Super Duper Hog info thread

[wingnut]

The first couple times in the stand were nerve wracking.  I wanted a pig in the worst way but wasn't real sure about a pig that big.  I mean I'm a big guy and this pig was bigger.

Anyway I sat and waited and waited and waited.

Finally Rusty called and said Rojo was back and that he was on the bait that am.  I was only hoping he didn't clean up the 100# I had thrown out.  After all he cleaned up a 40# bag the first night.

At about 4:00 I slipped into the stand and started the vigil.  Birds were churping and squirrels running to and fro.  Then all went quiet.  I'm thinking theres a bear coming then remembered that I was in Texas not Canada.  And this bear might have been a bigger challenge.

Then about 100 yds out I see him.  Dang he's kinda big and he just start grunting and coming right in.  I could tell he was used to having his way anywhere he went.

He seemed to sense that something was wrong and spent the first 10 minutes eating while facing me.  He kept looking but not up at me but rather past me and behind.  later I would find out that Rusty was trying to sneak in to video.

Finally he shifted and offered a broadside.  I had decided that I only wanted a quartering away shot.  but my nerves were shot and I had a lot of bow.  I was shooting my 60# Sley LB with tapered maple arrows weighing nearly 800 gr and woodsman BH.

Any way as he turned I picked a spot tight to the elbow and drew.  The arrow hit with a smack and seemed to slow down but continues to penetrate.

Now most animals shot, run and die.  Not Rojo, he turned towards me and ran over under my stand.  The stand was only 8 ft up so he was close.

He stood under me and called me everything he could think of.  I then saw the arrow sticking out both sides with blood pouring down the shaft.

I knew he was done. . .but he didn't.

Finally after a good minute of cussing me, he turned and started off.  As he went between two trees the arrow caught on both sides and I heard it break.  This set him off again, he turned back and started the string of pig cussing again.

He repeated the sequence three times. On the fourth turn back, I saw his feet go up in the air and all was quiet.

I know I was going to go check him alone so I backed out and went to call Rusty.  When I got to the truck I was surprised to see the Jeep parked behind it.  I tried the radios with no answer and then called his cell.

He answered and was whispering, I said where are you.  And he said right behind you.  I said Iwas at the truck and that Rojo grande was no mas.

He came a running and we jumped around and hooted and hollored before we went back to find him.

It took a few minutes but Rusty finally said, Here he is and there is no ground shrinkage.

I got there and was impressed.  We tried to drag him intact the 40 yds to the skid road.  We couldn;'t get 4 ft.  so we decided to field dress him then move him.  We got 10 ft.  so I decided to make a 4x4 road to him.  that worked until we tried to get him in the truck.  I would pay to see that video.  it took nearly an hour to get him up there.

[wingnut]

Anyway here a couple of pics of Rojo.

 

 

Now we didn't have a scale big enough but in comparison, I'm 6'4 and weigh 285

Mike

[trashwood]

I figure I can outshoot Wingnut if I just practice a bit......at the 3D range.  Wingnut has got sumpin I don't have though.  When the pressure is really on, adrenaline spiking, ya just pushed all your poker chips in the pile...Wingnut is cool.  He is a much better game shot than I am.....oh yeah, that is when it counts.  Just to show ya that all Texas boyz don't shoot pig in the butt...here is mike's shot

   

keep in mind with this shot the pig still lived several minutes (guess on my part but three laps to tell Mike what he thought of him)

rusty

[Horne's Archery]

Wow Mike,that is one hose hog.Rusty might have mesed you up,it will be hard to top that hog.
I think Ill hunt with Rusty.What was his number again.

Mark

[hogzndogz]

Wingnut was armed with the dreaded Sley Bow. No greater pig killing device has been invented. They are born with major pig killing mojo. Congrats and great story.

[trashwood]

LOL, Mark there is black and white sow down there that looks like a '60 VW bettle.  I think she will out weigh Rojo pretty easily.  I have take 3 or 4 of her 50-60# offspring.  she is just too big for me.  may take all three of us to get her in the freezer.

Now here is reasons for the way we hunted Rojo.  The area is a very good area to spot and stalk so why did we bait him.  well first of all he had shown himself to be pretty aggersive if not real aggersive.  Either Wingnut or I would be hunting the stand alone.  If I had couple more guys close around to help drag my body off I might have given stalking him a try. Another thing is on a pig that big I wanted Mike to have the best shot he could possible get.  If Rojo ran off to the boggy bottoms I don't think we would have ever found him.

I have taken several spot and stalk pigs from the area but I made sure they were in the 50-60#  range.  I can carry them out by myself and I have not found them particuarly hard to stop.  

