We are packed and ready to head south in a couple of minutes to meet up with Terry and James. Gonna be a fun weekend. We will post the sob stories and hero pics upon return.
Mike
have fun Mike....try not to laugh too much. You taking the Mash mobile kitchen unit? LOL
Good luck! Yall have a great time. CK
know you all will have fun . pretty hard not to in Texas . hope you all have your tweezers packed or are you all so tough they don't stick into you'll.--- herb
Mmmmmm....Texas, hogs, springtime....now that's living!
Stick 'em Mike. Bring back tall tales.
I jsut heard from Wingnutty. Seems like we got stories to tell and pig to eat :) .
I understand Terry got one with his sinewbacked osage :) ,... now that makes me smile.
rusty
Whooooeeeee....wanna hear the story!
Alright Rusty.. was really hoping for Terry. This breaks a long dry spell for him methinks.
Congrats Terry!
We jsut got in and will catch you up on the events come tomorrow. But yes Terry did get his selfbow kill. . .finally and it was a real nice hog. :bigsmyl:
There were lots of arrows in the wind and most found there mark.
More in the am, I gotta unpack the truck.
Mike
Cool Mike..and a big ol' KUDOS to Terry....Woooo Hoooo...I smell poodle...LOL
Sparky
Great...another hunting story to look forward to.
I'll be waiting.
Way to go Terry :thumbsup: Looking forward to hearing tale!
Bobby
Build a bow, drive to Texas, kill a wild hog. Some guys just make it look soooo easy! LOL!!! Congrats Terry! CK
well, it's the A. M. ..where's our stories and pics? tap tap tap
hey wingnutty gets up ever day about 6AM...so what's da hold up :)
rusty
Dang Mickey,
Don't you sleep?
I'll try to give a snippit to keep ya interested.
Let's see this hunt started back in AZ in January and likely more then a year ago. Seems ol' Terry hadn't been to hunt hogs before. So we talked a bit and spit a bit and finally decided he was coming to chase em hogs if I had to go get him in AZ.
Anyway back on Thursday abnout 3 in the afternoon Connie came out to the shop and suggested that I might want to get my stuff together since we were leaving at 0600 the following morning and I hadn't even sharpened my BHs yet. Dang bow building is getting in the way of my prep time.
Anyway I ran around for a couple of hours getting the kitchen box together and all or stuff in a pile. And at 0612 Friday morning we were on the road.
Our hunting group was pretty strange indeed. I'm sure if Rusty had been able to make it we would have been banned for life from the outfit. James from Clearfork Archery joined Terry Petko, Connie, Jason, Shona (Jason's Girl) and me at Mesquite Bowhunters. Now Mesquite is a high fence area but let me tell ya this is not a "canned hunt".
Upon arrival we basked in the 85 degree sunshine and intro'd everyone to Gerald the ranch manager After storing our gear, we headed out for a tour of the ranch. Even though I had hunted with Gerald on three other occasions this was our first look at the new ranch. It is GREAT, lots of brush and very little lost space on fields and such. As we drove around we got peekaboo looks at some of the exotic critters he has running about and lots and lots of pig sign.
After our return we grabbed our blinds and blind accessories and headed out to set some ambushes. An hour and half later we are back and chomping at the bit. So we made Jambalaya to keep the big ones frm eating the little ones during the long evening hunt. We have shooting light here til nearly 8:45 so a good meal is necessary in the early afternoon or you find yourself eating at midnight.
We all cleaned up and dressed for the evening activities.
Gerald took us in the truck on the feed route where he trickles corn as he drives at breakneck speed through the goat trail. We all get dropped at our chosen locations and settle in for the sun to move to the horizon.
Need coffee.
Mike
WHAT???....No no no.... need MORE! Not fair..drink the dang coffee already or better yet drink as you type
WELL WINGNUT, DA FERRET IS WAITIN...LOL
me thinks all them fellers up north are snowed in and needin something to do...better make it a long story..... :bigsmyl:
don't make me come out the Wingnut :)
rusty
I'm back.
Anyway where were we? Oh ya, we are waiting in the blinds . . .sweating. Man it is hot, 85 degrees a steady south east wind and things are look good. After an hour, I hear crunch, crunch, crunch. Man the heart starts to pick up a step and I see movement through the mesquite tree to my left. HMMMMMMMMMMM, it's white an kinda big. Well I'm not opposed to shooting a white hog. Man there is more movement behind and things are happening quick. The white blob steps into the first lane. Wait a minute, it has horns and it's eating my corn. Dang Texas Dall sheep! I grab a stick and peg it in there direction and make a perfect 10 ring hit on the leader. He looks my way and hot steps down the trail 50 yds and starts eating again.
That was cool and I named that Dall "Snowball" cause he doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell next year when they open em up for hunting.
