2023 SC Deer Hunt Day 6 - Mental Reconnaissance

I was up early and out the door before 4:00.  Despite the early hour, there were quite a few cars on the road, but it was still a work day for most.  

I finished the last half hour of Quiet; it was mostly about raising introverted kids so I let my mind wander.

I've already replayed that shot on the hog over and over at least 1000 times and I'm sure I'll do it much more in the next few days and weeks.  I think a lot about what I could have done differently.  I could have waited a few more seconds to possibly steady myself just a bit more.  I could have gone for a body shot instead of a head shot and hoped there wasn't swamp or impenetrable jungle around.  I could have gone for a shoulder shot since I probably would not have been able to eat a large boar (big hogs that come in alone are usually boars).  I could have paused and not taken a shot in the dark at that distance.

It is pretty incredible.  Under range conditions, it isn't a difficult shot.  I calculated I was probably off by 0.03 degrees (1.78 minutes/MOA if one prefers that kind of thing).  That is an incredibly small margin of error.  I know I'm not the greatest shot, and I do wish I had more time to practice.  

I'm not sure if there was a car show or what, but there were several stanced (stupid!!!!) cars with fart-can exhausts driving like ass hats near Spartanburg.  I felt like I was in a sophomoric version of Fast and Furious.  They all got off at the same exit so I suspect it wasn't a coincidence.  I was happy to see them go.

After finishing Quiet, I moved on to Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner.  There is quite a bit of controversy around this book, but I'm not sure why.  I didn't find many of the conclusions that far fetched.  I enjoyed the way they talked statistics and the book was quite funny in places as well.  There may be some confirmation bias since I do believe much of history can be better understood not as the result of historical planned actions but as the result of unintended consequences.

The fog was once again intense and pretty through the mountains.  My coffee stop was also better than my drive south.

Given the number of deer I've seen while hunting hogs, I wasn't expecting the deer hunting to be quite as challenging as it was.  I think I'm going to go back to give it another go next year.  Most of the guys I met on this trip were fun to hang out with and I did enjoy hunting deer with Rick more than at home.  Longer term I need to figure out where deer hunting fits in with everything else (and finances).

I'll have more time to do mental reconnaissance over the coming weeks and days.  The last time I missed a big game animal was back in 2013.  I was due for a miss and it does come with an appropriate level of humility.  But not everything needs to be a lesson - sometimes I just fail...