3rd Annual Boeuf Hog Hunt

[Terry Johnston]

Met with the guys at camp last night as I only live 3 or 4 miles from Beouf. The "tall tails" are already being told.. Like BOHO I am headed to deer camp near Vicksburg. Great bunch of guys,have a feeling those pigs in trouble this year!!

[Joeabowhunter]

 good luck fellas!  Looks like the weather turned around just in time.

[Hackbow]

Everyone should be home and somewhat rested by now. I'll kick off the recap by giving everyone a "taste" of what camp was like.

Daniel grilled pork chops - we ate with our hands. Randy brought his now famous breakfast burritos AND grilled sausage from his bear (YUM!!!). Kip made his gumbo again and kept saying it wasn't quite right, yet it magically all disappeared. Jacob made alligator sauce piquant - it was so good we forgave him for not doing his shrimp etouffee again. Todd and his buddy Tim (new to camp this year) kept us in Oreos and milk, which has become a Boeuf Hog Hunt tradition. My son caught some steelhead and gave me some to smoke for this hunt in honor of Marty Rinke, who brought smoked salmon he caught on every hunt we were blessed to share with him. His was much better, but the thought was there and memories were shared.

[Hackbow]

Randy made a special arrow and launched it in Marty's honor after we shared some stories about him. I'll let Randy jump in with more about that. I spent some time hunting a couple spots both Marty and I shared in previous hunts. He was missed.

[Joeabowhunter]

[John146]

Well the Beouf Hunt was a grand time as always and there were a couple animals that were harmed in the making of this memory. I will leave that to the proper individuals.

Tim and I arrived Thursday afternoon and had about 2.5 hours of daylight to hunt so we went to a spot I had seen hogs close to camp in years past. The sign was non existent at this particular place and it became apparent that the dry conditions were going to create a lot bigger place to hunt. In years past there was a lot more flooded woods which shrunk the areas quite a bit.

We did see some sign when I went to a spot that Daniel tried to get me to go to from the start,     but we ran out of light too quickly. That night as folks started arriving Daniel cooked up some Pork Chops and we ate good.

Below is a picture of the motley crew: Darren, Jacob, Tim, Me, Kip, Daniel, Darren and Chris. These guys are a hoot to hunt with!!    


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[John146]

Friday dawned pretty cold and we split up in different areas to hunt. Darren, Randy, Tim and I went to a spot north of camp about 10 miles where we had seen hogs last year. It was Marty's favorite area. Marty had gotten numerous opportunities at hogs in this area so it just seemed right to go back there and get after them.

Tim and I went way back with the thought that we needed to get around water like last year when the pigs seemed to be at the edge of the flooded woods. Turns out it wasn't the water areas that had the sign this year. All the rooting we found was where the oaks trees were. The hogs were rooting up in the deep leaves searching for acorns underneath.

We didn't see any hogs that morning but jumped a few deer when we split up around the sign we found. Looked like the deer wanted to be where the hog sign was as well. We were getting things narrowed down a bit.  

[John146]

Friday afternoon Time and I decided to go back to that same area. He had found about a 1/4 acre of solid rooting and was going to go post up in that area. I was going to the area I had found sign and post up in an open area with hopes of catching hogs coming out before dark so I could put a stalk on em. This spot was where Darren ran into about 30 hogs last year. Sign wasn't near as good but enough.

I found a huge dead tree trunk that had been hit by lightning. It busted about 10 feet up and all the branches were laying on the ground around it. there is a cutover behind me and the edge of the swamp trees in front. I am in the oak flat between these two places and I can see about 100 yards in both directions but the wind is such that my opportunity would most likely come to my right. So I set my bow leaning against a tree on my right and my fanny back back to my left and take a seat on the ground leaning against this tree.    

