My two daughters and I went down to Pleasanton to
help celebrate my mom's 80th birthday. I brought
my bow so that my oldest and I could slip away and
we could go hog hunting. Sunday morning about 10
we loaded up and went out to the place. After
driving into the ranch a little way I got out and
threw a handfull of mesquite leaves up in the air
to check the wind currents. The wind was out of
the South and very light. Just right for an easy
walk into "the mudhole tank". I drive just a little
further and stop the pickup. We both don our camo
shirts. I snap a few pics of Avery in her "hunting
duds".
There was a cow that approached us, apparently
wanting a little grub.
Well, we make our way toward the tank, a few
hundred yards away. Avery is making quite a ruckus
in her rubber boots. I tell her to stop and
listen to how I walk, and how quiet I am. She
mimicks me perfectly and walks very quietly after
that. She just needs a few reminders as our approach
progresses. We reach the tank and I tell her that
we need to pause a while and just listen and look.
There's not much happening, as far as I could tell,
hog wise. We creep in a little closer and pause again,
scanning the waterline for hogs. I see none. I do
see this turtle shell
and we go to check it out. I'm pretty sure that
ther are no hogs here, so I speak to Avery in
more than a whisper. She reminds me to be quiet.
Well, we're checking out this shell and I glance
across the water and see another turtle shell. I
point it out to Avery. I also see something make
a slight move in the somewhat long coastal grass
along the water line. I can't tell what it is at
first, then I see that it is a hog, lying in the grass.
I tell Avery I'm going to go aound an shoot it.
I have her sit down on the bank in a spot where
she can see all.
Her seat:
Her view:
I continue around, in the soft sand of the shoreline,
nocking an arrow as I go. There is a small hackberry
tree between me and the hog, so I keep it positioned
so he can't see my approach. I close to within about
15 yards and pick a spot. He's lying on his side
with his underside toward me, just like the first
pig I shot with this recurve. I let an arrow fly
and it strikes dead center, just back of his forelegs.
Expecting him to jump up and run, I am perplexed
when he doesn't. I send another arrow into him,
just forward of the first. He makes only a slight
movement. Keeping my position, I call Avery to me.
She rounds the end of the tank and we both can
hear something in the brush behind her. I can see
the anxiety on her face, but she doesn't make a sound
or quicken her pace. She was a little scared (later
we found out that the cow followed us to the tank).
We walk up to the hog and he is quite gaunt, and
has a lot of flies on him He wasn't dead when
I shot him, but he was darned close. Both of his
front knees are rubbed raw and he has a badly
cracked front hoof. Both of his back legs are swolen.
I think he may have been hit by a car.
I expain to Avery what is going on and that we won't
be butchering this hog. I also tell her that we
have kept him from a lingering death.
I snap a few more pics:
Thanks for reading.
Topic: My daughter watched the shot. (Read 3384 times)