As I commented to Mark there is one big sow down there and tracks of other prety big pigs.  They have not been hunted by anybody but me for the last 12 yrs.  they don't fear man too much and ain't gonna put up with any of his stuff.

I have found  true feral hogs to be more aggressive than the spanish hogs are....and they can be a lot bigger.

rusty

[trashwood]

here is a real good tip for ya that Wingnut taught me.  I could not figure out why in the world (except for bear) we were in such a hurry to get elk meat boned down and cool.  Heck fire the tempeartue is below freezing.  Well Wingnut told me about bone sour???  I had never heard of it before.  On big aminals the meat next the bone can taint from the body heat before the cold has time to reach it.  the trick is to get he meat in smaller piece so it can cool properly.

when he told me about this I tought about all the "big" pig I had eaten that was less the delightful.  Well Wingnut used the same process Rojo.  Got him boned and on ice in less than 1&1/2 hours.  Rojo was the best wild hog meat I have eaten.  I figure the same thing can happen to a big pig as an elk and to make it worse we don't have the sub-20 degree temps to help it at all.

So if ya take a big pig and want it to be table fare, ya might put the Wingut process to work.  get in boned into smaller piece and on ice.

rusty

[Horne's Archery]

Well Rusty Im ready when you are,just let me air up the tires on my bike.
You are right on getting the big ones apart as soon as posible.They do spoil from the bone out just like Elk.

 Mark

[trashwood]

Yep Docnoc it was a re-run.  Wingnut took Rojo 2 yrs ago.  As you know baiting is legal in Texas but often questioned for it ethics.  I think Rojo is a good example of a mono a mono hunt when baiting  (but maybe ethical by my standards only) is a legitiment means of hunting (well I think it is all the time if legal but i don't think it is always the most successful way to hunt).  We were not bait casting try to draw any shot in.  we were after one particular animal and in this case I chose what I thought to be the most effective (and safest for mike and I) startegy.

Oddly enough even though baiting is legal in Texas I very seldom use it and in general find that in whitetail hunting it leads to more loss than non-baiting methods.

DISCALIMER! please understand the opinions about baiting are mine.  I am not tring to talk you into anything or tring to change your mind if you feel baiting is not an ethical means of hunting.  I respect ya for your opinion. the point I want to make is that if ya do use some kinda bait for pig hunting, ya still need to do your scouting and homework.  When that is done ya still have to put your time in the stand in and make your shot count        

rusty

[NorthShoreLB]

It was a plesant surprise to come back from work tonite and see this thread up top again.

good decision Curtis, class is open    

Manny

[Littlefeather]

Cool! Good to hear the story again. I have a couple of questions that I think will help here.
One thing I've found with every really big boar is that they generally place their lair very close to water. If I remember correctly Rojo was not close to water. Please tell the lay of the terrain. Was he bedding on a rise or in a wash. How was he facing when he bedded? What was beside him and around him? Did he have an escape route or was he backed up to a wall of brush? If you'd have been armor plated, could you have approached him for a shot or was he so well protected that you'd have surely been seen and eaten? Do you remember how much bone/shield was encountered on the shot? What was your general feelings about your gear selection after seeing the results? And the last question is, Can I come hunt the really big Sow with Mark? LOL! Thanks for adding your imput guys! CK

[**DONOTDELETE**]

CK, wingnut and Rusty;    

Thanks

[wingnut]

Curtis,

C - If I remember correctly Rojo was not close to water.

M - Actually he was very close to the river.  We busted him outta his bed about 50 ft from the river in 4 ft high grass.  

C - Please tell the lay of the terrain. Was he bedding on a rise or in a wash. How was he facing when he bedded?

M - It is a fairly steep river bank with a bench on it.  He liked the bench.  River behind him wind in his face, with escape to the trees on both sides.

C - If you'd have been armor plated, could you have approached him for a shot or was he so well protected that you'd have surely been seen and eaten?

I don't think we could have hunted him in his bed, but if we could find where he was eating we might have been able to stalk him.  This is very thick brush and the pigs in there tend to brush up near the river.  Hard to get around, but not impossible

C- Do you remember how much bone/shield was encountered on the shot?

M - At the penetration point there was just over an inch of shield, both in and out.  I wanted an exit wound real bad and had just enough bow to do it.  If I were to do it again, I would wait for the 1/4 shot and angle it in.

C - And the last question is, Can I come hunt the really big Sow with Mark?

M - Nope!!  You can come hunt the big un with Mark, Wingnut and Rusty.  That is if Rusty will video it.

Mike

[Littlefeather]

Wow, that's really cool! That is exactly what I encounter with every dominant Boar.

