Random notes and catching up
Man, it is already Wednesday?
William Blake wrote, “The world is too much with us.”
I don’t recall if I’ve used that line before, but it’s relevant here, so I’ll use it again. It’s been one heck of a week out in the “real world”, after returning from a half-week vacation. Seems like I was gone a month, to see the pile of work on my desk and my inbox.
Anyway, just trying to catch up with some random bits and pieces.
First of all, while I didn’t get much chance to write lately, I did have a chance to go have a look at the blogs of some of my virtual friends and compatriots. First, Jon Bryan over at Outdoor Odyssey has been writing about hunting Mearns Quail and such, and related one of his close-call experiences with javelina. Now, as I may have mentioned before, javelina are not really hogs (they’re more like rodents), but they do look the part. Even though relatively small, they have a reputation for ferocity in close quarters, and are equipped with some serious teeth and the ability to put the hurt on a grown man.
Over at Alpha Trilogy, my new friend Darrell has had some great posts lately too. One of my favorites is his post regarding Hillbilly Surfing. It looks a lot like freeboarding, which was waterskiing on a surfboard. It brought back great memories of times spent on the water with my friends.
Ahh… the things we do in the off-season!
Actually, there is no real off-season for hog hunting, and I’ve been jonesing to get out there. Fortunately for me, the CA early deer season opens this weekend, so I’m about to get my fix. I can’t make the opener, but I’ll be there next weekend with bow in hand. The property where I’ll be hunting is also crawling with hogs, so it’s gonna be an opportunity to stick either or both! I can’t wait!
Lots of other stuff going on. I need to check in on the RSS feeds and see what’s going on in the Porcine Press. Also got a new rifle to tell you all about. It goes to the range on Saturday, so reports will follow!
Thanks for sticking around. I promise good things to come.
Thanks for the link. But more importantly, I consider it a real honor to be referred to as “a new friend”. Wow. When I started writing for my blog I didn’t realize that part of the reward would be making new friends that share my passion for the outdoors and love to hunt!
I’m new to freeboarding (or hillbilly surfing as I like to call it), but love it. It is a wild feeling to ride a surfboard behind a boat, especially once you let go of the rope. I generally fall within 15-20 seconds of letting go of the rope, but I have friends that can ’surf’ for 15 minutes or more without a rope. It’s a lot of fun. I’ll be doing some more of it this weekend between spearfishing and regular ole pole and line fishing.
Thanks again for the mention, my friend.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Welcome, Darrell!
Anyone who supports hunting and the outdoors pursuits, AND is willing to be towed behind a boat with nothing but a piece of fiberglass encased styrofoam (no straps or bindings to hold you down) can be my friend.
Even better is that you spearfish… in fresh water! Spent a lot of time in the Atlantic chasing grouper, hogfish, and flounder, but never did much freshwater spearfishing. In NC, you can’t shoot freshwater gamefish (that I know of).
Anyway, glad to have you aboard and looking forward to reading more on your site.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Phillip, thanks for the mention. Javalinas aren’t hogs, but face to face, you wish the one staring you down would just go away!
Hillbilly surfing reminded me of water skiing in an irrigation canal in Phoenix. I’ll do a post on that event soon.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:07 pm