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Topic Archives => Memorable Hunts => Topic started by: Charlie Lamb on November 08, 2004, 08:38:00 AM
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Took my stands down yesterday and brought them home. It was my last day to hunt the little 50 acres I've grown so fond of the last couple of seasons. Since it sold, it won't be there for me when I get back from Texas.
Yep... Texas!! I've given up the best Missouri week for deer hunting so I can hunt with my buddy Curtis Kellar in south Texas.
He's been giving me glowing reports of big bucks runnin crazy and coming to horns. Big boar hogs in numbers that make my knees weak. Of course who knows what else lurks in the Texas white brush and mesquite. Bring it on!!!
As per last year, I'll update this thread as the slaying begins. Hope everyone is up for it. I'll try to keep it brief.LOL
Until I get there, you guys stay out of trouble and kill stuff!
:thumbsup:
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Good luck Charlie. Have fun and stay safe. Remember Tom and Dina's hunt. Vigilance with sharp objects and unfamiliar terraine is a virtue.
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Charlie,
Safe journey and good hunting.
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Good luck Charlie and Curtis!! Looking forward to the reports!!
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Charlie , have safe trip....hope make meat!!!!!ole #78.... :thumbsup:
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<----- would give up any week hunting deer in MO to chase hogs in Texas.
Go get 'em, Charlie!
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Welcome to Texas Charlie!! Have a great hunt! BLM
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Hope you're shootin' some more of those homemade bleeders. Good luck!
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Hey Charlie, give me a shout when you get here, C.K. has the number. That way I can set up the bbq pit at the ranch.
Eric
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Just wanted to update. Charlie and his lady made the trip without incident. Charlie wasted no time wanting to hit the woods. I gave a quick tour of things and saw a few deer while we walked. Charlie went to where I suggested for hogs and I went to my place across the road to rattle horns. I got one Buck in pretty quick but he came in behind me and wouldn't let me get turned. He blew out and I continued to the next set-up. I rattled once and hit the grunt tube twice. About a minute later a Doe and a nubbing buck are comming strong. They stop where my drag had crossed, turned toward me and stopped at 5 yards. My heart was pounding because as this was happening, I had a buck comming and grunting the whole time he was moving. The doe and fawn wouldn't leave and I could not turn to get a shot on the buck. About this time the wind switched slightly and all the deer left. Good thing I never moved. The deer never knew anything for certain and didn't really leave in much of a hurry. Charlie is putting in some night hunting right now. Hopefully we'll have somthing to report shortly. CK
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Best of luck you guys...... :thumbsup: Some day I would like to make the trip to TX and meet Curtis myself. While not fond of poisonous snakes, I am very fond of deer and hogs. Keep us updated on the action. TL
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Good luck and have a safe hunt. It sounds like it's going to be one heck of a good time.
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Go get 'em Charlie :thumbsup:
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as usual Charlie is making us wait :D good luck guys and i know you are having fun .all the best -- herb
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Sorry, forgot to post after Charlie came in. He had a better than expected hunt. Seems he almost got to draw down. I'll let him tell the stories though. Im about to wake the big man up for the morning hunt. The rut is absolutely wide open right now and the plan is to bang some antlers together this morning. I just wish I could rattle for Charlie and film too. Maybe I'll take my camera along. Will post later. CK
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Charlie Lamb reporting in. Happy November 10 for all you leathernecks out there.
Like Curtis said, I got here, took a brief rest and we got after the deer in the afternoon.
I posted my self near a heavilly used fence crossing with a favorable wind around 3:30 p.m.
Around 4 I spotted a doe coming up the fence. She took her sweet time coming through and was suspicious of my form in the brush, but she continued through. In just a bit a second deer came along the same path. Turned out to be the doe's yearling. Both were safe from any malicious intent on my part.
Last year while hunting here, I had taken a stand along this same fence line and called for coyotes.
At the end of that days hunt, I found that I had lost my coyote howler call. I didn't have time to look for it so Curtis said he'd look around. He didn't find it.
Well, I was sitting on my little folding stool at that crossing last night when I looked down and there laying on the ground within reach was that coyote howler.
I blinked about a dozen times and rubbed my eyes. It really was there! Amazing coincidence.
As night began to close in on me, I got up from my ambush and shifted to a spot that was better suited for hogs.
I sat there a while, my "Howard Style" Woodsman tipped shaft resting lightly lightly across my Gamemaster.
Beside me on the ground was a mini Catquiver with the rest of my arrows.
About the time that I thought it was getting time to head to the house for some of Curtis' BBQ ribs, I took the arrow off the string and laying the quiver across my lap, I placed "ole Number 1" safely away.
I slung the quiver over my shoulder and prepared to stand up out of my hiding spot. I figured to give the 2 racoons that were playing around in front of my a slight scare.