LOL
Things settle down again as the sun heads for the tree tops behind me. Now here is more crunching and grunt grunt grunt coming from my right. I check the wind and it's still steady in my face so we are good. I can only see about 12 yds to the right so when I cna see they are in shooting range. We were told not to shoot "wet sows or sows with young" so I have to be careful. Well here come 10 little hovers troting into the shot window. They are about 15#s and not big enough at this point. Then out steps a big sow and another both wet. Wait a minute here comes another and it's big and dry. I start to draw and all hell breaks loose. The dang little ones had worked around down wind of me and spooked about 2 seconds before I could let her go.
man that one was nice, oh well there will be more.
Things settled down again but the sows stayed in the brush 50 or so yds in front of me in grunted til dark.
When I couldn't see, I headed up the trail to pick up James and check on Connie and Shona in the Double Bull back at the intersection.
More later with pics.
Mike
Oooooh the agony....
...SIGH...Well that was a small morsel...hope you don't expect that to hold us very long.
Impatiently waiting...Bobby
Get some more coffee in ya and back to the keyboard, them bow orders can wait.
grrrrrrrrrrr.... cool little tidbit, kinda like a hunting appetizer,, but we need the main meal! Get on with it already ha ha
Connie just went to pick up the dogs at the kennel. She has the next installment.
Ya'all can wait.
LOL
Mike
Now that is just plain mean...RUSTY fire up the beemer, or the jeep, or the VTX and head over to Wingnuts and get the rest of the story and fill us in will ya?
The-baby sitting grandkids today and needs adult interaction- Ferret
Pawpaw Ferret, can we watch Baby Bop? PLEASE!!!!!
Dang Mickey if you need adult interaction, what are ya doing on this site. LOL
She will be back in a few minutes.
Here is a couple of pics of wildflowers on the ranch to keep ya busy.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/wildflower_1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/wildflower_2.jpg)
mike
Just got back from picking up the dogs - Mike said I needed to tell my side of the tale.
Well....the guys dropped Shona and me at the Double Bull blind they set up for us - this is Shona's first trip out bow hunting so I'm trying to give her a feel for what is supposed to happen. We're getting settled in and oops - as I reach for my arrows I realize that I left them on the table back at camp - got my bow, the camera (can't go hunting without the camera you know, water, but no ammo (stupid, stupid, stupid - hard to kill something without an arrow.....). So I tell Shona to sit quietly in the blind and I'll run back to camp and grab the arrows. On my way I encounter 2 groups of pigs (unfortunately one of the groups I spooked from Jason), 4 sheep, 3 blackbuck, and a buffalo. It was a rather interesting jaunt, get the arrows and Gerald was kind enough to drive me back out to the blind (they took me the short way - about 200yards from camp- now i really feel stupid - must have been having a cronic blond attact evening).
I get back to the blind and Shona is really excited she's seen a group of pigs and some axis deer that she got pics. of.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/axis.jpg)
Okay now we're ready to settle in and get serious...things are quiet for about an hour and then another group of pigs - 2 sows and some younguns - decided not to shoot these it was still early.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/pigs.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/littlepigs.jpg)
A few mins. later another group of pigs came by - took a shot at one but unfortunately the shot went high - no piggy tonight.
A few mins later the buffalo I encountered earlier decided to come by for a visit
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/buff.jpg)
The buffalo got Shona a bit nervous as it proceeded to check us out - snort'n and stuff, evidently it didn't like it's picture taken or something - as it kept hanging around, circling the blind and snort'n some more Shona kept whispering rather excitedly "shoot it - shoot it - shoot it now!!!!!" ...well as I figured that Gerald wouldn't be real happy at me for shooting the soon to be mom buffalo I told her it wouldn't be real good idea. About that time it was getting dark and Mike and James arrived and spooked it anyway. Unfortunately no piggies tonight but it was an exciting evening with lots of different critters for Shona to see..she learned alot about hunting from a blind and being still and quiet.
Connie
Great shots Connie, especially the Buff with all the wildflowers in the foreground....very cool.
Mama Connie mmmiiiisssed? Critter must have ducked.
Ok ready for the next installment.
The-got 1 napping the other playing on the front porch with the labs- Ferret
Yep she says she passed it up.. . .high.
Well James and Terry are on the road and at work so I'll fill in Friday night for them and let them tell the Saturday story themselves.
So James had pigs on the left of him and on the right of him but non got close enough for the shot. Terry got mixed up on his stand location and ended up with out a blind but he hunkered down in the brush and had pigs all around but again no shot.
Jason had arrows in the air and shot over one and under one.
So Friday night was eventfull but it was Piggies 3 and bowhunters 0 as night falls and we hit the hay for an fitfull sleep.
Mike
BTW hold on to your cokes and hide the kids for the Saturday stories. It is intense.
MORE!!!
