Most of you guys know Matt Schuster. Great guy but he has some demons like most of us. He's famous for showing up at camp for a weekend with a can of soup. Since everyone else brings too much food, he gets by and gains a few pounds in the process.
He called my Thursday and said he and David Waldrop were going to camp. I told him I would come down and visit with them but it's too hot for me to chase hogs around. So I put on some clean khaki pants and t shirt and sandles.
I get there around 11am and they are just pulling up. Matt had shot a boar and even though he figured it couldn't go far, he wanted his crazy dog Montana to trail it for training purposes. Luckily, I had a pair of snakeboots in the truck and I put them on and off we went.
It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay at the other end of the place and in the swamp were most of us are afraid to go without a compass. We got on the trail and it was good enough blood that I was looking ahead as we went. My 1st thought was; "Look at that, theres a dead cow down in here." WRONG! Matt had killed a bruiser of a hog!
Well, Matt has some skeletal problems and can't help much dragging but he did offer David and I his homemade T handle draggin rope. While we were tying it on, we sent Matt back to the truck to take a GPS reading so we could go directly to it. This is NOT the kinda of hog you wouuld mind dragging 10' out of the way.
I leaned my 365# into the handle and looked at David to see what the heck he was doing cause it didn't feel like he was pulling. The poor guy had veins sticking out on his head and sweat dripping off his nose! We gave it a 1,2,3 and got it moving. WE made it about 25 yards and had to stop!
We did this a few more times when I noticed the pulls were getting shorter and the rest stops longer. It's only 95 degrees today and 90% humidity. We had a short Pow Wow and decided even if we could get him back to the truck, we'd never get him up on the tailgate anyway. I asked if there was a 4 wheeler dealership close by. I'd rather buy a 4 wheeler than have a heart attack over draggin a hog! Matt GRACIOUSLY offered to cut him up on the spot so we could carry him out in pieces.
So we didn't get to weight him but I've been around literally hundreds of dead hogs. This baby went 250# EASY and was as solid a hog as I've ever seen. I would dare say 300 but without weighing him, and since I give guys so much crap about overestimating hogs, I won't do it 8-)
This is a hellva wild boar!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/whoffman1955/Pork%20Chops%20and%20Sausage/IMG_0243.jpg)
After David and I were nearly dead, Matt decided we could cut him up.
I told Matt DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/whoffman1955/Pork%20Chops%20and%20Sausage/IMG_0249.jpg)
Thats a big one for sure. :eek:
WOWEE! what a hogzilla! congrats matt and thanx for the great story, biggie!
Wow now there's some pork! I would guess closer to 300# comparing it to my neighbors pigs. Congats to Matt!
Magnus
Nice to see you made it out alive!
That is a bruiser for sure.
:eek: :thumbsup: Thanks for the story Biggie!
Great hog, and a fantastic story. That's why someone always asks a big guy to go on the hunt. :laughing:
aw Biggie, he's just getting you ready for the flatlands up north... he'll be going to 2-a-days soon :D
Great hog, great story and great comaraderie.
Jeez....i thought you said he was your friend Biggie. Sounds like he was trying to kill you two! :D Congratulations Matt!
That is a rhino, I bet his hind quarters weigh 60lbs each. Great story and hog, total tank for sure...
Pack frames and a few trips make any big critter small!
WOW....what a hog!!
Fantastic story....excellent hunt
What a pig..!!!
Hot digity dawg!!!! Shazzam!!!!! How very cool is this one? Way!!
Congratulations Matt!!
Biggie, you and David have my condolences!!!
That's what I call a real rooter tooter!!
Thanks for the story and pictures!
I would have been too winded to type one out..lol
YHS
God bless,Mudd
Oh my, WHAT A TANK!!!!!!
Congrats Matt, how about a story about the hunt?
Everyone keeps telling me you're the best hog hunter they know....you just keep proving them right bud...way to go :notworthy:
"My Biggie"...please don't do that again, you have a moose to kill :archer2:
That is one ugly sonofagun. Same for the pig.
Way to go guys.
