PIG GIG--Week 1 ---***SNAKE PICS ADDED***

[Greg in Delton MI]

Ok, on the stuck truck 2nd week thing, first not a river..

However Wanger and I had been on worse looking stuff earlier in the day, we decieded to try to get further back on the Overton pasture and with my encouragement Kevin made a try at the track that was pretty slimey looking but no worse than anything we'd already been through. Of course my experience with off road and mud has been with my Chevy's  :D  , not a 6,000 pound Excursion without Posi. The treads filled right up and looked like slicks. Needless to say we never dropped to the frame. We just sat on the bottom spinning.

We hunted the area around the beast and txted Hogdancer to rescue us.

Thomas and Kevin Shay showed up about an hour after dark with great asperations of yanking us out with 10 ft of chain...LOL thankfully he also had one of those 3" wide Ratchet straps and we used all of it and he yanked us out.

We had a blast, met new guys and even shot a couple pigs. Mark Wang and Rick Stillman both shot nice hogs but Kevin and I were not able to pull a string on hogs though we did see a few, there was always a fly in the ointment when it came to closing the deal.

I had a great time and picked up a few sheds and saw a lot of nice deer and lots of coyotes and othe flora and fauna.

[hogdancer]

I think there was a vehicle that went in the river to cross and water came over the hood but I'll let someone else tell that story.

[Greg in Delton MI]

Hey Thomas, you were the man that night, that pig would not move without your assistance. Thanks for your hospitality as well. It is a pleasure to have met you and I hope we can share a camp agian sometime.

[hogdancer]

thanks Greg, look forward to seeing you again at PBS !

[Rob DiStefano]

wow, what an AWESOME thread!!!!  

snow and mud and all not withstanding, wish i wuz there.    

[Shinken]

Thank you guys for sharin' the stories and the photos!

This has been a great couple of hunts.

Shoot straight, Shinken

[JC]

We needed to meet back up with the rest of the crew and knew we had a long ride back...we saddled up and rode out. Back at the truck, we all told our tales and laid out the plans. Tonight would be the night.

Sky and Curt separated to go hunt with Thomas, the roads were finally dry enough for them to move around away from their cabin that had been isolated for the last few days. We had a hot lunch courtesy of Miss Tammy Wilson and headed back out for what we just knew was going to be a round of bloody arrows.

Don was going to hunt upriver of Chase and I. We thought between him moving down river, and our moving upriver to the honey hole, someone was bound to get into hogs.

As Chase and I made our way to the previous night's spot, we had high expectations...the wind was 1/4'ing the right direction for both Don and us. We moved as slow as we could and still make it to our spot in time enough to get settled before primetime.

It wasn't long before we saw 3 black forms making their way through the timber coming down the trail towards our ambush spot. Three shooter sized size pigs...two around 125-150 and one probably pushing 200. The bigger pig was in the lead, the two smaller pigs trailing behind to clean up the scraps. They fed down the hill towards the hole, now moving into 30 yards. One of the smaller pigs made the mistake of trying to brush past the big pig. Chase had never seen the brutality of a boss boar...and got a front row seat as the bigger boar hooked the smaller pig as it moved past him...literally picked it off it's feet and slung it back over it's shoulder as if it were a toy. Chase glanced out of the corner of his eye with a grin..."Wait till they get below the bank and then make your move". A few moments later the hogs were in position, hidden from view, but we could easily hear the three as they grunted and squealed between each other. Chase half crawled to towards the edge of the bank, arrow in the string.

I stayed back, acting only as backup if something went awry, hoping to give Chase the ability to make it, or not, completely on his own. Up to his knees he went into shot motion...tension on the string as the bow raised to position. He waited, I saw him lean slightly, more tension on the string...he shuffled slowly to his left...leaned a bit more...something wasn't right....why didn't he shoot...the wind swirled.

One pig bolted to the left, ran 20 yards and froze...the bigger pig ran up the hill and froze behind a tree. Chase was frozen, bow still trained down in the ditch at the 3rd pig. He ever so slowly began his draw again...the big pig turned a slowly trotted up the hill...the pig up the draw grunted and took off...the one in the bottom had heard enough and was off like a shot. The grunts faded into the distance and a few heartbeats later the woods were silent.

"That DANGED branch!" Chase said in an exasperated whisper..."the other two were moving so much I couldn't focus on a spot..and the third one that stood still stayed behind that danged branch the whole time!"

"Couple of things to learn from that...first, pigs almost never stand still...you've just got to be ready for that split second they stop moving...you've got to be ready to take the shot, very rarely will they just stand there and take it. Second, if there's a branch, inevitably it will position itself between you and the pig. Third, the wind is almost never constant for long...don't wait to long to take the shot, you may only have a few seconds more of steady breeze. Fourth...aw heck son, that's just huntin."

Thus endeth the lesson...

He was dejected as the light fell, but I was proud that he had done so many things right. Chase hasn't been on any hunts like this, and even though many small game animals have fallen to his stickbow, and many deer have fallen from his powder, he's yet to kill a big game animal with his bow. It would only be a matter of time...maybe tomorrow?

We met back up with Don in the dark, to hear his tales of pigs encountered and listen to ours. It was another long ride back, we were all lost deep within our own thoughts, replaying the evenings events in our minds like watching the game films after a big play. A bittersweet bevy of close calls had us both elated and a bit disappointed...that flavor we as hunters so often must taste that we even learn to enjoy it.

