Texas Success- Great hunt down south

[pdk25]

A little while back I made a post looking for people who might be interested in a hog/javi hunt in South Texas.  No takers other than my hunting buddies Cameron Graham (vanilla gorilla) and Dustin Newer(toehead).  We all met up at my place last Wednesday night after work, and headed out in Dustin's truck a little after 9 pm to save on gas rather than driving separately.  We were headed to a ranch that I had previously hunted with some success 2 years ago using the LHA Hyestani 'Faith' bow that was destined for the St. Jude's auction.  Here is a link to that hunt, for those that are interested.

  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=100449;p=1

[pdk25]

We were pretty tired when we got to the ranch, but we arrived in good spirits and quickly saw a hog and javelina near the ranch house, so our spirits were high.  I had a nice picture of the sunrise that was taken when we arrived at the ranch, but I am having some difficulty loading it.  I guess I will take a break until I can figure that out, but in the meantime I will leave you all with this.  Courtesy of Dustin Newer.

 

[pdk25]

Ah, there is that sunrise pic.

 

We were waiting in the driveway for the ranch owner to arrive and open the gate, so I unloaded some gear from the truck and got dressed just to be ready.  It wasn't too long until we wer inside, signing waivers and getting maps of the ranch.

[duncan idaho]

Keep it coming.....

[pdk25]

After getting our gear unpacked and our room set up, the 3 of us departed for our respective stands for the evening.  I went to the same spot that I had shot 2 hogs on a prevous trip and settled in.  We had agreed to not stay past 10 pm, because we were all pretty tired and would have been up for around 40 hours at that point.  I only made it until 9 pm, and hadn't seen anything, when I went to pick up Cam with the truck on the way back to camp.  I should say that their are multiple feeder stations that consist of a combination of a poly barrel with a small amount of corn inside and 1/2" holes drilled to let the corn out, which is tethered to a T-post with a chain.  There is also a small amount of soured corn poured on the ground with a heavy paving stone on top.  All of this is lit up with a green LED for hunting into the night, as these hogs don't move around much in the heat of the day.  There was an unseasonable hot spell, with temps in the 90's and not any shade to be seen.  Here is what one of the setups looks like after it has been hit by a hog.  Easy to tell from a distance that it has been hit, and the deer and other critters can't tip the barrel easiliy.

 

It was a little bit of an ordeal to find my way back to Cam's spot in the dark, with criss-crossing roads and not many landmarks that I could recognize. The GPS really saved my bacon and I finally picked up Cam a little after 9:30.


OK, Cam.  I think that you should take it from here for awhile.

[Over&Under]

[toehead]

           

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

That first evening I sat at the end of a pipeline road that looked like it stretched from Beale Street to oblivion.  I swear when I looked down it with my binos, I could see the curvature of the earth. I had such a tough time judging distances on the pipeline roads and sendaros being that I'm used to hunting the hills and bottoms where visibility may only 30 yards!

As I glassed the road, daytime slowly turned to dusk, the breeze cooled, and critters began to stir. Scaled quail and bobwhites played follow the leader in and out of the scrub along side the road, a whitetail doe casually munched on corn only 30 yards away, and rabbits made sweet, passionate love in the middle of the road.  It was indeed a beautiful evening...

When the first star showed itself, I packed up and moved down the road to where the feeder was set up and situated myself in a dry creek bed that acted like a pit blind, about 70 yards from the feeder. Cover was sparse around the feeder, so I situated myself a distance away so I could glass the feeder from a stalkable distance. My plan was to wait until a giant greasy hellpig came to eat, then sneak up from the creekbed, close the distance using what cover i had, and then ruin his day with a 150gr VPA 2 blade. That was the plan anyway...

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Unfortunately, no hogs showed.  But I was still enjoying myself.  Sitting in the dark watching rabbits make sweet love is still better than sitting at home on the couch listening to 2 pitbulls pass gas, then look at me like I'm the one who did it.

At 9:30, I see headlights coming up the pipeline road.  Pat had came to pick me up.  I throw my gear in the truck and hop in the truck to go pick Dustin up.

[Dirtybird]

       

[pdk25]

That's it?

[toehead]

Nah I know that ain't all , that's a little vanilla for you gorilla    

[Izzy]

Another story to hold me over til fishing season.  

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Originally posted by pdk25:
That's it?

No, that's not it!   I had to see a few patients...I'll pick it back up in a short bit...

[toehead]

Gonna be worth the wait boys and girls, I promise!  

[RM81]

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

OK. So me and Pat are motivating around the ranch on the way to go pick Dustin up.  We are cussing and discussing how our first hunt went, plans and tactics for the morning hunt...stuff like that, when we drive by one of the feeders.  

Pigs!  Everywhere!  Running around like 3 year olds at walmart on the 1st Saturday of the month!

Pat drove past the feeder and killed the truck as I eased out and pulled my bow from the backseat..

The pigs were still heavily involved in the corn, so it wasnt hard to slip up to them, using a big mesquite tree for cover.  The pigs were going bonkers under the light, running back and forth, the way pigs do when they are competing for food.

I singled out one a real brute of a red pig and began my draw as he started to isolate himself from the pack, picking up corn the rest of the sounder had missed.  When he came to a stop, i hit anchor and focused on where I wanted to bury my broadhead.  Then I cut the arrow loose....

Gotta go see a man about a really big horse...back in a flash..

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

3 of my favorite sounds are as follows:

1) The sound of an ATM as its kicking out cold hard cash.

2) Any Van Halen album before 1984.

3) The sound a pig makes as life leaves its body.

When the arrow struck home, then continued out the other side, the hellpig flopped onto his side, cursing loudly and kicking up the dust, sending a creepy haze underneath up the light.  

When the pig ceased live, we walked over  to admire my kill. It was a perfect shot, and a clean, quick kill.  Pat helped me load the hellpig up into the back of the truck, and off we went to pick up Dustin and get this boar I killed cut up.

Dustin and Pat has the pics. Hopefully they can post em up for me...

[toehead]

[toehead]

Unless Pat gets it up first, ill slide them in tonight when I get home
Lets just say my reaction upon viewing the BEAST on the truck rack was one of shock and surprise.