Easter Egg Hunting

[sisco]

There comes a time in a boys life where he is somewhere between a boy & man. He is almost sixteen years old and about to move from the world of video games to the world of girls and cars. Before this change comes about it is the duty of a father to teach his son the way of the hunt. Not the typical cottontail or pheasant hunt he is already accustomed to but big game. Dangerous game. An animal to which the instinct of fight is stronger than the instinct of flight. The Feral Easter Egg.

The Feral Egg is an elusive creature, huntable only in the early spring. The theory is that they develop from Common Easter Eggs that were left unfound and unattended after the ritual Easter Sunday egg hunts. The eggs survive by reverting to the wild ways of their ancestors, sometimes growing to proportions equaled only by the ovum of ostriches or emus. Though they may be colorful and fragile looking, one must show them the utmost respect.

Feral eggs can be found in city parks, athletic fields or in your own back yard. Back yard hunting is probably the most convenient as getting permits for public parks can be difficult if not impossible. We decided to hunt our back yard this year. Our neighbors have a larger yard with more cover but they are still a little upset about last years hunt. Get permission before hunting on property other than your own!

The first step in a successful hunt is to scout out the territory for egg nests and locations for placement of decoys. Once a good location with a good egg population is found, the hunt is on!

Typical egg nest




A buck and doe make their way to cover




A mating pair is discovered. Only the buck
Eggs may be taken legally. Bucks are distinguished by their blue color




Hunting over bait is prohibited but the use of decoys is allowed. I have discovered that Lawn Gnomes make the best decoys. For some reason feral eggs are attracted to them and seem to feel safe while near them.
We borrowed this particular gnome from an elderly lady down the street. We will return it sometime after sundown and hope she hasn’t missed it.




Hidden in our blind, I spot a nice sized buck. He is done mating and is returning to the gnome decoy, probably to take a nap.




Son takes careful aim using a Savage 111 in 25.06. 22 rimfire works fine on domestic eggs but you need something a little bigger for the feral variety.

I’m providing backup for him with my Mossberg Persuader 12ga. First four rounds are slugs, next four are 00 buck shot. You can’t be too careful when dealing with a wounded and angry feral.




Nice shot!
It was a good clean kill, the 110 grain Nosler Partition did what it was designed to do.




When the hunt is through, this Bud’s for you!
Some like their feral egg boiled, fried,scrambled or poached. Personally, I would never poach an egg, I always hunt in season and with a permit. I like to grill them with mesquite and some carrots on the side

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Pete Zaria]

Absolutely excellent write-up. Sounds a lot better than the easter egg hunts I remember.

Thanks for the laugh, if you don't mind I'm going to C&P this to a few friends via email. Great stuff.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

[sisco]

Absolutely excellent write-up. Sounds a lot better than the easter egg hunts I remember.

Thanks for the laugh, if you don't mind I'm going to C&P this to a few friends via email. Great stuff.

Peace,
Pete Zaria.

Thanks, go for it!

[PackerBackerToo]

Great!

I'm emailing this as well.

[MadDog]

Thanks for the great post!

[Ridgeline]

Oh wow, I've not been on a feral egg hunt, but looks like a lot of fun, if one is very careful. We need to rememeber to always have a backup hunter with this type of dangerous varmit and the Mossberg 12 ga. would surely serve that purpose. This also conjures up thoughs of "exotic" hunts I've been on ... maybe some of which will end up posted here at some point.

[deadeye72]

I'm going to make sure my sons .308 is sighted in good before Sunday.