I was invited to hunt on a friend’s property in east Texas. The goal was to get a pig with my long bow. Now I will be the first to admit I know nothing about pig hunting but I was willing to give it a shot.
A couple of weeks ago I was shown around the property so I wouldn’t wander off onto someone else’s place and to also get an idea of the lay of the land. We planned to hunt but the rain was so bad it just wasn’t going to happen. Any hunting I would do would be on my own. As I waited for this weekend to get here I read everything I could find about pig hunting and picked a few brains also. Among them was Sharpster. He taught me how to get my broadheads so sharp that they would shave hair without even touching the skin.
I arrived Friday about 3 pm. When I initially showed up two weeks ago my host had a wall tent set up and had graciously offered to let me bunk there. Remember the rain I talked about? Well since that tent had cold and cold running water and a pleasant view of the starts on a clear night I had decided to bring my own tent this time.
The plan was to hunt feeders which must be the norm in Texas but the hogs had torn the feeders up. I didn’t know that the first evening as I sat in the tripod and waited for the feeder to go off. I waited and waited and waited. Dang thing never went off so after dark I took a look at it. The pigs had torn it up again.
I went back to the tent and pondered what the plan was for the morning since the feeders were now out of the equation. There was a long dirt road on the property and since it was loaded with pig sign I thought just slipping along that road might work.
The day was just getting started as I began easing down the dirt road the next morning. I had traveled about 50 yards when I heard a sound that was very close. The sound was just around the corner and was not unlike my lab shaking his head and making his ears flop back and forth. I quickly knelt down in some knee high grass and waited to see what was coming around the corner. Less than a minute went by and a huge reddish brown porker came around the corner. We were nose to snout and only 15 yards apart. I had been told pigs had poor eyesight so I wasn’t worried as long as I stayed still. Ha! Fat chance, this pig obviously had no problem seeing at all! He snorted bon voyage and took off. I know I didn’t’ get a shot but I had seen a wild pig. I smiled and kept saying to myself, “That was so cool.”
The wallow I had found was only about 40 yards further so I crept that way. Just as I arrived I heard more grunts heading my way. I quickly made my way inside the pines to avoid being caught in the open again yet I was only about 10 yards from the wallow. I knew porkchops were mine in a matter of minutes now that I was in a hiding place and not likely to be seen.
The first pig that showed up was white with splotches all over. He made it to the wallow and immediately began enjoying himself. I was only 10 yards away but I couldn’t get a shot due to a 2nd pig headed to the wallow at 20 yards. I could only watch as “Splotch” happily enjoyed his mud bath within spitting distance. The 2nd pig finally arrived and was bigger than “Splotch” so I decided to take him instead. I began my draw. “Splotch” must have seen me through a mud coated eyeball and sounded the warning. Both pigs took off and left me with no doubt that pigs could see through a lead wall.
As I eased along another 40 yards I came across this fellow. His glare seemed to say “Slow down! You expect to see anything going that fast?” I took his advice and slowed down.
Moving like molasses I oozed along. Suddenly I heard more grunts and they were headed my way. Not from the road this time but from an old clearcut area off to the side of the road. I stood still and listened to the grunts getting closer and closer. Suddenly there were two dark black pigs and they were about 20 yards away. I waited for the bigger of the two to get broadside and the arrow was on the way. I watched it hit right were I wanted it. The pig reversed ends and I could see the arrow did not poke through on the other side. Still from seeing where the arrow was I knew that pig was mine. I looked at my watch. I had been hunting a whopping hour and had managed to get about 200 yards from the tent.
I walked back to the tent and ate and kept busy waiting for an hour to go by. After an hour I went back fully expecting to find one dead pig. It didn’t turn out that way. I couldn’t find a drop of blood and the ground was so covered with sign I couldn’t tell which was my pig. I looked for 5 hours crisscrossing the thicket but never found any blood, pig or my arrow. For the life of me I can’t figure out what went wrong.
I went to bed early as I listened to the rain hitting the tent. I was glad I had brought my own and was not in the tent with a view of the stars. When the alarm went off I headed back to the wallow to get set up before daylight. Just after daybreak I heard the grunts I was expecting. The only problem was they were not coming down the road as planned, they were coming from the thicket I was concealed in and they were getting very close. Not that much of a problem, just had to turn around and face the opposite way. In a few minutes I had 5 grown pigs and 3 piglets closing the distance. When they got within 20 yards I waited for a broadside shot. But no they didn’t continue moving right to left. They changed directions and began coming straight at me. The lead pig was at 7 yards when he finally busted me.
The score for my trip was pigs 16 and me 0. Still I can’t tell you how happy I was other than the one that I couldn’t find. So if anyone would like to take a pig newbie under your wing I’d be happy as a “Splotch” in a wallow.
Topic: Confessions of a newbie pig hunter (Read 903 times)
