A tale of woe.....
Or, how I missed two hogs and a strange doe shot with chances at big bucks:
Thought I’d fit my experiences in before they get to the good stuff.
My second year at Solana and just about my 2nd year anniversary of traditional bowhunting. Drove strait through from Canton, GA to Solana Tuesday and got there about 10 P.M. to find the fellows primed and ready to go. Everyone is fast friends at Solana. It seems that the folks drawn to this mode of hunting all relate. We stayed up too late and I had to take a nap the next afternoon before the hunt as I needed every day. I couldn’t keep up and needed my sleep.
I will bypass the less eventful days except to say that what happens often there is that you have numerous opportunities to shoot does who are in easy range but there is usually a nice buck on the other side of the feeder that you are waiting on and about the time he is headed your way they all spook at a cow or a hog coming in. But the anticipation is always present. It keeps you primed.
My excitement came in a popup blind that our guide John put me in and I had a group of 4 bucks come in, a couple of nice ones. I was going to shoot any nice mature buck or mature doe if the timing was right. As they milled around I became more and more excited and had to remember to calm myself. One thing that is nice about ground blinds is that you can move around a bit and glass, if you have the lanes and I was able to see the bucks milling around about 75-100 yards out eyeballing the feeder from different angles. They did this for a few minutes and then circled around from 10 o’clock to 1 o’clock and walked in a strait line directly to the feeder.
The feeder was about 25 yards and I was only going to shoot at 15-18 max. As the bigger bucks moved around my way they jumped up looking to my right and hauled butt. A few seconds later a group of about 20 hogs came tearing in to the feeder gleefully excited about the upcoming feast. About 8 big ones and one huge tan and spotted brown sow and a bunch of football sized little ones. As a couple of 80-100 pounders came into my 14 yard feeding lane I drew back my Shrew felt it good and loosed....
And the arrow fell sadly short. The hogs scampered back about 30 yards, reconsidered their options and excitedly marched back to resume the feast.
The same hog I had shot at was back in 30 seconds and the huge sow moved up into the feeding lane. “Well, I thought, I’m not going to miss this one low”. So I rared back and let it loose and the arrow flew over the sow’s back as impotent as a twig. I can’t tell you how down I felt at this second miss.
A few hunts later we went back to the same spot in the afternoon. Had a nice doe at 4:15 and a small 8 pt. and had a good shot on the doe, Loosed and saw the lighted nock bury right in her heart. As she ran off I saw nearly 90% of the arrow sticking out of her and could not understand why. I then heard a load clack, clack as the ran by a tree hitting the arrow. Later I had a huge 8 pt and buck friends come in. After a long wait he was moving to my lane....
About that time a pack of coyotes started group howling pretty close. Got closer and closer. As the real big 8 pt. scooted broadside into my shooting lane at 16 yards I drew back real slow and as I was about to anchor the pack let loose a bloodcurdling note that caused my buck to jerk around headfirst to the sound and I never had a good look at him again.
But right as it got dark I saw some brown forms coming in. Got my glasses on and watched that huge 8 pt. gleefully dine right at the feeder without a worry in the world. He actually had a smile on his face through the binocs as he gobbled up the rest of the corn. When the guys got there we went to look for my heart shot deer. John found the arrow sticking in the ground about 50 yards from where I had shot. A greasy white substance and some pink cartilage about 4 inches up the shaft looking stuff on the arrow. I suspect it hit her through the skin below the briskett and somehow lodged there without doing much damage. At least I hope so.
That was Saturday afternoon and I had dreams of that huge 8. I was hunting with Larry Surtees and our Cajun brothers. I talked them and our guide John into going back to the same spot because I had Primal Dreams, sorry Wensels, of that buck and they were kind enough to allow me this chance. At first light I saw brown shadows moving in and then a huge brown shadow chasing off the smaller shadows. As the large brown shadow came into focus on my binocs I saw it was the same huge 8 pt. but as the light came up my deer and the others abruptly turned and ran and a huge black boar came charging in. I had a 25 yard broadside at him but thought he would filter around eating all the corn as they are want to do but he just worked the feeder and the opposite semicircle from me and then bid me adieu! Last animal seen.
Well, second year in a row with no animals taken. But it was one of the best hunting experiences of my life. I would heartily suggest to you to get together with your traditional hunting guys and try and make this kind of hunt happen. As I think you can see from the threads it is a heck of a lot of fun! Thank you TradGang and thank you guys who were on the hunts this year and last for opening my eyes as to what this is all about. But, I will not miss next year!
Topic: Solana Ranch -What a ride into the New Year (Read 60569 times)
