Texas Success- Great hunt down south

[toehead]

I had went subconscious, something that has only happened To me twice before.  Both times the last thing I remembered doing was picking a spot.  It happened on my first whitetail My first blackbear with a recurve.  Both resulted in spectacular hits with very short blood trails.  

I was to get lucky this night, although no blood trail was left to follow.  Maybe it was the lucky penny      

I could not see the arrow hit or fly, the reaction to the shot was one of explosion!  A hard wet THUD, followed by a hard drawn out squeal and an explosion of hooves

[toehead]

She spun around made up half the ground between her and I faster than most of you can read this.  She fell down within an arms reach of me kicking her feet the whole time.  I thought she was going to die right then, but she caught her self upright and was gone in a flash.  I looked up a the barrel and there were the 5 precious piglets all sprawled out flat on their bellies like they knew what the game was tonight!  My first though was damn I shiksabobed some after all!  Then they just stood up, look around and turned and walked away!  I did a quick scan for any potential collateral damage and saw none.  

So now the fun begins! Time to find this pig in the cactus, mesquite and rattlesnake country!

I knew I hit her good from the sound and reaction.  So I had high hopes of a short recovery.

[toehead]

My hopes began to fade fast after about an hour of searching had only turned up a small clod of blood right where se fell down!  I was lucky in a sense that this was such a well used area there was a network of tunnel like trails in the brush.  I had been in my hands and knees walking out everyone as far as I could until I was we'll over 100 yds from the bait light.  

The bait light was a life saver in the brush, as it always gave me a point of reference to go back to and to gauge distance.

[toehead]

In my limited experience with killing hogs with broadheads, a well placed shot will yield a dead pig easily within 100 yds with few exceptions.  

That's why I never looked on the adjacent road when I first noticed it while walking out one of the trails.  
It appeared to be well over 100 yds from the light but I am now convinced the darkness and shadows played havoc on my depth perception.  So I kept walking the brush hoping I would find this pig, knowing she was dead somewhere close.

[toehead]

To say I was getting discouraged would be an understatement!  I knew this Hog was dead, no way did she take a hit that hard and react the way she did on a marginal shot!  I knew she had to be in the area, but I also knew a dead pig on the run doesn't necessarily follow trails!  In the adrenaline dump after the shot, having the pig come so close, and having to walk back to the tripod to get my light ( for some reason I left it in my haversack) I couldn't remember hearing any crash or brush.  So I kept on following the trails for about another half hour when I came back to the road.  

I told myself maybe she did cross the road?  You could at least I'd some tracks and maybe get lucky and spot a drop of blood.  It was my last hope.

[toehead]

That's when I remembered the penny!    

[steadman]

 great story guys!

[toehead]

I told my self "boy it would be good to get lucky one time and find that pig laying in the road"  

"What are the odds", I said in my head.  Out of  all that thick, nasty, unforgiving, no blood showing terrain and cover, that she gave up the ghost in the road?  

Well, it had been an hour and a half of pushing, pulling, scratching, crawling, straining and struggling to locate her, so I figured why not, I had the lucky penny go for it, and broke through onto the road.  

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Well????  Was she there????

Oh, wait....here it is....  

[toehead]

As I broke out onto the road I shined my light to the left, nothing...I started to look for trail openings in the other side as I made my obligatory swing of the flash light to the right...

[toehead]

NILLA!!!!  it's coming brotha BE PATIENT    

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Originally posted by toehead:
As I broke out onto the road I shined my light to the left, nothing...I started to look for trail openings in the other side as I made my obligatory swing of the flash light to the right...

Not to micromanage your story, but you should look to the left before stepping out into a roadway.  Coulda been a car coming.

[toehead]

haha hence why I looked left-then right-then left again...oh wait, what was that to the right?!?!
BY GUALEE THAT DAMN PENNY WORKED!!!  

THere she was not 3 foot onto the road piled up dead!
I couldn't believe it!  I got lucky for once!        

she was about 200 yards down, not far from where I had noticed the road walking out the trail the first time.