It was then that I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. A nice size hog was coming down the sendero and was almost in front of me.
As quickly and quietly as possible, I drew ole Number one back out of the quiver and slid it across the the bow.
The hog came into my shooting window at 10 yards and I had the bow pointed and was applying pressure to the string when an unseen hog off to my right grunted. He'd gotten a nose full of me and was letting his pal know things weren't Kosher.
In a blink, the hog in front of me was gone.
Curtis and I spent the evening planning the next days hunt and talking about hunts past.
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Well... second day of the hunt was loads of fun. Curtis and I took off early in the morning to work an area we call Sherwood forest.
Sherwood has it all! You never know from one minute to the next what will appear. We had rattling antlers in hand and made our first stand within minutes of entering the brush.
It was pretty routine except for a doe and yearling I spotted shortly after we started. Most of the stands went that way and we played hit and run all morning.
The closest we came to having a buck respond was some close grunting in the brush downwind of me.
At one point we went into hog hunting mode as we approached an area that consistantly holds the little buggers.
We did our best double team still hunt through the area and were doing great. Good wind, silent footing and enough cover to hide us as we went.
We were approaching an old creek bed when I glance in Curtis' direction.
He was pointing frantically into the brush in front of us and mouthing the word hog. I didn't see or hear anything, but that doesn't mean anything.
Splitting up even more than we were, we pursued the group of hogs into the brush. I'd say about 30 yards into the pursuit, I heard grunting coming from a thicket in front of me.
I just caught a glimpse of movement as a medium size hog busted me and moved out.
Eventually we lost that gang, made a couple more stands with the horns and came in for the afternoon.
Around 3:30 we went back out for deer. This time taking stands, but no sightings.
Out this morning to set stands and I had a doe and yearling in front of me for almost 20 minutes. I'm amazed at how wired these Texas deer are. She was on edge the whole time she was in front of me and would often start for no apparent reason.
She did spend a lot of time watching what was her back trail and I expected a buck to show at any moment.... but none ever did.
Curtis had it more quiet than I did.
I might add that there is weather moving in and it got pretty dang chilly sitting out there. We're anticipating an active afternoon.
(is anyone reading this at all?) :confused:
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I'm here Charlie! Just got in from the stand myself. Bucks are rutting here like crazy!
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Heck yea Charlie!! Just soakin it in and imaginin I'm down there. After being there I can picture it pretty good. Keep em coming!!
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Sure Charlie, and it's good reading. Keep it up.
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Keep it up Charlie and Curtis...reading about hunting is better than reading about work!
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I'm reading and sure enjoying it. Thanks to ya and keep it coming :)
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(CK here)Just going to post a few words.
I had a good hunt last night. I didn't take anything substantial but I did get two Coons using Wensel Woodsmans.
This morning I took up blind in the back of the property where two big rubs have been made in the last few days. To no avail. The wind switched to the North early and is still blowing about 25-30mph. Its been a miserable, windy day so far, so Im sticking to the house till after sundown. Gonna do a hog hunt down where they have torn up the property every night for two weeks. Never know when they will show up so Im preparing for an all nighter. Me and Charlie are both preparing for the long haul in the dark.
What makes this all the more interesting in the Lion my wife and I saw walking across our round hay bales last Friday morning as we left for work. I knew she was here by the tracks I've been seeing and the pig I found killed..... I've really been on edge while in the woods at night since then!!!! Im only out weighing the cat by maybe 60 pounds at the very most. I can only hope she moved on. I was strictly ground hunting till the sighting. I've been timid toward the ground the last week. I'll post as soon as we put som meat on the ground. Till then I hope you are hunting instead of reading this. Good luck. CK
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Good reading guys. If ya can't be there this is the next best thing. Good luck on yhe hunt.
Chort
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Well, It wasn't an all night sit afterall. The hunt may have been short but the trip back to humility was much shorter.
I finally met the Big ol' boy thats been leaving some impressive prints around here. He's the biggest I can recall seeing in a really long time. The really sad thing is that I flubbed the shot. I was shooting my character bow this evening and all seemed proper till the hog got really, really close. I had to raise up in a half standing, half crouched position to shoot out the window on my make-shift ground blind. His vidals showed perfect at "3" steps. Thats right, "3"... As I released the upper limb of my bow slapped a limb before the arrow got away. It went right over him. I gazed in total amazment as the bruiser hit the brush running. I guess we all need some humility occasionally.
Charlie is still out trying to get him some pork. Hopefully he will fare much better than myself. CK
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Close misses happen CK. My bro Randy came in one morning and confessed to having missed a javie ... at 4 yards. I said "how in the heck do you miss something at 4 yards?" and he replied "I misjudged the distance, I thought it was 5 yards and shot over him" LOL
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Ck, If you find anouther lion kill an its covered she will be back. If it's leagal you can sit on it an get a shot. The females are better about returnig to kills, the males are sometimes to busy patrolling. They feed once an go.
