Laredo Tusk Roundup 24 ‘HERE WE GO’

[pdk25]

By the time I got back to the Ranch house, it was dark. Terry had decided to stay out and stage in case hogs came out by his feeder to keep the wind in his favor. He asked me to bring him some food and drink if I came out. After an hour or two, I decided I would bring him something to drink and eat, and I would just stage myself up closer to the other feeder because it was a long distance from the camp. I called Terry and told him I was on his way. Shortly after I had pictures of hogs at my feeder, and Terry was going to come with me, but hog showed up at his feeder too and I didn’t want to drive by there and spook them. So Terry went to his hogs and I took a long way around to stock my hogs.

I came in a different way, and had to walk a good distance, but nonetheless closed the gap and the hogs were still there. There was a deer between me and the light, and I had to spook that deer out of there to get to the hogs. Fortunately, when that deer left, the hog stayed put. I took off my crocs and stocked in my socks, picking up a few thorns, but nothing too bad. Unfortunately there were three hogs they all stared directly at me with no shot angle, and the wind was a little dicey. Waited and waited and waited an eventually I felt a gust at the back of my neck. The hogs perked up and scooted, and one of them turned so that it was slightly quartering towards me, but I knew it was the best shot that I was going to get. I took the shot and the hog scattered. I was not incredibly confident on the shot and was going to give it some time, but Terry had already had some activity, so I headed down to meet him.

[Terry Green]

Yes, I had some activity allright, hold on just a minute. I gotta take care of something and gone for 3 weeks sorry.....

[Terry Green]

Wednesday night was kind of slow, nothing really happening. But on the last night Patrick got the call while Blake dropped me off for staging.....

[Terry Green]

Stop!!!!!

I want to thank everyone that brought food!!!!

I know i'm gonna forget someone but enchiladas from alaska, deer sausage from huckbuck, steaks from KAZ, ,   and pork butts from arkansas....etc etc.... it was grand thinking about all that while I was staging.... Many thanks for  your efforts bringing that along!!!

[rastaman]

Awesome pics and stories guys!   

[Terry Green]

So, I was staged down wind as Blake dropped me off, and  Patrick was coming to stage with me for his stalk if need be.....

[pdk25]

Get us caught up, Terry.  I already posted that I am coming back to you after I shot my hog Thursday night.

[pdk25]

I texted Terry that I shot one but his phone was on airplane mode. Then I got a text from him saying that he hit one good and heard thrashing. I figured that my hog needed more time anyway, so I texted him that I was on my way. I drove down there and picked him up and we drove down to where he had shot the pig. I will let him finish up that part of the story. Period.

[Terry Green]

So Patrick stops short and desides to go around another way to his spot because he informs me that there are hogs at my spot.  He detours and I
commit to stalking... Exact same replay of two nights ago.... I got into position and even got closer. I don't know how without the wind but I did. I was within eight yards of four hogs in the wide open. It was just the light that Patrick had set between me and the hogs. They were all facing me. So I had no shot for a few minutes but then one made the mistake and the arrow was gone....

[Terry Green]

The one that made the mistake was a lighter colored. One who had a twin there also.  And there were 2 black hogs as well. They all busted out and ran at the shot to my left and around my little pond. The one i shot only made ut a quarter of the wat around. I haven't seen many pretty hogs, but I have to say this one was kind of pretty because of its color and it's multicolor brindle coat. .....

[pdk25]

The blood trail on Terry’s hog wasn’t as good as the previous and while Terry went to retrieve his arrow to Mark last blood, I use the thermal scope and was able to see his hog. I got the chance to say “there’s your hog” again.

And we were off to find my hog.

[pdk25]

I informed Terry that I was up two to one when it came to saying I found your hog, so I was hoping that he would even it up. We had a lot of trouble finding blood, but found a big splash of blood on a log maybe 15 yards away, but that was it. We started great, searching, looking all over and just couldn’t find blood. Terry was tracking around the pond and I was looking in the field. Eventually Terry suggested that I go up to this blind to get a little elevation to use the thermal to look through the field. I did that and still couldn’t find the hog. I saw rabbits, deer, and a bobcat, though. I started looking down at a little strip of land that bisect the pond, and I was lucky enough to find it. Total time from when I shot it to was around an hour and a half and the coyotes had already been on it. The hog looks smaller in the picture because the coyotes had remove the entrails. I was able to salvage the majority of the meat though. Boy, they sure can get on that quickly.

The red spot is where I shot the hog, and the blue is where recovered.

[pdk25]

Not too shabby.  Doubled up 2 days in a row.

[Terry Green]

It was a great way to end the hunt that is for sure. Lots of great memories during those 3 weeks.

[smokin joe]

Patrick and Terry are hog hunting fanatics. And they get results.

[smokin joe]

I was at LTR24 for two weeks. I arrived just before the week-one hunters departed. That made it possible for me to see old friends and meet new friends. My hunting action started in week two.

After the hunters drew their hunting areal locations, there were two locations left over. We called them Power-1 and Power-2 because they were south of the big Power Company locations on the southern parcel of Corazon Ranch.

Terry and I both started on Power-2. Though the views were beautiful and we saw some nice deer, Power-2 was very slow in terms of javelina. Terry and I decided to split up and he went over to Power-1 and started seeing javelina right away. Power-2 remained a place to see deer, hawks, beautiful birds, and no javelina.

Terry waisted no time and tagged out in week two. After he tagged out, I moved over to Power-1 and was on them right away. It was there that I used tag number one.

The Javelina #1 story.
We saw that there were several senderos that the javis were using. Being the stealthy guys that we are, we set up a few natural shooting hides on the senderos that would give us places to duck into after stalking up in a way that closed the distance to the critters and gave them enough room to walk past where we set up the hides for a shot.