(please?? :rolleyes: )
Heck fire I could have had the pig roasted by now and me and Bear done ate it. :)
Rusty
Ok Friday was pretty cool for me.. although no pigs came in I did have a group of sheep and goats pass by... catalina's, corsican's, texas dall and maybe an audad. Was pretty cool to see the animalss but no pigs in site.
Now comes saturday morning..... well I the guy who without a high fence will get lost realy easy.. now its before daylight and I'm not the morning person.. shut up mike.... so gerald is driving us out to stands and well one turn looks like another in the road and I though I was at my stand.. uhh really was about 100 yards of so away when I bail out.. figure out my goof and start easing down the road to try to find my brush blind... we did a good job cause all brush piles looked like my blind.. so eventually I find it and get settled in... ( BTW Mike says that when they drove past my blind there where about 6 pigs right by it just my luck..) Didnt see the pigs.
So I get settled in and after a while the buffalo comes around and gets about 8 yards from me... man those thigns are big.. finally throw enough sticks at it and it wanders off...
No pigs sited during my morning hunt... :(
More to come.... and it gets better..
James Young
Well I'm in from the shop so here we go again.
Let see we were just getting to saturday morning and navel contiplation.
Stand hunting is feast or famine. You either have critters or you are getting a dead butt waiting fo them to come. I really don't like it and would rather be spot and stalking. Anyway I arrived at my stand just before daylight with Gerald and his hotrod corn feeder. Things were nice and cool and damp. A perfect morning for pigs. In fact we saw three sounders of pigs on the way in.
But here I sat, nothing happening til about 8:30 when a very nice axis buck decided to give me a show for five minutes. Then nothing. I baled out of the blind at 10:30 when the sun got heated up and I knew the pigs were down for the day.
James was up the road about 300 yds and had the same luck only instead of axis he had goats and buffalo. Said one of em was a real dandy too.
We walked and talked and headed for the double bull hoping Shona and Jason had a better morning. Goats and fallow deer were the story there so things were not as planned. Shona said that jason was a jinx and that she was with Connie from then on.
Shona headed for the bunkhouse and the three of us headed up the road to check on Terry and Connie. Along the way we spotted a 30 # pig and James and Jason tried to get an arrow though a hole in the brush. I stood back and laughed as the arrows hit mesquite sounding like whitetail bucks in a death battle.
Soon the pig headed for less noisy parts and the boys crawled around to retreive the arrows. many scratches and pokes were encounterd.
We were back on our way poking fun at the shooting skill and enjoying the sunshine. We rounded the corner to see Terrys tripod. Hmmmmmm thing were different here. There were pretty bouquets of blue fletching in a couple of places around the clearing. Shurly Terry couldn't have emptied his quiver. But alas he told of the ironclad pig that sailed in and munched corn while he passed him up. High then low then left only to have the pig sniff the arraws and walk off. Kinda humbling when they do that. . .no respect.
Connie was another 250 yds up the road and around a corner. The pigs new better then to give her a chance and they avoided her shot lanes like the plague.. They must have heard that she had missed all ready this year and that someone was fixen to die.
We hit camp and Jason made b'fast. We sat around and shot the campbull and shot the new windtalker bows.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/campbull.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/closerangepractice.jpg)
We also did some knapping (napping) About 3:30 we made a little dinner (wild boar and mushroom stroganoff) and prepared for the evening hunt.
Mike
i have been away all day and they haven't finished yet .
like the pics and that red piggy would have been toast ( like to get a red one ) lol .
saw exotics when we went to the Sweat hunt on some of the high fenced ranches through the fence . must be real interesting to see all these different animals .
now boys and girls it is time for some more please ----- herb
Dang 3 pages and nothing has even shed any blood except James and Jason
Hey Mike, Jason wears shooting pants just like yours :D
Well to tell the truth I promised Terry he could tell his own story and the last I heard he was still a couple hours short of home.
I will tell my own Saturday night if a few minutes. Gotta go fix dinner now.
Mike
Well I wasnt gonna tell teh story about the miss but ok.. the shot presented was a classic TEXAS HEART shot.. 8 yards thru some of the thickest tangle Ive seen in a while but wait theres a hole and if I can only get an arrwo through I'll be in good shape.. the arrow bounced off of limbs and over the pig.. was such thick brush he couldnt go far and went about 10 yards to the left and presented Jason a shot.. he shoots and misses and we go looking for our arrows.
So after getting Terry we'll let him tell his story we head back to camp....
Well we decide that me original stand is a dud.. so Mike and I go out to change locations..
we find a great spot and put together a great ground/brush blind.. it's on the outside of a curve in the road and the winds perfect for it...
well I wastn paying attention where we put it up and I realized it when Gerald was dropping everyone off.. I was last inteh truck and the ranch owner is with us.. he turns and asks where my blind is... UHHHHH dont remember I says and tell him its in the cormer of the raod... the owner gives me one of those looks and says there are a lot of corners... we drive on and find it.. Now the best part.. Ownere asks if I get lost a lot and I laugh and say yep all the time and he tells me if I find the fence turn left and I'll end up at teh camp eventually.. OK I'm set now got good directions back to camp and time to hunt...
