If you haven’t already signed up, you’ve probably missed out, but I couldn’t go into the weekend without mentioning the upcoming Barbecue Boot Camp coming up in Wilmington, NC. I just found this timely, first because of the recent article in the Wilmington Morning Star newspaper about the upsurge in feral hogs, and because the Boot Camp coincides with the Riverfest celebration. The boot camp is put on by the NC Barbecue Society, and attendees are in for a great weekend of cooking whole hog, eating, socializing, and meeting some great folks.
And yeah… I know, most of you readers aren’t in that area and this means naught to you. That’s OK, though, because a lot of our CA hog hunting means very little to the folks in Wilmington. So I guess we’re even.
As for me, I decided to cancel my Santa Maria hog hunt this weekend. As much as I was looking forward to getting down there and hunting with those guys again, I just realized that I’m going to be gone way too much over the coming six to eight weeks. It seemed to make better sense to stay close to home and take care of things like, you know, my relationship. I’ve also got some work to do on my truck, some time to spend with my daughter, and maybe a few hours to just veg out in front of the TV.
Starting next weekend, I get back into it in earnest. Starting with a trip to Kokopelli Valley with Holly, Dave, and a couple of other folks, I’m then off the following weekend to guide again at Native Hunt. The weekend after that, I’m heading up to Coon Camp Springs to meet this year’s clients and help Dave get set up for the hunts before driving back home for another week. I’ll close out the month by heading back to Coon Camp where I’ll be guiding for a couple of weeks. As soon as I get home, I turn around for a surprise hunt (location will be disclosed at a later date), and then…finally… it will be time to stop and unwind again over Thanksgiving. Following the holiday, it’ll be back to the field for hogs, and maybe some ducks.
In between all that, I’ve got to tend to my day job to pay for all of this.
Ahh… Fall fell. It’s that time of year! As my old friend, Rev. Roy Steward said, “these are the hunters’ ‘High Holy Days’!”
