Hey Fellas,
Managed to get out again, looking for a few pigs. Managed to go out for a look one day and covered 18kms (about 11 miles) on foot without seeing one. The area had plenty of sign and some big boars at that, but the long dry grass needed to be burnt off before we would head back there. only managed to see one Buffalo for the day, and got a few quick pics before the wind swirled and he took off.
Fast forward a few more weeks, and we headed back to another spot, where hopefully it had dried out enough for us to access the pigs. We split up and I headed to a water source that should have held a few pigs. A fair march to get there, and I was rewarded with plenty of sign, as the pigs tear up the plains looking for food.
after a while of walking around the edge of the water, I spotted the first pig. It was a sow with about six piglets in tow. I left them alone, hoping for some good karma, and boars. I found a perfect white feather on the ground, and recall that the late Bill Baker, used to consider them good luck, so I picked it up and placed it in my bow quiver. Only a few minutes later, I spotted a lone pig feeding in the water, and on closer inspection it looked like an old boar in poor condition. Game on! I snapped a few more pictures and cut back through the long grass to get myself closer.
He had his head down feeding busily, so getting close was no problem. I managed to get into about 20 yards and couldn't get any closer due to the long grass giving away to mud. I thought about shooting from the cover, but I didn't have the best angle, so I thought I'd wait for him to turn around, or feed past me so the wind direction would allow me to close the distance while he had his head underwater and drill him from spitting distance.
It seemed like a good plan, except he was such a guts, he stayed in the one spot feeding. Being, the Dry season now, the wind is usually constant, so I gambled that it would stay like it was, and he would eventually offer a shot of feed past. After about five or ten minutes, I was getting restless and kept poking my head above the grass to see what was going on, and he spotted me.
He started walking towards me, as he must have thought I was another pig and was coming to check me out. I already had an arrow on the string, so put my bow arm up and at 5 yards decided all was not well and took off to my left.
I swung the longbow up and had a shot on the run, hitting him further back than I wanted but still a fatal shot. The arrow skipped across the floodplain, as I was using my buffalo setup.
He was hit hard and ran straight for the long grass, I raced off after him, trying to keep him in sight. He stopped after about 50 yards and turned to face me in the long grass, and I thought "Uh Oh, here we go" but he took off again, running in an arc. I put an arrow on the string and cut across to intercept him and he stopped and faced me at less than 10 yards.
This time I thought " Oh No you don't" and before I knew it I was at full draw looking at his shoulder, but he was quartering on so I aimed at his head and let rip.
770gns smashed him right in the centre of his forehead as his legs instantly folded under him and he collapsed stone dead.
I was in a bit of disbelief as it happened so fast, but laying before me in the grass was my first boar. I walked up to him and made sure he was dead, and set him up for a few photos.
On closer inspection, the big wound on his left side seems to have been caused by a Crocodile. It had a bite out of him, and the boar managed to get away. You could actually see a rib hanging out of the hole in him. I guess that the wound and possibly the subsequent infection is what caused his poor condition, as his tooth wear, indicated he's a 3 year old boar, and in his prime. My camera battery went flat, so I didn't get many pictures, luckily I had my phone on me and managed a few good ones. I'll have to upload some later. I decided to take his whole skull as a trophy, as it's a pretty cool memento with the arrow hole in his head.
Anyway, hope you liked the story of my first boar.
Memo
Topic: The Crocodile Boar (Read 1042 times)
