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When I was fifteen years old there were two days in the
school year that I was allowed to miss. They were April 1st and
November 1st, the opening day of trout season and opening day of hunting
season respectively.
October 29th finds me taking my fifteen year old son
Reed out of school at 11:00 a.m., a half day early. We are driving
some 450 miles Northwest of Abilene, Texas to hunt quail. Brent
Barrett, from Dallas, had invited my son and me to hunt opening weekend on
his ranch.
Arriving seven hours later, we found a beautiful house
sitting atop a bluff overlooking miles of West Texas countryside, nearest
neighbor ten miles away. The Ranch plus neighboring leased land
comprises approximately 5500 acres.
Brent has an open invitation policy. His friends
can come to the ranch whenever they want to. This Friday night there
will be eight to nine staying for dinner and spending the night.
T-bone steaks and homemade French fries for dinner.
The after dinner entertainment at the Barrett ranch was
not a card game or sitting around telling hunting stories. Seems
like a lot of Brent's friends come for the hog hunting. Reed and I
were asked if we would care to join in. I don't know how others hunt hogs,
but it's high tech at Brent's ranch. Reed's eyes started to
pop as we were told that we would be using a night vision scope, and the
shooters would be using an AR15 and AR 10. Reed would be using a new
Beretta 9mm Storm.
Brent was using the night vision scope as he drove the
Mule, with two shooters on back, and Reed and I in the front seat.
We spent the next two to three hours checking feeders on some nine square
miles of property. Unfortunately for us we didn't find any
hogs this night. We did scare up a jack rabbit when he became the
focus of three shooters with laser lights and full magazines. As
Brent gave the OK to eliminate the varmint, all laser lights tried to
find their mark on the rabbit. With rifles blazing, dust, and
bullets flying the rabbit did an escape act that Houdini would have been
proud of. Brent and I were laughing as the three shooters were
scratching their heads in disbelief that anything could have
escaped that barrage of bullets.
Saturday morning, opening day of quail season, was
beautiful, cool and clear. Between the morning and afternoon hunts
we found nine coveys of quail with twenty to thirty birds each. The
birds weren't holding well for us or the dogs and they were flying like
their lives depended on It speeds of fast and faster! We did manage
to bring a little game to the dinner table that night. After
Saturday night's dinner we had another night's hog hunt. No luck
again, but plenty of fun.
A cold front blew in early Sunday morning along with
some rain. We decided to leave and make an early start of it for
home.
If a hunt is measured by the fun one has and not
necessarily the amount of game bagged, this was a very successful
hunt. Quality time for a father and son at a great location with
super nice people. Memories that will last a lifetime. Thanks,
Brent. |