Javi #1 was working her way down the sendero with a group of about 8 others. There were mixed sizes, including some juveniles, so I wanted to make sure I evaluated them as they passed my hiding spot. I was well hidden with a thicket of mesquite on my right, and a mix of prickly pear and prickly bush to my front. I cut a single shooting hole in the prickly bush to shoot through. I could just barely see through the tangle of branches in a few places -- not enough to see a whole javelina, but enough to see movement so I could know when they were getting close.

I wasn't sure that the single shooting hole would give me enough flexibility in shot choice, but with just the one small hole I knew I would be hard to spot.

Sure enough, a bunch of javelinas entered the little dirt road far enough away that I knew I could make it to my hiding place if I was quiet and smooth enough to avoid detection. I headed down to my spot.

Terry was watching through binoculars and texted me a warning that they were working my way. I got ready.

[Terry Green]

Week 2 Gang....

[smokin joe]

I am in my hiding place and I hear a loud javelina fight. It must be two boars fighting over the pecking order. I got a very big boar last year...another would be nice.

It seemed like it took forever for the javelinas to work their way toward me, but I started to hear them eating and jostling around. Then I saw a bit of movement, not a whole javelina but just the bits I could see through little breaks in the thick cover. Then they disappeared behind there thickest part and In slowly lifted my bow into position.

The first two that I saw pass my shooting hole were small to average, then a big one stepped into the hole and I drew and shot. The arrow went through the chest and landed in the dirt beyond the javelina. It took two quick steps and stopped. Then it took two more and stood still. Then its hair stood on end, not just its back hackles, but all over its body. It stayed like that for a few seconds and made itself look huge.

Then it turned and trotted into the cover about 10 yards to my right. I saw it stumble as it curved around behind me, then it disappeared and I heard it wheeze a few times and then silence.

Terry and I found it where I last heard the wheeze. It was a very large female.

We weighed her when we got back to camp and she was 56.3 pounds. When I cleaned her we saw that the Woodsman broadhead had gone through her and got both lungs without breaking a rib. The arrow had gone through without touching a bone at all.

I took the meat to Ruiz Custom Meats in Laredo and had all of it made into Mexican chorizo. I love that stuff.

[Wudstix]

Terry;
What is the longbow with your pretty hog?
 

[smokin joe]

The last-minute javelina.

It was the last hour of the last day of week #3. I was at the Tank Pond with Bill and Tom. Tom was after some javelinas far to the north that were hanging out in a dead-end sendero. I had dropped Bill off at a spot that had promise on Javi Highway...that's a technique we call a drive-by.

I was satisfied with the hunt because I got a javi in week two and had it made into chorizo. I love good chorizo. I had no intent of getting another javelina, so I was just relaxing and watching Bill's set up with my binoculars.

There was about a half hour of shooting light left when I spotted a group of javelinas way down one of the dirt roads. As I was looking at them with my binoculars I could see that they were working their way down the sendero away from me. They were too far away to ever intercept before they reached the far end of the road, and I knew that they would disperse into the thick cover if they reached the end of the road.

I was at a spot where several of the little dirt roads come together -- sort of like the hub of a wagon wheel with the spokes radiating out making triangular pie slice sections of brush. Each of the roads were about 3/4 of a mile long. The one that the javelinas were on terminated at a huge cut for electric power lines. So did the one at the other side of the pie slice.

Hmmmm....maybe I can go down that other road and cut over and perhaps get to the end of the sendero that the javis were on and head them off before they get to the end and before it gets dark.

This is a technique that I decided to call the Drive-and Dive. I jumped into my Nissan Xterra and I went barreling down the road all the way to the power lines and hang a left and follow the power line cut to where I think the other road ends. I parked the car and sneaked to the end of the road and peeked around and there are the javelinas working their way toward me. It only took a second to realize that they would see the car before they are near enough for me to get a shot. Darn it.

I scrambled through the brush and moved the car so it is behind some thick stuff a bit farther away. Then I headed back toward the javelinas and now they are only about 40-50 yards away. To get a chance at them I had to get to the other side of the road so the wind would be in my favor. I had no choice. I needed to cross the road in the open, and it was worth a try. I put my head down and just stroll across the road acting as if I have no interest in the animals. It worked...they ignored me.

I found a spot to set up that is about 5 yards off of the edge of the road. I had a tall, thick cactus to my right and a tangle of mesquite in front of me with a small void that I could shoot through. It was almost too dark to shoot. If this doesn't happen in the next few minutes it would be too late. I put an arrow on the string and I stood as still as a statue.

The lead javelina was pretty big and it stepped into my shooting lane. Draw. Anchor. Pick a spot. The arrow was gone. Pandemonium breaks out as the critters exploded into the brush. My javi squealed and ran into the brush across the road. As it ran I lost sight of it because of the mesquite between me and the road. I was not exactly sure where it entered the thick brush on the other side of the road. This could cause a problem.

I stayed still for about 10 minutes to let things quiet down. It was now getting hard to see. The sun had set. and it was getting darker very quickly. I decided that the best course of action would be to walk back to the car, get my flashlight, bring to car closer, and wait until it gets darker. Then I would try to spot my lighted nock.

That was a good choice. Once it was dark I walked down the sendero a few yards and there was the bright dot of the lighted nock in the brush. The javelina had gone less than 40 feet from where I shot it. It was another big female, about 50-55 pounds. The woodsman broadhead had gone right through her heart, and she was dead in a matter of a couple of seconds -- a very clean kill.

The arrow had gone all the way through and was pushed back into her when she fell on her side, so the arrow with the lighted nock was standing straight up making it easy to see from the road.

The drive-and-dive technique worked. Drive down the next road over, cut over to the road the javelinas are on, and dive into the cover to head them off.