TEXAS SWEAT 06 ...Tales of the Hunts...Clips start pg 8

[Terry Green]

Guys......I'm whooped, flight got delayed and three days of hunting and jawing till the wee hours has taken its toll.  There will be stories and images by many in the days to come.....hold on...this Texas Sweat had its share for sure.

I was truly honored to share a camp with this great bunch of guys.  This was about as good as it gets boys and girls.

I'll leave ya this evening with a few quotes I heard during the hunt.........


"Nah, I'll just sit out here and cool off a bit" - Ben Moffitt.

"I noticed this cow at my chair with parachute cord hanging out of its mouth" - Dave 'Hunt It' Stinson.

"I'm glad you're down there instead of me" -  Charlie Lamb.

"Those things are quite scary" - Conan 'slow walker' Nelson

"Oh no, ....those thorns and cactus was nothing compared to the gashes, stitches, and scars I saw in my immediate  future." -  JC

"I wasn't going to let that 2nd one boogie" - Jeff 'tippet' Springer

"I think I'm going to go home and teach my wife a little spanish" - Kyle Watson

"This is insane man" - Curtis Kellar

"I'm not too old enough that I can't whoop your butt....don't call me Mr. Kellar again." - Mr. Kellar             :D            

"You two being experienced bowhunters, I was expecting a more miraculous plan of a technical nature." - Krister of Norway.

See you guys tomorrow......

           

[Terry Green]

OK...Once we got settled in at camp and met all the gang....we were champing at the bit to hit the desert with bow in hand.

Me, JC, and Krister from Norway headed out to the back 40 to find our hidden treasure.  We had to negotiate the hub of a wagon wheel that was a maze of fences and gates...some gate opened and closed in two directions......but we found the spoke we wanted to venture out to a sizable tank(TX for pond)with mixed topo features.

We crested the hill and the tank lay below to our right.  Within seconds......HOGS were spotted headed toward the upper end of the dry part of the lake bed.  We immediately descended and got the wind in our face and quickly closed the distance with a ground that was designed in a stalker' dream.


       

       


We got into bow range and was just waiting for any one of the seven to give us the shot angle we wanted.  BAMB!....180 degree wind change and away they went up on of the two drainages that feed the pond.  We all were left with a grin on our face realizing the hunt held promise.

After a brief recognizance we decided the wind had made its final change for the day...because it was now a stiff breeze in a decisive direction....so we headed off the opposite way with more tank to explore.....

Not 5 minutes later we bump another small group of hogs and chase them through an interesting terrain feature.  Imagine two small ponds with a narrow damn separating the two....now break the damn in the middle allowing the two ponds to connect.  We chased these hogs out one hundred yard finger and across the break to the other hundred yard finger on the opposite side of the lake.


       

Needless to say we were pumped with all the action we'd had our 1st 45 minutes into the hunt.....what lay ahead?....anticipation is a wonderful feeling......

[Terry Green]

At this point we felt it best to split up and cover more ground to get an even better feel for the land.  I went up another spoke that ran on the upper end of the pond to try and come in from the down wind side and peek into those drainages with a slow still hunt......

I found a higher ridge splitting these two draingages and figured that would be my best approach since it would bring me into the prime area from down wind.  I took out my hand pruners and cleared a path for 75 yards or so thought the thick desert to the beginning of the lake terrain where it was much more open.  I check the area and didn't see any critters so I pruned my trail a bit more on the way out.  I now had a way to sneak into that watering hole nice and quiet like and check it when I felt it needed checking...........

 

Left View.........

     

Right View..........

       
 

Extreme Right View...........

     

I then went to explore more of the area around the tank.

[Terry Green]

A couple more pics from the drains........

A fisherman must have lost his boat.....

   

Nice buck rub

   

[Terry Green]

I made my way around to the lower south side of the tank...this area was very lush for south TX...and it looked cool and inviting for hogs.  There is a berm running the south side of the tank for it entire lake with a narrow gully off the side....this was a fun place to stalk let me tell ya....if you saw a hog, he would have been well in bow range......


