening morning came and we rolled out of the house, getting to the spot my friend marked for us by shooting light. It was cold and windy, so we didn't expect much. We glassed up three cow elk, a forkey muley, a muley doe, and a good bull way off in the distance. We covered both sides of the hillside and surrounding areas from several different angles and sat on water for a bit. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we had the following conversation:
JW: Thanks for getting me into hunting, dad.
Me: My pleasure. Thanks for getting into hunting with me. Why do you like hunting so much?
JW: Because its great time with you.
My heart melted. In the middle of that, we got the news that the shutdown was ending and I was going back to work, finally. We didn't find any pigs that day, but had plans to head out with my buddy Saturday morning. My buddy arrived bright and early and we covered the same hillside and surrounding areas again from different angles. At one point, I looked over from glassing and saw Jacob working on a book report for his homework. I love that he is still that dedicated to his schoolwork and finds balance with hunting and his home responsibilities. We had to make some adjustments to our plan and glassing spot, but finally found the herd of pigs milling about 120 yards away down below the cliff with a 30-40-foot sheer drop. We figured we'd worry about how to get down there after. We finally got Jacob set up and waited for one to turn broadside. When it finally did, he made a great shot and the pig dropped straight in its tracks. I was watching it patiently before we celebrated. It kept struggling and trying to get up, which I figured to be the norm, but the struggle lasted way too long. I was just about to tell Jacob to shoot it again to finish it, when it stood straight up like nothing happened. All I could hear in my head was "I just got the wind knocked out of me!" as it started to trot off. Jacob let a second round fly, but missed the trotting pig. I could see blood on its snout as it was struggling, so I knew it was a dead pig, but that caught me off guard. We finally picked our way down the cliff through the safest route and, after some hands and knees searching, found blood. The javelina only went about 15 yards and piled up. What a great day! A huge thanks to my buddy, Clay, is warranted. Jacob has already started making plans to hunt with him next year, and he's told me that he will be using my Garand for that hunt. Good Lord, what have we created!?!?!
Selfies have become a hunting tradition now.
A boy and his rifle
Homework time
Success!
Opening morning came and we rolled out of the house, getting to the spot my friend marked for us by shooting light. It was cold and windy, so we didn't expect much. We glassed up three cow elk, a forkey muley, a muley doe, and a good bull way off in the distance. We covered both sides of the hillside and surrounding areas from several different angles and sat on water for a bit. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we had the following conversation:
JW: Thanks for getting me into hunting, dad.
Me: My pleasure. Thanks for getting into hunting with me. Why do you like hunting so much?
JW: Because its great time with you.
My heart melted. In the middle of that, we got the news that the shutdown was ending and I was going back to work, finally. We didn't find any pigs that day, but had plans to head out with my buddy Saturday morning. My buddy arrived bright and early and we covered the same hillside and surrounding areas again from different angles. At one point, I looked over from glassing and saw Jacob working on a book report for his homework. I love that he is still that dedicated to his schoolwork and finds balance with hunting and his home responsibilities. We had to make some adjustments to our plan and glassing spot, but finally found the herd of pigs milling about 120 yards away down below the cliff with a 30-40-foot sheer drop. We figured we'd worry about how to get down there after. We finally got Jacob set up and waited for one to turn broadside. When it finally did, he made a great shot and the pig dropped straight in its tracks. I was watching it patiently before we celebrated. It kept struggling and trying to get up, which I figured to be the norm, but the struggle lasted way too long. I was just about to tell Jacob to shoot it again to finish it, when it stood straight up like nothing happened. All I could hear in my head was "I just got the wind knocked out of me!" as it started to trot off. Jacob let a second round fly, but missed the trotting pig. I could see blood on its snout as it was struggling, so I knew it was a dead pig, but that caught me off guard. We finally picked our way down the cliff through the safest route and, after some hands and knees searching, found blood. The javelina only went about 15 yards and piled up. What a great day! A huge thanks to my buddy, Clay, is warranted. Jacob has already started making plans to hunt with him next year, and he's told me that he will be using my Garand for that hunt. Good Lord, what have we created!?!?!
Selfies have become a hunting tradition now.
A boy and his rifle
Homework time
Success!
