Maybe I was just lucky; maybe a charitable act broke the jinx; however, my money is on an unseen helping hand...Thanks Chris!
I have been plagued by all sorts of funny, painful, and seemingly random events in my year long quest to get my first hog. I'm not sure what made me want to try and get a hog. Maybe it was the stories I heard at my club gatherings (Traditional Bowhunters of Maryland) or maybe it was the stories on trad gang or maybe it was just the fact that I love pork! All I know is that I knew not what was in store for me.
I decided that Ray Hammond's Hog Heaven was the place and because of my work and vacation schedule and dependent care availability the 4th of July was the weekend. After I decided that I learned that I need to raise a posse to actually be able to have the hunt. Being new to trad hunting and MD, I turned to Trad Gang. I had only been a member a few months, but was astonished by the charity so I decided to offer to take a vet with me as a guest to thank him or her for their service. It didn't take long to find a deserving soul. After learning of his years of service and some of his wartime experiences eloquently told by his father; I selected Chris Surtees which most of you know or have heard of, and who died an untimely death last November in a traffic accident. What I could not have know at that time was how much of a role he would play in my quest, even after death.
I met Chris at Ray's and immediately felt like he was one of those people that you couldn't dislike even if you wanted to. Quiet, but not shy. A man of conviction but not overbearing and a veritable bloodhound when tracking a blood trail I learned that night. That night I came upon a small hog (probably 50ish lbs) snorkeling in a ditch after corn. I Made a great shot for taking home venison, but as I quickly learned on a hog the placement was probably just a flesh wound. Chris crawled around on hands and knees through hog tunnels for 3 hours in the dark with me trailing the hog. We covered over 300 yards and the last 100 of it he accomplished by following ants who were quickly removing the faint signs of blood. This yankee had never blood trailed in the summer. I learned a lot from Chris that night. The rest of the hunt was uneventful except for the part where I got infected with 'swine flu' we call hog hunting.
So addicted was I that 7 weeks later I was back at Ray's. The last morning of the hunt I was still hunting along a creek bed. We hadn't been seeing many hogs so the pressure was on. I stepped onto the bank and paused to listen. What I heard was an ever increasing sound that made me think that I was too close for comfort to a hive...too late. The yellow jackets stung me repeatedly on the left side of my body from my calf all the way to my shoulder. Those critters chased me for 100 yds before giving up the chase. I tried to soldier on, but the pain was getting too distracting, and while not allergic, the numbers of stings were beginning to make my left side ache and I wasn't sure I could shoot. I walked 3 miles back to camp and became Ray's first 'medical emergency'. He took me into town and got some serious benadryl into me. With only 90 minutes left in the hunt I decided it was better to be miserable hunting than sitting. Ray dropped me off and in minutes was back to collect me. He had seen hogs on the road. There were at least 20 of them with a couple big boars! When I got there I made a 200 yard dash to intercept them. I threw off my pack and other gear as I ran. Once I got close I slowed and eventually was crawling towards them. The wind was good. This was going to be it. Suffice it to say that the next 10 minutes were sheer humiliation. Those hogs schooled me. I outright missed a hog at less than 10 yds walking along the road opposite me. Then there appeared a sow at 15yds in front of me. I had been watching for her near leg to go forward to release (you know the rest of it) and promptly hit her leg. Then a big boar busted me as I tried to draw. Later I learned that a huge black boar kept crossing the road whenever my back was turned. Ray got so frustrated watching through his binoculars he honked and I turned just in time to see that hog disappear. Let me tell you I was seriously demoralized.
My next and 3rd attempt at hogs was Solana 2011. I managed to miss a hog and arrow a second with a clean pass through. The second hog left a blood trail so profuse that you could literally track it standing upright from several feet away. After 120 yds the blood abruptly stopped and we saw where he had rolled in the cedar mulch plugging up the holes. Another lost hog!
I was more determined than ever. During this year's St. Jude's auction I had an idea. I had recently acquired Chris Surtees' 'back-up' Hi-Breed 3-pc longbow. This bow is very similar to the one I had won during the auction to help his family and that I had given back to them. I decided I would use it to take my first hog during my Florida Hog hunt this past weekend. Moreover, I figured others might feel similarly inclined, and I offered it up during the Saint Jude's auction for use this coming deer season after my hog hunt this past weekend.
I arrived in camp on Friday July 8th, 2011 at Nickie Roth's Archery Outfitters in Arcadia, FL. We started with a tour of the ranch on the swamp buggy. Here are some photos of the 1200 acre organic grass fed cattle ranch we were hunting.