Wayne 101 in the shade this afternoon. You were lucky.
Holy Mackerel !!!!! Hogzilla !!!
Nice hog!! Well done
c'mon matt, we need the story!!!!
too bad you didn't have Tom "Diablo" Phillips with ya.....he LIKES carryin' 300# critters outta the woods.... :D
"I leaned my 365# into the handle and looked at David to see what the heck he was doing cause it didn't feel like he was pulling."
Classic...!
Yeah we need the story...
and I thought I was gonna have a heat stroke from just taking the trash out!!! That is a MONSTER!!!
That is a Hogzilla
Pork Chops for everyone :goldtooth:
I guess thats why nobody wanted to go to that part of the swamp. The hogs are too big to get out in one piece.
Sounds like Matt owes you a one 'jumbo animal' recovery mission.
Now that was a BIGGIE one :scared: :scared:
I wish I had been there to help rather than sitting in one more day of rain in Washington !
Sue-e here piggy piggy. :eek:
Man that is a dandy pig :thumbsup:
If it wasn't 95 I would say forget the 4-wheeler, and get a king size portable rotisserie, and eat him on the spot. (http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/eating.gif)
Nice pig Matt. Biggie, I feel your pain. Got a bud who never shots anything big until he knows I'm in camp and always seems to develop back problems when time comes to drag or skin/gut? whats the deal? DB
Man, What a boar hog! I can't help but keep going back and looking at it :eek:
Matt were you sitting 100 yards behind that thing or is it a big boss?
Congrats.
MAN!! That thing looks like a freakin RHINO!! :scared:
that is one big pig.....
well done Matt .
still waiting for the story though !
That's a great hog Matt - way to go! However a real friend would have pissed the hog off and let him chase him closer to the truck before shooting him :biglaugh: - ya gotta go easy on Biggie so he can stick around to kill that Moose ya know! Congrats again on a bruiser of a pig!
Spanky
Now thats a HAWG!
I've got a couple running around my place like that and I've had chances to run an arrow thru em. Haven't yet cause I don't want to drag em out!
That is one heck of a mess of pork. A hog that size might be enough ribs for....one meal.
That sho nuff is one big mutha! :scared:
:notworthy: Are they good to eat when they get that big??
Way to go SHOE!
Nice pig. I did that on my first elk. We tried dragging it for about 50 yards. Then cut it in half and made it 100 yds. I guess that's how you learn. Now I never drag anything, even deer.
Hey Matt, we all need a story, help us out. Gary
The couple of times I`ve hunted with Mat it seems I remember him saying something about a back problem as we were heading in the woods. Another form of "Shustering" I believe.
Very nice porker Bud. Should have called me I was on the river in the boat.RC
A beast for sure.
They both look like tanks, one dead and the other doesn't look to happy.....
I guess will never know, the weight that is.
Man what a brute.
Way to go matt!
Big I think that thing will go three bud!!!!
Congrats hat is a good sized boar,what about the bow/arrow etc?
After a good nights sleep i had to look again :scared: It looks bigger today :help:
Whoa! Superb!
Yup.....that's a pound of pork or three!!!!!!
Biggie.....exercise like that in weather like that ought to get you in prime shape for chasin' that moose in Maine this fall!
:clapper: :clapper:
I agree with Ray. That looks like a solid boar. Kinda long for a swamp hog.
I would Guess Matt is shooting a Quillen Archery Traditions recurve dos`nt look like his normal beat to death bow.Aluminum arrows with " sleeves" for added weight and Magnus II or Zwickey Eskimo heads.He looks like he smells and would be rank...the pig too....RC
Matt needs a good, mean woman to toughen him up a little. How come you south guys don't have him lined up yet???
I don't know how you guys can hunt in that heat and humidity. Although Matt doesn't appear to be sweating too much.
Matt doesn't sweat because he is COOL.
How about some more info on the hunt itself. I know Matt's a bit of a private kinda guy but I know he can write. I would just like to know how it all came together.
