Wild Hog Bowhunting
2000 (A hunt in progress)
To
The Last Hunt
(April
9, 2000) Wow, this was one busy day at the Hammer Hole.
I wanted to get in the game
a little better and moved a Tripod into a clump of trees overlooking a
cross trail that the big hog had used before I saw him. Because of the
wall of cedar limbs and the unlevel ground I was quite a while cutting
shooting lanes and digging to level the legs of the tripod. I finished
at 4:45 (pm) and rushed home, took a shower and got back out before 6:00.
The first group of wild hogs (all black ones) came at 6:40 and followed
a trail to my left that kept them out of my reach. Before long a second
group came and passed on the same trail, most were black but some were
brown. About 7:30 I heard the third group coming. They spread out and I
could hear them rooting and I began to see pieces of pig legs, ears and
parts of black and brown bodies. I set the camera so the flash was off
and when I saw a large black hog about to walk into the clear about 35
yards away. I took it's picture. It turned toward me and rooted under some
cedars and got closer. I quickly took a couple more pictures and then let
the camera hang on it's lanyard. I hooked my release to my string loop.
Three more big black hogs
came out of the brush and all of them moved toward the trail I was covering
(10 yards away). And I could see lots more hog legs, noses and ears in
the brush ahead of me, following the 4 huge hogs. At this point I realized
there were also hogs right behind me. At least two dozen hogs were moving
towards me from the front, but I froze, because the hogs that were behind
me started rooting in the cedars around and right down below me. Bad News!,
I thought. And it was too, I heard a loud woof underneath me and that group
of hogs charged off right through the approaching hogs and disappeared
in the brush. There were 10 or 12 of them, several were brown and one was
tan and black. The approaching hogs ran ten yards to my left and they fanned
out in the undergrowth. They started popping their teeth, they didn't know
what had happened and were sending out a warning. The hogs walked around
the area for ten minutes and then moved away toward the fence 50 yards
behind me.
When I looked at my pictures
I discovered they all were out of focus. The picture above is the best
of them, I shrank the entire picture from 1028 pixels to 160 pixels wide
and it shows the first big hog. The hog was 35-40 yards off.
(April
8, 2000) Back at the Hammer Hole. I heard some turkeys and called
at them, but they turned out to be my neighbor. At 7:55pm I heard a hog
grunt in the brush. Next I saw a snout of a wild boar, a big one. Then
he walked around the area and got in front of me, about 10 yards away.
I figured it would be cool to take his picture and put it up so you could
see it, a before and after thing. I leaned to my right until I could see
him and framed him in the camera. The camera beeped and the flash came
on. He didn't notice -- so I took another pic. Beep. Flash. I didn't have
such good luck on the second pic. He ran off! He didn't come back either.
And the flash messed up the picture and I don't have anything recognizable.
Oh well, wouldn't have missed it for the world, plus I learned something
about taking digital pictures when you are in deep shadows. Life is good.
(April
5, 2000) I was at the hammer hole and heard wild turkeys. I
called. In short order I saw a gobbler coming. More
& the pic...
(April
4, 2000) I sat in my tripod in the thick brush overlooking the
exact spot where I saw a huge wild hog yesterday. He no showed me. Daylight
got low and I climbed down and walked on a trail to the woods road. As
I stepped into the road 8 wild hogs stood in the road, waiting to see what
I was. Three were 55 gallon drum size. They stared at me for a few seconds.
I took an arrow from my bowquiver and nocked it. They walked into the brush
to my left. Then, another dozen hogs (all sizes, big and small) crossed
in front of me, left to right. As soon as I figured they had all crossed
I started walking up the road. I considered that to be my best bet for
not letting them know I was there to hunt them. They were still moving
in the brush as I walked past. Half way to my truck I walked up on another
group. Yea, we be wild hog hunting all right. It's just a matter of time
and we both show up at the right time.
(April
3, 2000) It was chilly and windy most of the afternoon at the
Hammer Hole. I hunted my tripod overlooking a bunch of fresh hog rooting.
At 7:40 a wild hog grunted and I located ears and a lower leg in the thick
brush. The hog began rooting around in the small opening next to my small
opening. (I have a tripod over there also.) Another hog came up but it
left. In a minute I knew why. I got a look at the hogs head, it was enormous.
A big boar, the snout looked a foot long. It's ears were bigger as my hand.