Close inspection showed a high lung hit with bubbly foamy bright pink blood still oozing out of the entry wound.  
   as I found her

 
All of the blood that had left her body was soaked up in her hair, nothing I saw hat hid the ground anywhere but where she fell.  That's the problem with the high lung hit on hogs.
 
 

One hot, sweaty, scratched up, worn out, relieved and HAPPY BOWHUNTER!  this was taken as soon as I found her.  Cam took some great shots after we got Pat involved....HOOK LINE AND SINKER....        

plenty more to the story I promise

[toehead]

I didn't know the road was there initially and didn't know where it lead, but I figured it had to meet up with the main road going to the lodge, so after I took some self pics, I dug out my trusty dragging rope I've used so many times before to drag her to the intersection so we wouldn't get lost and loose valuable butchering time when I got back.  

The problem with South Texas is the only damn limbs are MESQUITE and mesquite aint exaclty a great stick to use to drag your pig, so I used my mint condition Howard Hill Wesley Special           Let's just say it aint so mint any more        

I must have drug her 300 yards down the road with the light in my mouth when I saw water!  DANGIT!

I had to drag her across the brush onto the feeder road, so I did....

I was on foot as Pat had taken the truck to his honey hole.  As the coyotes howled I took of my hat, my haversack and grabbed my stool and did my best to cover the pig to discourage the coyotes from munching my newly procured hams and headed to the lodge....

I figured we would mess with PAt a little since I knew he was going to be wore out and probably ready for bed when he came in....

Pat do you mind interjecting here brotha      
     

[John146]

Man, I am happy for you! What a great outcome after all that effort! OUTSTANDING!!  

[pdk25]

Dont mind at all.  As I said before, when I pulled up at the ranch both Cam and Dustin were waiting outside.  I don't remember exactly what I said, because I was pretty tired at this point. I figured they either got one or needed help tracking one, and they indicated the latter.
We piled into the truck after I got my good bright light.  I was lamenting not having the light with me the night that I shot my hog, and was really glad to have it with me this time.  As we pulled onto the road toward the feeder Dustin started baiting me by asking what it was that was on the road up ahead. Was it his hog?  As we got closer I could see a folded chair and said as much, disregarding his comments about the hog. Not sure what he would have done had I seen the hog folded chair was concealing.

We got out and Dustin starting showing me where the hog went down, and there was plenty of blood there, but nowhere else.  He showed me where it went into the brush, and I started going in, light in hand.  I saw about 20 sets of tracks going in multiple directions, and questioned Dustin about it.  He said he had been all over in there.  I am not sure what I said, but I was for sure thinking that I wished he hadn't done that on a sparse blood trail, but proceded forward.  I found some blood and said loudly, 'I got some blood here'.  Then Cam chimes in from around 30 yards away back on the road 'I got blood here. You don't think that thing circled around all the way back here.  I backed out to the road hoping to pick up the track further along, and there was Cam and Dustin with sheepish grins on their faces next to the hog easily seen from this direction.  The boys really got me.  I was really glad Dustin was able to recover his nice sow, and also glad to not have to track in that thick brush.  It still was pretty late by the time we finished, and we didn't really have time to get adequate rest and still get our gear packed up and head out for a morning hunt, so this was the end of the hunt for us.  I really had a good time, but next time I would probably prefer to have at least one extra day of hunting.  Not sure if Cam has anything to add about his last day of hunting, but it was a really good time that I wish some other tradgangers could have experienced with us.  Maybe next year.

[pdk25]

Here is a picture of the happy hunter.

 

[toehead]

the happy trackers

NOTE: I'm 6'2, 250 and these guys dwarf me!  it's nice being the "little guy" on a trip!

[buckster]

Terrific guys.  I was one of the ones that had to pass this hunt because if Spring Break time with the family.  I'm sitting up here at the Holiday Inn in San Antonio with visions of piggies affixed in my head!

Well done & felt like I was there the whole time!!

[steadman]

Well done guys!! Great story and pics! Wished it wasn't so far to drive