2006 Bowhunt For Wild Hogs @ Texas "S"
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July 6 - Day #2, Part #4

AFTERNOON:  Dangerous? Yep, sometimes ... as in right now!
The situation we were looking at was a big group of wild hogs that had not seen us before we saw them. And they were walking in the right direction, straight toward us.

Two trees looked like they would conceal me good enough. I kneeled down behind them and waited. The hogs stayed on a collision course with a BowTech moment. 

Yep. It looked all good. Rick zoomed in of the closest hogs and I picked a spot on a black hog and drew.

The leaders of the pack walked around the left side of the trees I was behind. That was a good thing. But what wasn't a good thing was the front runners saw me and started running.

Rats. I hate running shots. But, not to worry. Some stragglers stopped as they watched the lead hogs run away. I didn't have much trouble deciding which one to shoot.

The tallest hog, a boar with tan markings around its chest, was the boar for me. With no time to do the rangefinder thing, I guessed him at 40 yards and put my bright green top pin on his chest and moved it up to the top of the tan marking. And pulled the trigger. And all heck broke loose... 

The hogs ran to our left but my hog veered off went into the nearby opening. As luck would have it Merle Smith was 4-wheeling along the edge of the exact same opening. When Merle saw the boar, and the blood on it, he knew I had shot the hog.

When the boar saw Merle's 4-wheeler in his way ... he charged it !!!

Slamming hard into the left front grill the boar fought to get over the handle bars and grab a piece of Merle. The left side of the 4-wheeler lifted off the ground and Merle desperately struggled keep the 4-wheeler upright, and at the same time keep himself out of the wild boar's snapping teeth.

Somehow Merle managed to get loose from the hog and sped away. We were just now walking out of the woods and he drove to us. I couldn't help but notice the blood all over the front of his 4-wheeler. (I took this picture later when we returned to camp.)

Rick and I hopped on separate sides of the 4-Wheeler and Merle excitedly told us what had just happened as he drove to the hog. It stood in the open, watching us approach, waiting, like a gladiator who wasn't going down without a fight.

Merle stopped 65 yards from the hog and looked at me and said, "What kind of huaveos have you got?" I gave him a slight grin as I slid off the 4-wheeler and working up my best bad attitude persona, walked toward the hog.

His jaws began popping when I was 40 yards away. At 20 his demeanor changed, he definitely looked ready to fight. I drew, fully expecting him to be on the way by the time I got my pin on him. But he hesitated. 

But I didn't. My arrow popped through his lungs and Rick's picture caught him as he humped up and new blood erupted from his side. He dropped on the spot.

What an exciting end to another swell bowhunt at Texas "S" Bowhunting Ranch. An east Texas tusker on a hot July afternoon. It was all good.

That's Merle Smith on the left, congratulating me on my hunt. One thing for certain, this hunt had a 4-wheeler ride that Merle will never forget.

EQUIPMENT COMMENTS:

On a hunt like this the one this afternoon everything has to work together ... and work right. And equally as important, using archery gear that does that gives you confidence that you can get it done. 

Ask anyone who hunts wild hogs and they will tell you that if a wild hog gets riled up and its adrenaline starts flowing he is hard to bring down. The hit from my Grim Reaper RazorTip had this hog down and out on the first shot. We just needed to leave him alone for a few minutes. Instead, Merle got in his way and the boar got riled up. Rick's picture before my shot was taken at 4:06 and the boar was down at 4:14. Grim Reaper makes killer broadheads.

Power, accuracy, smooth shooting and taking the arch out of archery is what BowTech Archery is all about. I used the top pin on the initial 40 yard shot. (I only have one pin sighted in, the top one.) From practicing I knew that all I needed to do was hold high and my hit would be good. And it was. I used the BowTech Tribute with the Smooth module instead of the Speed module. I chose the smooth one because it fits my bowhunting style, I like smooth, quiet draws. This is a great bowhunting bow.

Getting your sight on the target fast had a new meaning on this hunt and the Spot-Hogg Real Deal bowsight has the bright fiber optics that I needed to get on target and get an arrow in route before I had a moving target.

Sticks N' Limbs camouflage works in every kind of hunting country because its design of tree limbs uses an optical trick that breaks up your outline, regardless of your surroundings. It is the best camouflage there is. And you can get it at BowhuntingStore.com.

 I used Jim Fletcher Archery's string loop release, the Flathead. As always it made a smooth, flawless release. I have a world of confidence in the Flathead and Jim Fletcher.

The Grim Reaper broadheads were on Gold Tip 400 arrows. I fletched my arrows with the easy to use, fast fletching carbon fletcher from Arizona Rim E-Z Fletch (it applies 3 feathers at a time)  with EZY-Eye yellow wraps fletched with bright yellow feathers from Gateway Feathers.

(Tomorrow:  What kind of pictures did we get on the CamTrakker?)

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