Workin up a Texas Sweat Hog - PICS from Mitch pg 4

[Shaun]

And we're still only a couple days into the hunt! I have to get some chores done and meat processed, back tomorrow with more stories.

 but here is a quick look at the place I had primed up for "Hunt it".

 

This windmill had a cement tank with overflow pond and some BIG pig sign... that's not a mini lighter.

 

OK, one more short one...

I spent a day chasing javies with an osage self bow and stone point. Taking a little stinker with a stone has been on my list. Well, no luck and I finshed the day at this tank watching for some hogs spotted earlier in my stay. I was watching from a couple hundred yards away using the "let them come in and then stalk" plan. About 6:35 PM I see an angus cow with a pig's head trot down to the tank. After rubbing my eyes and doing a double take I figure out this is the largest feral hog I have ever seen and he has just fallen into my trap. Little did I know, but a sounder of piggies had cleaned up my corn at the pond earlier. The giant hog popped back out of my trap and headed into the brush.

Plan B: hurry into the brush ahead of where I predict this boar will go and lay in wait. It almost worked. I cut a well used pig trail and stopped to scan the area. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a twitching pig tail. Turns out this all black monster has a white tail that stands up and flags. He is headed towards me cross wind and I ease down behind a minimal bare mesquite bush. I survey my chances; 10 feet from the trail, 53# osage stick with cedar arrow and obsidian point. Well, at least the point is a good one. Thanks Woody - 175 grn LW single bevel pure art.

 


He does not follow the trail and cuts behind me catching my scent at less than 5 yards. It was almost a relief as he woofed and sped away. From my kneeling hide out I had to look UP to see his head! The adrenalin rush was worth the whole trip.

More later

[tradtusker]

Well as my first time on the Texas Sweat... "tender" as Vance referse to it    I had a great trip, and felt very welcomed by everyone.
we had a great group of guys, many of which i look up to in the world of tradtional archery.

I dont think i could even list all the things we got up to, and there is'nt one thing i could pick out as the highlight of the trip theres more like 10
  :D       we got bedded up and had a quike visit to Cabelas and Mark hornes place wich was cool we got to the ranch.

 
Shaun shooting one of his beautifull osage self bows as everyone shot a few arrows and checked there gear over.

[tradtusker]

Spent the first 2 days hunting with Mel, Dave and Rob, we didnt see any game but had a good time and got to strech out our legs.
Late the second night Mel and i set up for some predator calling but had no luck bringing anything in
 

[tradtusker]

We had the honour of having Kevin Smith with us, bringing the camp fire atmosphere alive with his great music, keeping it trad by playing the guitar with a peice of flint picked up from Woody's knapping blanket, good luck with the next album bro  

[tradtusker]

Day 3 Mel and i desided to go try out a new spot, we corned a few roads and set up for the day.   Most of the hunting was done in brush hides sitting over water holes or at road intersections, it was a bit difficult for me sit and wait for game as im used to finding game on foot where we'd happly walk 15+ miles a day hunting over in South Africa, but Curtis's advise was good and at about 11am a havi showed up but the wind got me busted trying to set up in front of the little guy.

 latter that afternoon he showed up again i desided this time to stalk in for a shot rather than trying to set up in front of him, as i closed the distance to 20m i nearly got busted by a second havi that showed up futher down the road, luckly he passed me but right when i thought i had them, one stoped and bedded down broadside at 20m he had me pinned on the edje of the road i tryed the slightest movement to get into a better shooting position but it got his attention and it took about 5mins of sitting dead still for him to loose interest in me.

 Whilst this was happening the second havi had looped around thru the bush and came out about 8m in front of me on the road he stood there for a while opening and closing his jaws he then turned and started to walk down the road past me but at about 5m without hesitation all his hair flarred up and he started walking strait at me       at 3m i decided he was close enough for my liking and i started to draw, at the movement he bolted i got a running shot off but missed thru his legs, wow i was pumping and thought i had blown my chance i nocked another arrows and followed him into the bush i closed into 20m before he turned back to look at me with his hair still raised i could hear him snapping his teath to my surprise he turned and i knew he was comming back for another look, i hit full draw as he stoped in a clearing at about 18m and the arrow was gone smashing thru his shoulders, he went 30m and died. For a small animal i thought it they where dam exciting to hunt and hoped for another chance. This was my first animal taken with a longbow.
 