[John146]

I stretched out my legs in front of me and it wasn't long before it was nap time. I woke at 4pm and felt rested after humping the woods all morning. At about 4:45 I caught movement straight in front of me coming out of the swamp trees. My mind said hogs but my bino's revealed deer!!!
A huge doe (150lbs), was in front of a smaller doe and yearling heading straight to me and here I am sitting flat on my butt with my legs straight out in front. Was I going to be able to get up enough to get my legs under me, grab my bow and get ready for a possible shot?     and frankly surprised that I had gotten that chance at a deer when I was chasing hogs!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

 getting good

[John146]

So I sat back down against my tree thinking about what just took place with plenty of light left before dark. About 10 minutes go by and I catch movement in the same spot. Another doe is wanting to go in that cutover where the other deer went. She is acting real nervous and sprints about 25 yards forward and stops. I get my legs under me again and grab my bow.

She bolts again and I start bleating at her to try to get her to stop. She finally stops and she is on my left side like the others but a little further past me than the other doe was. She is a little closer in distance and when she stops her head is behind a tree and her vitals are exposed. I start my draw while picking a spot and something doesn't feel right. My brain is telling me that but my eyes say launch! I release and my bow freaks out. My arrow goes low and sticks in the tree she is behind. She runs and I am like, "what the heck just happened!"

I watch where she goes and catch movement and there was a buck behind her! 5 deer, sitting on the ground waiting for hogs! Go figure! They take off and the buck is obviously interested in her. maybe a late hot doe. I then try to figure out what I hit with my limb because I obviously hit something on release. The little tree on the side of me is too far away to be a problem and then I see it. My dang fanny pack! My bottom limb was pushing against my fanny pack and that's what felt so weird when I was drawing the bow.

[John146]

Saturday, Tim and I jumped in the boat with Chris and his buddy Norman and went down the Beouf River and hunted an area they knew about. It was very cool to see that area by boat and we had a blast checking out the new area. No pigs and very little sign of rooting but I saw 3 more deer that morning.

I went back to the deer spot that afternoon hoping they would come out again but nothing moved that night. It had gotten much warmer by now. Sunday we stayed close to camp but it was not to be for me. I saw one hog that day but he was dead and the buzzards were eating on him.     :eek:    

The food was crazy good again!! Thanks to Daniel, Kip and Jacob for the fine dining. Randy's famous burritos are the best way to start the morning for sure and my first taste of bear sausage has me re-thinking a bear hunt one day.        

Sure missed Marty though. Seemed weird him not being there.     :(      

Till next year guys and till we meet again Marty!

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Sounds like a good time..

,,Sam,,

[DanielB89]

Well, I made it to the camp around 5:30 or 6 thursday evening.  It is always great to see everyone.  This is quickly becoming one of those "get aways" that I look forward to every year.  It is always a blast!  I was immediate hit with the reminder that Marty wouldn't be in camp this year.  Man, life is fragile.  He told us last year he had a toe surgery he had to get out of the way, but was "planning it around the hunt".  

Marty was a guy who had earned his lifetime invite on the first year (haha).  He brought an ice chest full of smoked salmon and caribou ssg.  He also brought more than a lifetime's worth of hunting adventures.  Whether it be a grizzly charging, saw zawing up a moose or caribou kill, catching salmon, etc.  He had experienced many things i'll never get the opportunity to.  Sad topic, back to the hunt.

[DanielB89]

We talked about where we would hunt the next day. Our hunt is typically laid out as if Friday is our "scout day".  We all go to different areas, scout, looking for sign or hogs or anything else that leads us to hogs.  Friday at mid day were supposed to meet and discuss what we found.

[DanielB89]

Jacob Burgeron and I decided to partner up and scout near the camp while everyone else headed to various locations.  

Jacob and I hit the woods friday morning around 8.  Lots of people have different theories of hog movement.  Mine, through years of hunting this block of woods, is that I've never seen a hog on hoof before mid morning.  This would remain true throughout this hunt.  

Jacob and I were talking and walking(quiet of course) when all the sudden he calls for my attention.  I turn to look and he is pointing his bow towards the ground at his feet.. I check it out and its hog poop.  I told him to taste them to see how fresh, but he passed.  We look directly north and not 40 yards from where we were was a couple boards bedded down on the south side of a tree.  The wind was blowing in from the north, for the most part, and we were directly down wind.  Well, i'll let Jacob take that part from there.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good stuff guys, keep it coming

[jbpharmd]

Once again the Bouef (pronounced "Buff" for all you people north of Alexandira!) hunt was something I looked forward to all year. My wife and I had our 3rd child this year so that makes 3 kids under 3 years old. Needless to say my hunting time has decreased drastically. In fact, the Bouef hunt was the only time I spent in the woods this season.

