And thus we come to the conclusion…
Terry, JC, Curtis, Charlie, Eric, and myself arrived at the site to begin the bloodtrail. I gave them the details, pointed out references, and we fanned out to look for blood. Nothing… Curtis suggested that I move back to the blind and give them directions based on where I heard the death throes of the javelina. Everyone figured it had to be close, but it was some thick stuff, and zero blood. This went on for about ten minutes. Nothing, and I figured things were pretty much finished. 9:30 at night, zero light, zero pig. Sucks…
Then one of the guys sings out, “Found it!” Suddenly I am 8 years old on Christmas morning all over again. Amazing how a hunt can bring out a huge swing in emotions. Screw the cactus, I hotfoot over through the brush to have a look at my javelina. The gang gathered around and I am heartily congratulated by everyone. She ran about 40 yards from where the hit occurred and made her final stand in a small open area between cacti. Suddenly Curtis got really quiet and in a hushed tone said,” Guys look by the head.”
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Look at the light colored stone above her head
Close-up view
I just sat back down on my haunches. Total Silence for about 10 seconds... We all had goosebumps. Each of us knew that we were experiencing something unique that would never likely happen again. Sometime in the past, others carrying weapons not much different than those we carried that evening, had hunted this very place. Who knows what events transpired to leave that stone point for us to find…but make no mistake, nobody there that evening believes that it was by accident. We were all meant to experience that moment and share it with our brothers.
We as traditional archers choose to do things the hard way: To go back to our past and forge a bond with our hunting ancestry. We do this symbolically every time we pick up our bows, and put our own spirit and energy into practice, the craft of bow and arrow, the hunt, et al. For some reason, unbeknown to me I was put in that place, at that time, and as Curtis put it best: We were all standing in two places at once, on a bridge between the present and the distant past. Only the Maker that brings everything together in such a way knows how long that stone point had been laying there. I still am totally in shock that I would be the one blessed enough to have been given this gift. This link to our past. I am so pleased to have done so with honor. A clean quartering away shot from less than 20 yards. All that time practicing, and my arrow was guided cleanly to the kill. To experience it alone would have been one thing. To experience it with kindred spirits was beyond words. I hope that I have done the experience justice in this retelling.
I believe that we are given insights into the meaning of life all the time. Our Creator speaks to each of us in different ways, and the best we can do in this world is remain open to looking for those moments. What a moment this was!
Curtis, Charlie, Terry, JC, Eric: Thanks for being there to share it with me.
Herb, Timo, Jeff, Rusty, Doug, Scott, Dave & Dave: Thanks for sharing the retelling that evening and now. What a great bunch of men to share a hunt with.
Christopher: You were there with me the whole time. Thanks for everything bro.
Terry, thanks for the pics.
By the way, The shots above show the exit wound from the quartering away shot. It was a clean kill, took her behind the shoulder on the left side, exiting in from on the right. Just wanted to clarify.
Thanks to all for your patience.
Topic: Texas Sweat Update (Read 19251 times)
