The first afternoon, last saturday, we hit the ranch running. We were all suited up and geared ready to go within an hour...an orientation from Curtis and off we went.
I had the pleasure of hunting with Ted Fry that afternoon. We slipped down a heavily used trail that ran along the scenic Pecos river. Our hope was to find hogs or javelina the first day. While there was a walkable trail along the river, the second of our team had to bushwack through some pretty heavy cover as we paralleled, only to intersect at senderos every few hundred yards.
Everything had a thorn or spine...so after a couple of senderos crossed, Ted offered to switch with me and my river trail
We found lots of sign, all old. We did manage to jump a few deer. One I got to within about 10 yards when my hair stood up on my neck from being watched. I happened to see her ear waggle before she blew out of her bed...it was encouraging to get that close in such heavy cover.
After much walking, we found a lone shade for a bit of a rest. I'm sure Ted will be happy to post a picture of me taking a break to pull cactus spines, so here's one of Ted hard at work...
We had a good talk sitting there under the tree. Ted is an open and honest man, a man with the frailty of human nature that makes mistakes and the courage of few to own up to them and move on. I immediately felt a kindred spirit with Ted and his outlook on life and priorities. I'm truly proud to call Ted a friend now and look forward to many more hunts with him.
That's what Texas sweat is all about really... the making of new friends and solidification of old friendships. It was good to be back in the same situation as previous years...
As the first evening fell, we made our way back to camp with Mel "Irish". He had seen some goats but couldn't make it happen. Ted and I found no game, but a new friendship made, gave us reason to smile as we walked anyway.
Topic: Tales of TX Sweat 2007 - 1st Group (Read 4578 times)
