“He’s deceiving,” his wife, Bonnie Riesbeck said. “He looks nothing like his strength. He’s a very strong person. He can normally outfox anything, man or animal.”
In other words, the boars were destined for the frying pan.
Riesbeck, a State Farm agent for 19 years, said during a “boring” — not boaring — work conference, he talked with another insurance agent, a Vietnam veteran. He asked the man his greatest adrenaline rush.
Riesbeck expected a war story. Instead, the man mentioned killing a mountain goat from 300 yards.
That got Riesbeck thinking. His parents, Julia and Bernard Riesbeck, both died at 50 — his mother from cancer and his father, a year later, from a “broken heart” — and Riesbeck, unsure if he’d inherit their genes, comprised a Bucket List.
Boar hunting was among his “Things To Do Before I Die.”
“He talked about it nonstop for 10 years,” said Natosha Brannigan, a co-worker at Riesbeck’s office on Liberty-Fairfield Road in Fairfield Twp.
“We thought he’d never stop talking about it,” said Office Manager Jackie Taulbee.
That talk turned into action when Riesbeck and his son, Greg, 43, made the 16-hour drive from Middletown to Lake Okeechobee, Fla., in Glades County to a boar hunting camp. At 7 a.m. Feb. 7, the Riesbecks rode in a swamp buggy with a guide and two “catch dogs,” pit bulls bred to track boars. When the boars were spotted and the dogs traced their scents, Barney Riesbeck jumped off the vehicle and chased one.
After the dog caught the boar, Riesbeck stabbed it several times until it collapsed and died. He killed two boars and his son killed one with a knife, the other with a .356 Magnum. The boars weighed between 150 and 200 pounds.
The hunt lasted less than 2½ hours. They paid $245 for each boar.
“We had a blast,” Riesbeck said. “It truly was an adventure.”
But without the assistance from the dogs, Riesbeck joked he’d still be in Florida.
Riesbeck said he’d go boar hunting “right now” if not for the drive.
This wasn’t the first Bucket List adventure for Riesbeck, who feels 23, but refused to reveal his age.
He has fished from a kayak for salmon and halibut in 300 feet of water in Alaska, and one day, hopes to catch red fish and have a crawfish boil in Louisiana, where “the road stops.”
Later in the conversation, while sitting in his office decorated with awards, Riesbeck revealed his soft side. He’s really not a hunter disguised as a mild-mannered insurance salesman.
Being a good father, husband, grandfather, businessman and community member dominate his Bucket List. He has seven children, eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild on the way.
“That’s what it’s all about, right?” he said. “Life has been good to me.”
Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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