[Tim Fishell]

Great story Andy!!  Nice looking bow to!!  

[hormoan]

Things where just a touch dry in Texas, more like fire tinder. Even my clean clothes had to be laundered after returning home. Dust is a understatement!! Seems Stinson was teasing Curtis before we left, about building a big fire. And driving those hogs out of the brush. Well I think it was Thursday, I see smoke on the horizon. Looked to be one heck of a fire blazing out in the middle of least roaded section in the area.

 

Well it was not him burning out hogs, as he was upwind of the fire. He had the nice fox hole long side a overflow pond. His vision was not geared for far. But anything come to the water hole was in trouble. Well OK least in range!! And shot at! He has a great story to tell from that day.
 

[Shaun]

Andy figured out the javelina all right. Notice shot placement right in the "collor" from 18m (20 yards for us yanks).

[Chris Surtees]

Sounds like everyone had an awesome hunt! Great pics also. Thanks for sharing.

[hormoan]

Some of the best laughs where really missed by Joe,Jeff and myself. We where camped together in Whips big tent. Seems Stinson and Andy went hog dogging one night. And caught a small pig, they brought him back to camp around 12 at night. And slipped him into our tent. Course we being the sound sleepers we are. We sleep right on through that little pig bouncing off the walls of the tent     in the morning and found nothing   :rolleyes:   I'm sure there would have been some screaming had we not been on cots  

[hunt it]

After two days of driving in good compant we finally arrived at the ranch. Just about everyone had arrived except for Vance and Mitch and Ronb and andy. Vance had been delayed getting to Mitches by bad weather and bad tires. Rob and Andy had decided to see all four sides of Dallas prior to leaving town. Rob and andy rolled in several hours later. We had a big meal of moose steaks cooked on the grill. Vance and Mitch had been heard from and they would not roll in to camp until Monday am sometime. Day one was spent hunting with Mel,Rob and Andy we covered lots of ground and I spotted a group of hogs at last light. After a short stalk I found them all bedded under a mess of Mesquite trees. The trees prevented me from getting any kind of shot and eventually one hog heard me moving and they all departed fast. Day two we were all back to same spot. I again found three of the hogs from last night all bedded again in same spot. Same story as night before, no possible angle for shot and one finally woke and they all disapeared fast. We spent the remainder of the day hiking and corning area but saw no other hogs. By the end of day two we knew we had to find another area for day three and new plans were formed.

[hunt it]

The evening of day two when we arrived back in camp the man with the hog dogs was looking for some takers. Several of the guys that wabnted to go were still out hunting. After waiting a while we had to go so myself with Andy as co pilot whent out with the boys. Lets just say it was one of those things everyone should try at least once. During the adventure Andy demonstated his sprinting skills and caputured a small hog with his hands. We deposited the hog in a dog box and thought we would have some fun later. As Brent mentioned above once back in camp after midnight we put the small hog in Whip's tent where Doc, Brent and Joe where fast asleep. The squels of the hog running around the tent failed to rouse any of the tents occupants and only Andy and I had a laugh. Turns out Doc says he thought he heard some squealin and figured it was maybe something he shouldn't look at and whent back to sleep. Somewhere in the night the little fella got out and headed home.

[tradtusker]

the Moose steaks where incredible, very tender meat cooked to perfection!
Dave and i had a great laugh on all our hunts together and where some of the highlights of my trip,
ill wait for Dave before i go into to much detail, but we had a blast the night with the pigs dogs, il never forget when after rambling thru the bush full speed on the off roader we jumped of into a frenzy of pigs and dogs everywhere there must have been 20-25 pigs the noise was increadible and we both stoped looked over at each other  :eek:   and Dave says "holly %$*, they want us to waid in there and start sticking pigs"

after we finished cleaning the pigs Dave had got i managed to run down a small pig and catch it, which had us bent over in stiches laughing when we put into Whips Tipi.

i could only imagine what hell would have broken loose when one of them half asleep grabed hold of the little sucker      

[slayer1]

Keep em coming guys!