Settle in and after Gerald takes off.. I swear he wanted to be a NASCAR driver when he was younger.
About 15-30 mintes later.. I dont wear a watch when hunting.. heck who needs to tell time... when it gets too dark to see huntings over in the evening and in the mornings I go in when it gets real sunny.
I digress... anyway 15-30 minutes later I here pipgs grunting and rooting around to my right.. all right here we go.. a little bit later I hear em crunching corn and headed my way .. hey whats that I hear... crunching noises to my left.. YESSS two groups coming in from both directions and they are gonna meet right here and its making bacon time..
OK now the ones to teh left are three about 30-40 pounders.. I see em and what???? :eek: they stop just outside of where I can get a shot.. still have teh ones on the right I hear and they get quiet... all of a sudden they all bust out of there.. didnt wind me teh wind is perfect..
Oh the agony.. so close but so far..
didnt see anything else that night and I sat till it got good and dark.. I with the directions back to camp ( find fence and turn left) I decide its time to head in.. I figure I'll take the road ( one of may ) and see where it goes.. Owner mustve been funnin with me..
So I start easing down the road and come up on three pigs in the road. I was about 60 yards or so behind them and they are walking away from me..
I keep up with them and start to close the distance a bit.. I hear Wingnuts truck start up and here comes Wingnut.. slowly driving the roads to come find me..
I get about 30 yards fromteh hogs and I can see Wingnuts headlamps.. the pigs group together inteh road and as Wingnut gets closer the pigs turn and head towards me..
I kneel inteh road and get ready...... the pgs are getting closer... I get to half draw and the pigs are getting closer... just a little more and I'm making bacon.... or so I thought.. Wingnut turns the corner and I have a perfect back lit pig just in front of me.. now I always check whats behind my intended target in case I ... well lets just say the stuff behind my targets usually get hit.. Wingnuts big ole truck is there and all I can think of is if I am about to be the first to do a broadhead test on a Ford Dieal radiator.. The pigs run off and thats the end of the hunt for me on Saturday night..
BUT the fun just begins and I'll let Wingnut take it from here..
James Young
Okay, this suspense is getting just plain mean :mad:
great job of telling the stories
Ok, dinners on so I got a few minutes. Good one James I had forgotten about you almost shooting my truck.
let see, my hunt for the evening was going to be a makeshift on the fly hunt on a road in the south corner of the ranch. This was bedding ground and full of pigs. it also was not on the feed route. So Gerald takes me and drops me off. I look around for a hole to climb back in and he goes 150 yds past me turns around and starts the feeder. As he passes I get the thumbs up and look down the road in the direction he had come. DANG there are 30 or more pigs about 40 pounds running down the road towards me. No time to setup now I just kneel next to a tree and hope for the best. The pigs are coming hard and making a racket. There is not much corn when you are traveling at 60 down the road spreading it.
they are just coming into sight at 30 yds and ther is a couple of bigger ones about 50# so I decide to focus there. Then at 20 yds they clear the brush a few more steps and I will have a shot. then a gust of wind hits the back of my neck and they stop in there tracks. They make a turn any dancer would be proud of and they are gone.
Now what am I too do. My corn is gone. the pigs are gone but I wait for an hour and nothing. so I work down the road away from the other hunters and decide I will still hunt and spot and stalk this evening.
Timer is going off have to put the chicken in the oven.
Mike
OK, it's been 17 minutes, more, more, more.... :bigsmyl:
David
BTW I'm glad Wingnut showed up... I had no clue where I was and man I wasn't looking forward to finding the fence...
Mike, I'm sure you would have remembered if I punctured your radiator :bigsmyl:
James Young
I'm back dinner was good.
Ok, I started down the road towards the fence and yes I turned left. I was still hunting and moving real slow. About every 20 yds I would see something move usually a pig. They were everywhere. I was in the heart of the bedding area and they were waking up for a night of plunder. First there were 5 in the brush but they gave me the slip, then there was 22 small ones on the fence line heading the other way. Dang!! then I came to a cross road, I peered around the corner carefull not to show myself adn there were 6 Audads man they are cool. But I had heard that they are like turkeys with noses and just watched. Then suddenly a pig fed into the antelope. WOW he was big maybe 350 or more and just feeding. I decided that if I could get close to the Audads I could kill the pig. He would be the biggest I'm sure taken on this property with trad equip. So here I go. Slowly; very slowly: like the wind is moving me. It took an hour to move 40 yards but here I was 15 yards from the Audads and the pigs were just to my right. The big one and his buddy (at least 350#) and two 100# boars. They were feeding in and out of the mesquite and they just might come out far enough for a shot. I was out of cover and stuck so I had to wait.
