Next morning, Carlton went back to hunt.  Roger, Ray and I went back to try to find my hog.

W made sure that it was good light before we went in.  We didn't want anything to interfere with what we were trying to do this time.

We had marked the bed by tying my handkerchief to one of the saplings last night so we were able to go straight to the bed without any problems.

There was no blood beyond the bed.    We headed off in the direction the hog had gone but still couldn't find any sign.  We each kind of went our own separate way, but it was no good.  We didn't find my hog.

I'm sick over it.  I know that hog was hit hard.  He had to be to lay down that quickly.  Blood on the left side of the rock, where I found the arrow, and the blood coverage on the arrow all indicated a pass through.  The blood trail was good from the hit site to the bed.

Laying in that bed, his would sealed up and he just didn't bleed when he left.  Was the still bleeding internally?

We won't ever know.

Hope did her part.  I didn't do mine.  I didn't guide that arrow effectively.

Hope accounted for two armadillo's and wounded a hog, perhaps fatally, but the lack of closure is on me.

That is a great bow, and I'm honored to have carried it on this hunt.

I've got some family issues to take care of tomorrow and won't be back to comment until late tomorrow afternoon or evening.

I'll always wonder if I handled this one wrong.  Hindsight is always 20-20, but even with hindsight, I don't know if I would do anything different with the exception of waiting longer to trail.

It was a great hunt!!!  I made some great memories down in those swamps, but there will always be a small part missing from the memory.

Thanks for listening to my tale.

As usual Ray made the best choice on recovery. There was obviously no sign of gut on the arrow so no reason to wait till morning and if the hog had died right away it would have spoiled in the heat if you had waited till morning.Thats one of the down sides of hunting in the souths heat.If I had to bet on it I would say you shot high.RC

You may be right, Robert. It was strange. The blood sign was really strong, regular, and easy to follow once I figured out which way he'd headed.

It was that gloaming just before full dark when Marvin shot...and sometimes depth perception and angles are difficult to be certain about in that type of light.

The bedded blood had some clear liquid in it on one side...funny looking. It sure disappeared and the way he ran he went out into the open swamp with no undergrowth.

I walked every single trail for 180 degrees out to about 150 yards the next morning trying to pick up SOMETHING...but it just wasn't there to see.

Nothing goes to waste of course...he'll be food for lots of stuff if he does die..and if he doesn't he'll recover and someone will get him two months from now. Hogs are unbelievably resilient.

On the other hand, if you make a perfect shot they can go down quick!

Marvin M

Sorry to hear about your unhappy ending to a great hunt. It happens. Still sucks. But it happens anyway. You did all you could.

I was so fired up from reading your story (at work) I got home and shot my hog target in the rain this evening.

I'll be there in Oct so your tips were welcome. I hunted in Feb this year and we had no bugs at all. You recommended not wearing cotton T's. What do you suggest?

Dave

A shannons bug tamer teamed with a thermacel is the way to go.RC

The leafy model is hot. I used an old one with the sleeves cut out with a cotton longsleeve tshirt for years. Keeps the skeeters off your back when your walking .When you stop the tcell takes over.RC

Red,

Those military surplus shirts worked great for me.  Reminded me of the stuff I wore in the USMC in the 70's and 80's.  I got three of them in woodland camo for 15.

Thanks for the comments.  It was a great hunt.  I'd go back in a heartbeat.  Saw lots of hogs and had a blast.

Hogs are tough critters. You've got to hit them low and tite to the elbow. I shot one mid body right behid the shoulder a few years back. Perfect pass through. The fat wiped the arrow clean. Very little blood. Never did find that hog. It would have been a perfect double lung on a whitetail and a quick pile up. Looked for two days and still found no additional sign. Sorry for your loss but **** happens. That is why they call it hunting. Thanks for sharing. Job well done.  

That sucks losing the hog but it seems like you had a great time other than that. I will tell you from experience that where you often think you hit the hog isn't always the case. I realized this when I started self filming my hunts. At least with me I think i am hitting lower than what actually happens. Thanks for the tips, my friends and I are heading down in September.

Great story!  Those hogs can be tough!

I'll share my Fri night hunt. Marvin covered everything extremely well so I'll just relate my flub up. We headed out to the swamp around 4:45 Fri eve and I took the road to the right and bore left all the way and after about a mile the terrain edged upward a bit. Later I figured it was a bluff right on the river. The road opened up through thick grass into a field about a couple of acres in size. As I spotted the feeder at the far end I saw a 100# boar messing around looking for corn. He appeared agitated and I crept toward him as best I could through the field as it was so thick around it I couldn't slip into the woods. Well he eventually saw me and hoofed off. I found a spot behind some weeds on the edge of the field with favorable wind and waited.

About half an hour later that hog or another came to the edge of the field and probably smelled me and bolted. Half an hour later a hog came out across the field and either saw me or smelled me or the thermacell and trotted off without stopping. Half an hour later two more came out, a couple of 80 pounders. They both looked at me after they got to about 20 yards. The rear hog acted like he was fixing to bolt but the forward hog took a couple of steps towards me and turned broadside. I calmly leaned over, slowly drew my 54 inch Super Shrew, 47 @27, anchored, stared at a spot right above the hog's front leg and let fly.....

Carlton,

Glad you decided to chime in.  The thread is all yours.  I'm about storied out on this one.

The shot felt good . The hog was in front of me broadside tail to the left, head right about 18 yards as I watched the arrow fly the perfect height to enter the kill zone and about 6 inches to the right of the hogs head. As the arrow burrowed into the grass behind it the hog grunted and exited stage left.

