Finally had some time off and spent it with a few friends hunting Spikebox Ranch in Texas. We got there Sunday morning and setup up a couple feeders and pig bombs in preperation for the 5 day hunt as a night time option in the event that spot and stalk during the daytime was slow.
Unfortunately, conditions were alot different than what we had experienced in years past. It was pretty warm, with one day the temps reaching the low to mid 80's, and they hadn't had any rain in the previous 4 months. Some of the ponds and tanks that had been reliable in the past were completely dried up, and it was fairly noisy going. The wheat in the fields was a stubble, but still a viable food source, but the drought showed limited fresh rooting. and most of the sign was old. Additionally, there had been alot of hog hunting at night by rifle hunters with thermal scopes recently, on top of helicopter hunting, that diminished the numbers of hogs, and made those that were there pretty skittish. That being said, we were able to see hogs in 2 of the normal hot spots, if in limited numbers. Lots of coyotes and deer were around though.
During the first day I was hunting with my friend Scott Sisamis, and we got into a total around 10 hogs, but it was in such thick cover, that we couldn't get any shots. They saw us, but never winded us, so they didn't bust out of there fast, but we had high hopes. We were hunting the same area as Dustin Newer and Matt Yacca, and they both had sightings, but couldn't get a shot off either. Still, we had high hopes Other sightings were had in a different portion of the ranch by the other hunters, Dave Sisamis and Jeff Rudd. They also saw a group of Audad, which put alot of distance between them in a hurry.
I hunted the majority of the rest of the trip with Scott and Dave, and we hunted areas that we were unfamiliar with, based on water resources that looked good, but didn't find any fresh sign or many hogs. The other guys were seeing hogs, but not in the numbers that you would expect.
Game cameras were set up , but the animals weren't finding the corn at the 2 feeders, the pig bomb site, or another site that was setup later with soured corn, so there wasn't much point in hunting at night.
Scott, Dave, and I took a midday break on Wednesday , the hottest day, and went to check on the feeders. On the way back we spotted a nice sow and a very large boar on the back edge of a field. I was the only one that had a bow with me, and the wind was more than a little marginal for the cover available, but as the others watched, I was able to close to 25 yards from the hogs, with the boar barely quartering towards me and starting to come broadside while feeding. I had no shooting lanes standing in the mesquites, so I had to kneel down and had a clear lane. Just a few more seconds was all I needed, but the sow saw my shape knelt down, and huffed and trotted towards me trying to catch my wind, with 9 piglets in tow. She caught my wind at about 15 yards away, with me at full draw, but not shot, and she bolted out of there. The boar had followed and just stood there for a few seconds broadside at 15 yards, but with brush between him and me. No shot, and he exited never to be seen again. This was the best shot opportunity for the group until the last day.
Thursday we hunted a large very deep ravine with nice flats and Dave was able to see a couple hogs sneaking out of the ravine in front of us by several hundred yards. Very thick, and you could tell that the flats would be awesome hunting if not for the drought and probably the hunting pressure. Driving back to the ranch house we saw 31 hogs filing in to a wheat field adjacent to Spikebox, presumably as a result of decreased pressure and the fact that there is good water on the relatively small acreage property.
Thursday night, in the middle of watching Braveheart, a nice boar showed up on camera at the soured corn spot around 20 minutes drive away. Dave and I jumped in the truck, drove most of the way there, and approached in our socks. That day they wind had been almost 25 mph out of the North and was decreasing in speed throughout the afternoon. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was less than 5 mph and swirling. He caught our wind after Dave had closed to 15 yards. No shot, but exiting. As luck would have it, on the drive back to the ranch house, we got notice that a nice boar was at the other feeder. Same type of approach, but for whatever reason, he had left the feeder and was in the brush outside the light and no shot could be had. Good try though.
The last morning of the hunt, and Scott had his truck packed and had to leave that morning for the long drive back to California. Dave and I headed out for a morning hunt in the same area that a few pigs had been seen and close to where the Audad were seen. The plan was to pick up the camera and soured corn at that spot, then head over to pick up the feeder, light, and camera at the other spot before heading back to the ranch house to pack up for the drive home.
We hunted very slowly around a stock tank and the nearby cover, and I saw 3 nice hogs walking through a gap at 40 yards, but there was no good way to get in front of them. Dave saw another hog in a nice area of mixed green grass and juniper, but it was very thick and we couldn't find it as time was running out. We pulled the camera and light from the soured corn spot, and headed over to the other spot to grab the gear.
Just like the previous night, and the short drive over there Dave was alerted to a game cam picture of a small part of a hog nose at the other spot and we picked up the pace driving over there. We talked about how crazy it would be to shoot a hog at the last second of the hunt. He sent a message for another pic to be taken, and to our amazement, a portion of that large sounder had found the corn.
The wind was very marginal, and we knew exactly how to approach, but realized it would probably require fast shooting. We followed the ranch road, and parked a little over a quarter of a mile away. We left binoculars and packs in the car, took off our shoes, took our bows and ran in socks along the ranch road a quarter of a mile, then followed a cow path down to the creek edge. We wanted Dave to get the first shot if possible, and we knew where his shooting lane would be, and he hurried to get in position, while I snuck down a bank behind some cedars to try for a lane for any stragglers after his shot. I was almost in position, and 10 yards from a huge 300 pound red boar when the hogs scattered. One of the hogs had seen Dave's silhouette and bolted, with the others running around trying to see what the fuss was about. I should have done a better job preparing the spot with a daytime shooting lane with cover, but it was meant as mostly a night time option. A decent sow gave be a broadside shot in a shooting lane at 15 yards, and I took it. The Wessel built TallTines Stickflinger did it's job, and the VPA 3 blade zipped through her, and we heard her go down and moan quickly. 30 yard recovery and last second success.
Topic: Back from Texas hog hunt (Read 1114 times)
