Huh.

[camwyn]

Ever enter a contest on a whim, figuring you never win anything anyway, and then get told you did?

Ever have to figure out how to get to Texas as a result?

I seem to have won a three-day, two-night hunt at a Texas hunting ranch. A hog hunt, specifically. I always promised myself that if I ever went from just target shooting in archery to bow hunting, I would hunt something that a) I was willing to eat and b) was probably ecologically damaging, and, well.... it's hogs. Not like I haven't got plenty of recipes for pork, assuming I manage to actually kill one. And not like they aren't a problem when they go feral, so....

Yeah.

I don't even know what country western song I'm living in now.

Comments

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Cool! Congrats! (If you come through DFW, I would love to buy you dinner or something! :D)

[camwyn]

The ranch is about an hour and a half's drive south of Austin. According to the terms of the contest, I have to claim the hunt by the 16th, but I can schedule the hunt for any time between now and December of next year that isn't already reserved for someone else. Once I have an idea of when I'm going to go, I'll figure out how I'm gonna be traveling there, since my last (and so far only) trip to Texas was arranged by the Red Cross.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Cool - that's a beautiful part of the state. Gets pretty deserty. Flying into Austin will be the easiest, and there's a lot more direct flights available than there used to be. Absolutely miserable for hunting this time of year, though. (I'm headed down there on vacation in a week and a half, but we're going tubing and to Schlitterbahn!)

[camwyn]

I was there in July of 2002. Drove as far southeast as Corpus Christi and as far west as Uvalde, so that stretch of highway is my general idea of what the region looks like. Never did get to go to Schlitterbahn, but the drive-through wildlife safari in... I think New Braunfels?... that was pretty cool.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

There's a couple of big wildlife places down there. :)

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Oh, and there's a couple of REALLY good sausage companies down there, too. :D The folks we send our wild hogs to are just south of Austin, IIRC.) And New Braunfels is awesome fun.

[prodigal.livejournal.com]

I was going to make the same offer.

I recommend touring the Texas capital if you can arrange the time, but I've always been a sucker for that kind of thing.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

There's so much cool stuff in Austin- the bats under the Congress Street Bridge. LOTS of good places to eat, too.

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

Cool! :D

Good luck figuring out how to get there, and I hope it's a fun trip!

Also yum pork. That reminds me (as usual) that I still want to buy a freezer chest and half an animal from the family-run slaughterhouse a few miles away.

[newredshoes]

I have no ideas, but I like this song. Heck yeah for you!

[ymfaery]

Congratulations! That's kind of hilariously awesome. :Db

[mercuriazs.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO GO

SO AWESOME

My greatest regret in high school is not going on a trip to study the wild hogs!

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

Only thing I ever won was an ebook reader. I carefully don't risk winning anything requiring travel, especially if it isn't expenses paid.

[sophistry]

WHAT

AWESOME

Clearly you are living in the country western song of badass.

[derien.livejournal.com]

My word. I hope you pull a mean bow - the difference between hunter and hunted is not great when you're talking about wild hogs. Do you have one of those spears with the crosspiece, too?

[camwyn]

The heaviest bow I own is a 55 to 60 pound longbow. It's been a while since I shot it, so I'll be practicing a lot before this. and asking Uncle Michael about borrowing a firearm after learning to shoot one, just in case.

[leeshajoy.livejournal.com]

So just how enthused is your Adrian Shephard headvoice just now? :)

[camwyn]

In the immortal words of Flaco the lizard, "Ska-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

[batyatoon]

Now I want to find that Niven short story about whatsisname at the Draco Tavern getting invited on a hunt by aliens ...

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

oooooooooooooooer.

And yeah, thinning the feral hogs in that area counts as civic duty for sure, if you can manage it.

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

Wow, congrats!

I would have to say you sound like you're living in a Garth Brooks type of song.

[lions-wings.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

And at least there's one thing made easier about getting to Texas: it can't dodge away.

[mountainspeak.livejournal.com]

Awesome!