Best month ever - another exciting TX hunt

[pdk25]

Just got back from hunting Lincoln Ranch in South Texas.  This is my 3rd hunt there in the last 4 years, and falls nearly on the heels of my hunt at Spikebox Ranch from earlier this month.  I was accompanied only by one trad archer, Dustin Newer, for the hunt, although there were 8 compound bowhunters at the ranch when I arrived.  I will get into some details about that later.  For now, I will just begin the post.  I just got back and still have some unpacking to do, and my wife has surgery early in the morning.  I can't promise to get it all done tonight, but I will try.

[pdk25]

Just as an intro, I was very successful on my prior hunt.  I was lucky enough to kill these three hogs during that hunt.

     

     

 


 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=135522;p=1#000000

[pdk25]

We arrived at the ranch late Friday morning after making the drive from Oklahoma, unpacked our gear, and went out to place a couple of tripod stands.  The previous year we had chased javelina on a particular short sendero that was bordered by a nearly inpentrable wall of cacti and mesquite.  We had tried multiple stalks on javelin, but the lack of cover made it very difficult and they always made it to cover before we could close the gap.  This year we decided to cut some holes in cover and watch the sendero edge to try to shoot one.


We finished this task in time to get back to the ranch house, go over the maps of feeder locations, check the wind and decide on which feeder site to hunt the evening/night.  We headed out, with Dustin going to a promising site, 2 inexperienced compound hunters from Indiana hunting other sites, and myself going to a spot that I hunted a few years ago.  I was the only one to have any luck this night.

[buckster]

Pat,
You are a machine Bro.  I hate that I couldn't make it.  Congratulations!  

[durp]

[daveycrockett]

[pdk25]

Most of the feeder sites have tripods set up for hunters to use, but the hogs get used to them, and I have found that they are usually positioned with not as much cover as I like and frequently aren't in a location best situated for the prevailing wind.  I chose to make my own ground blind near the feeder.

I positioned myself just off of the road, which the feeder site was located in, in a little dried up drainage with a thin line of thick mesquite and a few cacti for cover.  I cut a shooting lane, set up my chair, and prepared for the evening sit.

I was using a blackout tripod seat the performed silently and flawlessly for the trip.  It is adjustable for uneven ground and extremely comfortable for long sits.  It wasn't long until daylight faded and the feeder light turned on.  

I really didn't have high hopes, but was enjoying the pleasant night, wondering how long I would stay into the night.  Fortunately, the wind was out of the southeast, and blowing straight from the feeder to me.  I shot a few hogs from this spot a couple of years ago, and recognized some of the advantages of this spot.  The older hogs know that the feeder sites are a danger zone, and circle to get the wind before feeding.  The cover behind me was so thick and deep, that they usually don't go into it to get the wind.  That was the case tonight.

At roughly 8:45pm, I heard a faint noise to my right, and nearly dismissed it after a few minutes.  It wasn't long until I noticed motion to my right, and a huge shadow moved into my line of sight through my thin mesquite cover.  A hog had ghosted nearly silently along the road and circled to the edge of my cover to get as much wind as it could.  He was outlined by the feeder light, and between his close proximity and my position a couple feet below the level of the road, he looked like hogzilla.  ( As as side note, we were listening to Godzilla from Blue Oyster Cult as we drove down the dirt lane to the ranch earlier in the day).  

I will take a second to describe the feeder sites at the ranch.  They consist of 30 gallon poly barrels with holes drilled into the side and connected via chain to a tall tee-post that is driven into the ground.  At the top of the tee-post, the feeder light is affixed.  A couple of yards away from the post is a small hole that some soured corn is poured into, with a heavy piece of cement placed over to make it harder for the hogs, and nearly impossible for the raccons to get out.  The raccons do manage to dig along the side to get to some of the corn.  The barrel is filled with a  small amount of hard kernel corn.

OK, back to the story.  The hog was so close as it passed my that I would have been able to poke it with an arrow through my lane, and it made it to the soured corn hole, carelessly flipped the cement block away, and began feeding.  This was only around 5 yards away, but he was facing directly away from me.  I could tell his rear end was a little narrow, so he wasn't hogzilla, but still darned big.  I haven't been nervous shooting at an animal since I was 13 years old.  Back then I got buck fever because of a nice buck while rifle hunting, and my dad got me my first bow to cure it, and it has worked ever since.  Well, I didn't have buck fever, but I couldn't get my heart to stop racing.  Fortunately, my breathing was even and I was having no trouble concentrating.  I bided my time, waiting for a shot, and trying to coax my heart into a slower rate.  I was unsuccessful regarding the heart rate, but eventually the boar headed over the barrel and knocked it over.  It would be a matter of time until it gave me a shot, but instead it headed back to the soured corn, giving be a quartering shot.  I was standing and didn't want to lose this opportunity, so I drew and took the shot.