The time ticked by very slowly and finally the second largest boar was headed out to the shot opening. One more step . . . Please!
Mike
hi! made mike go out and close up the shop - sometimes he forgets and leaves the compressor on - bad new if it wakes me up in the middle of the night - anyway - back to the pig hunt....
Sat. night - Shona and I go back to the Double Bull - she had decided that I had more luck in seeing critters than Jason did (not sure about that but....) Got dropped off a bit before 6 (was a bit worried about James 'cause he had mentioned that he couldn't remember where his blind was ... not too sure about that boy but he's fun....
Shona and I got settled into the blind (I remembered my arrows this time - camera too- yep water) so we were all set. Wasn't too happy about missing the night before - don't do that too often - gotta bring the meat home or else the guys give me a really bad time and after not bringing anything home from the javi hunt figured I'd better get busy....
Well thing were pretty quiet for quit awhile - Shona started digging a hole to China - then all of a sudden some Audad's appeared to the left (pretty cool - another photo op)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/audad.jpg)
then some Axis Deer appeared to the right (another photo op)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/axis_2.jpg)
dang I love this new camera - then it got really quiet for a really long time (at least it seemed like it - the hole to china was getting bigger) then off to the right we got some visitors (piggies) yeah!!! but.....they freaked out at about 25 yards and no shot...bummer ---bigger hole--- then about 8:00 from the left came some unsupecting critters (this time they were pig yeah!!!!!) pretty cool all around 100+ pounds - waiting----they came closer 'bout 5 yards---waiting ---all head on---waiting --- starting to draw----waiting all head on --- now--- one turns broadside left--- I draw........see the spot.....
mike wants the PC got back from the shop ---caught me ..... oops
C
oh the agony!!!
Dang it!! I was telling a story here and Connie snuck on when i went out to turn the lights out in the shop.
Anyway here I was face to face with a 350# hog and it was moving into the perfect shot position.
One more step . . .please just one. And then he does it and I hit the draw. Burn a hole in the spot at the corner of the elbow . . .Burn . .. hold . . .hold .. . let her go. . . .NO! it goes over the back what the heck happened. GRUT!! and off they go.
Bummer! how could I miss that shot? 18 yds and I missed my mark by 2.5 feet.
Well I looked for my arraw for a minute and headed back to the fence line dejected.
20 yds from the fence the brush moves to my right.
Dang it's thick but I see ears moving my way. It's close . . . real close. I come to 3/4 draw as the pig comes out of the tunnel 15 ft from me.
He is big and takes two steps toward me. I come to full draw knowing he will turn. he looks up and sees me a 12 feet away and turns just as I predicted. Soon as he shows his side I release. The arrow from the Windtalker zips to the target and burys to the fletch. The boar spins and bugs out.
I stand there dumbfounded realizing I have ust nailed a really big pig.
Mike
okay - sent mike back out to the barn - yep he left that dang compressor on --- had him take chess out to chase bunnies too.... and whats up with that 350# ....probably more like 150#s but sh.....don't tell him I said that.
k--- saw the spot.....Shona's getting excited....couldn't actually see the pig....though sitting a bit low.....I've gotta it back a full draw ---oops one of the other ones (we had about 10 in that group) turns sideways....ok Connie gotta keep focused.....I'm back on the first one now at full draw ...about 5 yards...hate that...to close...okay...concentrate...easy shot...release............Yeah......hit...pig turns back around....yeah....arrow all the way thru.....broadhead sticking out other side....cool...dang a bit back should be double lung though...wait 20 mins...Shona say's didn't see actual shot but saw pig take off....lots of blood (she thinks) still waiting.....hard to do sometimes but it's getting dark - better to wait for Gater (what a great dog - little but tenacious).....
Connie
Yes!!!!! We have meat! :thumbsup: Took awhile, but that just makes it a great hunt. Now the waitin' begins while you find those piggies.
David
Folks it is daylight here in New Brunswick time to start tracking -- herb
Charlie Lamb started all this with his Paradise Hunt but wingnut and Connie have refined it
Ok we are back.
Let see Connie has connected with a nice pig and it ran off. Same for me. I wonder where Terry is? He should be up by now. Heck it's 5:15 in AZ.
Gonna let him fill in his piece before we start tracking.
Mike
Ok Now Wingnut has me in the truck and tells me we have a few bloodtrails to work.. Man oh man this is getting good.... We head back to camp and Connie has hers already found by the time we get there.. Its a nice hog too... Ok we are all pumped.. Mike tells me about his hog shot and off we go... This time after Terry's hog.. Mike did say that he shot one earlier so I wont ruin his story about the shot etc..
Anyway we are off to work another trail.. Gerald has a really small dog named gator.. guess its because he has the attitude of one.. scared of nothing...
