Kevin's Stories |
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I will hunt any time, anywhere. However, 2:00 am is early and although I was excited about my pig hunt, I was still tired and my energy level could be described as subdued. Not so for my hunting partner, Rick. Most hunters are familiar with “rocker” Ted Nugent, his hunting television show and his enthusiasm and hyperbole. Rick can be described as Ted Nugent on speed. I have known Rick for many years professionally and occasionally socially. His enthusiasm and energy is legendary amongst his friends and acquaintances. So I knew that I was in for a high energy day when I accepted Rick’s invitation to join him on a one day wild pig hunt about a 90 minute drive from our northern California home town. I met Rick at his office at 2:45 am. He was already in high gear and if I was still a little sleepy, Rick’s energy level cured that. He was very excited. He had not hunted pig in several years and he was enjoying his journey back to the sport. Earlier in the year I had given him some advice on where he could do some pheasant hunting. Rick enjoyed that so much he now is returning to big game hunting. I was honored that he asked me to join him on his first big game hunt in many years. I asked Rick to drive because I had just had a spray on bed liner installed in my truck and it needed more time to dry. Rick agreed. When I made that request, I did not realize what a strategic move that was. It was not strategic because I was going to be able to get a little more sleep. By asking Rick to drive, I unknowingly gave him something to do and direct his energy. This is not to say that I was free to take a nap. My job was to occasionally reign in Rick’s enthusiasm so that we would not miss required turnoffs. The conversation was mainly concerning our anticipated hunt. Rick explained what he expected from every aspect of the hunt and how he prepared, complete with sound effects. When conversations about hunting include sound effects, cat napping is out of the question. That did not matter. I was enjoying our conversation and I was delighted that Rick was excited. His enthusiasm was contagious. Even though we almost missed a couple of turnoffs, we arrived at our meeting place 90 minutes early. We were to meet Jim, our friend and guide on this trip. Jim arranged for us to hunt on a private cattle ranch. After we met with Jim he would take us to the ranch to meet the rancher. Rick cannot idle for 90 minutes and frankly by this time I was not idling well either. The temperature was less than 30 degrees but it was me that could not sit still in the truck where it was warm. I spread out my gear on the tailgate of Rick’s truck. I put on my well worn hunting boots and I was confident it would not take long for my toes to warm up. I made sure I had all of my gear in my backpack and cleaned the lenses of my binoculars. Much to my relief, Jim arrived early and we were quickly on our way to the ranch which was about 15 minutes away. It was still dark when we arrived at a locked gate at the entrance to the ranch. We were once again in a waiting mode, waiting for the rancher to arrive to allow us onto the 7500 acre property...
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