You wouldn't think that a shot at that range would be a problem, but my upper limb hit mesquite on the release.  Not too bad, but you can't see where your arrow hits in the dark.  I heard the solid thud of impact, and the hog bolted down the road to the left/east and then there was no noise at all.  I waited a little bit, thinking maybe another hog would come in and to give the hog some time before looking for a blood trail.  I checked my watch, and it was 8:54.  At 9:13 I heard a groan to my left and a loud crack.  I figured the hog had fallen down and broken the arrow.  I gave it just a few more moment, then snuck out of my hide to look for a blood trail.  There was no discernible blood trail, and I was mentally prepared to get my better light and do an area search, but my light revealed the hog laying on the road around 60 yards away from the feeder.  Apparently, the hog had run from the feeder, turned around to try and see what had poked it, then expired from blood loss.  The shot took out the liver and part of the offside lung.

 

 

The boar weighed 180#, but looked much larger. On dressing, he had nearly no fat on him and a relatively narrow hind end and thick shoulders.  A few years back the large neighboring ranch imported some pure Russian boars, so some of the hogs have a lot of Russian characteristics to them.

[soy]

Nice pigs....and one cool looking bow!!!

[BDann]

Congrats on the hogs!

[daveycrockett]

[Exit Felix]

Nice work!

[pdk25]

The next morning, Dustin and I put our javelin plan into play.  I trickle corned the sendero road, dropped Dustin off at his tripod, continued down the road and looped back to head to my tripod.  We thought that Dustin's site was the better of the two, but soon 7 javelina came out on the road between us, and moved my way, quartering into the wind.  They periodically fought with each other along the way, but were steadily getting closer.  My tripod wasn't nearly as well concealed as the other stand, so I knew that I would need to be very still.  I was as still as possible, but when the lead sow got around 15 yards from me, she glanced up at my silhouette with a suspicious eye.  I had the feeling that things were about to degenerate, but the largest boar in the group took that opportunity to circle within 10 yards of my stand and I quickly took the shot.  It hit a bit high, and the javelina scattered, with my boar dashing into the cover.   I could hear where it thrashed in the brush around 35 yards from my stand, and gave it 15 minutes or so before heading into the brush.  It I easy to get disoriented in this cover, and a zig-zag approach was necessary due to the large amount of prickly pear cacti.  As I neared the area where I last heard the javi, it jostled and barked at me clacking it's teeth.  Unfortunately, the prickly pear were in the way of any good shots.  The boar was breathing rapidly, but the rate didn't slow down after several minutes, so I decided that I needed to get another arrow into it, but the cacti prevented me from circling without risking the boar bursting of there.  The only shot I had was at the neck, through the prickly pear.  I took it, and the boar burst out of there and turned broadside from me, gurgling.  I quickly put another arrow through the heart, and that finished him off. A few pictures taken, and then were headed back to the ranch HQ to let the area settle down.

 

 

[pdk25]

Originally posted by soy:
Nice pigs....and one cool looking bow!!!

Thanks.  It is a 50# Big Jim Thunderchild, that at this point has accounted for 1800# of hog and a lot of other critters.

[pdk25]

That evening I selected a new site hunt, to give my spot at the eagle tank feeder a rest.  Neither Dustin or I saw any hogs and left around 11 pm to get some sleep before hunting javi the next morning.

The group of compound hunters were very nice, but didn't help our success in the hunt.  They put corn on nearly every road on half of the ranch, making it much less likely for the hogs to come into the feeders.  When they did, they were coming in after the feeders timed out at 1 am.  That, combined with them driving their ATV's all over the ranch made our work doubly tough.  They cooked a mean ribeye steak, though, so I cut them some slack.  The 2 hunters from Indiana made a ton of mistakes at the feeders, educating the hogs and ruining what was likely the best area of the ranch.  They probably would have benefited from some pre-hunt mentoring, but undoubtedly they will be better prepared for the next hunt.  Both of these groups departed the ranch on Monday morning, and Dustin and I had the ranch to ourselves after that.  Don't take this as bashing on compound hunters.  Between the 8 hunters that hunted for 4 days, they were able to take 3 javelina and zero hogs.  I hunted with a compound for 26 years, and bear no ill-will to them.  I don't think the compound bow gives many advantages in this terrain.

