| I met Rick and Ricky Philippi near Fort Worth and we drove to the Texas
S Bowhunting Ranch outside of Clarksville, TX. Merle Smith, the owner,
introduced himself and showed us the cabin we would stay in.
Leroy Sisco also came out to greet us. Leroy bowhunted the Texas S the
day before. He was stand hunting and a group of hogs came down a trail
near him and he scored on a large boar. He downloaded the picture from
his video camera for me and here it is.
Rick, Ricky and I changed into our hunting clothes, got our gear together,
and left for the afternoon hunt. Rick and I started along a perimeter fence
and checked out the lay of the land. Meanwhile, Ricky went with Merle.
Ricky Philippi
Ricky
wanted to take a Ram. He and Merle searched a while and finally spotted
a big Merino Ram. They stalked it and eventually got behind some brush
that was 22 yards away from the big Ram. Merle asked Ricky if he could
make the shot if he was kneeling. Ricky said, "Yes," and drew his bow.
He picked a spot behind the front shoulder and put the arrow there. The
Ram jumped a few steps and dropped. It was a big double curl trophy Merino
Ram.
Ricky said, "This was
my first bow kill. I'm glad that I made a good shot and that it went down
so quick." (Rick and I were as happy and proud as Ricky was.)
Austin Dean (10 year old bowhunter)
Also
on this hunt were father and son, Cliff and Austin Dean. Austin bowhunted
in a treestand for his morning hunt. He saw some hogs but none were close
enough for a shot. When Austin climbed down from his treestand and was
about to leave for camp when he saw a group of hogs approaching. Austin
ducked under the the limbs of a tree and one of the the hogs came right
by him. He shot and hit the hog and broke its leg and the hog ran a short
distance and stopped. Austin snuck up to it and made a perfect double lung
shot and the hog ran a few yards and dropped.
 |
Austin is 10 years old.
He has had his bow for 6 months and shoots it regularly. I asked him how
it felt to get his first big game with his bow. He said, "It feels pretty
good. Awesome." (If you take those words and put them with Austin's
beaming ear to ear smile you get the picture.)
 |
Cliff Dean
This
is Austin's dad's hunt that Cliff calls "the never-ending story"...but
we will make it short. He hunted all day and saw several groups of pigs
and stalked them all over the property, but repetitively they gave him
the slip. He had one opportunity for a big reddish brown boar that was
fighting a black boar. Cliff slipped within 20 yards and drew 3 times but
could not get a clean shot. He came in for lunch and went back out. Late
afternoon he met Rick in the woods and Rick worked Cliff in on a hog that
was hiding in a brush pile. Even though he was only 10 yards from the hog
Cliff could only see a big ear above the log the hog was behind. Cliff
stomped his foot and two hogs jumped up and he shot at the first one.
Whack, the broadhead smacked loudly into a log. Cliff thought he had missed
and recovered his arrow. The entire broadhead (Vortex) was buried in the
log and the whole shaft was drenched in blood. They took up the trail and
the hog was 30 yards into the brush.
This is stacking up to
be a busy hunt, right? You ain't seen nothin' yet. A big wild boar attacks
Rick, and Ricky and I get into some good hog hunting country. More...
| Part
#1 | Part #2 | Part
#3 | Other Online Bowhunts |
| Texas
S Bowhunting Ranch | |