seems the longer i go...

the farther into the PCP's i get.

i now have two dedicated PCP's and one I'm in the process of completing; my springers are now dust collectors.

the only real "problem" presented by a PCP is the pains it takes to refill them. however...I'm now set up to feed all three of them from the same sources...a hand pump and a SCUBA tank.

i wouldn't dream if doing some of the things with springers that is being done with PCP's now. i recently spoke to a well known airgunsmith who tells me he regularly takes coyote and javelina with his PCP. (i didn't think to ask him what caliber he uses, though, and I'd guess he opts for the .25 caliber as it's a "powerhouse")

over the course of my sixty-eight years I've done quite a lot of hunting with rifles, handguns, bows and airguns. in the course of those years I've done very little actual killing. to me, the kill is NOT the most important event of the hunt...the hunt itself is the result of cumulative experiences during that event and the actual kill itself is only one aspect of it. I've had more successful hunts without kills than with kills.

i had the occasion, once, many years ago, to hunt with a well-known, local, celebrity hunter whom i found it very disconcerting to be hunting with.

the hunt was all about 'him' and how great he envisioned himself to be.

you see, we had come back to camp with an empty game bag. that nite around the campfire, all he did was sulk and complain about how he "shoudda had one". we hadn't even SEEN any pigs that particular day. but...my day was VERY successful.

in the course of traversing the countryside in search of the javelina, i came on a rock formation that had a carving in it that i believe to have been a grave marker for an early explorer of the region; a double beamed cross with the date of, the best i could make out, 1786. i did not have my camera with me so i couldn't take a photo of it. (i always took one with me after that)

i suspect that, in the tradition of the day, someone fell (died) there is why it was carved into the rock. if i am correct and the date is indeed, 1786, that would have meant it was more than likely a Spanish explorer as that was about the time the Spanish settlers were inhabiting the area.

that is what makes a great hunt for me...something of that magnitude...not just the kill...