Part #3

When I left Rick I spotted a group of hogs heading his way. I circled out of their way so as not to spook them and then cut back to a good sized pond that we had passed. I wanted to check it out. The pond was long and narrow and at the bottom of a small hill. Wide, well established game trails ran by the pond on each side and continued up the hill. I noticed a group of hogs up the hill and looked over the lay of the land to see where the most cover was -- so I could use it to get close to the hogs. On the way to them I saw a very big tan and black spotted boar come up the trail by the pond (100 yards behind me) and turn parallel to the water. It began rooting in the brush. I changed my course and moved toward the spotted hog.

The big hog rooted and moved a short ways and rooted some more. I slipped to within 35 or 40 yards only to have the hog move a short ways off and begin rooting about 60 yards away. I slipped along and over and over the hog managed to stay out of range. Finally the spotted boar went into the really thick stuff and I simply could not keep track of it.. I'd invested over an hour in following the boar, but it was hopeless in the dense brush, I decided to return to the pond area and look for hogs there.

Back by the pond I noticed a Ladder Stand on the hill, only a few yards from the trail the spotted hog had used. I took note of that for future reference.

Now it was only a couple of hours before dark but the hogs were showing up all over. I kept bumping into groups as I want along and spooked several. That was no good so I looked for a likely place to make a stand.

A hog trail, at least 4 foot wide ran parallel to the boundary fence I came in on. That was an obvious place to scout. I found a big wallow near the corner of the boundary fence. The mud was soupy and cream colored. Sixty yards away I made a makeshift ground blind in a blow down and so I could watch the wallow, the boundary road, and the wide trail.

Before long a half dozen hogs came out of the brush and went straight to the wallow and hopped right in the mud. Then more came but they rooted around in the corner and the edge of the woods. Still more came and there were probably 40 hogs in the corner area. The only problem was I didn't have good cover from where I was to where they were. However, a big tiger stripped looking hog broke away and came walking toward my blow down. It looked like it would come by close, right by the edge of the blow down, so I crouched and got ready to shoot. But, the game always has it's own agenda and when it came into my shooting lane it was 30 or more yards away so I didn't shoot.

Crouching in the blow down for so long had made my legs and knees ache. A fat busted limb that lay on the ground at the edge of the blow down looked like a comfortable seat. I checked all around, the hogs were still over by the wallow and I moved to the fat limb and sat down. Ahhhh, it felt good, I stretched my legs. Nice! My right sock was all rumpled up and I pulled off my boot and pulled my sock back up and put my boot back on. Something caught my eye.

Three solid black wild hogs were standing near the wide game trail looking directly at me from 30 yards away. Two of them were real big. The third was absolutely enormous, towering over the other big guys. I held still as a stone. Since they hadn't ran they weren't sure what I was and I had good camouflage, good cover around me, and time on my side.

Time won out. They lost interest and started walking and rooting in the brush. But they were moving further away from me. I let them get 80 yards away and slowly started closing the gap.

And then time switched sides and daylight started to fail.

In the morning I went to the Ladder Stand by the pond. A group of hogs came to a nearby tree (15 yards) and rooted all around it. (These guys are destructive.)

They moved on and some Axis deer passed close by in the trees on my left.

A large group of hogs came trotting along parallel to the pond at the bottom of the hill, too far away unless they turned uphill. I heard a hog coming toward me and saw the big spotted hog from yesterday lumbering toward me. It was already close when I saw it and it was right below me as I clicked my release on the string. I pulled to full draw as it entered the thick brush. Only a desperate shot would stand a chance of getting him.

And I don't do desperate shots. I had the place right and was there at the right time. Heck, finding a spot where he actually came by when I was there ain't too shabby.

I needed to be in by 11:00am so I walked over to the wide trail and headed along it in the direction of camp. A mile up the trail I was overlooking the small Lake I mentioned yesterday. From a distance, I took my binoculars out and took the area apart one brush pile at a time. I saw a single large black ear in a downfall and watched it for a few minutes. A little movement here, a little there, and I pieced together a black hog about the size of my refrigerator if it was on its side. I picked out a landmark tree and surveyed the terrain over for a route with cover and started inching along. Eventually I was at my landmark tree. But I didn't see the ear.

In a blow down 15 yards from me I saw movement. I drew right away. There were other movements in the blow down which meant there were additional hogs. My pin settled on wild hog hair as it filled a hole in the limbs. The world seemed to stand still. The hogs didn't move. I didn't shoot. I wanted to see more, at least a head or butt so I could tell where the arrow would strike.

Then three muddy, big black wild hogs blew out of the opposite side of the blow down and left me standing with my bow drawn.

It was after 11:00. My hunt at Texas S Bowhunting Ranch was over. Was it a good one? Lets see, 10 year old Austin brought home the bacon. So did his dad Cliff. Ricky got his first and second bow kills. Rick went head to head with a boar and didn't get hurt and he got 2 hogs.

When I think of the smile on Austin's face and watching Ricky go from a little kid like Austin to a tall, athletic teenager who just earned his bowhunting stripes makes the hunt a success for me. Your darn right it was a good hunt. A real good one.

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