   

   

[bayoulongbowman]

Terry , did ya stay away from those big stickers ( torns)this time??? Sounds like yall had blast , nice , which bow where ya walking with?? nice pics!    

[Terry Green]

After  getting a pretty good idea of the lay of the land in my general area I set a plan into motion for the final two hours of daylight I had left.....I would check several locals from a distance, and some up close and personal, hoping to bump into some thirsty critters before their evening feed in the light of the bright moon to come.  

I was also wondering what JC and Krister where getting into.....I felt they were in a better place than me for a mixed bag of hogs and javies....as I felt my area lent itself more to hogs.

The time soon came to sneak back down my pruned trail to the lake bed for another look into those two drainages.  My approach was easy this time around, and I felt like I was going to be in the middle of the fray at any moment.

With my right foot still in the desert, and my left food just planted into the lake terrain, I spotted movement in the short tan grass to my left....a critter was staring me down...and I dare not move.  Satisfied that I was no threat, this animal proceeded on his journey out into the barren baked earth scrounging for what ever he could find.  At this time I realized that it was a Javie and not a hog. I was in perfect position as he wondered into a perfect opening at about 25 yards...all I had to do was make the shot on this little TX beast.  I watched the arrow sail quickly and disappear two inches over the elbow, and re-appear skipping across the parched earth.

The teeth popping began as he spun in a circle and bounded toward the safety of the desert brush back the way he came.  He only made it past the 1st prickly pear.

As I stood there listening, I was soon confronted by his 'buddies' that had formed a front in a semi-circle in front of me.  they began bolting to and fro and a huffin and a puffin.  The limit in TX on Javies is two a year, and I thought I was going to fill both my tags only moments apart, but those little buggars wouldn't give me a shot, but they sure gave me what for and certainly kept me on my toes for a few minutes.


 

Wow, what a 1st afternoon of hunting....this was no doubt going to be an exiting long weekend....now what had JC and Krister gotten into?

[Huntschool]

Spoke to Kyle at noon and he was near Little Rock, Arkansas........

Said he has some "Fat Boy" stories.... Look out Ben....

[Guru]

Good start bud!!!  Gotta get you one of those little tripods like I carry.......

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Good shootin Terry.

     

[herb haines]

beautiful Terry ,now important stuff did you see any BUNNIES? --- herb--- all ears    even got my quiver packed

[Marvin M.]

Way to go Terry.  Nice little appetizer Javie you got there.

Keep the stories coming.

[JC]

The stories will certainly come.....not only wore slap out from lack of sleep but a little behind at work here from being gone 4 days.

Herb, I only shot 2....does that tell ya anything? I saw more javies than bunnies, no kidding!

[Terry Green]

Marc,

I ended up with less 'stickers' this trip than any previous trip.

Herb,

We saw some bunnies...but these were difinately wired...to many predators on this ranch is all we could figure.....lots of bob cat and yote sightings made the  bunnies rocket when they 1st laid eyes on ya....least that's what we figured.

Yeah Melvin,

This one was half grown,  opportunity knocked and he's gonna taste dandy.

I'll have some short clips to post tomorrow I hope...if Tom Mussatto is at home.

[JC]

This one's for you Herb....notice the entrance up by the ear? Ya don't wanna see the exit on the other side    

 

[Guru]

Good shootin' Joe...That's the new bow???

Terry I see you where shootin' a Morrison too,which one bud??

Most excellent stuff!!!!!

[JC]

Curt, that's the new one....though in all honesty it's too much bow for me right now at 68# @ 27". I shoot the 63# limbs much better but howya gonna work up to it if you don't shoot it?       I missed a few shots at javies but mostly cause they were gone when the arra got there. The two rabbits I had in range were both not so lucky    :D    Oh, and a few other critters fell to the new bow......

[Brian Halbleib]

Yes, keep 'em coming!

-Brian
 www.bowyersjournal.com

[the Ferret]

Cool...Congrats Terry.

Ever notice how hard it is to take attractive hero shots of Javie's? The animals just don't photograph well when dead.

[Terry Green]

Mickey,

Curtis took a hero pic that really turned out nice......I'll make sure it gets posted....but it may be a week till I get it from him.