What a beast :scared: Congradulations Matt well done.But curious minds are patiently waiting for a few details :campfire:
Biggie: I hope that Matt bought you lunch!
Wow! Now that's a pig. :thumbsup:
One look at that beast and the first thought would of been "Quarter it!" What a hog! :clapper: :clapper:
Wow, what a brute! Congrats Matt! Worked another one out just right... ;) Sorry Biggie!
Need the story!!!
Congradulations man, looks like he'd make a fine horse! LOL
Sure that ain't some kind of a pachyderm?? Yeow!
"...dos`nt look like his normal beat to death bow"
That one blew up after a few hundred hog deaths.
The "Skeleton card" and the "Soup card". Yeah, he's played BOTH of those on me a time or two also!
Wow what a hog Congratulations I think I would have built a fire and BBQ about 30 pounds and then packed out what was left.
WAY TO GO MATT !Ray has pulled that HERNIA CARD on me before but nothing that BIG!
thats awesome, when you mentioned snake boots I was like o no he got struck but a rattler(title made me think that) . . . but then I kept readin and saw where it was going! Awesome!
Yeah, that is a huge porker!! Congrats!!
That's a whopper! Thanks for posting Biggie.
Would enjoy the story Matt.
now thats what i call a pig!!! wow!!! congrats matt sorry to hear ya had to do most of the work Biggie man you look real well lets just say tired. apart from that you da man Biggie :notworthy: :notworthy:
Congrats guys! That sure is a beauty.
Thanks guys, believe it or not, David and I saw this hog on Friday afternoon. While I held my dog, Dave stalked him and got winded. A few minutes later, we spooked a bigger one, at least a longer one, I'm not sure he was heavier, out of a mudhole. This area hadn't been hunted in months and we were really just scouting when we saw the boars - heck, I didn't carry my bow. The next morning we decided to both stalk the area from different directions. We got out about 8 a.m. and after two hours, I had seen gators, a tiny little fawn that let me walk right past as I tried like hell to take its picture with a camera with a drained battery, and one nice buck, but no pigs. As I walked up a dried-up, and rooted up, creek bed, I was just about to head to the truck when I thought I heard a faint grunt. Easing in that directions, I covered fifty yards when a little piglet walked in to view. I jumped behind a big cypress (I was still in a dried up creek of white sand, and soon could see two sows with a whole bunch of babies coming my way. Don't ask me how, but over the next five minutes they walked on each side of me without spooking - that can happen when you are hunting unmolested pigs, but I could smell myself so am still amazed they didn't get a whiff. More pigs were carrying on behind them so I just waited, and sure enough another sow with babies came on trailed by a lean hundred pound boar. I shot as the boar passed at about twenty-yards and sent an arrow right under his heart. This was the first critter I've ever shot at with 3-fingers under, a method my buddy Joey Buchanan has talked me in to trying, and I tend to shoot a little low. That's my excuse anyway! The boar jumped but didn't spook and took a little wider circle around me as the sow rooted less than five yards from me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the big boy coming and he was headed absolutely right at me but would have to turn to get around the big cypress trees to my front. I figured he would go on the side that the sow was on so eased around and got ready. At five yards, he did turn that way and I drew which spooked the sow. Unbelievably the boar just stood there with just his head showing. One more step was all I needed. We faced off for twenty seconds when he took that step and I shot him right through the heart - I could see blood pouring out of him as he ran off but its never too safe to assume anything with big boars so felt like I best get my dog just in case. Lucky for me the BIG MAN had shown up and he is always happy to help out those of us with bad backs (actually Biggie is the kind of guy that is always ready to help out period, which is why he is much loved) . his back stays in shape supporting that big belly. . . .MS
Good stuff Matt!
Nice story & a beauty of a sausage factory!
WAY
Way to go Matt! That is one nice boar!
Pete
Thanks for the story. That was fun. Gary
Thanks for the details, Matt. I think Biggie should bring you along on his Maine moose hunt so you can return the favor...or maybe he will let you be his sub-permittee!! What do you say, Big Guy?
That thing is huge for sure. Great work Matt.