It spent most of it's time rooting under some cedar trees within 20-30
yards of me but there was no chance of a shot because of the brush. And
it was too close to be able to get out of the tripod stand -- you can't
get out of this one quietly, it squeaks. The boar left ten minutes before
dark. So, I hunted the wrong stand today. Tomorrow I'll cover the other
area.
Mar
19 & 20, a Wild Hog Hunt in Progress
Monday
afternoon: I got my Buckshot 35 pictures back and here are two pics
of some of the wild hogs that are visiting us of late.
Notice
the mud on this wild hog. Chances are it is holed up during the day in
a nearby stock tank that is not being used right now. Both these
pictures were taken on the same trail. There is a significant size difference
between the muddy hog above and the younger hogs below.
Seven wild hogs -- just
passing through. These are all young ones.
Monday afternoon was a peaceful,
but windy day. I saw 4 deer and a monster cottontail. No hogs showed.
Sunday
afternoon: I hunted my new tripod stand near the new rooting we found.
No hogs showed but it was very relaxing sitting quietly in the woods watching
the red cardinals, robins and dove -- plus 4 deer in the brush. At
6:50 the full moon was shining through the trees. At 7:00 I got down and
walked to my truck. It was nearly dark now and the moon was a bright ball
balancing in the tops of the trees. Just for grins I snapped a pic of it.
It don't get any better than an afternoon like this.
(March
17-19) Wild Hog Bowhunting 2000 (A hunt in progress)
 Scoutin'
& Huntin' - About 90% of a hog hunt is the scouting and setting
up. Wild Hogs cover a big area in any given week and there is no way to
guarantee that they will be at any particular place on a given day. Ahhh,
but that's what makes it fun.
Our
property is a thousand acres but the wild hogs only seem to like the West
end where it is thick with brush, briars, cedars and live oaks. I call
the area this area the Hammer Hole and the last three days I've been checking
it out. Here is what I found.
The
way I start out is to check the places where the deer and hogs come under
the fence. Good luck there, the ground underneath the wires is riddled
with hog tracks as they come and go. I walked out the trails from this
point and saw a couple of cross trails that I felt had had potential.
Then
I walked up on, this ...
 |
 The
Hammer Hole area is very dense but it is all immature growth and there
just aren't many large trees to put a treestand in, and what few big trees
there are don't seem to be where I need them to be. But, that is why I
have all kinds of stands, including Tripod stands. The tripod is perfect
for a thick area. It can melt you right in the trees along likely looking
crossings and trails. I got a little help from my friend Dickie and we
went to work and moved two tripods into the area. This one is a 12 foot
Tripod and it is 20 yards from the rooted up area in the picture above,
as well as two cross trails the wild hogs are using right now. It was easy
to set up, we slid it into a narrow depression in the wood's line and trimmed
a few branches out of the way for shooting lanes.
Next, I wanted to set up
on the trails coming from the hole in the fence. I chose a place about
40 yards from the fence crossing, at the first break in the dense brush
where there are two cross trails. These cross trails give an edge to the
brush as do the trails from the fence. So I wanted to hunt the corner of
the brush so there would be a shot possibility in both directions.
I walked into the bush and
checked it out until I found a place were the tripod could go that would
give a shot in both directions.
The second tripod is a short
one, only 7 foot to the platform. But that is a perfect height for the
corner where we put it. The trees and brush are plenty thick but not very
high. Here is a pic of the seat, that should help you locate the stand
in the pic on the right. As you can see the slim trees, brush and vines
are real thick here. We carefully cut our way a few yards into into the
brush and worked the tripod in. Then we cut shooting lanes. This is a great
looking area, too.
This is the tripod seat,
it should help you spot the tripod in the picture to the right.
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So, tomorrow, lets go huntin'
wild hogs and see if they show... |
(March
6) Wild Hog Bowhunting 2000 (A hunt in progress)
Fresh
Hog Wallow - It rained twice last week and we got a couple of inches
of much needed rain. I checked around and located a fresh hog wallow in
an area that retains water after a rain. It's roughly 10 yards long. The
hogs came to drink the water and roll around in the mud. This is a pic
of the wallow.
Here is a close up of some
hog tracks in the mud.
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This year there are more wild hogs than ever. It's time to bowhunt for
them again. Several net bowhunters have said they will come down and help
out: the Duck, Turtle, Timm, Rick Philippi, JimboTX, Zano, Robbie and Crabby's
nephew Doug -- so we ought to have a good time.