[JC]

Another fine meal awaited us, and we all shared the stories amidst laughs and jokes and much good natured prodding of each others wounded pride.

We had found them, we knew we could get too them, and we had already been close enough to make it happen. The forecast said maybe a rain and snow shower. We could still be able to make it...I mean, it said a shower right? Couldn't be any worse than the first night's rain right?

I heard Curt get up for an early morning break...the trailer door opened...and I didn't hear him go out. The door creaked a bit and I heard him whisper under his breath "You've got to be kidding me..." "What's wrong Curt?" "There's a good 3-4 inches of snow on the ground." "That's not funny Curt." "No....it's not."

 

 

Sometimes yer the windshield and sometimes yer the bug. But either way, you have to pick out the high points of the situations life presents you. As I looked out incredulously over the white powder as more fell from the sky, I shifted my perspective from disappointment to contemplation....it was really beautiful.  Then, I understood how inconsequential our inconvenience the weather had caused.  We were merely visitors, actors in the play of life, not the director...and we were not the ones in control, no matter our grand delusions we suffer from in this modern time. It was after all still winter, even here in Tejas.  A time for the closing of the season before the renewal of Spring....simply the way of things.

 

[Whip]

You sure do spin a nice story JC    
One of the highlights of this years hunt was getting an opportunity to share camp time with both Chase and Skyler.  And what a great memory you two made sharing this trip together.  No doubt at all that this one will always be remembered!
You and Don both have so much to be proud of      

[Seeza]

Tremendous thread guys.  Thanks for the effort to post the stories and pics.  THAT is what I'm in this for.  Family, friends, learning and growth as a hunter.  Good on ya.
I am going down week #5 to the same ranch.  I normally don't hunt using an ATV but wondering if I should bring one along considering the access shown here.  Are ATV's welcome on the ranch or for this hunt?

[JC]

We fired up the stove and thought at least we'd have a conciliatory hot breakfast...all that snow seemed to make our usual bagels and cereal seem a bit inadequate. What I remember most about that morning is all the laughter in the camp. The situation really was comical...here most of these guys come to Texas to get away from the weather and the weather ends up being worse than a 1000 miles north. It was comforting to know everyone was taking it in stride...after the initial shock I think everyone switched into gear trying to figure out how to adapt their previous night's planning to the current conditions.

Rob decided he needed a nap...he hadn't slept too well in his 4 (cough) season tent. Chris wasn't feeling too well after the previous night's chili cookoff (he would later suffer some pretty severe GI issues that eventually were diagnosed as a reaction between the spicy food and his medications). We looked at the mud tires on Rob's truck and did our best "Ol' buddy, ol' pal" sales pitch...of course Rob was more than happy to loan out his huntin rig to a bunch of nuts who wanted to see if the snow would give better traction than the mud.

Putting the packs in garbage bags, the bows in the tool box and squeezing the rest in the cab, Chase, Sky, Don, Curt and I set off with the hopes that our spots along the river would be full of hogs searching the snow for either the green grass that grew thick there or the kernels of gold we had scattered for their dining pleasure. The going was slow as Don wound his way through the ranch, not so much because it was really slick, but because us Southern boys are just keerful in the snow...we don't see much of it you know.  In four wheel low, Rob's beast climbed the hills and fjorded the mudpits now slushy with the addition of 4 more inches of frozen semi-water. We stopped at the top of the plateau to look out over the area we had hunted the past few days. The view had changed dramatically from just a few days ago when Chase and I had glassed from this spot.

 

 

 

[maineac]

Keep the stories coming very enjoyable.

[Joe Hysong]

Thanks for the great adventure

[Wary Buck]

Enjoying the tales.  Some year...

[Gary Logsdon]

Yes, a truck did indeed "go into the river" at "high water" and miraculously came out the other side.  Unlike the most of you other lucky guys:^), my week #2 group's area was basically barren of anything resembling fresh hog sign.  There was lots of old sign, including a lot of boot prints from the previous week, so I guess the hogs got the message that the jinx was up and decided to head for safer surroundings!  after a few days of seeing nothing desperation set in so I decided to ford the Brazos at the now infamous "McFadden Crossing" in the hope of finally finding some hogs. The concrete had collapsed last summer which created a heck of a steep angle of approach AND departure! The soupy brown water came higher and higher until it was even with my wipers!!  Yes, I said WIPERS!  We basically made like a Wisconson "Dells Duck"  managing to drive/float across . . . once on the other side my SUV spurtered to stop.  After 45 minutes of "air time" my distributor finally dried off enough to crank up and be on the way.  After gluing together every aerial map I had in the truck, plus filling in the blanks with a few outright guesses, I managed to drive though a maze of dirt roads north, then NE to the nearest black top highway and back to square one.  Now you know "the rest of the story".

[Gary Logsdon]

PS: We had a blast.

[Herdbull]

Glad to hear you made it Gary. The last rumor we heard up hear was that your hat floated down river. It didn't sound good.... so we're glad to hear you had a good time!

[Gary Logsdon]

Mike, I survived the "Gig" but not the drive home.  My SUV came back home on the back of a tow truck.  Nothing bad, or to do with the river adventure, just bad luck on the way home.  I'll tell you about it later.

[Onions]

Loved this whole thread!
Thanks all for sharing!

chris <><

[twitchstick]

Thanks for the story and pic sure looks like a good time.