My First Trip to Pig Paradise!......All Done...

[Terry Green]

OK...so, if Curt want's to back up...he can....I might have left something out...

Anyway...the plan was Cade wanted to hunt 'on his own' at Wood's stand.  This would be a 1st for him and Curt.  Wow, a 12 year old wanting to go it alone...

I told his mom that day on the phone I'd taken away a boy and was going to bring back a man, and here it was happening right before our eyes.

I'm sure Curt has pics...

Curt and I wished Cade the best, and walked off and left him...and even though he's not mine, I bet I felt a bit of what Curt felt.  Curt and I continued on and well wished at Sunset and I traveled on to my evening stand, or so I thought....

[awbowman]

I think y'all have captured the essence of why we hunt(and especially with stick and string) ...... and it has nothing to do with how many animals end up in the freezer!

[Terry Green]

I was geared up...had my ghillie in a roll over my shoulder and my Waldrop pack seat on my back, and my Big Jim Thunder Child with a full bow quiver...and a fanny pack full of corn...only to lightly trickle a certain length of the road, and strow a bit where I was going to set up....and lightly again a little past me...I was just gonna 'walk em on by' for a shot...and hopefully get a shot at a certain hog we'd had run ins with before....

Ya see....this photo....the hog in the back???

     

This hog was HUGE...I took that pic the morning I picked them up....and I truely believe this is the hog I shot 1st....and the same hog Cade stalked that was in the ditch in 4 inches of water because this hog is about 20 yards from the exact same place Cade stalked it.  I would also guess that I shot the hog nearest the camera....but not as sure as I am about the larger one....and I'm pretty sure.

I remembered all this at lunch and I was going to set up on a little hump on the south side of the road about 12 yards in...all ghillied up in my Waldrop pack seat and bushwhack the hog I was hoping for.

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by awbowman:
...... and it has nothing to do with how many animals end up in the freezer!

I agree....but just hang on.....    :D

[Terry Green]

I got to my spot and was getting set up...clearing leaves and sticks and setting the pack seat...then I noticed the wind was wrong....ALL WRONG...blowing to the road to my right...and from the right side of the road was where I was expecting them to travel...I was past the area we'd seen them to come from by about 40 yards.  The way the wind was blowing, and the way I thought they'd come, I'd get busted for sure before I got a shot...

So, I wend across the road, but I had to face the other way to shoot, and the sun was in my eyes big time with only saplings with no leaves for shade.

This is a pet pev of mine ...facing the sun...being that I bass fished for YEARS when I was younger and wearing polarized sun glasses, my eyes do NOT like direct sun. And, it interferes with my depth of perception besides it gives me a headache after a while....

I pondered and stalled for a bit and even went back across the road for a few minutes to see if the wind would change...sometimes it does being this close to the coast...seems as though the coastal winds battle the prevailing winds at times.  This also makes for a lot of busted stalks as the wind can turn 180 in 2 seconds.

[pdk25]

That is a dandy hog.  Hope you got another shot at her.

[Terry Green]

I finally decided to give up on my strategy....and turned my goal into something else...something I've never done, and probably very chancy.

I decided to walk on to Rob's stand and see if I couldn't kill a hog with an arrow already in it.  Either Cade's...or the black one that we'd see that someone else had shot that we knew was hurting due to a definite limp and struggling to keep up with the others...

Sure, if a big hog showed...I'd surely shoot it...but that was now my main focus, a hog with an arrow in it.

I climbed Rob's stand and sat with all quiet for about an hour and a half....then I heard rustling behind me to my left and I thought it was a smaller group of larger hogs...only 2 or 3....at about 40 yards, even though  I could not see that far, the rustling just stopped....no sound of nothing...did they leave???

[Terry Green]

About 30 minutes go by.....and here they come....causious at 1st...then they piled in...with the black hog with the arrow in it trailing....

Luck would have it that it took to the outside of the pack giving me a clear shot with no other hogs to interfere.

I didn't wait long as I knew the wind could change...he was quartering to me and I had to aim just over the arrow that was already in it as to not impede penetration if I happened to hit it....

I bared down on the spot I wanted, just over and to the left of the shaft, the hog was facing right, and I dropped the string.....

Dang, hit right were I was looking with my 1st shot at an animal out of my Big Jim Bow....

The hog was hit hard with a Wensel Woodsman and turned and bolted around the shaft that was stuck in the ground and the arrow pulled loose out of the soft sandy soil once it straighten its get away....a short get away I might add...

[Terry Green]

The hog died on a dead run right in a mud hole about 30 yards way.  No, not a big hog, but I'd filled half my quest(I'll explain later)....I'd taken out an injured animal that was suffering and would most likely not make it(our hunch)...and this was confirmed once I recovered it....

       

What were the chances of that?????

As you can see in the following pics, the arrow head, a Grizzly Kodiak barely sticking out the other side....

       

         

And in this pic...you can see the wet red spot where my broadhead entered it....

       

I went to pull the Bhead out but it wouldn't come, so I pulled harder, and pulled a little harder and the adapter turned loose from the head leaving the Bhead still inside.  It was stuck in the off shoulder bone.

The arrow being in the hog for two weeks,(I found out who's it was and knew when they were down there) had left the wound open and not allowed it to heal....I did the right thing.  This hog smelt of death, it was rotting on the inside.  I later did get the head out and disposed the body...

But that's not the end of the story...or my hunt...for hogs with arrows already in them....

