I was invited to hunt on a friend's property in east Texas. The goal was to get a pig with my long bow. Now I will be the first to admit I know nothing about pig hunting but I was willing to give it a shot.
A couple of weeks ago I was shown around the property so I wouldn't wander off onto someone else's place and to also get an idea of the lay of the land. We planned to hunt but the rain was so bad it just wasn't going to happen. Any hunting I would do would be on my own. As I waited for this weekend to get here I read everything I could find about pig hunting and picked a few brains also. Among them was Sharpster. He taught me how to get my broadheads so sharp that they would shave hair without even touching the skin.
I arrived Friday about 3 pm. When I initially showed up two weeks ago my host had a wall tent set up and had graciously offered to let me bunk there. Remember the rain I talked about? Well since that tent had cold and cold running water and a pleasant view of the starts on a clear night I had decided to bring my own tent this time.
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The plan was to hunt feeders which must be the norm in Texas but the hogs had torn the feeders up. I didn't know that the first evening as I sat in the tripod and waited for the feeder to go off. I waited and waited and waited. Dang thing never went off so after dark I took a look at it. The pigs had torn it up again.
I went back to the tent and pondered what the plan was for the morning since the feeders were now out of the equation. There was a long dirt road on the property and since it was loaded with pig sign I thought just slipping along that road might work.
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The day was just getting started as I began easing down the dirt road the next morning. I had traveled about 50 yards when I heard a sound that was very close. The sound was just around the corner and was not unlike my lab shaking his head and making his ears flop back and forth. I quickly knelt down in some knee high grass and waited to see what was coming around the corner. Less than a minute went by and a huge reddish brown porker came around the corner. We were nose to snout and only 15 yards apart. I had been told pigs had poor eyesight so I wasn't worried as long as I stayed still. Ha! Fat chance, this pig obviously had no problem seeing at all! He snorted bon voyage and took off. I know I didn't' get a shot but I had seen a wild pig. I smiled and kept saying to myself, "That was so cool."
The wallow I had found was only about 40 yards further so I crept that way. Just as I arrived I heard more grunts heading my way. I quickly made my way inside the pines to avoid being caught in the open again yet I was only about 10 yards from the wallow. I knew porkchops were mine in a matter of minutes now that I was in a hiding place and not likely to be seen.
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The first pig that showed up was white with splotches all over. He made it to the wallow and immediately began enjoying himself. I was only 10 yards away but I couldn't get a shot due to a 2nd pig headed to the wallow at 20 yards. I could only watch as "Splotch" happily enjoyed his mud bath within spitting distance. The 2nd pig finally arrived and was bigger than "Splotch" so I decided to take him instead. I began my draw. "Splotch" must have seen me through a mud coated eyeball and sounded the warning. Both pigs took off and left me with no doubt that pigs could see through a lead wall.
As I eased along another 40 yards I came across this fellow. His glare seemed to say "Slow down! You expect to see anything going that fast?" I took his advice and slowed down.
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Moving like molasses I oozed along. Suddenly I heard more grunts and they were headed my way. Not from the road this time but from an old clearcut area off to the side of the road. I stood still and listened to the grunts getting closer and closer. Suddenly there were two dark black pigs and they were about 20 yards away. I waited for the bigger of the two to get broadside and the arrow was on the way. I watched it hit right were I wanted it. The pig reversed ends and I could see the arrow did not poke through on the other side. Still from seeing where the arrow was I knew that pig was mine. I looked at my watch. I had been hunting a whopping hour and had managed to get about 200 yards from the tent.
I walked back to the tent and ate and kept busy waiting for an hour to go by. After an hour I went back fully expecting to find one dead pig. It didn't turn out that way. I couldn't find a drop of blood and the ground was so covered with sign I couldn't tell which was my pig. I looked for 5 hours crisscrossing the thicket but never found any blood, pig or my arrow. For the life of me I can't figure out what went wrong.
I went to bed early as I listened to the rain hitting the tent. I was glad I had brought my own and was not in the tent with a view of the stars. When the alarm went off I headed back to the wallow to get set up before daylight. Just after daybreak I heard the grunts I was expecting. The only problem was they were not coming down the road as planned, they were coming from the thicket I was concealed in and they were getting very close. Not that much of a problem, just had to turn around and face the opposite way. In a few minutes I had 5 grown pigs and 3 piglets closing the distance. When they got within 20 yards I waited for a broadside shot. But no they didn't continue moving right to left. They changed directions and began coming straight at me. The lead pig was at 7 yards when he finally busted me.
The score for my trip was pigs 16 and me 0. Still I can't tell you how happy I was other than the one that I couldn't find. So if anyone would like to take a pig newbie under your wing I'd be happy as a "Splotch" in a wallow.
Thanks... Was a good read.
... mike ...
i feel your "pain"!
You'll score one someday, just keep at it. Thanks for sharing the photos and tale.
With all those close encounters ,I know you had a blast. :thumbsup:
Sounds like a great time to me!
Great story man! Thanks for taking us along.
Lessons I learned from my first ever pig hunt.