Before I start, a word on Marty: I was very much looking forward to meeting up with him again this year. He was one of those guys that you could just tell knew his way around the woods. His booming voice, unassuming manner and excellent smoked salmon were sorely missed in camp. Whether he was talking about breaking down a Moose, close encounters with bear, or Sea Otters raping each other, he always had a big smile on his face. I'll always remember asking him whether he came down to Louisiana for the hunting or the food and he gave a sly grin and said "Mostly the food", as he helped himself to his 3rd bowl of etoufee. I am extremely thankful to have known him, no matter how brief the encounter.

       Thanks to Darren for making the smoked salmon in his honor and Randy for the memorial arrow.

[jbpharmd]

Now on to the hunt! Friday morning I went out with Daniel right behind the camp. We jumped a few deer at first but as we marched on there was more and more hog sign. I stopped Daniel to examine a fresh looking pile of digested hog dinner and when we pick our heads up about 35 yds away is a black patch of fur at the base of a dead tree that just looks out of place. Well, sure enough 2 fairly large boars are bedded down with a perfect wind and we start to creep up on them. We got to about 18yds from them and the wind started to die down. As I started my draw sequence I saw the boar in back pick his ears up and he bolted out of there like someone shocked him with a cattle prod. The other boar quickly followed suit. It is amazing what a little bit of man stink will do to wild animals. I may not have drawn blood on these guys but they sure gave me a case of the shakes!!

Daniel and I were able to keep up with them through the woods and they bedded down after a few minutes. As we got closer to them we could tell they were still alert from their close encounter. We were able to creep in a little ways and I urged Daniel to take this opportunity since I had the last one. Both hogs were laying down quartering away and Daniel let fly. Alas, it was not to be as both pigs ran off. One with a moderate limp... We followed them as long as we could but lost their trail.

After two botched golden opportunities what do a couple trad bowmen do in the woods? Stump shoot of course! After three shots or so as Daniel is lining up to fling an arrow I catch movement off to the right and once I put the binos up I can see a large sow feeding with some piglets through the trees. I quickly stop him from shooting and we take off trying to get the wind right to make a stalk.

Honestly at this point thing got a little blurry. There were pigs all around us. Multiple family groups had converged on us from different directions and we probably had 6-8 large pigs and 30 or so babies within eyesight. We slowly moved as they fed but with so many eyes we were both nervous about being detected. Finally we posted up against two trees and waited for them to come to us. A group of piglets finally made its way into our ambush and Daniel let fly but missed. I watched him draw out of my peripheral vision and did the same, so when the piglets ran past me I picked one and let fly. I heard my arrow smack something solid, followed by a pig squeal. After the chaos died down Daniel said he saw my arrow bounce off a tree and stick a piglet in the head. We found the arrow with blood just on the front half of the broadhead. We followed one of the groups into a thicket and thats where we found the big boys.

There were at least 3 good-sized boars. One of them was light brown with dark spots that looked about 220-250lbs. However, once we got into the thicket with them it was impossible to move quietly. It was plain to see that these guys were smart and could tell something was wrong. They ended up getting out of dodge with Daniel taking off to try and cut them off. I stayed put waiting on one of the other family groups. I was able to pick up the movement of the big boars from far off and was able to watch through my binos as that big spotted one beat the tar out of a solid black one. They made quite the racket too! Grunting and squealing up a storm. After a few minutes one of the sows with piglets came in and started feeding towards me. When the piglets got to the exact spot that Daniel had been standing it squealed and took off back the way it came, taking the rest of the family with it.

I went out to the same spot Friday afternoon with Kip and saw nothing.

Saturday morning Darren and I got a late start and I saw a small pig feeding near where the family groups were. As I started to make the stalk it took off and I couldn't figure out what the heck I had done wrong. Then a big raccoon comes sauntering in and ends up right where that pig was. I guess they had some kind of understanding.  

[jbpharmd]

So that was my experience this year. I had a fabulous time with some of the best men I've ever met. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity and look forward to next year!