Sometimes you make a decision and live with the consequences, and last night was one of those nights.
I have been working pretty crazy hours, and on top of that we are in the middle of a pretty hot spell, so I haven't been able to keep on top of the hogs as much as I usually do. It was 109 degrees yesterday, but after I got home from work and put the chickens up and gave the cows, horse and chickens fresh water, it was getting dark, and had cooled off to 95 degrees by 9 o'clock, so I decided to head out to wait for some hogs to show up.
I was sitting by a feeder that they have been showing up at for a few days, and there is a green feeder light that puts a very gentle beam of green light around the feeder. So gentle, in fact, that it is pretty difficult to see the hogs unless they are directly under the light. In any case, I had no idea what direction the hogs would come from, because there were two hogs running together, and then a separate larger sounder showing up later.
I have been busted before with them coming to the feeder on a path directly behind my tripod through a woodlot, and tonight was not exception for the chosen path. Furtunately I had done some trimming of brush so that I could potentially swivel and have a shot, but there still were small trees remaining. Anyway, just before 10 pm, they showed up but were very close before I could hear them, due to the frogs and crickets making so much noise.
I swiveled on them and came to full draw with my Stickfliner that is aorund 65#@29.5", even though I didn't know exactly where the hogs were. A few more steps, and they would hit my scent, and I knew that . I pressed on the pressure swithch and my bow mounted green light lit up the two hogs. One was still fully in cover, and the other had stopped in the only place where the vitals were covered by a small tree, with only the front of the shoulder, the neck, and head sticking out, and slightly quartering to me.
Here is where the decision comes in. The hog was probably 7 yards away, and probably would bolt at any second. I probably should have passed, but felt I had a very narrow window to get a portion of the lungs. I made a split second decsion to take the shot.
This is the first hog that I have shot with a bow mounted light, and after the shot I lost pressure on the pressure switch and the light went off, so I couldn't see the arrow after the release. All I heard was a loud crack, a squeal, the other hog taking off, and the hog that I hit making noise in the brush not far from where I shot it. I waited around 30 minutes, and after things settled down, I shined a light down to where the hog was standing and saw nothing. I got down and searched the ground. Not surprisingly, there was no blood, and no sign of my arrow. It is like a jungle in there, and I looked around, looking where I thought I heard the hog, but to no avail. I sat on stand for a couple more hours before heading home.
I was pretty much thinking the worst, and had visions of the hog sneaking off with my arrow lodged in it's jaw or something, and with how hot it was even if it did eventually die, the meat was likely no good. I woke up this morning, took care of animals, watered the garden, and headed out to fill feeders. After filling feeders I went back for another look. Hoping to find my arrow or see buzzards to let me know what was going on.
Still no blood and no sign of the arrow, but much easier to see around. After a few moment of looking in the small woodlot I was a small log that didn't look right, only 10 yards from where I had shot the hog, but not where I thought I had heard the noise after the shot. Yep. It was the hog, and the arrow had taken the only path that would have been succesful. It had angled through the neck, broke the scapula, gone through the ribs and the top of the lungs, exited the offside ribs, and penetrated into the meat of the offside leg. The arrow had backed out into the chest cavity, and the majority of the arrow had broken where the hog fell onto it and was laying next to the hog. I dug the broadhead out, and was pretty happy that I could use it again, but after I washed it off I noticed that it had broken off at the threads somehow. Oh well, it did it's job.
Topic: Do as I say, not as I do (Read 3221 times)