Gator gets on the trail and barks that she found the hog.. off we go busting through brush and tangle stuff.. wer're busting trails and get close to the hog.. what the heck... its still alive and runs off with dogs close behind. I bought a qbeam spotlight thats real bright but not too good at lasting long... the hog gets bayed up again and gerald pulls his pistol to end the chase and fires twice.. did he hit it.. we dont know but that hog takes off yet again... more busting through brush and I can tell ya we are having a good time..
We come to the fence and my first thought is to take a left to find camp... wait we got a hog to chase.. Gator bays it again and as we close in on it my spot light goes out.. Gerald is half crawling half duck walking to get to it.. of all the times to have a light go out.. gerald and wingnut had flashlights but the spotlight sure would have been nice at this point..
The pig is grunting and squelling.. Gator has a mouth full of hog ear. tension is rising and my light came on for a second and goes off.. Now we have a situation that is one of those apple and oranges situations that we will laugh at for a long time..
Mike: " what are you doing" ( talking about the light going on and off)
Me: " It's dead" ( talking about the spotlight)
Mike:" not its not its still running" ( talking about the hog)
About this time the hog is off running again.
I look at mike and ask what the heck you talking about and he says the pig and I say I'm talking about the light. Man did we get a good laugh. We are laughing hard and the pig is running harder with gator on its tail..
Off we go again.. Gator finally bays the pig and the chase is over.. Terry collects his hog.. Want him to tell his story here and not ruin it. But man that chase was a blast... almost as fun as a coon hunt..
we get the hog out of the brush and field dressed and Gator gets his reward of lots of praise and pets from everyone..
Now its time to get Wingnuts pig...
James Young ( man this is fun)
Yep before we chased down Terry's pig (It was hit a little far back, but we got it with a little gator-aid), we sent gator on Connie's trail. We were standing there looking at bloodsign for 30 seconds or so when Gator started barking. The pig had traveled 50 yds in the thick stuff but Gator made short work of the trail and led us right to it.
James already talked about Terry's so let's fast forward to mine. We were headed back to camp to drop Terry's cause having a dead pig in the truck distracts the dog sometimes when we turn a corner and I see my arrow sticking in the dirt marking the shot. I hollared to stop and we decide to track the big boar. I had a good blood trail when I left it so I knew the trail would be short. But not this short. Gator hit the trail when Gerald said "Get the pig" and it was another 30 second Gator-aid job. He was barking before we turned around. Gerald and I hit the heavy brush to get to the dog. Gerald was standing looking for Gator when I arrived. I told him to look down as I put the light on the large boar at is feet. He did and jump back a step. We grabbed him and drug him out to the clearing. My shot had caught him behind the ribs angling forward and had taken both lungs and the top of the heart. Man the Woodsman do there job.
Anyway we have One in camp and two in the truck.
Where the heck is Terry?
Mike
wow this is the good stuff (FINALLY)..now where's Terry and where are pictures of these hogs?
Congrats all around (didn't think Connie would miss twice!)
Heeeee Heeee :)
rusty -dat makes ya smile- Craine
Now that's what I'm a talkin bout! Way to go ya'll. And the rest of the story..... :D
Dang James, if me and you go hunting together with Wingnutty we'll keep him busy just find us :)
rusty -is the sun setting in the east?- Craine
Got in late last night after a 15 1/2 hour drive and got my meat processed and in the freezer....First night I got dropped off away from where I wanted to hunt but decided to make the best of the situation.... I slipped offf the road and got set up..... I wasn't there 5 minutes when I heard pigs coming..... I knelt down as they rounded the corner heading my way.... I felt stickers in my knee but couldn't move with pigs in front of me so I toughed it out.... Damn those Texas stickers hurt..... The pigs got to within 10 yards of me and another group of pigs rounded the corner coming from the opposite direction and both groups scattered....I stood up to get off the stickers and found out I had been kneeling on a fire ant hill..... I tried to brush them off but only succeeded in tearing my pants ..... I took off my boots and pants and got them off my leg and out of my pants when I hear group two coming back...... I slip on my boots, no time to put my pants on, and slip into the brush on the opposite side of the road.... look at the ground for ants and throw my pants down to kneel on ..... I had to chuckle to myself..... I had come to Texas to hunt pigs and here I was in the first night "Bare" hunting......I have to go to work.... I'll pick this up when I get back.... Terry
marvin th is is all Charlies fault ---- herb
LMAO - now that is taking primitive bowhunting to the extreme. gonna buy Terry a loin cloth for Christmas.
rusty -i'd still have my 17" snake boots on- Craine
Well while we wait for Terry to wake from his beauty sleep (man does he need it) we will forward the Tape to Sunday morning. We hit the feed run before dawn and drop James in Terrys spot and jason in the one I was in the night before. We knew Jason was in for action when the 30 pig brigade was standing in the road as we drove up. They took off and we dropped him off.