Pigs have fine eye sight
deer are easier to sneak up on (snuck up within 15 yards on three deer this weekend)
If the wind is swirling forget it
A full grown pig is bigger than I would have thought. May have been nerves with such close range and on the ground but some of those pigs looked like baby elephants to me
Very tough to kill. I believe my shot would have killed any whitetail, not so with the pig
If stalking around remember the turtle and go very slowly
I don't know if I will get to go back to this property. I was slated to go on the Steve fiasco hunt and when that fell through this gentalman offered to let me hunt on his place.
Even if I never get invited again I will always be grateful for this chance.
I know we have feral hogs here in AR but I don't have a clue if any of the public WMAs have any. I sure hope so because it was the most fun I've had in a long time. Unless I get invited again the WMAs are all I have.
:)
Good story .I know you had fun seeing pork like that.
Keep after`m and it`ll happen. I once hunted Fort Stewart here in South Ga a lot during the Summer. I would go at least once a week for a days hunt . I had pigs under 10 yards 11 times and did`nt get a shot. Took a break and hit a WMA in early bow season and killed 5 in 3 days.
Point is all the close calls you had could be dead pigs next time.RC
Welcome to Hog Hunting!!!
Robert is correct...you can get busted 12 times in a row and kill the next 6. I've done it myself. Those crazy S. GA winds can really wreak havoc on a hog hunter.
Baby Elephants?....never heard that term before, but I like the term North American Rhino myself. :)
I hope you get to make it back to that property....I'll be pulling for ya. :thumbsup:
remember to shoot them low and forward. my buddy runs a hog bowhuntin ranch and I help him all the time to kill wounded hogs in it after big groups come out for the weekend. They can live for days on shots that would kill a deer. Most shots are too high and back, high shots heal no time flat.
most of the time if they are rooting and your down wind you can get close quick, especailly if they are on a pipeline and you slip into the woods.
Sounds like you had fun Pac. Wish I was there with ya!
I have a friend that has a hog lease and he always says "take any shot you like as long as it's low and quartering away."
I've had hunts where I could stalk up and poke a hog with my bow and the next one you try and slow draw and they blow out.
You just never know.
They are tough, and I would argue that they recover better from arrow wounds than most game animals.
Great read! Thanks for taking us along. :thumbsup:
I can relate to your hunt. I went hog hunting for the first time this year and had several encounters, three shots but no pork but I am hooked on hog hunting. It is a blast! Good luck with your quest.
Great story...plenty of excitement in a short period of time. head back out there and put a hurtin on those porkers!
Great story...keep at it...welcome to pig hunting.
Great story, thanks for sharing.
wonderful read... truly enjoyed it.
Now you're hooked.
A hog is all "guts" anywhere behind a line straight up the front leg.
Occasionally you get lucky on a shot over the midline of the hog and catch some lung, but I'd count on anything behind directly up the front leg as a gut hit.
Hogs will always die when gut shot..it just takes them longer than deer cause they're tougher.
Don't shoot hogs behind the front leg unless its a quartering away shot, and don't shoot them above half way up the body if you want to recover.
Well done on the story. It sounds like a great hunt. Thanks for sharing.
Well that was a great read. Glad to hear that you found a place to go. Good luck with the hogs going back there.
Pac, welcome to HOG-O-HOLICS, :scared: I been struggling with this addiction for years, there is no known cure, the only real releaf I can get is to go as much as I can.
As has been said, the vitals on hog are foreword, my first arrow, is the one on the left and it hit guts, I had to follow up and put another arrow in it.
The one on the right hit his hart.
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Whether you get to kill anything or not hunting hogs is a blast! Thanks for sharing!
QuoteOriginally posted by Bjorn:
Whether you get to kill anything or not hunting hogs is a blast! Thanks for sharing!
I couldn't agree more. The numerous up close and personal ranges I was at was unbelievable to me. I've never did any kind of still hunting or stalking before. I didn't know I would be any good at it but I know differently now. Seeing so many pigs was fantastic. Kind of how I feel when hunting small game. Lots of targets and chances but these were way bigger than squierrels or rabbits. Getting a pig was secondary and I was fine with that.
My only regret is I waited until I was 45 before trying pig hunting. Got a lot of enjoyment to make up for.
Enjoyed your story! Better luck next time. Beebe is close enough to me that we should get together one Saturday and fling some arrows at stumps!
QuoteOriginally posted by tmccall:
Enjoyed your story! Better luck next time. Beebe is close enough to me that we should get together one Saturday and fling some arrows at stumps!
Is henry gray close enough? There is a 3D range there but no targets. There are still a zillion stumps and different things to shoot at. That's where I usually go stumping if you would like to go sometime.
Sounds good. I'll get with you and we'll work out a date/time...
Great story Pac. :thumbsup:
Having recently hunted hogs for the first time myself, down at Ray Hammonds, I know well the feeling of the "new addiction". Man I wish we had hogs here in the northeast!!! I'm seriously thinkin of going back down to Ray's place this fall. He says it's the best time of year down at "Hog Heaven". Just reading your story's got me itchin to get back after them!
:pray:
Ron