In review, the coolest moment of the whole hunt unfolded one night as I closed the final few yards on a nice boar. I'd been staying within 40-50 yards of this boar for over two hours and was still looking for my "gap" to seal the deal when the sun went down. I had my movie camera dialed in for the whole hunt and went to night view mode on the camera after sundown. I knew the full moon was to rise shortly and I also knew my best chance to seal the deal would be here in the moonlight.
As the moon came up in all it's orange glory I found myself easily within 20 yards of the bruiser. Suddenly he change directions and begain to come back toward me. I drew tension on the string as he inched nearer. My heartbeat was ringing in my ears and my breath grew short and erratic. Then as suddenly as the moon had risen it went dark. I looked toward the moon to see how long it would take for the cloud to pass over the moon but suddenly realized that we were in the center of a lunar eclipse, not a cloud in the sky.
I'm not sure how many times in a guys life he'll ever see a lunar eclipse but I can't imagine anything being more memorable than standing within 15 yards of a pig in the moonlight with a bow in hand when it all comes to pass. Nope, I didn't get that pig. I kept thinking that this was about to be the coolest hunt ever and then realized it was no matter if I got the hog at all. No sooner than the thought had drifted from my mind the gentle breeze shifted slightly and the boar was but a fond memory.
I didn't manage any still pics from the eclipse but I know others did. I did manage to get some great video of the pig in the moonlight just as the eclipse reaches it's pentacle. CK