date night: spanking hogs

over the past few days...

we've been hog hunting. yep. wild boar hunting. this is where you stop if you're not okay with the idea of hunting.

the first night we weren't all that serious. we struck out for an evening walk in the woods just to get some leisurely exercise and enjoy the peace and quiet. we were just serious enough to carry a rifle with us in case we saw anything. yeah because if we were really serious, shawn would have worn camo or something... i guess carrying a gun is not all that serious. huh. 

anyway, so off we go walking and talking. have you ever noticed that no matter who you are walking with, some of the best talks are had while you're just strolling along. it's true. 

anyway... as we are approaching one of the food plots, which is a field planted with certain vegetation for wildlife to feed; we realize there are several deer already in the field. we then decide to try to be quiet and watch for a little while. there is something so awesome about watching undisturbed wildlife... kind of what i imagine it would be like to be a fly on the wall. 

about that time, we saw a big black hunk of bacon on the far side of the field just pushing his way through. the thing about hogs is they destroy a piece of property. okay, not like destroy beyond repair but they root all over the place and wallow out holes in the roads making big mud holes that are costly and time consuming to repair. they move along rooting all over the place and really make it look bad. i'm sure there is a lot more damage than i know about or you care to read about... all i'm saying is they are considered a nuisance and people try to get rid of them. hence, carrying the gun.

so we watch this big boar for few minutes unable to get a shot. we lose sight of him. we continued our walk thinking maybe we'll catch up to him somewhere else but not really bending over backwards about it. as we were walking down the road kicking up dust and dirt, me in my super comfy sorel boots... i start thinking, i wonder what our friends are doing on this friday night. katie and will had driven down to see some friends in savannah and i was sure their scenery was very different from ours. but were we missing out? maybe missing out on seeing my bf but certainly not missing anything else. and just a few weeks before, shawn and i had gone into savannah for date night at sapphire grill. it was good. it was fairly expensive. worth it? it was for that night. but for tonight, there was no where else i'd rather be than kicking dust and dirt with my hunk, spanking hogs on date night, right here where we're blessed to call home.

as it was starting to get dark we headed back for the house, still not really trying too hard to stay quiet or anything. and what do you know? we walked up on that same boar rooting in the middle of a field. there was a clear shot. shawn hunched over so i could use his shoulder for a gun rest, plugged his ears and waited for me to shoot. i struggled to get steady. i'm blaming it on the new-to-me gun and the hog.

i shot. he ran. sorry for the next part... let's just say, i did hit him and the plantation is down one 210 lb boar. when we found him in the woods on the edge of the field, we realized he was much too gnarly a hog to take to the meat processor. that's the other thing about hogs, they aren't really good for eating so people don't hunt them for meat. they have no natural predators which means they can easily overtake if not controlled...by people with guns. so that's why we hunt them, in order to control the population, in order to maintain the integrity of the property. and to have a killer date night. duh. (pun intended).

"spanking hogs"

we took care of the evidence pig, we turned in for the evening. by this time it was dark and because it was friday night, we enjoyed an adult beverage while discussing the plan for our next date night hunt.

since then we've baited 5 areas with corn and we've walked 2 more nights.... very quietly, for hours, with 2 guns aaannndddd camouflage... and wouldn't you know we haven't seen a single pig! not even a one! and i think, well this has got to be a sight to see for the Man upstairs... here we are husband and wife, decked out in the finest store-bought gear, creeping around His creation, stalking swine as if we can't be seen... i  think again to how it felt that first night being a fly on the wall watching the deer... and... i imagine... man, God must get a pretty funny show from his wall. 

we'll give you an update after tonight's walk. i'm wearing hot pink leopard instead of camo... should be able to sneak right up on 'em.