Hog Hunt

I'm sure everyone already saw the pictures on Facebook so I won't include the blurry pictures I took with my cell phone.  Elias had a fun hunt and was able to shoot a 175 pound boar.  Now that I gave away the ending, I will fill in the details. 

We have been out hunting several times and Elias hasn't been able to shoot anything.  He loves hunting and I could see that he was starting to lose interest.  We were hunting at a friends place (who is the definition of Southern hospitality) and we weren't able to take a shot at anything.  They took us over to a ranch that does hog hunts.  The ranch owner loaded us up on his Kawasaki Mule and gave us a great tour of the ranch.  Elias absolutely loved it.  The owner was telling us stories the whole time. 

He has one place that is about 40 acres and I think he had about 20 hogs on it.  I could have those numbers switched around.  Anyway, he called it the Honey Hole.  It was the place that everyone went when they werent able to get a hog during their hunt. 

Before we went in, the ranch owner told Elias that there was one boar in there that might charge.  He had a pretty mean disposition.  Then he told him that if the hog charged, get behind a tree and wait for the hog to chose a side and then jump to the opposite side of the tree.  I asked Elias after the hunt if he was scared.  He told me that he was totally freaked out. 

We spotted a bunch of hogs down below us and walked down to where we were within 30-40 yards of them.  There was a nice little hog that was standing right in front and I thought that would be a perfect one for him to shoot.  He was further down the hill with the rancher and they were picking out hogs.  The rancher crouched down and put his hand on the tree with his arm straight out so that Elias could rest the gun on his arm.  Elias was shaking like crazy.  I kept thinking he was going to shoot but he didn't.  The pigs started moving and a great big boar stepped right out in front of all the rest of them.  You pay by the pound and I kept saying to myself, "don't shoot that one, find a little one."  About that time the rifle goes off and the biggest one drops.

He was really excited and pretty nervous too.  He hasn't stopped talking about it since it happened.  The rancher was extremely good with him and I would recommend Langley Ranch to anyone that wants to go hog hunting.  They have a great website at http://www.texaswildhoghunting.com/.  Elias' picture should be there soon. 

(I, Tami, added the photos for those of you who aren't facebookers.)

Work Shirt and Bald Eagles

I realized today that I have a sissy job.  I was with the scouts for the morning so Tami and the kids were going to clean out the weeds, trees and other things growing along the side of the yard.  Tami told the boys to go put on work clothes so they could help out.  Silas walked out of his bedroom with a button up shirt ready to go "work".  When Tami told me the story, I realized that I officially have a pansy job.  He didn't know that a work shirt should involve flannel.

We were driving home from Sam's club today and Silas was on a roll.   He had cut part of Tami's segal palm and we were telling him that he shouldn't do that.  He told us that he didn't like it and it poked him so he took the shears and cut the plant.  His brain told him to do it and as long as he didn't like the plant, he was going to continue to cut it.  I told him that if he cut the plant, I was going to shave his head bald.  He immediately came back with, "that would be awesome because then kids would call me a bald eagle."  For some reason, I don't think I won that argument.