[pdk25]

Sunday morning comes along, and at this point I want Dustin to score on a javelina.  He has shot several hogs in the past, but has been on 4 prior hunts for javelina and had yet to score.  I dropped Dustin off at his spot and continued down the road.  I was planning on doing some scouting in some cover to the west that looked like it might not be as thick.  As I drove further west, I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a small group of javelina on the sendero behind me.  I went over a rise, got out of sight, quickly parked the truck, got my gear and headed back toward the sendero.  I could only see 3, but one was a monster boar, maybe 55-60#.  The cover on the sendero was sparse, but I creeped from prickly pear to prickly pear crouching or on my knees and somehow managed to stay undetected.  They were heading along the road in my direction and would be clearing the cover in a few yards and it was looking like I would have a good shot at the boar.  It was not to be, as one of the sow, for whatever reason, headed perpendicular across the sendero.  She saw me from that angle, and I knew that it was now or never.  I shot here like I would a hog at 14 yards and though it was a good hit, right on the shoulder.  She took off into the cover, and the boar ran up and down the sendero, yelling at anyone who would listen.  I heard my arrow snap, and though the javi would be laying there, not 10 yards in the brush.  I found blood at the shot, and could see my broken arrow in the cover.  I made it to the arrow, with a few drops of blood there, but no javi.  I dropped my drawers to pull a few prickly pear thorns out of my butt, then proceded ahead slowly.  Unfortutely, I bumped my javi, and she took off never to be found in the thick cover despite an aggressive area search.  I suspect that I broke both shoulders, and may have only nicked the lungs.  Note to self:  Shoot javi more like a whitetail deer than a hog.

[pdk25]

While all of this is going on, Javelina come out on the road to the east of Dustin and feed away from him, stopping at the tripod that I was hunting the day before.  Dustin makes a decision to head to that tripod when the javelin finish the corn and head into the brush, hoping that they will come back out when the ranch manager drives the road to fill feeders.  Well, they do come back out.  Just under the tripod that he moved out of.  No shooting javelina for Dustin this day.  We hunted different feeders for hogs in the evening that had been getting hit, but the compound guys had just corned the nearby roads, so nothing came in.  Still plenty of time, so no worries.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Way to go pat!  Wish I could have made it.

[pdk25]

OK, so monday morning comes and the wind is out of the East.  Dustin decides to stick to the plan, but realizes if the javelin come out to the west they will likely wind him.  He rolls the dice, but that is exactly what happens.  I don't have any luck, either.  Time is getting short for Dustin and the Javelina.

[LB_hntr]

Very nice!
Congrats!!!

[pdk25]

We got back to the HQ, and check the weather and the report on what feeders were hit.  Dustin sets up in an area that looks good and where he shot a sow last year.  The feeder was hit the night before, but this is the area that the Indiana folks had been hunting.

I head back to the Eagle Tank feeder, since the wind will be out of the SE or ESE.  This is dicey, since an East wind will be poor. Karl, the ranch manager has told me the feeder was hit the night before and the cement block moved.  I head back to the spot and settle in. I chose to take my new 60# thunderchild with me on this hunt so that I could use arrows that my good friend, Dave Sisamis, made up for me.

 The wind is a little swirling as it is only a 5 mph wind or so.  The chance of being winded this close to the bait is there, but I roll the dice.  

Around 8 o'clock I hear a noise around 50-60 yards to my right on the road.  I know exactly what 'this' noise is.  It is large, floppy hog ears being shaken.  I get prepared, hoping that the wind doesn't shift, but there is nothing but silence for around 20 minutes.  Then I hear the hog briefly spook from around 15 yards from the feeder, then head on in. (It is amazing how cagey an older hog can be around a feeder).  This is a nice spotted boar, and this time my heart rate is behaving nicely.  He comes in and nocks the feeder over, circles around to the side closer to me and quarters away.  I knew that this was the opportunity and quickly drew back and left it fly from a seated position.  Good solid thud, and the boar ran into the brush directly opposite me.  I heard the arrow break as soon as he hit the brush, some more noise as he ran away, then silence.  I waited 30 minutes in silence, then crept out of my hide and back to the truck for my good light.  I had only gone 50 yards on the way back from the truck when I turned around and got my friend's pistol for insurance.  No blood at the sight, but just in cover I saw my arrow and a great blood trail which was nice and bright red, smeared on the ground and prickly pear.  I had to track on my hands and knees because of the thick mesquite, the whole time thinking how stupid this was.  If he was wounded and charged, the pistol would do little good.  The though of the hog eaten by coyotes in less than 2 hours from a previous trip drove me on.  I shined the light ahead and saw my spotted prize.  He had only made it 30 yards from the shot, and only 20 yards into cover.  What a different shape he had compared to the first boar!  His legs were so thick I could barely get a hold on them to drag him to the road, which I did.  I got the truck and somehow managed to get him into the raised bed of the truck by myself.  I drove him back to the ranch, dressed him out, then went to get Dustin to help me hang him in the cooler before the critters chewed on him.  Unfortunately for Dustin, his site hadn't recovered and the hogs hadn't come in to feed by that time.  Here are a few pics.