[hunt it]

That was ideed great fun Andy. We'll have to skip the details as hog doggin is not a traditional archery topic. I think everyone gets the picture and it sure was a blast.

Day three started a little slower as we were now aware that the early, cool hours of the morning had shown little activity. Shawn was taking me to a spot where he had been hunting prior to our arrival. We headed off around 10am, once there the road was covered with hog tracks and I was feeling that this area would be much more productive than area we had spent day one and two in. Shawn and I made several blinds in the area. My blind was dug out at below ground level and at water level in a watering hole. I settled into the blind at about 1130 or so for the rest of the day. Shortly before dark the sounds of hogs approaching were heard. As I redied myself a group of five or six hogs dropped down into the water hole. It wasn't long before I selected a hog and let fly. A perfect shot, produced a dead hog that was down within site of the blind 15yrds. I ran out and moved him away from the water hole and jumped back into my blind. Not long after a larger group arrived and I lined up on the largest hog in the bunch. This hog was standing exactly where the smaller one had stood a half hour earlier. On release, it was somewhat embarrasing to see that I had just missed a big hog standing where I killed the small hog earlier. Thats hunting! I was very happy to have arrowed my first wild hog of the hunt and headed back to find Shawn. After the picture taking we headed back to camp.

[hunt it]

The afternoon of day five found me back in my hole around 1pm. Not long after I smelled smoke and climbed out to see if anything could be seen. It appeared as if someone was clearing and burning four or five miles away (see Andy's pic of smoke above). A short while later as I lay on my back in the hole I heard the sound of something galloping my way. Being way to loud for anything I was hunting I popped up outa my hole and scared the bejeevans outa this cowboy. He proceeded to say "boy you better get outa here fast don't ya see that there fire coming this way". As he cut the corral open to let cattle out I took off a runnin for my truck. I then headed towards Doc John and Rob that where hunting a mile or so away. After tellin Doc to get outa there Shawn rolled up in his truck. We discussed the issue and observed that the wind/fire had changed directions and that we were probably okay to hunt as long as we watched it closely.

[hunt it]

It wasn't long and I was back in my waterhole pit. I was laying on my back listening for hogs as I heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Next thing I know I am looking up at this great big black tentacle coming my way fast. It appeared I was being abducted by an alien space ship but I knew otherwise.
 30 seconds later it was gone and the water level had dropped about 8". After putting my blind back together and wiping the dust out of my eyes and ears, I decided my spot was probably not going to produce in the 1/2 hour remaining of lite. I proceeded back towards the truck and took up watch on a grassy stretch of road that we had been corning as well. Within minutes hogs were spotted on the road. A big bunch, all shapes and sizes. A group of the smaller ones fed ahead of the group and were soon in range. I started shootin and after the dust settled I had four hogs down. The big group was still a 100 yards or so away and I collected up a few arras and ran to stalk the big group. It was pretty much last shooting light when I caught up to the main group. Several minutes and several arras later I had two more hogs down. Not bad for just about bein sucked up and sprayed over Texas all within the last 45 minutes or so! I gathered up all the bacon and headed back to camp. After the story tellin it was hog cleaning time, a couple hours of it. A big thanks to Andy and Shawn for helpin or I'd still be there! The cold Corrona's were good that night.

[Terry Green]

Thanks for sharing guys....as always, the stories are great, but it sure is different hearing them instead of telling them. I know what kind of fun you had and I missed.

Congrats to you all, and I'll enjoy my 1st cup of java with ya in the AM....keep it coming...

Really nice seeing that pic of Gary and Curtis together.  Howdie guys.    

[vermonster13]

Doc Tippit has some video to put up once he figures how to get it loaded onto Photo-Bucket

[LEOPARD]

That's awesome guys! Looks like you all had an absolute blast! Glad you got the 2 javies Andy!    Great stories and pics everyone, keep them coming!       Hopefully I'll make the Sweat sometime!    grin1