Here I've seen where the cats bed pretty close to the kills to watch for scavengers[40-50 yds] If I find a good fresh kill this winter I'm gonna see if raven sounds will bring the cat in bow range.
You guys sound like your havin a good hunt. Luck to you :)
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Good to see someone is checking in. We thought we were running solo this go round.
We just got in from the am hunt. I'll let Charlie fill the voids. For now, we gotta go get several bags of ice. HeeeeHeeee!!!!! CK
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Hehe, ask the Missouri boys how many times I miiiiissseddd a certain javie boar on our last Texas trip.....
I think the longest shot I ever took at him was twelve paces. I just could NOT make a shot on him, despite nailing a feral sow on the same trip at 17 yards.
Stuff happens. It's a shame when it happens after so much time invested, but....
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(http://www.ozbow.net/phpbb2/album_pic.php?pic_id=887)
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Yea baby, nice looking hog! Congrats to?????
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Well done.
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Yeah Baby, came home tonight and thought to myself... I wonder what them 'ol boys is up to down in Texas and now I know. So lets hear the story boys....come on..... :thumbsup:
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Seems to me that I have seen those yellow fletched carbonwood arrows in that side quiver that Lamb is fond of carrying. But maybe he gave those arrows to Curtis to throw us off.... Actually the more likely scenario is that Billie shot that pig and these jokers are trying to take credit for the whole deal.
Thanks for taking us along on this trip guys. It's always fun to get home at the end of the day and pull up trad gang to see what's been going on.
Congrats on the nice pig. Actually I'm not sure if I'm more jealous of the pig or the meal that Curtis will make out of it.
Good luck to both of you with the deer hunting.
Chris
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Hey Kinslow Whats hapnin? I havent heard from you you in awhile. You get you a wallhanger yet? I am still lookin but maybe itll pick up with this weather change.
Eric
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Guys, I know I've been remiss in posting for the last couple of days, but my old butt has been kicked more than a couple of times.
Seems like all we are doing is hunting, eating and sleeping... kinda the way life should be!
Our focus the last couple of days has been on the local pigs.
We've been stand hunting and still hunting both to try and get a hog together with a sharp broadhead.
Curtis told you of his woes the night before last. I had some of my own! It went kinda like this...
We both gone out in the afternoon to take a stand. I doubt that we are more than a couple hundred yards apart.
I had a doe and yearling whitetail come in early and hung around for quite a while. I marveled at the alert attitude of both of them. You could see the muscle tension as they fed and from time to time they would start just ever so slightly for no apparent reason. There was no doubt in my mind that had I wanted to run an arrow through one or the other that I'd have a major string jumper on my hands. They weren't, however, on the list.
Perhaps fifteen minutes went by and both the deer left... all of a sudden like! I was about to have company.
Where the deer had come into range cautiously, the pig came at a quick and purposefull trot. I was surprised to see this lone animal. I expected more to show at any moment, but they didn't.
Back in the brush about 75 yards I heard squealing and grunting. If they held to their typical pattern they would be coming my way.
I had sat and watched the first pig, waiting for larger ones that I just knew must be hanging out in the brush close by.
When I realized that this pig in front of me ,though smaller than I had been waiting for, presented an opportunity to collect some pork and not upset the bigger ones which were coming. I quickly prepared to shoot.
Lining up for a slight quartering angle and tight to the elbow, I drew the bow confidantly to anchor held for an instant and shot my arrow right over it's back.
So much for being Fred Bear... it was a 10 yard shot!!!
Well, of course the piggy ran off and left me there with my evil thoughts, but I didn't have to wait long when the rest of the gang showed up. None the smarter for the incident that had just transpired.
These were bigger hogs and there was one in the bunch that was a little larger than all the rest. His demeanor and physical build almost surely identified him as a boar hog. I wanted him... unless something truly big showed up soon, I would try.
I watched for a little bit as he rooted around in the turnip patch in front of me. Shortly I slid a Carbonwood arrow across the bow. I had a Wensel Woodsman with razorblades alo Jack Howard on the front end and 4 yellow fletch with a fur tracer on the back.
He was with 5 others and I waited for him to get clear. Finally it came. He was quartering away at 12 yards and stopped for an instant. In the gloom of late evening, I didn't see the arrow impact nor could I see it in him as he ran off.
I was as positive of that shot as a person can be, however and sat patiently to see if another pig would show up.
An hour went by and finally got out of my stand. I found the first arrow I had shot laying on the ground not far from where the hog had stood. It was absolutely clean. My second arrow was nowhere to be found.
Curtis came in and we shared stories of the evening.
Shortly we grabbed lights and lanterns and went to find my pig.