Well done Shoeman! Bruiser of a hog, and totally expected from the likes of you. One of the better "unknown" hog killers on the planet ;)
That's great Matt, congrats again bud :notworthy:
great story- you can always tell who your good friends are when you're moving or have game to drag out.
Thanks for the story Matt! Congrats again!
Congrats thats a monster. :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
My back hurts just looking at the monster hog! Glad to hear I'm not the only camp dog (shows up with a can of soup and mooches) type hunter. Now get back out there and get that longer one.
Way to go Matt.
Great job, Matt! Neat story too!
That is one heck of a hog. Way to go Matt! :scared: I couldn't imagine shooting one that size. But when I do I'll be calling Biggie to help.
Great pig Matt!
Biggie, I agree with you, that one just might shade 300....
Many congrats Matt....wish I'd have been there to see it myself. That is one big boar right there.
Go anymore pics?...I'm sure the gang would love to see them.
Take care.
On that second pic Biggie you look serious! classic pic.
Huge Hog! congrats
Congrats! Mighty fine hog indeed. :thumbsup:
Man i bet your heart was about to jump out of your chest with that monster only 5yds away.
Years ago before i took up trad archery i was hunting in North Alabama on a 6,000 acr private farm.
One morning it was raining and i was easing through the woods when a herd of pigs came running toward me, i had never seen a wild pig before.
Anyway i unloaded my clip and shot and killed a 280 lb pig that was running in my direction and let me tell ya i was shook up to say the least.
My hat goes off to you my friend for holding it together and making a great shot. :thumbsup:
Congrats Matt! What a great story to go with a great boar. I'll bet that pig isa 300 pounder, my friend shot a 300lb barrow hog ( we weighed it biggie )and it was around the same size and of course didn't have any shields and they weigh a lot.
All I can say is WOW. If I lived where there were pigs, I'd most likely be divorced by now.
Good one Matt!
Big ole boar hog Matt...ain't no doubt he'd a went 300lbs.
Way to go Matt! I just wish you were shooting that beautiful selfbow you made.
Matt, Congrats! that sure is one big hog.... did you weigh him?
Congratulations Matt.
Great hog and retreival.
That's no hog - that's a rhinoceros!! :eek:
QuoteOriginally posted by PA stickbow boy:
Matt, Congrats! that sure is one big hog.... did you weigh him?
Read Biggies Post.
Nice hog.
ok, i don't know much about hogs but i'm gonna guess 385#
My wheelbow-afflicted hunting partner (who can't understand my Black Widow Lust, or shooting a fine recurve, or owning any recurve or longbow for that matter) whom I frequently disagree with, swears this is an internet hoax picture. I tried to explain Tradgang to him, again, for the 50th time. He wasn't having any of it, so I gave up. Some people can't stand success, I guess.
Way to go Matt. Great job on this beast. Someday I'll hopefully shoot one.
Matt, Congrats on the little "piglet" you took. :thumbsup: You guys still huntin' at Paradise? I hunted a couple of times years ago when Cass Vickers was a member there. Great piece of woods! Rick.
Shoe!!!!........you didn't give me any shooting credit when you missed that big gobbler this spring using 3-under....you remember us at Martys?.........Now you smoke a big boy and i'm a shooting Zen Master.....BS.....You deserved that rascal! Congrats........You have joined an elite company of 300+ club..Glad to have you!!!!!....dry sand bed??....bayou at the end of Joe's road by the old baker climbing stand? where we kilt 5 one morning? or Sparr lake road west?
Right at the East end of mill creek.
"joined an elite company of 300+ club" Shoe will have to be force fed a few hundred point of pecan twirls to make the 300# fatbboys club!
Great stuff, two thumbs up to all involved. I'll definitely call Biggie next time I have a dead elk down in a hole. But I have to wonder... why do all you guys east of the Mississippi feel you have to get everything out of the woods in one piece? Up in Alaska, where that wasn't an option, I learned to reduce a caribou or sheep to backpack ready chunks in less time than it takes to drag a deer a few hundred yards, and I do the same routinely here in MT. (Yeah, moose take a little longer.) Of course, I don't have friends like Biggie (tee-hee). Cheers, Don
Unfortunately in WI, we are required by law to get it out in one piece & register it before we cut any game up. Dragging is the norm around here, probably causes lots if heart attacks!
