Less than a month to go to javelina season. After a very successful elk season, and with very little vacation time in the bank, the excitement level is tempered somewhat for this trip.

Bullwrinkle Jr. gets to come out and join us for his first trip. I had thought he might be mature enough (he’ll have just turned 10 before the hunt) to carry a .22 and scare up a rabbit for the pot during the hunt, but recently decided otherwise. I had to break it to him a week ago that this wouldn’t happen. He was appropriately devastated, and I felt appropriately awful about it. Of course, I broke it to him with my usual tact and grace, which I’m sure helped leaven the blow. I think that I’ll carry my .22 pistol on my hip, and hand it to him if we run across Peter Cottontail. We’ll see how well he copes with the “you shoot it/you clean it” policy.

Pizza King also finally gets to join the fun with tag and rifle in hand. He’s been gearing up, literally, since his Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man days.

Uberbrewer returns to the circle as well, he was missed during Elkapalooza.

Pops should also be coming out, which means every last cubic inch of every vehicle should be filled with firewood and/or Vitamin G (I find myself secretly hoping we camp on another ant hill). Plus, I kinda hope I get to help get his new FJ Cruiser dusty.

I’ve been thinking about what firearm to carry on this trip. Since the last javelina I shot was at about 40 feet with the ol’ grocery getter, I thought that less than sporting. I carried a .44 revolver last year, and might as well been carrying a pen knife, for all the wildlife we saw. With all the anti-AR15 hysteria in the news this year, and all the times I’ve had to listen to the blathering about “what do you need that for” or “it’s not a hunting rifle”, I’ve decided to throw the 5-round mag in the AR and take it. And I’m going to encourage Uberbrewer, Gerfunken, and Uberjeffe to do the same.

Take that, hippies.