Best Friends, HOGS, and the story of 3s...some vid's added pg.19

[snakebit40]

Great hunt so far guys! Thanks        

[Guru]

Mudd buddy, I wouldn't do that unless it was suffering....

About 5:45, I became aware of some loud crunching/ crashing sounds coming from the palmettos behind the feeder. It was hard to hear over everything rustling in the wind. But now it was getting closer and louder......Hogs, and it was daylight!!!!

The two little one's scattered as these newcomers came busting out of cover bee-lining it for the corn.

I never did count how many there were, but I know there were 2 very cool, brownish/gray hogs with white snouts...one was a long/skinny young boar of about 50#, and the other was it's identical twin but a sow built shorter and fatter.

There were an bunch of littler one's, and two bigger black hogs.

It was got very chaotic as soon as they showed up as it always is with hogs. I was trying to watch them all to see which one would offer a shot. I thought it would be really gool to shoot one of those cool colored hogs....but the biggest hog of the bunch, the big black one  was definately ruling the roost here. At some point the two tiny hogs from earlier had come back and were feeding with all these now.

When one of them got too close to the big sow she violently swung and lifted her snout catching the little one mid-ship and sending it flying into the air!!!

[Terry Green]

Funny thing about that fuzzy tree....I'll try and get a better pic of it....it towers above all way out in the bedroom.  I've told myself before....I bet that would be hell trying to get to that tree....  its probably 400 yards from Sunset Stand.

Tell it Curt!!!

[Guru]

The little pig had to have gone  at least 4-5ft in the air and landed about 5 feet from where it was taken off it's feet by the bully sow!

It came down with on it's side with a thud and after s short struggle, righted itself....it was the sickly little black piglet from earlier....no wonder the poor little thing looked the way it did!

Just so happened that the bully sow was the biggest of the bunch and was now camped right below the feeder feasting on the corn in the water.

This feeder, because of the cage around it, drops most of the corn straight below, not spreading it like the others.....the bully sow had staked her claim to the best eating...anyone that came close got a warning or poke in the side!

The problem was, she was quartering toward me....

[Terry Green]

I just love hearing these stories again.....    

[huskyarcher]

I have a feeling that ol' girls got a world of hurt heading her way quickly...
 


 

[Fritz]

Priceless memories, for sure! Congrats and thanks for taking us along with you.      

[snakebit40]

Originally posted by huskyarcher:
I have a feeling that ol' girls got a world of hurt heading her way quickly...
 


   

I was thinking the same thing. She's going to get a "warning poke" from Guru.    

[Guru]

Finally after a few minutes, and after I'd lost track of the others all my concentration was on her, the bully sow.

  Little by little she was getting broadside. She wasn't moving from under the feeder, still camped out directely under it, but she was slowly turning as she fed...

I started to put tension on the string as she was slowly working to broadside and then in a quick move she was broadside!

I looked right at the crease on her shoulder, hit anchor, and released....

The 630gr. arrow ate up the 17yds in a flash, and from my recollection, she was already starting to take evasive action as the arrow struck!

The CE arrow never seemed to check-up as it dissappeared through her side... not perfect, but not bad....a little high, and a little back.  I immediately though....."high lung shot"

All the hogs were quickly out of sight and crashing off in different directions. Then all of a sudden one came out of the palmettos running in a panicked,crashing sort of way and was quickly out of site again!

Seconds later, I could hear crashing/thrashing in the palmettos coming from the same spot for a few seconds.....then silence!

When everything was quiet, I looked down at the spot of the shot and didn't see my arrow. I thought..."well maybe it's in the water and I can't see it?"..."Maybe I'd hit another pig?"  "Well maybe it was still in the pig I'd hit?"
 Although I really didn't think that was the case how fast it dissappeared...hmmm...

I waited a minute then got down to check the spot of the shot.  I got to the spot and couldn't see my arrow in the water, but it was all muddied up from the hogs.

What I did notice in the water was dissapating drops of blood!! Immediate blood...always a good sign!

I found a couple more drops in the sand that gave me a line of flight...then I got back up in my stand.

