Printer Friendly VersionSend to a Friend

Well, it didn’t take much of a sales job or convincing by Steve Langford, longtime hunting buddy of SOF and product development manager for Bushnell. “Brown,” he yelled over the phone, “let’s go hunt some pigs!”

 

I pondered the pros and cons of sitting in the office over the weekend or going hunting for about a nanosecond. ”Do we get to eat them?” I questioned. “You bet…furthermore, the ranch manager has a hell of a cook.”

 

“Count me in,” I replied, already looking forward to good company, good shooting and good eating.

 

Langford had hunted the previous year down in southwest Texas where most of the ranches grow drought and bush. Yeah, you can run some cattle…takes about a thousand acres per cow unit. So many if not most of the ranches in the area have set up hunting operations to pay taxes and buy frijoles and tequila. Hunting for feral pigs, javalina, goats, bobcats…no hunting license needed. You can hunt at night, with any type of light or night vision device all year long. But if you go in the summer, you’re crazy.

 

The hunting party linked up in San Antonio, drove by the Alamo and headed southwest and into scrub brush country. According to the ranch manager, Ruben Garza, this used to be lush grassland until the Civil War (the War of Northern Aggression for all you diehard Confederates), at which time the armies so overgrazed the land that it was degraded beyond repair. Incidentally, Garza told us that the ranch had been in his family for generations from one of the old Spanish land grants. He had as little use for the illegals crossing the border as I do.

 

The quarters were adequate and a pleasant change from the liberal snots running around the streets of Boulder. Yes, that’s right. Boulder, Colorado, where every night on the mall it’s Halloween. Garza’s handyman also doubled as the cook and churned out plenty of Tex-Mex chow to barbeque up our taste buds throughout the five days.

 

Routine quickly set in. Zero your rifles in the morning while some of the crew drove around the ranch putting out corn for bait that was in the line of fire from the various blinds from which we would bring devastating fire on these fearsome beasts with all manner of firesticks. At night, of course, when the critters decided to get some free chow… maybe and then again, as we found out, maybe not. Spotlights and night vision devices were not only allowed but encouraged. Some hardy souls stayed out from before dusk to dawn. I quickly figured out that I could let my hunting partners, Langford or Lynn Kartchner, owner of Alsafe Security, Douglas, Arizona, wake me up when and if it was time to shoot the next day’s dinner.

 

I finally got one, Kartchner popped one and Langford nailed a good size porker. Frankly, mine was the smallest but also the best eating. And, of course, I planned it that way. Heh, heh, heh.

 

SOF also took the opportunity to throw a bunch of gear in the duffle bag which we could T&E to give more justification to the trip other than eating.

 

CONTACTS

Altus Brands/Pro Ears

484 W. Welch Ct.

Traverse City, MI 49686

sales@pro-ears.com

www.pro-ears.com

 

Black Hills Ammunition

PO Box 3090

Rapid City, SD 57709-3090

(605)348-5150

www.black-hills.com

 

EOTAC

1940 Old Dunbar Road

West Columbia, SC 29172

(803)744-9930

www.eotac.com

 

Ferfrans

214 Calle Moreno

San Dimas, CA 91773

(909)599-8094

www.ferfrans.net

 

Harris Bipods/Harris Engineering

999 Broadway

Barlow, KY 42024

(270)334-3633

 

Hornady Mfg., Co.

3625 Old Potash Hwy.

Grand Island, NE 68802-1848

(800)338-3220

www.hornady.com

 

Martin Knives

869 CR 2733

Caddo Mills, TX 75135

(903)527-5893

info@martinknives.com

www.martinknives.com

 

Millett/Bushnell Corporation

9200 Cody

Overland Park, KS 66214-1734

(800)423-3537

www.bushnell.com

 

Night Optics USA, Inc.

5122 Bolsa Avenue., Ste. 101

Huntington Beach, CA 92649

(800)30-NIGHT

sales@nightoptics.com

www.nightoptics.com

 

Remington Arms Company, Inc.

870 Remington Drive

PO Box 700

Madison, NC 27025-0700

(800)243-9700

www.remington.com

 

Rock River Arms

1042 Cleveland Road

Colona, IL 61241

(866)980-ROCK (7625)

www.rockriverarms.com

 

U.S. Optics, Inc.

150 Arovista Circle

Brea, CA 92821

(714)582-1956

sales@usoptics.com

www.usoptics.com