(http://i.imgur.com/j9a8G.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/lgVlh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/KY83Y.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/vKd5W.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7ueC2.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/3f0ou.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/E0x5V.jpg)
Part II
The terrain was divers from palmetto thickets to cypress swamps to live oak stands. During our drive we saw a couple hogs, but they scampered away too quickly for a photo. The first night in stand I had four boars come in nearly down wind and before they were clear of the thicket they crossed my scent trail where I entered and one by one disappeared. After another 45 minutes I decided to walk the road slowly towards another feeder before it got dark. Well I got lost and had to turn back and wouldn't you know it there were over a dozen hogs of various sizes under my stand. After a mad dash to try and get in front of the fleeing sounder I learned another lesson...I'm too old to run fast enough to cut off pigs who are trying to get to the next zip code. Fortunately the guide arrived shortly to carry me away, almost literally!
(here is the stand I left too early)
(http://i.imgur.com/3eiNX.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/D1OYw.jpg)
The next morning I climbed into the stand I couldn't find the night before. No hogs came in after the feeder went off and having a serious need to heed nature's call, I found a spot in what had been a palmetto thicket about 100yds down wind of the stand. I remembered the guide informing me on the way in that the ranchers had flattened it and that the hogs pretty much avoided the area now as it didn't offer enough security cover. So there I am 'indisposed' when wouldn't you guess it; a group of 5 or 6 jogs came trotting by in front of me on the far side of the "hogs avoid this' area. I could only laugh. You should have seen them pick up the pace when they got directly downwind...lol
I spent the late morning sneaking around the Cyprus swamp trying to find some bedded pigs. While I didn't see pigs, I did see some beautiful spots in the swamp.
(http://i.imgur.com/Kncxu.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/3eBXN.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/z2lTU.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/opyQW.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/iXxnu.jpg)
Part III
After lunch and a much needed siesta, I asked to head to a different area of the ranch so I could see more of the ranch. My stand was on the bank of a creek that emptied into a lake. The wildlife was breathtaking. I heard alligators, and saw various wading birds, fish and even a turkey. The stand had one two foot wide shooting lane directly in front. About 7:15 two sows started to come in. The large sow was at least 200lbs and the smaller one was under 100lbs. There were only there about 5 minutes and even though it was boars hogs only the old sow got very nervous and spooked taking the little one in tow before they ever stepped into the shooting lane.
About an hour later a lone boar 150lb boar showed up. He was happily munching away at the corn at the perimeter on the stand sight. Whenever he got to the far side of the feeder in my shooting lane he quickly tuned back or turned directly at me. Besides the far dege of the shot lane shot was on the edge of my comfort zone at a little over 20 yards. Then he worked his way back around until he was less than 5 yds from my stand blocked by some palmettos. This was it; a few more feet and I'd have a shot at 3-4 yards. Well as you can probably guess he doubled back and repeated this semi-circle process 3 more time over the course of 30 minutes taunting me to shoot when he got to the far side before turning back towards the stand. As it got darker he got a little jumpier and each time he got closer to my stand I feared he would smell where I had walked in. In fact he got with in 5 feet at one point. Thank goodness I waded along the creek edge as far as possible before stepping out. Had I taken a direct route I'd have been busted for sure. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get a shot. With barely 5 minutes of shooting light left he reached the far side and instead of turning towards me he turned away.
It was now or never. He was hard quartering away and I aimed for that valley between the last rib and front of the hind leg. If I hit my mark the arrow should easily reach forward into the vital. Right at the moment I hit anchor he turns the remaining amount so that he was no longer quartering but facing directly away. I held at anchor hoping he'd turn. Just as I started to let down he turned again resuming the quartering position I pulled back to anchor the couple inches I had let down again and released. Well as fate would have it he didn't stop at quartering away and whether I imagined him stopping or if it was merely a pause I'll never know. What I do know is that by time the arrow got there he was nearly broadside. The sound of the hit was rather dull and he let out a low soft grunt. He started spinning and the waving arrow only added to my concern. I had executed a near perfect shot. In fact I hit him exactly where I wanted to. Unfortunately that is horrible shot placement for a broadside pig. Since my pick up time was only 10 minutes away I waited for the buggy. The guide and a couple other hunters and I took up the trail. There was regular blood or hoof print in the soft sand every few inches. Some blood on the ground and also up on the leaves where he brushed against it. Here we go again, another lost pig I thought. The guide's words from earlier in camp"30 yards dead pig, 300yds no pig" kept ringing in my ears. I found myself thinking about the guy who had paid to hunt with Chris's bow next and was afraid I had somehow imparted bad mojo on the bow. This being only my third hog blood trail I tried to stay alert for a second shot while the others did the majority of the tracking. 75 yards in to the blood trail we found the bloody arrow with the broadhead and 3 inches of arrow missing. Another bad sign, did this mean poor penetration? The blood momentarily got better than almost stopped. Now about 100-125 yards into the trail I look up and there he is dead. Relief isn't even close to what I felt. The boar had circled and died less than 60yds from the stand. We dragged him to the buggy and back to camp for celebration, skinning and photos.