Wasn't long before these guys came back...
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They came and went a couple times, but kept me entertained till dark.

The call the stand "Sunset" for a reason...
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You can still see them in the water...
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[Guru]

Before we split up, I'd told the guys that I was going to stay till at least 8:30. I knew Michael, Terry, and Woods would be going back sooner to get a special dinner ready.

So the plan was for Terry and Michael to just walk right on by me in the dark, and I would stay. That is unless I'd scored early.

About a half hour after dark I could hear walking on the road and saw the silouettes of Michael and Terry trucking right on by trying to act like I wasn't there.  I flashed my light to them, they stopped and I told them I was coming with them.

They knew there was only one reason why I would quit early!!

Terry waitind for me, and Michael continued on to get Woods.  


Terry and I found some blood where it entered the brush, marked it, I decided I wanted to wait and come back after dinner.

An hour later we were treated to a feast fit for a king!  All prepared, and cooked by Michael and Woods....hang on...

[Guru]

The feast was a local treat called "Frogmore Stew"...

Woods ready to catch rolling 'taters...
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Corn, chicken, sausage, onions, and last but not least...big ol shrimp!!!
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Hot potatoe!!
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Without a doubt one of the finest meals I've ever eaten!!

[Terry Green]

Michael could charge a fortune catering that stuff!!!!

[Guru]

Once again, the missing arrow had me baffled...

After our feast and saying goodbye to Michael and Woods...we went back to look for a bit.

Terry and I talked about what I wanted to do.....

I decide that we'd go look, and if we didn't come up with anything after going in a little ways...we'd back out till morning...

The blood wasn't profuse by any means, but it was steady...
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We went in about 60yds, still no arrow, we still had blood, but it wasn't "lining up" with what I remeber seeing, but thing do look different in the dark....I decided to call it till morning.

We'd hunt and meet up at 8:00 after a short morning hunt to do some tracking.

Despite my mind whirling thinking about things...I slept pretty well....

[FerretWYO]

That looks like some mighty fine eating.

[Bjorn]

What a great story guys. Thanks!!      

[jcar315]

REALLY enjoyign this one guys!

[rushlush]

Great story!

[Guru]

Up and out before daylight....Doug would hunt "Woods' stand", and Terry and I would poke around checking key areas and pig bombs.

The plan was to hunt for a while and then meet up to track my hog...

The first bomb we checked hadn't been hit again. But when we got to next one we couldn't believe what we saw...it had been blown up big time!!

This is what it looked like the day before...
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This is what it looked like after getting hit again at night!
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Next we checked "Rob's Stand", The area between the puddles was loaded with corn and Kool-Aid...not a trace left!
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You can see "Rob's Stand" in the backround...
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We headed back out to start tracking....

Doug hadn't gotten there yet, so Terry and I started to decipher things.  

I went right to the start of the trail we followed in the dark and Terry about 10ft. away said I have blood over here!

Wait a second...that's not the way this trail goes.  I kept saying, hang on now lets make sure about this...

Terry kept on saying he had blood going in a different direction!  After thinking about it and talking about the possibility, both last night and this morning, there were two blood trails...I had in fact shot thru the first hog and hit a second hog!!!

Since we'd followed the one I was one last night for a ways, we quickly decided to follow the "new" bloodtrail that Terry was on...
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This one looked stronger and was headed right in the direction I'd heard all the crashing and thrashing the evening before. And also, toward the tall tree I'd marked in my mind as where it seemed to be coming from...

The blood was strong and we were plowing through the palmettos for about 65-70 yds when I pushed one aside and saw a black form off to my left!!

This was the hog I'd shot at and through!
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I was relieved beyond words and gave Terry a big ol' bear hug....I was happy!!

We celebrated a little, then as Terry cleared the way, I dragged "The Bully Sow" out toward the road.

Long story short on the other bloodtrail....The hog never stopped or laid down, I found my arrow after about 300yds. The broadhead and most of the arrow, about 4-5inches of the nock end was missing. After about 400yds. it just quit. I think that one will be sore for a while, but just fine.

[elkken]

[stujay]

It's been fun following the story!