If I Were the King of the Forest

Our fearless hunting crew...Rick Edwardson, Tom Nesser, Daniel Pigg (me), Denny Pigg, Mike Edwardson, Thom Edwardson, and "Chigger" the dog.

We all made it back from Tennessee in one piece. Our crew left for Monterey, Tennessee (aka Backwoods, USA) last Thursday and stayed at Wilderness Hunting Lodge until Sunday. We were hunting Russian Boar and Razorbacks.
It was a really cool place. We all got boars/hogs we were happy with. I think the best part was hiking around and seeing all of the animals. We got to see boar, fallow deer, elk, buffalo, and a few others.
Tom and Rick both shot good hogs. They said that Rick's hog weighed near 600 pounds. That's a lot of sausage!
This stupid buffalo wouldn't leave us alone when we were out in the woods. My dad tried to chase if off by winging a plastic coke bottle at it. (note to self: a plastic coke bottle doesn't hurt a thousand pound buffalo)
This hunting trip was Sarah's gift to me for my birthday. I REALLY enjoyed it. Thank you for being the World's Best Wife!
I shot my hog three times with a bow before it finally dropped. These things were tough!

And now, let me say that every stereotype about Kentucky and Tennessee was validated within two hours of getting to the lodge:
1. Everyone has three dogs (the two dogs on the lodge porch the whole time were “Chigger” and “Otis”.
2. Jibberish is the language of choice.
3. Moonshine is still made and sold. Our guides were selling quart mason jars for $20. It was a wicked apple blend that was pretty good.
4. Education is not a top priority and schools are pretty scarce. One of our guides had his “young’uns” with him one day. When we made a joke about them missing school and needing to go on Saturday to make up for it, he let us know that they only went to school one day the entire week. (I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried)
5. If you are from the mountains of Tennessee, you drink a sophisticated mans beer. Our guides drank Milwaukee’s Best --- not just in the evenings, but in the morning, driving the four wheeler or truck to and from the lodge, and while out in the field chasing game. Our first night there, one of the guides gave me a backup phone number for if we needed anything and then said, “that’s just in case Todd passes out later and you need some help”.