St. Jude's Solana Ranch Hunt Officially Underway!!

[Gene Roberts]

Great job guys.

[Gene Roberts]

O and I love the contrast between the pics with and without deer.  

[vermonster13]

With a smile thats the way. Nice quiver too.

[JEFF B]

nice shooting terry  

[DW]

Here's a few more.....      

[DW]

[vermonster13]

Whens the barbecue guys? Nice meat pole so to say.

[DW]

I had some camera issues and my hog pics are too blurry to use, one of them is in the group pic....Here's some pics of Curts hog...entrance and exit...

[JC]

WHAT??!!?? Is that a WW and not a Snuffer? Curt, you feelin ok?  

[DW]

Entrance hole on one of mine....I do believe you are correct MR. Coots......I know Curts got several pics yet to post....

[Terry Green]

JC...Curt saw the boar, and switched....good call as he had a half inch shield.

[Guru]

What an incredible hunt!!  Can't say enough about Solana, my fellow TG'ers, and the critters!

 My hunt started with a beautiful sunrise at the Albany airport.....
 

After arriving and getting our gear together,little by little we were all out shooting pieces of prickly pear, out to 40 yds.! My shooting felt real good, I was positive if given the opportunity,I would make it count.....I was ready to hit a treestand!

 I was very fortunate to hunt in a group with Terry Green, Joel Smith, Matt Shuster, and Rob DiStefano, and of course our guide supreme,the extremely funny and  very entertaining David Shepperd...that guy is the funniest man I've ever been around and an extremely experienced TX hunter.

 Got settled and had some visitors within a half hr......
 

That's when I got to see first hand just how jittery these deer are....they make an eastern wild turkey look like they're drunk! I have never seen a more paranoid creature in all my years of hunting......
 

I was thinking I might shoot the bigger doe,so I inch by inch reached for my bow and managed to get it between my legs as I sat on the low stool in the stand. I wanted it just in case a buck showed, or I decided to shoot her. These deer had me on edge like I've never been,and they were wired beyond belief......then the feeder went off!!!

 It scared the living daylight out of me! I jumped so bad, the arrow came right off my bow, and the deer exploded out of there like they were lit on fire!  I was fortunate enough to catch the arrow, but it took about 10 minutes for my heartbeat to return to normal!!!!!!

 They came back though and fed around for a while till they all looked to my right and then walked away....I knew something was coming.....
 

Some good eating.....
 

The cows moved off and the three deer came back but wouldn't come all the way in where I needed the big doe to be for a shot. I kept hearing something off to my right and sorta behind me, but I couldn't see real well that way. Again, the deer  walked off and I heard something walking right behind me....a big,black,boar hog! at first I thought he was gonna come in in walking right under me to my left....but he was a smart old fella....he was circling downwind!!

 As he moved around the Live Oak tree next to my I took the opportunity to switch arrows.....I had 4 BH arrows in my quiver....but one was specifically there just in case a big boar hog showed up...it was a Wensel Woodsman....I figured it's low profile would be better suited to for the thick shield of a big boar.  I got the arrow nocked just as he got directly downwind. Clean clothing and a Scent Lok head cover helped I believe, because he kept on coming......

[DW]

Toby mentioned "The Day the Pigs died"....all I've got to say is they wouldn't quit coming back, but I saved my last arrow in case a buck came in and ran the rest of them off..And all this happened the first 15 minutes on the stand..Terry and Curt got to see  the blood trails. ..Yall really need to try to go on this hunt...it was un-real....Does it sound like we had fun?  

[Terry Green]

Carnage on the doe...Zwickey Delta 4 blade....

   

[Guru]

Yeah Joe....I measured his shield at a full 1"!

.....I stood but had to crouch low to see under the branches of the live oak I was in. It was really made to shoot sitting,but I felt more comfortable shooting from a crouched standing position. He stopped just he got to the edge of the feeder corn, dead broadside at 20yds......I pulled my headcover down under my chin, crouched lower to shoot between the "V" of a branch, and started to draw.....next thing I remember seeing was the arrow strike in the exact spot I was looking at....I mean my impression of the shot was that I couldn't have placed it any better! But things happen fast......

....at inpact he wirled to his left and took off at a low, choppy, crashing run, and was quickly out of site.....within seconds the running stopped and seconds later I could hear erratic hard crashing....then silence.....

 All this told me that I had in fact made a good shot. But the fact that I couldn't see him,and things always happen so fast at times like this.......I was confident...but you never know......

 I nocked another arrow and waited out the evening.....I think I might have seen some more deer.....but at this point I was so much looking forward to finding the hog,that deer were kinda taking a backseat this evening.....

 Master guide David showed up..."well,how'd ya do?"  I told him "I hit a pretty nice boar hog and I'm pretty sure I couldn't have hit him any better than I did, and I thought I heard him crashing around, then silence".  He said..."good deal!"
"let's go get the other guys and come back to see if we can find him".....

...We were soon back and while Matt and I looked for and trailed the blood,Joel marked last spot, Terry got out ahead in the direction that I'd said he'd gone. Soon came the words I was looking to hear....."Hey Curt, I got him!"  I remember saying to Matt and Joel, "well that didn't take very long,so much for the bloodtrail"

 I had in fact hit him right where I thought....I couldn't have placed it any better......
 

Couldn't have shared this with any better folks....The smile says it all!
 

Copperhead Jack kempf Kwyk Styk,"Timex"....
 

His choppers.....
 

What a way to start off a hunt!!!!!

More pix tomorrow......

[Terry Green]

Glad you measured it Curt....I thought it was thicker than a half inch....great pics....and I got the video!

[Guru]

Looking forward to seeing that video bud! I'm already looking forward to next year!

 I was thrilled to get such a great hog. I've killed 3 FL. hogs before this,including a giant that was way bigger than this one,but they were all sows. I've long wanted a big boar hog with some "teeth". It felt like I'd killed a P&Y buck after I killed this hog. He was a smart ol' boy, I'd made a good shot, and I got to share it with friends old and new.

Does it get any better?

I'll be back after work...........

[JC]

Awesome shot Curt, you certainly can perform on the fur as well as the foam.

I know what you mean about Tx deer, they make everything else I've ever hunted look plumb sedated.

Keep it coming ya'll  

[slayer1]

Curt did you use a wood arrow to take that hog? Give us the detail on the wetight, length etc. Congrats to all you guys. Looks like you had a good time!

[NoCams]

Curt,
What were your other broadhead choices in your quiver and why did you pick the WW ? Pass thru ? How far did the old boy go ? Great pics and thanks for sharing with us !

nocams