What happened? I have really been shooting good since I got this Shrew about a month ago. We had shot some Friday morning and some that afternoon and I was shooting good.

I finally looked at my bow and noticed something wrong. The serving had come loose below and above the string nock and the string nock was free floating up and down the string. I had shot bent or canted over almost sideways from behind a bush so the bow was almost 45 degrees to parallel to the ground when I shot. No telling where the string nock was when I shot. Another lesson learned. Note: This was not an original Shrew string. The fellow I bought the bow from had made it and I had really liked it (up to that point). It is one of those thinner fast flight strings and the serving had appeared to be new or nearly new before this mishap.

Well that turned out to be the only chance I had all weekend. I saw one more hog Sat when I hit the "test" button on a feeder and the corn flew out and pelted me and a big boar came flying out of the woods a second later, saw me and scrammed.

A couple of notes. I got hammered by chiggers, wish I had used the stuff Marvin had. They burrow into your flesh and leave wounds. You do not want these terrors!

It was so hot I got soaking wet and had a problem with the mosquitoes even with a thermacell. I know the hogs can smell the thermacell fumes because I can. In fact my eyes got real irritated by the fumes. I took a fanny pack with water bottles with frozen water in them or else I might still be out there. I took two, needed 4-5. The lightweight Sitka gear is no good when its that hot. It feels like a rubber suit. I had a pair of light weight LL Bean camo synthetic pants that were good, wish I had taken the matching button down shirt but I had cotton camo tees. Fri night I had on a short sleeve camo shirt and I think they saw me so the rest of the time I worn long sleeves and an ASAT leafy mesh headnet. Wish I had worn it Fri.

Enjoyed hunting with Marvin and Roger. We hit it about as hot temp wise as it gets. Marvin was really keyed up after shooting that hog and I'm sorry they couldn't find him. We'll get them next time.

Sharptop is a game magnet...I'm gonna hunt right behind him from now on!!

The Kentucky boys Marvin and Roger did great for guys not used to that much heat.....I was impressed!

We lost a bunch of our food in the two weeks since I'd been to camp, due to a power outage I think.  So I kept figuring out stuff that I was missing and had to keep running to town!

On Saturday evening I just arrived back at 8pm and thought I'd ride around the southeastern edge of the "hill" and check some corned spots to see what was going on, before I went to pick up Roger.

I had flip flops and shorts on. BIG MISTAKE!!

Naturally, hogs were going nuts after the corn.

I grabbed my bow out of the back seat and moved in. The wind was perfect..and the two of them were so busy chomping they wouldn't have heard a Mack truck. But they were down in a deep ditch with lots of grass...so I needed (I thought) to get just a couple yards closer and I moved up accordingly.

I was using my 58@28 Zipper SXT recurve with foam core limbs Bill Dunn just built me and a BEMAN carbon with 160 grain grizzly with steel adapter, weight tube and 3 four inch feathers.

As I was drawing to shoot, I felt my leg get an electric shock..and looked down to find I had stood on a fire ant mound and my leg was covered in ants, that were now stinging me!

I wasn't going to lose the shot op, so I finished the draw, loosed, watched the hog climb the bank in one bound and not make a single sound after- then I threw my bow down and screamed...stomping my foot and brushing off the ants.

All totaled, I ended up with nearly 50 bites inside my shoe and in the ankle shin area.

But, I got my hog. My " lousy blood trail" two blade grizzly left a shark chum line in the short pines a blind PETA person could follow- for the 10 feet it ran before it leaned against a tree, tucked its legs up and died right there!

I forgot to ask Marvin and Roger to take MY picture with the hog....and they had such a long drive to get home they couldn't stay Sunday to dress it out so Carlton took it and I'm sure he will be enjoying some marvelous 'cue real soon!!
 

Great post Marvin..       . Nice shot on the hog Ray.

you can see the entrance wound just behind the last rib in the photo if you look hard- the arrow did not leave the hog..but the 32 inch shaft was sticking just out in front of the opposite shoulder bone in the brisket area. I shot the hog at a very steep quartering angle, from above, headed down at an angle so it cleaned her clock.

QuoteOriginally posted by Ray Hammond:

I had flip flops and shorts on. BIG MISTAKE!!

Naturally, hogs were going nuts after the corn.

As I was drawing to shoot, I felt my leg get an electric shock..and looked down to find I had stood on a fire ant mound and my leg was covered in ants, that were now stinging me!

I wasn't going to lose the shot op, so I finished the draw, loosed, watched the hog climb the bank in one bound and not make a single sound after- then I threw my bow down and screamed...stomping my foot and brushing off the ants.

All totaled, I ended up with nearly 50 bites inside my shoe and in the ankle shin area.
 

Now, I'd pay good money to see that    

Your saposa be the guide man,LOL to funny Ray

Great story on what sounds like a really great place to go to.    

As a side note I spray all my clothes including hat,face mask and gloves with permanone the night before I hunt and have never had any bight through my thin cotton shirts and pants.
I spring bear hunted once in Ontario and everyone was wearing bug suits and duct taping their sleeve and leg openings. I just used the Permanone and had no problem with any bugs.

I do use a Thermacell if the skeeters start buzzing around my head and annoying me while I am on stand.
Many old timers swear a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar every day and no skeeter, chigger or tick will ever bite you. I have never tested this theory myself.   :eek:

QuoteOriginally posted by Arrow k9:
Great post Marvin..          . Nice shot on the hog Ray.

What he said!  

Great stories guys!! I can see Ray doing a rendition of the River Dance trying to shake the ants loose! Too Funny     Sorry Ray,but you know it is.
Bill