Gerald took Terry and me to the far end of the ranch and fed the road from there to the camp house. Our plan was to still hunt the road back into the wind and see what happened. We hadn't gone far when the brush moved 60 yds ahead and a mob of pigs jumped out and headed our way. We dove behind a mesquite tree and scrambled to get arrows nocked. The pigs caught our movement and as quick as they ahd appeared they were gone. I really want Terry to get a shot this morning. His self made flint head is on the string and that would be about as good as it gets.
Anyway we are back sneeking along the edge of the goat trail they call a farm road. Another couple hundred yards and Terry said " did ya see that?" I said "what?" A huge pig on the edge of the road ahead. He heads up the edge as I circle into the brush. The pig starts to grunt not too friendly like and I hear crashing and snorting. This stuff is a rosebush looking snarl about waist high with small trails through. Ever the optimist, I figure I just shoot down the trail. The pig grints again and I grunt back. Now the woods light up with grunts. Dang how many pigs are in here and do they eat fat boys? I start grunting softly and here comes some through the brush. Grunt, Grunt, Grunt well you get the picture. Finally I see the brush moving 10 ft to my left and the grunts keep coming. I can's see a thing and have a small trail in front that will bring the pigs under 5 ft. I ready for a quick shot and the pigs step into the trail. OHHHHHHHHHHH Dang. They are maybe 8" long and about the size of a rat. Very cute little guys. They walk right up to me and look with there itty bitty eyes. You could see they thought I was one ugly pig. They turned back and head to momma who by know was getting real worked up.
I made and exit stage straight back at double time and we headed back up the road again.
More coffee
Mike
You should have tried blowing a varmit call about the time the little greasers got center trail. I believe you could have put MaMa pig inside of three feet of you. Fun, Fun!!!! CK
CK,
Gerald doesn't want us to shoot the wet sows so I'd rather not have momma at 3 ft without the bow to help. :scared:
Anyway we were working along the road and the sun was up and heating up fast. I thought the pigs were probably already down for the day when we rounded a corner and Terry whispered "PIGS".
He was pointing to a clearing 50 yds off of the road and sure enough there were four feeding on the wildflower blossoms. Terry headed around a big mesquite to get in front of them and I took the rear guard. One turned and start feeding in my direction just as we got into position. here it comes eating blossoms without a care in the world. Not real big about 25#s but it is going to taste great. Two more steps and it will clear the brush. Dang it turned back and is feeding away. No here it comes again. Slowly feeding, the wind is perfect and it doesn't have a clue. Two more steps, Ok , one more, there ya go. I hit draw and focus on the divit behind the elbow. The arrow releases at 12 yds and fly true to the spot. The pig squeels and spins to head for the thick brush. I knew this one was over quick so I walked out to where my arrow lay. Covered with bubbles and red gold.
We tried to pick up the trail but there just wasn't any blood. So back we go to get Gator.
Gator has another one minute work day and we have our pig. Now for the pics.
Mike
Here is Connie with her pig
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/connieandpig.jpg)
Terry with his first selfbow harvest.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/terryhero.jpg)
Me with my Two the Biggest and smallest
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/mikehero.jpg)
A group shot
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/herogroup.jpg)
And pigs all in a row
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/pighunt%202005/pigsinarow.jpg)
The final tally was four pigs weighing in at 110# for Connie, 65# for Terry and 175# , 25# for mine.
We butchered and iced and headed for home.
I booked another adventure with Mesquite Bowhunters yesterday for nex February.
Mike
Thanks for the story and pics.
You gotta get that Terry some green camo from spring hunting, his urban pattern clashes with the wildflowers. Nice hat Mike, they'll never see you with that on...
Nice Guys. Thanks for sharing.
That last little piggy goes to skillett :thumbsup:
Terry, ya gotta get a new signature line. HUNT NAKED! :scared: And don't wingnut look like the guy from the fruit of the lomb commercial with that headgear :D Congrats on a fine hunt.Mike the finnish on that bow of yours looks nice.
CB
thanks all was a great read . i found that when you are in the Texas brush county your pans are around your ankles at leas a few rtimes during the day just to pick cactus spines from your body LOL ---- herb
Well..... I've been bowhunting for 24 years...One year with a compound and the rest with trad gear. 4 or 5 years with a recurve and then a longbow, .It took me 3 years to get my first bow kill, a Roosevelt cow elk and a string of successes followed including more Elk, Blacktail deer, and Blackbear......I moved to AZ 14 years ago and immediately hit a slump....I have not put as tag on a critter until this pig hunt..... If you ever want to really know why you hunt and put your commitment to doing things the hard to the test, a slump like that will do it..... To further complicate things I fell in love with selfbows 10 years ago.... I fumbled around in the dark trying to build them for 7 years or so when a couple of Generous Texans took me under their wing and taught me a process developed by Dean Torges called Facet Tillering... I've been building good bows ever since and improving the quality of em in leaps and bounds.....