Only after gutting and examining him in camp did the miracle of the shot become clear. No vital organs were hit. He was literally a ΒΌ" from a pure flesh wound. The broadhead entered just in front of the right ham, slid under the spine catching the artery and nicking one kidney and the spinal cord and out the far side a couple inches lower and forward confirming he was nearly broadside by the time the arrow hit.
Here are some photos of my first ever hog and Chris' bow I consider to have on loan from him until I can return it to him (that light on his rear leg spot is a leaf)
Here I am with the hog
To get an appreciation of his size, that is a 60" longbow made by Randy Morin.
This is me with the hog tracking puppy. He found the dead pig hanging on the gambrel as soon as he was let out of the camper.
The other pig was shot by another hunter that night
There were 6 hunters; all took pigs and 3 of us took our first ever hogs. The last 'first' hog taken was taken by a guy who had never hunted anything with any weapon and took it with the first arrow he'd ever loosed at game. So I ask again, which is it? Was I just lucky; did a charitable act break the jinx; or was it an unseen helping hand...Thanks again Chris! We miss your presence, but not your spirit as it continues with us every time we hunt.
Another thing happened on this trip that was very cool. There was a 15yo accomplished hunter who took a hog his first night. The second day in camp I suggested he try to shoot my Toelke LB. Would you know it within a few minutes he was shooting consistently enough at 10-15 yards to hunt with it. He was a natural. He turned to me and said " this is way more fun than my compound".
So i told him go ahead and hunt with it. He had been shooting broadheads and they were flying great. Unfortunately, he didn't get a shot that night, but he was calling me "Uncle Tony" by the end of the hunt...I think we have another convert.
Great story, Tony. You did a great job making it "G" rated after hearing the unabridged version on the phone! :)
You need to go back and fix the pics so just yours is in there.
You're so punchy from finally getting a hog (and no sleep knowing you) you forgot about "trad only" pics... :)
Just get that grinning mug of yours up
Perserverence! Well done. Gear setup pix/specs? Thanks for the story.
Good story and kool pics. Perseverance pays off. congrats! Pup
Here is my set-up
Bow: Randy Morin 3-pc Hi-Breed 60" L/B 65# @ my draw 29"
BH: Abowyer Lg. Bonehead single bevel
Arrow: Victory VForce HV 300 spine 29.75"
Total weight 670gr
Much obliged hunter! Dead nuts head of the nail with that setup.
Congrats Tony !
Thanks Rod, it is due to your tutelage that I had the confidence to even try that shot!
Congrats!
Way to go Tony! I enjoyed your story and it is good to see that there is good mojo working with the Hi-Breed, as expected. :)
John
Great story but I cannot see any pics of the hog???
Not sure what happened to the hog pics
(http://i.imgur.com/ZCI0B.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/nZMJD.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/wl0OM.jpg)
One more
(http://i.imgur.com/3y0NN.jpg)
Congratulations! Awesome story :thumbsup: :campfire:
Well done Tony! Great story and pics.
I too have the "swine flu", hoping it lasts another 40 years or so.
Great Story! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to stick my first pig. Looks like much fun!
There's the grinning mug!! Oh, cute pup too :)
Congrats Chop!.....you need to add a pic of your kill with Chris' bow to the Chris Surtees memorial thread!!!
:clapper:
Good story telling!
The frustration probably makes it that much sweeter. Way to keep at it till you got it done. :thumbsup:
Good job, bud! Congratulations!
Congrats Tony !!!
A little Mojo in that Bow !!!! :clapper:
Thanks for sharing this Tony. This brought a big smile to my face, and I know that it made a Trad/Soldier very happy!
(http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg20/lsurtees/DSC_0253.jpg)
Nice pup and great shot on your pig.
Neat stuff. Cute pup . Future pig dog ?
Nice going Chop, and a BIG CONGRATS on taking a nice Hog.
Way to stick with it Chop!!
Congrats!!
:clapper:
Well done!
Cool! For a minute though, I thought this was a "back to the future hunt"! Or I just got up real late! :D
July 8, 2012
Congrats on a succesful journey!