Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 - The Hunt Wrap Up

Hunting Logs - Nilgai Bowhunt 2000
Bowhunting with 4 Arrows Outfitters At The King Ranch. 

DAY #2

At 7:30 I went with the feed run crew and took pictures of deer. (I made some computer Wallpaper for you to enjoy, just click on the picture to set it up.)  I saw more bucks sporting fancy headgear than I have ever seen in any deer season in my entire life.This ranch is totally cool, I have to remember to ask what the buck to doe ratio is, it looks 1 to 1 to me.

Click on pic for Free  Wallpaper of this  4-Arrows buck.

At daylight Dennis, Dave and Steve were already in our hunting pasture. They finished setting up their stand sites. Dave set a tripod by the shore of a Laguna. Steve put up a Double Bull ground blind (on the same laguna) and then slipped after a big 10 point for pictures and video. He followed him for 45 minutes and got some major once in a lifetime photos: sniffing does, lip curling and working branches, all close range shots. Dennis made a ground blind near a laguna. Zano recovered his javelina boar and brought it back to camp. By that time I was back and we took pictures, (see day #1) and field dressed the boar.

Later in the day the three met and followed a trail back to the truck. Dennis saw a lone javelina and signaled the rest to hold up. Dennis crossed the trail to get the wind right and slipped up to 25 yards from the javelina. Suddenly it looked right at Dennis. Dennis froze until the javelina began foraging again. Dennis slipped 5 yards closer. The javelina slowly walked to Dennis's right and Dennis put his pin on the vitals and shot. The javelina popped his jaws loudly and fell.

High fives all around. Dennis smiled for the rest of the day.

Dennis stashed the javelina in a tree so they could come back and get it. They proceeded down the trail a ways and Dave saw another group of javelina in the brush. Steve slipped past them to get the wind in his favor and slowly stalked back toward them. To Steve's surprise all  but one javelina bedded down. Steve closed the gap but they heard him and exploded into the brush.

Dave and Dennis followed behind and watched as Steve slipped up on the javelina again. When Steve shot a javelina circled and ran right to Dave. Dennis thought it was the javelina Steve had just shot and said, "Dave, shoot." Dave aimed and hit the javelina.

They regrouped and started trailing the javelina. Almost immediately, Steve hollered, "I found my javelina." He was in a different direction than the one Dennis and Dave were following. Dave realized that the javelina he had shot was not Steve's.

Meanwhile Dennis saw buzzards and went to get his javelina. Dave and Steve quickly located Dave's javelina and they all went to the truck. Here they are with their King's Ranch javelinas.

Zano dropped me off at the 2nd Laguna and I went to a ladder stand that I had seen earlier. In minutes I saw movement to my right and a large, all black Wild Boar walked by some 60 yards away on a trail. The weather was cool but the sun was bright. That situation really lights up your silhouette if you are not in the shade, and that is bad news. 

I reached in my backpack and fished out some camo fabric and some cord and tied the fabric to the limbs above me so they blocked the sun and make shade to sit in. I do this in sunny weather if the sun is right on me. It keeps the sun from shinning me up, the shade makes it more comfortable to wait, and the camo fabric helps camouflages me. (I took a pic of the setup so you can see it. If you need a closer look, click on the pic.)

During the afternoon I saw several deer and javelina on the same trail the wild boar had used. However, another trail to my left, 80 yards away, was even more busy.

An hour before dark a big Bull Nilgai materialized in the distant brush 100 plus yards, straight in front of me. It walked slowly, stopping and looking often, as it got closer. It was huge mostly black. His head looked out of proportion, almost too small for its 600 or more pound frame. The Bull passed 40 yards from me, headed in the direction of the ponds. I would have followed or tried to intercept him but it took him so long to get in my game that there were only minutes of shooting light left.

Zano's Afternoon Hunt: "I decided to hunt the second pond from the gate because I had spotted 2 Nilgai cows with 2 calves on the west end of the pond as I drove out with my javelina earlier in the day. Since the Nilgai were rutting, it made sense to hunt the cows. I set up just inside the woods in the NW corner of the pond were they had been feeding. The brisk wind allowed me to circle around through the brush and ease into position without disturbing the area. The 2 calves came again around 4:30pm, but no other Nilgai showed. Among many other deer, I was treated to a close encounter (12 feet) with a large high racked 8 point buck that fed by.  Because of the long walk back to my Suburban I left a little early, around 6:00pm, shooting light ended at 6:20.  On the way I noticed some movement 60 yards away in a grassy mesquite
patch. Daylight was fading and the black critter looked like a javelina, so I grabbed my binoculars for a looksee."

"Yeehaw! Wild pigs, 1 black & 5 red ones.  Wayne had said we could hunt these and Crabby said he liked pork, so off I go. The area was quite open and it took me several minutes to get with 20 yards of the pigs. The black pig was closest and offered a 15 yard broadside shot opportunity, but because of his color, I couldn't pick a spot, so now I turned my concentration on the red hogs.  A quick glance at my watch indicated I had maybe 2 minutes of shooting light left.  Sneaking in a little closer helped, but I just wasn't comfortable with the shot opportunities as the red hog rooted in front of me 12 yards away.  Besides, I had dinner to fix for 4 REALLY hungry guys and it was at least a 45 minute drive out. Hmmm, tomorrow is another day."

Tonight's Dinner Menu:  Fidello (fee-day-oo:  vermicelli fixed mexican style with chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, green pepper, red pepper & choice of meat) served in fresh hot corn tortilla's, garnished with picante (hot) sauce & jalapeno (ha-la-pen-yo) peppers. Prepared at the able hands of Chef Zano.

Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 - The Hunt Wrap Up