You can legally do that on hogs if you wish Mr. Thomas but In Oklahoma where I hunt you can't quarter deer in the field. They have to be checked in and weighed before quartering. My deer cart comes in mighty handy when I get one on the ground. :nono:
Uncle Don...
Your lack of southern redneck hunter knowledge is really showing. You are duly sworn for the next hour, upon reaching your truck, to ride said large animal around showing it off to your family and friends, all of which have a combined tooth count of seven... I mean that's right there on page one of the manual. :readit:
Glad to see this thread still going....after talking to Matt the other day, and him telling me where it all happened was just too cool. Be by that tree a hundred times, and had my share of bruiser boars in that area myself....that made his story that much more special.
Congrats again Matt!
Biggie, I thought you were too smart to let Matt con you into doing his heavy work. Guess not, huh? Anyway, that is a fine hog.Be careful in this heat - you don't want Jill to cash that life insurance policy just yet.
That's a huge hog, congrats Matt
Don, How else is Shoe going to attract a lifemate in south ga if he can't show off his feral hog.. He killed that hog not 100 yards from Lori's Petunia fatal accident.....i think........
Shoe , how about that gun barrel shooting technique? Hopely you have enough male equipment to mount the rascal whole...That is the rule at Paradise....anything over 300# gets stuffed whole......
WOW! Thats a big one. Congrats on hog. :notworthy:
You guys have reminded me how far i've strayed from my red neck roots and I'm ashamed.The next one comes out guts and all for the obligatory ride through town... I promise! Honestly, I wasn't aware of the legal regulations in the states you mentioned. There must be a reason but for them but I can't imagine what it is. Sounds to me like a good way to lose meat to hot weather and knock off aging, overweight bowhunters like... Aw, I guess I don't really know anybody like that. Don
The Game Pole. It s a genetic southern trait that we have to honor. No matter what the lifeless quarry, we have to bring it back, it goes on the game pole.
Best way to tell a southern dead animal hero shot from western? You guessed.......ours is always hanging from something.
Game pole serves as some kind of Vortex for us redneck bowhunters. Also we are bad about frying everything that meets the gambrel.
Don, MD has/had that requirement...and their season starts in Mid-Sept...dead hot!
I called their DNR back when I tried to hunt their archery opener to ask "Why?". The woman told me they felt that if they didn't require them to come out whole, guys could shoot more bucks and claim it was a doe!
She did conceed that I could skin it all the way up to the ears, roll it up and tie it to let the meat cool, as long as the hide was "still attached"...her logic was that if it was "attached" it wasn't removed, even if it was only attached by 2" of hide at the ears!
Kinda cooled my jets to even hunt MD. I LOVE venison and wouldn't treat meat that way for any reason. Things have simplified some down there in recent years.
VA was about the same... had to check them before you skin them, let alone 1/4 them and pack them out.
One young fella in a hunt club I was in down Tidewater VA way, shot a beautiful buck way back in--- early season...near 95* and hung it, skinned it, then 1/4'd it and packed it out a quarter at a time...He packed out EVERYTHING. he laid out the hide, head, and quarters and rebuilt the critter right in front of the check station agent on a tarp.. including the legs/hooves.
They still busted him. I don't hunt VA anymore either...that is just silly IMNSHO (not so humble). But it's the law. Only protest is to not go! :(
Uncle Don, I'd drive all the way out there to help you get an elk out..........as long as you served some of your elk stroganoff when we were done!
I know first hand why DonT brings his game out in chunks--Try dragging a deer up a mountainside,(some folks call em coulees,but if it's more than 20 feet uphill it's a mountain) in neck deep snow, at minus 100, with a frostbitten....well frostbite.
And many thanks to Matt for reminding me why I don't shoot hogs.