Long story short... we found no blood anywhere and no indication which way the animal went. For all we knew I had missed again and the arrow was laying off in the brush somewhere.....continued
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continued? What do ya mean continued? There's a dead pig at the top of the page.
I think I found him for ya.
Mike
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I'm reading this.....good stuff....I'm trying to hunt as much as work allows but I'll be back soon enough for the next installment. Nice Pig! Cool head on-im.
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Good read. Keep it coming. Chad
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(Charlie here) Now where was I?
Oh yeah! We searched and searched, but could not find the arrow, the hog, or any blood at all. After quite a while we decided it would be best to come back the next morning and recover the arrow which had to be laying clean, out in the brush.
I was dejected to say the least. Two prime opportunities and I'd muffed both of them... at very close range and that was eating my lunch.
The next morning, both Curtis and I made our morning hunts away from the area where I'd done my missing the night before.
I saw nothing, but had a wonderful morning still hunting through the south Texas brush.
About 9 a.m. I headed back to the house for a cup of coffee and to wait for Curtis to come in.
The girls were consoling me over the night before and that I hadn't seen anything that morning.
One of them said, "one of you guys has got to kill a pig." About that time, Curtis walked in to the kitchen and said, "Well I just did!"
I got all fired up and started asking questions and Curtis gave me the story.
He'd gone over to look around for sign of my pig or the arrow and had heard pigs sqealing in the distance.
Figuring they were headed that way, he took cover in the blind. The pigs came in, he shot one and wanted to get out and get it.
So we headed out the door and jumped in the truck. In minutes we were at a game trail along the edge of the sendero. Curtis telling me that he was "back in there".
While Curtis putzed around at the truck, I strolled back into the brush on the game trail.
As soon as I penetrated the thick wall of brush that lined the sendero, I spotted the hog laying there. I could see Curtis' arrow protruding from it's back.
I stepped even closer to the boar and thought how pretty he was and how closely Curtis' arrow resembled my own and how he even had a fur tracer on the arrrow.....wait a minute!! He doesn't use fur tracers!!!
I stepped right up to the hog then and checked the arrow. It was my carbonwood with four yellow fletch and yellow fur tracer.
Slowly it sunk in. THIS WAS MY HOG!!
Curtis had set me up right proper and then knocked me over like a feather.
Of course Curtis was right behind me with the camera ready to capture the elation, confusion and over all stupor caused by finding an animal I thought was lost.
Since then my hunting has been kinda slow as far a game sighted goes.
There is never a dull moment when I'm out though. I know that at any moment some animal that I never expected could step out of the brush and give me the thrill of a lifetime.
We'll be headin back out this afternoon.
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Eric,
I sent you a pm to your e-mail address.
Chris
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been a few days since i last looked in . wished i could say it was because i know how long it takes Charlie to tell a story :D but been busy getting orders out trying to get funds for my Texas visit LOL sure is nice to see them boys over a pig and if they can miss won't bother me as much when i do LOL -----have fun guys -- each day it gets closer --- herb
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Nice Pig!!!Gonna get me one of them some day.
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Charlie & Curtis,
Congrats on the hog. One down, many more to go I hope.
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They are to busy wipping their lips on their sleeves over a pile of pork ribs to finish this grand tale. Sorry dogs.
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Curtis , I really like you and Charlie's version of "piggin out"....nice job!!! mark#78 :wavey: :wavey: :wavey:
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Charie, How about some pictures.
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Well guys, just got in and am justifiably whipped!
Long drive.
Curtis had been feeling rough for a couple of days and early in the morning yesterday, his wife took him to the E room at the local hospital.
They were getting ready to run some tests of possible appendix problems.
I'm gonna get off here and give CK a call and will be back later.
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Charlie,sounds like you had a good time? Congrats on the piggy.
Let us know about Curtis.
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Just got off the phone with Curtis and he's still puny and nobody knows what's wrong. More tests ahead.
Looking back on my hunt, I've learned a lot about hog hunting and hog shooting since I've hunted with Curtis. For instance....
I shot the hog I got with a modified Woodsman than sported almost a 1 1/2" cutting radius. The arrow penetrated fine for as big as it was and cut rib going in and a rib on the opposite side near the front of the rib cage. That rib was cut and had a neat 3 blade cut around it. The tip stopped a couple inches short of breaking through the skin.
If I shoot another hog from an elevated position, I will probably use the Wensel sans razorblades or a Grizzly El Grande. I'm sure either would have poked out of the off side and left some kind of sign on the ground.
I've begun to hunt with my ears more when after pigs. Being about half deef, I have better results these days when I wear my hearing aids... keeping the volume reasonable so a coyote sounding off at close range doesn't split your skull.
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Congrats to both of you on another fine S Texas adventure!!
Charlie,way to make that second one count bud :thumbsup:
Curtis, Hope your'e feeling better bro :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Curtis , get well bud!!! marco#78