[Terry Green]

Curt...I think you have a story to tell(that started before the evening hunt when we parted ways to get stands down)...then I'll finish mine...and you can tell your second story(not forgetting to tell me about the money you found)....how's that?  Its been a long day for me....      

[awbowman]

A good bow shot is like a good golf shot.  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I've been hoping you guys would be back to finish up.

Great Shot Terry!  

Sometimes being versatile and adjusting to conditions is key.  well actually, all the time.  Congrats!!

I second what you said to Cade about keeping the bow in his hands.  He should have grabbed another arrow or had been ready to grab another arrow. But for pete's sake, at the very least keep the bow.  You never know what could happen.  Don't fret Cade, that's how we all learn.

[leatherneck]

Good deed for sure Terry.

[coaster500]

I love my TC and it looks like it's shooting great for you  


Nice shootin!!!!

Congrats on taking that little guy out, Terry!

Tuned in for the "Rest of the Story"!

Bisch

[Dirtybird]

Wait, there's money to be found and hogs to shoot? How do I get down there?  Ha ha... Great memories for Terry, Curt and Cade.  Can't wait to hear more.

[Guru]

So back at camp for lunch and like Terry said....it's always a tough time when the reality of an adventure such as this was coming to an end.....torn between happy to be getting home to the family...and...the hunt coming to an end.

I know Cade was feeling this for the first time and knew it was going to be hard for him to leave "Uncle Terry"...he said several times he didn't want to go home...

We tidy'd up a bit around camp, and we a had a bit of a problem with some broken corn bags in Terry's camper....wet old bags had given way and the storage area was laden with some old moldy corn. We decided it would be best to just tow the trailer out and get Cade up in there to help get it out by a couple of the closer stands.

On the way out I volunteered to walk into Rob's stand to get Terry's Lone wolf climber(which is one of Chris Surtees' old climber, I have the other)that Cade had been hunting out of. None of us had made plans at this point to go all the way in to hunt there the last afternoon. So I figured while Cade and Terry unloaded the corn I would run in and grab the stand.

 I told Terry what I had in mind and we agreed it would be good idea to get that out of the way...one less thing to worry about either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Then Terry said...."you're gonna take your bow right?".....I said....I wasn't planning to because I knew I'd have the 2 pieces of the stand to carry back.....

He said..."you have to take your bow man"...he was right...it would have been silly to not at least hunt my way in(good wind)...then just deal with carrying the stand and bow out.

So they turned around at the "Triangle" and stopped to let me out...

We found a small bungee to strap the stand together to make it easier to carry after taking it down as it had no backpack straps. I stuffed it in my pocket, took my camera out of my pack and stuffed it in another pocket. Grabbed my bow and said I'd be back in a bit.

I started in and they drove off...I hadn't  gone 20yds up the road and I saw and heard hogs!

I had a big hog off to my right that was on to me that was growling like crazy at me! it was moving in the same direction as I was paralleling the road about what sounded like 10yds inside the thick stuff....I tried to move right along with it hoping it would try to cross the road and I'd be in position to get a shot....

As I moved along slowly I had a couple "too small" hogs close that I moved by and they moved in to the growler......I'd paralleled the growling hog about 50yds when I noticed a black spot in the ditch just off the other side of the road......it was a decent size(shooter) hog, it was about 40yds ahead of me, I had the wind, and it had no clue I was there!

Since Cade wasn't here to push ahead of me(although I really wished he was), for the first time of this hunt...I really got the feeling it was "game on"!!!!!!

I tuned out the hogs on the right side of the road and honed in on this loner on the left side as I crept ahead.....

When I got to about 15 yards, it was still feeding in the water on the side of the road in a shallow ditch. It was screened by tall grass and cane as it stood quartering away....I had no opening at first....

I was inside the "hot zone" and the tension was getting higher....every second that passed was putting me closer to "something going wrong" but then I saw a 3-4 inch gap between two tall cane stalks.
 I "knew" I could get an arrow though that "crack" in the screen...but I had to frame the right spot on the hog to make an effective shot......so I started to back up and move slightly left....

After 2 or 3 short back peddles, and getting a little left, I thought I had the right spot on the quartering away hog framed where I could get a good arrow into it....I paused for a split second and started to draw....

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I had an arrow with Chris' broadhead on the string. The same 1 1/4" VPA 3blade that I'd already taken 2 turkey's, and one Whitetail with.

Last year I'd brought one of Chris' bh's with me to SC, but didn't have the nerve to shoot it because I planned to auction it off in the St Jude auction,and didn't dare lose it. It had already taken 3 turkeys, and 3 deer...I'm glad I didn't last year because Sunny Hill's(Michael's) generous donation did well for the kids:notworthy:

But this year I'd decided to hunt with this last bh of Chris' till either it was rendered useless somehow, or I'd lost it in a critter....if lost, it would get lost making Chris proud!
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....so as I drew the 600gr. CX Terminator shaft  and brought "Cy" to nearly 60#'s of draw weight.... all I remember thinking was I needed to get the arrow through the those 2 cane stalks...and I released the pink fletched arrow....

[awbowman]

Reminds me of a phrase my buddy often says when he takes his 10 year old hunting....."and he thinks we're just hunting!"

Well done guys!  I hate seeing it come to an end

[BDann]

Good shooting Terry!  

I bet I know the outcome of Curt's shot!    

[Terry Green]

Tell it Curt!!!