Fast forward to the Texas Pig hunt....I hit the field with a 58" static recurved sinew backed Osage self bow pulling 60 something pounds..... I already described night one.... My baptism by fire... ants....... Night two found me sitting in a tripod stand over looking the junction of 2 roads....not long after I got on stand I heard pigs coming my way..... I got ready for action.... Within 5 minutes I could see them coming and there were some nice ones in the bunch in the 60 – 120# range......As they moved into the shooting lane I had to hold off on shooting 2 wet sows with lil ones and waited until a nice pig entered my shooting lane, I thought it was a boar but it later turned out to be a dry sow,..... I started to draw and realized I hadn't done my mental pre shot routine I had been working on and was about to "fling" an errant arrow.... I let down got my head together did my routine..... Locked on a spot behind the pigs shoulder drew and released.....everything felt perfect but just as I released the pig spun around and snapped at another pig that had gotten a bit to close to it...... My shot hit back..... as my pig ran out I could see my arrow hanging on by the fletch on the far side and it looked like a gut shot.... My heart was in my throat and I had a sick feeling......... I waited 45 minutes or so and climbed down..... I marked the spot where I last saw the pig and there lay my arrow..... I picked it up and to my surprise is was covered in red blood... I smelled it and there was no evidence of a gut hit..... I felt better...... I figured I had a liver hit.....I waited a bit more and started walking out...... we got back to camp.... Went out and retrieved Connies Pig took it back to camp and went out after mine..... Our guide didn't allow us to take our bows out for the recovery as he really valued his lil dog Gator...... I don't blame him that is one amazing 6#'s of canine hunting dog...... He's all business and loves what he does.... Now normally on a liver hit Elk I would have waited 5 hours or so before picking up the trail but we only had about 2 hours wait on this hit when we went out.....when Gator got to it it was still kicking and, as James described , it gave us one heck of a chase.... My self bow "Kill" was a bit tarnished when the guide put a couple of shots into my pig to finish it off.... But I still feel my 14 year drought has been broken and I know I did it all right and given different circumstances I could have recovered my pig without the aid of a gun......I'm looking forward to doing this again.... It was a blast.... Terry
Awesome story all!
Thanks for the read!
Marc
Terry know about dry spell went 37 years from 13 to 51 but now the drought is over YEA HA!! congrats ---- herb
Herb.... I was smilin big for ya when you broke the drought down in FL..... :thumbsup: Terry
Excellent tale guys and girls! Sounds like you all had a great time.
Terry this hole in the pants thing sounds like a tradition. I don't think I have hunted with you yet when you didn't have a hole in your pants...usually on the thigh. On the other hand, baptism by fire ants doesn't sound fun at all. But I bet it was worth a few comments around the fire in camp ;)
Glad you had a fun!
Bobby
Neat hunt thanks for sharing.
Yeah Bobby... Me and Barbwire fences seem to take our toll on hunting pants... :D I didn't tell the guys about setting up in my skivvies..... Not that I felt they would give me a hard time or nothing.... :rolleyes: but with that crowd sometimes it's best not to take any chances..... :smileystooges: Terry
Congrats all around. Pigs almost never stand still...they are turning this way and that way picking up corn, chasing off competitors. It is tough to get a good shot on one.
Connie's pig is cool looking!
You know if the guy was worried about his dog, he could pick it up (it only weighs 6#..not like it's a pit bull or anything) and let a guy finish off an obviously mortally hit hog with his bow. Durn shame.
Glad the monkey is off the back Terry!
Follow me on this now.....if pig stink and I think we can agree on that but yet they can smell us over their stink... even if the scent is just on the wind. it follows that humans must really stink, right ...... ?? :)
rusty -i smell and you stink- Craine
Rusty...or just a different "stink". I'll be watchin (listening) to see who you call stinky :p
Maybe we smell prurdy and it conflusterates 'em. Used to hunt wid a fellow what bathed in ice blue aqua-volvo and swore the deer an such loved it.
Hey Rusty,
On that ranch you and I could get lost for several days and Wingut wouldnt worry cause he would pad lock the front gate so we couldn't escape.. :scared: :scared:
James Young
Great time sounds like to me? Great pics and stories all around!
Applause,applause!
Mickey about the guides and no bows on the blood trail at night. Well it is so thick you couldn't draw a bow if you could get it in there. Terry's pig was so hole up Gerald belly crawled into the brush to put a shot in the lungs. And to grab it by the back foot. I don't think we could have hit it with an arrow if we had our bows.
Mike
AND Terry there is no tarnish on that kill. You put a shot in it that would have finished it if we waited for morning. It just wasn't practical in the temps we had.
Great stuff folks.Really enjoyed reading along!