The adventure started out a little rough. The plan was to head for Texas the following morning after my wife returned from a trail ride in South Dakota. She called me while on the road the night before Chris and I we're to leave and tells me the truck has a problem. "I can't drive faster than 50 MPH because the truck starts bouncing violently!" The next morning I unhook the horse trailer and take the truck out for a spin. Crap! There is a problem. To make a long story short, new tires were in order and by 1:00 in the afternoon the problem was fixed and we were no the road.
Twelve hours later at 01:00 Chris and I where in our favorite Texas camp with our favorite host James Foster at http://www.stretchastring.com/. Not wanting to waste any time, we say hello to James, dropped our bags in our room, changed our clothes and head out to hunt, spending the first fours hours prowling through the dark listening for hog noises. A few hogs were heard and a distant encounter was had, but nothing up close and personal came from our efforts. By 05:00 we called it a morning and by 05:30 we finally laid down for some much needed sleep.
By noon we headed out with James to run the bait sites to see which baits were getting hit. By chance, I figured "maybe I should take my bow, you never know." The second stop of the day was the Dead Cow Stand. As we ease to a stop, to our right we see movement 30 or 40 yards away. PIGS! A sounder was sleeping on the hill side under the shade of a tree. The sound of the Kawasaki Mule disturbs their slumber and they reveal themselves to us.
I jump from the back of the Mule and trot towards them. They in turn begin to bug out of the area and the chase was on. At their hurried trot they start putting distance between us as I was running through the open woods behind them. Their path had them angling down the hill to a fence line that I am running beside. Seeing this I conclude that they may be going under the fence soon so I'd better get on the other side quickly.
I cross the fence, check the wind with my puffer bottle, nock an arrow and began running again on a farm road in their direction. The wind was in my favor so they didn't know they were being perused. One hundred yards down the road I stopped. I lost my visual sight of the pigs. I scanned the hillside and then caught movement about 60 yards ahead of me in the understory. Out of shape and huffing and puffing, I again give chase in their direction. There path has put them closer to the fence. They were indeed going to cross under the fence and soon.
With approximately forty yards between us, they went under the rusted fence and across the red soiled farm road that I was running on. With the wind in my favor they had no clue that I was near. I stopped as they crossed the road and my body welcomed the rest. Standing in the middle of the road gasping for air I watch as one by one the black pigs across the road in a single file. My heart was racing from short burst of exertion need to carry my frame down the road and my legs felt weak from this ridiculously short run. I've let myself get out of shape and I was paying the price.
After crossing the road the pigs head to the bank of a creek that snaked through the ranch about 35 yards from the road. With this, I started to give chase again leaving the road and angling to the pigs with hopes of intercepting a straggler in the line. When the lead pig came to the creek bank it turned at a right angle and started running back towards me. Game on! Their path would put them 20 yards out. Still breathing hard from the chase I prepare myself for a shot as one pig, two pigs, three pigs passed by before I had my bow up, drawn and ready to shoot. When the forth pig came by I was locked and loaded. I was concentrating on a spot behind the pigs shoulder and began tracking him with my bow. I was swinging with his movement and when he was broadside I relaxed my string hand. The string ripped from my glove and the white fletch arrow spun towards the pig piercing through the Texas air. In a flash the arrow made contact. The elevation was perfect, but the arrow struck a little far back. With the impact of the arrow the pig squealed and was knocked off his hooves and over the creek bank. "WOW what a hit!" I thought to myself. I heard him fall down the six foot creek bank and I listened as he thrashing around in the water. Intently concentrating on the pig I shot and the noise it was making, I failed to notice the two pigs that had broke from their lineal formation and were standing 15 yards from me quartering away. A very short time later the shot pig scurried up the opposite bank and ran to catch up with the rest of its sounder. I watched the pigs until they vanished into the underbrush. "Not good" I thought to myself.
The arrow passed completely through and stuck in the bank on the opposite side of the creek and had very good blood sign on it. I had hope, but if a pig doesn't go down in sight the chances of recover diminish quickly.
A couple hours later we return to the site. The point of impact had no blood, the surrounding area had no blood and none of the trails or vegetation in the area showed blood. We did a grid search of the area without positive results. Unfortunately this pig wasn't found.
Here are a few pictures from around the ranch.