The dominant boars always seem to cover their axx with water. Actually I find that they like water on several sides where they can find it. If you find an L shaped pond, they'll be in the L every time. Facing the wind while he slept though. Humm? This does somewhat contradict what I've seen. I see them face down-wind mostly using the wind to carry scent from behind them. I believe they think they cover themselves two ways like that. They can see downwind and smell what is approaching from behind. Something like that anyway. Just my beliefs.

You also confirmed what I thought about approaching him while bedding. Those big ones don't make too darn many mistakes. Normally you don't get a second chance to find him in the same spot once he knows you found his lair. Yall done good getting that hog! I think baiting way your ticket on this particular hog.

So, you felt good about the bow/arrow combo. You said 800 grains? Pretty heavy for the bow weight wouldn't ya say? I do agrees with the extreem heavy thought process for the record.

Did this hog demonstrate any characteristics that you've seen before or was this particular hog demonstrating something unique to you. Just trying to assertain some pattern here. I think now that you've brought up Rojo we can go back to the beginning at look at the differences in what was said about the general differences in herd hogs and dominant hogs. Also, we can look back at bedding patterns, etc.

Bedded on a slight ridge, adjacent to water and facing ? direction at what time of day?

Yea, what time of day did you catch him napping again? Which way was he facing in relation to the 4 axis's? CK

[trashwood]

Curtis - well the "L" you discribe fits better than you think.  the river runs east and west here.  we were hunt the north side of the river (prerevlent south wind).  the river is in a sharp bend right where we were and Rojo was bedded down right at the bottom of the bend.  

nothing could apporach Rojo from the river, so he only had one directtion to worry about.  15 yds on either side of his day bed is thick greenbriar, nasty nasty stuff.  he was on the high ground really.  both thick brushy side drop down into real boggy bottoms.

I don't know which way he was facing on his bed but as Mike desicred this day there was a north wide so he had the wind in his face and the river to his back, with a left and right escape route that would be real hard to follow.

I don't think I can compare the boggy bottoms pigs to other pigs I've taken becasue some of these pigs don't have any idea what a human is.  they have not been hunted at all except by coyotes.  

I guess the biggest difference on thinking aobut it is since they don't know to fear humans they are a little more aggressive than ranch pigs are.  'em dumb pigs (not!!!) think they own the place and gonna kick your skinny little hide out of their home    

i think most ranch hogs have been human educated and react different to situations than these pigs might.  for example one time i was cutting down a bodark sucker to look up and see a sounder of pigs watching me curiously.  wonder what the heck that strange looking animal was doing    

rusty

[trashwood]

BTW - i don't want any one to put me in the same class as Curtis, Womack, and others.  I am a pup running with the big dogs.  

Rusty -more luck than pig sense- Craine

[trashwood]

As for the big sow I've been wathcing, I have onlyh encounter her in the really thick stuff.  The first time she was in her brooding nest and real unhappy to see me.  Her nest though in really thick stuff was on a ridge between to boggy areas.  I really could not get a better lay of the area than that she was on the ridge.....i left post haste cause she sound like she was a coming my way quickly  

The other times she has still been in really tight stuff.  stuff is so thick with brair. brush and trees I can't figure out the lay of the land.

rusty

[Littlefeather]

Sounds like the Sow would be a great group project. Maybe you should push her once and try and make out an escape route. Come back next week with some buddies and place them in the escape route, circle wide and push once again. Here is where the grunt call will also come into play. I'd love to go into her lair, find her bedded and give her an aggressive grunt sequence. If she's got young with her I think I can get her outta there. Grunt aggressively, breaking sticks and brush, followed immediately with a rabbit in distress call will bring her running and slobbering. You of course are gonna have to be in front of me to make the shot. I know Scifers will hold his ground if you ain't game! LOL!

[trashwood]

hey that sounds like a plan.  gotta to wait a little bit though.  right now there are two gas drilling projects going on that are changing things a bit.  soon as they are finished we'll work on it.

I admire ya guys that really get into a hunt.  alas that is not usually one of my qualities.  I take my bow, 2 pig arrows, 2 swamp rabbit arrow, 4 squirrel arrows.  If i find pigs, it's a pig hunt, swamp rabbit, it's a swamp rabbit hunt, IT IS always a squirrel hunt (no closed season in this area, thanks to the pecan growers).

when the gas projects are over we'll look into a sow hunt.

rusty

[swampbiologist]

In case anyone is interested or aware, there is a web site for the boar hunter magazine. As I reviewed it, it explained how the new Wild Boar Record Book will work. There is also information on potential dangers associated with chasing hogs. Just ignore all of the gun stuff that surrounds it. There is some good information here. The web site is: (www.boarhuntermagazine.com)