I made a quick trip to the ranch for an overnight. I needed to refill some feeders, fix one, adjust a couple. I also checked the cameras. Then, I pulled up an old well pump. You know…ranch stuff.
I planned to hunt for hogs a little while I was there. Well, the first night was a big nothing burger, except for a jackrabbit. Can you eat jackrabbit? From what I see online, the jury is out on that one. I’m going to lean yes, based on what our European friends have been doing with “hare” for a long time.
Just when I was about to give up on the hog hunting Saturday morning, I decided to go for a stroll. I had been sitting in my tree stand, which has usually been a great view for animals. But I grew tired, and impatient. And I needed to pack up and get going. So, I decided to check on one corner of the property. It was somewhat on a whim. We have received so much rain in the past month, which seems like a non sequitur but it matters.
I hadn’t take more than 15 steps when I heard the first squeal and then a grunt and then another squeal and more grunting. I knew it was close. I could almost smell it. I definitely heard it breathing. Because there has been so much rain in the past month, all the grass was overgrown, a lot. It felt a little like Children of the Corn. Anyone remember that?
Snort. Snort. Grunt. Grunt. Splash splash, snort, grunt. I heard him clearly, but I couldn’t see him. I tried crouching low in the grass. I looked toward my left because that is where I heard the snorting. I also heard the grunting, breathing, and splashing there.
Then I turned every so slightly to my right, and there he was. A big boar. He sounded big. He looked at me, kind of confused. Although, I don’t know if he actually saw me. But he looked in my direction. I took aim quickly at less than 20 feet…that’s right…feet. And took a shot. Clean shot through the vitals, and he dropped almost instantly.
However, since I was on foot chasing this guy, I wasn’t near my truck. Random detail—I recently bought a hand cart from Harbor Freight thinking it might work for this kind of situation. The hand cart is great, just not for this situation, where a piece of dead weight pushing 120, 130, 140 pounds is making the drag experience in thick grass a bit challenging for someone in the second season of life.
All that to say, I did field dress him. The weight was more than I could handle at 9:45 am. I was supposed to be heading home. So I used my seemingly good idea—Harbor Freight foldable hand cart. No knock on Harbor Freight—but it’s probably better suited for something that is not quite literally…dead weight.
Anyway, I got it back and skinned and partially processed pretty quickly.
Here is what part of the weekend looked like, and here are some shots of the results.
I found that cleaning the jackrabbit from a gambrel was much easier than other rabbits I have cleaned.
It was a heavy boar. Not huge, but heavy. I had to field dress it. I often take care of the guts when I get it back to base. But because of where I got this one, and how I planned to haul it out—with a foldable hand cart—I needed to drop some weight.
Don’t judge me. I’m still perfecting my field dressing and skinning. Yes, that is what you think it is in the pelvical region. Like I said…still working on it.
I already gave some of the hog away, but some of it I’m aging. I aged the jackrabbit for 24 hours in my aging fridge. There will be more about that later.
Second Season Outdoors 