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351424.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351424.jpg)
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351461.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351461.jpg)
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Blue Hole 1 (a swimming hole)
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A Picture from the Dirt Pile
This trip was a short intense two day trip. Sleep was not a priority. We were there to hunt and hunt we did. It was the last day of our hunt and neither of us had a pig to show for our efforts. This was the final night and if it wasn't going to happen tonight then we would be going home empty handed.
6:00 o'clock in the evening I headed out to my stand. The stand is known as the dirt pile. This is the stand I shot my first pig from earlier this year. The wind for the evening was fickle. It was coming from three different directions, so I figured the hunt might be a crap shoot. I got in to my natural blind, a small cedar stand with a bare spot in the middle, and set things up for the hunt. In the past I hunted at night with a headlamp which always seems to startle the pigs when the light is turned on. For this hunt I taped a 120 lumens flashlight in the crotch of a tree and planned to turn the light on when I heard the pigs coming to the bait. Pigs are always noisy right...Ha I laugh at that.
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351321.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351321.jpg)
View from the feeder
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View into the blind
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View out of the blind
Time ticks away and the details that were evident in the sunlight were replaced by monochrome highlights provided by the moon's light. These highlights stand out against the night's inky blackness in the woods. The night air is filled with rhythmic sounds of nocturnal insects that surround me along with an occasional cow bawl thrown in. Periodically squeals of fighting pigs will slice through the night air and put me on edge as I ready myself for the coming action. At the dirt pile the action happens fast, but the distant fighting pigs never arrived.
As I sat in the darkness I lean my Double Bull chair back on it's two back legs and rest my back and head on the tree behind me and close my eyes. I convince myself that I don't need to have my eyes open I'll hear a hog long before I'll see one. In my relaxed peaceful state of mind I let my guard down only to be shocked back in to hunter mode when a long exhaled sigh is heard to my right! HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THAT! I practically blurted out. It is as if I was hit with the defibrillating paddles every muscle went tense, my eyes pop open wide and my heart practically leaps out of my chest. Out of fight or flight instinct my head snaps to the right and I see, standing less than eight feet from me, the silhouetted form of a pig. "**** where did you come from" I screamed in my head! This was not what I had planned.
Slowly I tipped the chair forward to get all the legs back on the ground, wrap my hand around my bow and slowly stand hoping my knees don't pop and give me away. I made it...step one complete! The pig was meandering around clueless to my presents. He moved closer to my blind and I was starting to get a little nervous that he might decide to join me in the hide. The next step was to get the light turned on without spooking him. This blind has a lot of room in it and the light was about eight feet away. I ease up to the tree that holds the light and cautiously turn on the light. The light makes a slight double click noise when the button is activated. I slowly push the button in "click , click." Perfect! Step two is complete. The pig showed no sigh of being alerted. Next step, check the wind. Obviously it's not blowing in his direction. The puffer bottle shows the wind is blowing slightly to the left of the bait, which means I'll have a very limited window to shoot him in. Next step get ready for the shot.
The pig works its way to the bait from the right. The flashlight cast a halo about 14 feet in diameter with the brightest part being under the bait barrel. After a couple of minutes the pig breaks the halo with his head and shoulders giving me my first real look at him. 70 pounds was the estimate. I'll take it. Vacuuming up the corn he slowing works his way around the edge of the light. As he stood broadside four yards away I contemplated taking the shot as I drew the bow to anchor only to second guess myself and let down. "You have time, wait for the quartering away shot it's the deadliest shot on these critters" I tell myself. Moving closer to the center of the light I begin to think hard about the wind direction and his location to me. Wanting to make the broadside shot I forced myself to wait for the quartering away shot.
Having all the bait to himself he wasn't feeding in a hurried motion. His movements were slow (for a feeding pig) and care free. Then finally he turned away from me and offering a slight quartering away shot at 4 yards. "Good enough" I thought and with that I pulled the 60" Morrison, Dakota back to full draw, held its 55# weight with my split grip, settled my string hand into position, focused my aim on the opposite side leg and relaxed my string hand.
"Thud" was the sound of the Morrison and a low grunt sound came from the pig on impact. The arrow looked perfect. There was maybe 8" of the fetch end protruding from the pig's side. In an instant he was out of the light's aura and swallowed up by the blackness of the night. I could only track him by sound from that point. I heard the sounds of running followed by rustling of vegetation and then more running. "Uh oh, that didn't sound good" I silently thought. After a little time to calm my nerves I took up the blood trail.
The beginning blood trail was perfect and then the arrow came out where I heard the rustling and from that point on the blood trail was spotty at times with some good sign thrown in once in a while. Two hours later I finally found my pig. Get this; the shot was a double lung hit, the chest cavity was full of blood and the pig ran approximately 135 yards before giving up the ghost.
The End
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351069.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351069.jpg)
My 70 pound pig turned out to be a 145 boar with some little cutters no him. Pretty cool!
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351185.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351185.jpg)
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351120.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351120.jpg)
(http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351149.jpg) (http://images.imagelinky.com/1285351149.jpg)
Sweet! Best time there is in the woods, chasing hogs.
You were hunting just up the road from where I hunt. Congrats on the piggie.
Jeff
WAY TO GO :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
Great story and pics pal!
Congratulations sir! Great story telling! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Atta boy Tom! That is some good eatin right there! :thumbsup:
great story.
Way to go buddy! What BH were you shootin'?
Nice job Tom! Congrats. Be careful running around with an arrow nocked. You don't want the blood trail being your own.
Niiiiice! That's a great looking pig! The last pig is great...looks like you are just hanging out with a random pig! :bigsmyl:
QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Way to go buddy! What BH were you shootin'?
Hi, Curt. Thanks, I was using a Woodsman.
Great story and pics. Congratulations.
Way to cool :thumbsup:
Great story and hunt !!!!
Tom congrats! As always a great story.
Tom, Nice story and nice pig. Fun to go along with you, tom massaro
Tom this is GREAT , Excellent pig and hunt,
what broadheads where you using?
Congrats Tom ! You're a killing machine , and a fine story teller to boot ! Fred
As always buddy it was a blast to spend another Texas hog hunt with you. Great shooting and gutsy move to get up and get that light on in time.
For a guy who has cut his bowhunting teeth on deer and turkey, I have to say that hogs are one of the most exciting animals to hunt. Just can't beat it!
Chris
Good job Tom! Haven't heard from you in awhile and wondered what you were up to, now I know.
Thanks for sharing that was a great story.
Thanks for the compliments everyone.
QuoteOriginally posted by Gerardo:
Tom this is GREAT , Excellent pig and hunt,
what broadheads where you using?
Hi Gerardo! Thanks buddy. I used a Woodsman broadhead and have had the best results when shooting pigs with this head when I waited for a quartering away shot. It's a deadly combination.
QuoteOriginally posted by ksbowman:
Good job Tom! Haven't heard from you in awhile and wondered what you were up to, now I know.
Ha... I wanted to surprise you with this story. We missed having you on this hunt. We quoted you several times during this trip.
"Where would we be if we were still in four wheel drive low?"
"First thing I'm going to do when I get home is (Blank), sit my luggage down and take a shower."
Classic Ben lines. I love them. Your going next time even if we have to come by a kidnap you!
Sounds like a great hunt! Congrats on the hog, looking forward to tasting some BBQ this fall!
Andrew
Thanks for taking us along, Congrats,, and great patients.
Way to go bro!! :clapper: :clapper:
Congratulations Tom. sounds like your Texas trips are way too much fun!
Good stuff Tom!
Todd
Well-done!
Cool pics and great story. Thanks for sharing it.
Gatekeeper,
Nice going,great story per usual & pics.In your HERO picture I detect a bit of resemblance between You & your Tusker !!!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Very nice story and pictures,thanks for shar'n.
:thumbsup:
:thumbsup: :clapper: :clapper:
How did I miss this one Tom - Great story telling and nice shooting on that boar!!
:thumbsup: Congrats! Good shooting!
1
Tom,I missed it too.Thanks for posting,great pics and story congrats.
Good pig. Congrats!
Great job and the resemblance is amazing. :biglaugh:
Your getting to be a regular hand at this hog killing!!
God Bless,
Nathan
Nice. Seems like your hooked on the night hog hunting. Sounds pretty exciting.
Great story. Thanks for sharing it, and congrats on the pig.
SUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :clapper:
Chris, how was your hunt??
QuoteOriginally posted by beachbowhunter:
Chris, how was your hunt??
He choked! :laughing:
Congrats :thumbsup:
That's awesome! I can't wait to hunt pigs in the future.