Day 1
I slept in until 6am on Monday, and started the day with a nice hot shower in the bunkhouse. My last several hunts have started in the dark and cold, this was a very nice change! I enjoyed quite a bit of coffee while chatting with Andrew, and then we shared a breakfast of bacon and sausage with eggs.
It was just before 9am when I had all my gear on and was heading down Craig's Trail, 43 degrees and clear. I was heading straight back to the island of tall grass in the pines where I’d shot video the day before! I don’t quite get back there when I see a black hog off the side of the trail to my right. I love it when a plan starts coming together!
I’m in nice squishy ground so I slowly spin and raise my bow hand. In that hand is my 85# Northern Mist Whisper. Knowing there are a few really big hogs on the property I didn’t want to be outgunned! Since it’s on the heavy side I know I can’t dilly dally too long at anchor, I need my shot to be in my window. Well this nice little hog is heading straight for a nice window, it would be about a 12 yard shot without me having to do anything but wait. As her vitals enter the window I can now make out the line of her belly and she’s nursing. I ease the tension off the string and watch, sure enough there were three tiny little piglets. Dang.
I check the wind again and it’s still perfect. I haven’t even pointed my toes back down the trail yet and I hear another one getting on it’s feet about 10 more yards up the way. I’ve got a big tree in the way so I start working around it. Sure enough it’s another sow and her piglet is pretty small, probably weaned, but I’m not 100% so I let this one go on about it’s way. The two of them cross my trail and cause a nice little boar to jump up just in front of them. I couldn’t line up a shot and he moved out through some briars that the wind would not let me pursue. Wow! 20 minutes into the day and I’d seen 7 pigs and passed shots on two of them. As they all moved off I waited a few minutes to make sure I wasn’t missing any that were still bedded, then I moved up to collect a camera I’d left here the previous afternoon. As I approached the camera I saw another bit of plume grass start shaking, it just might have been the same pig I got on video the night before! I danced around in front of the camera trying to work a window. The bow came up, then went back down. The tension built on the string, and then was brought to rest again. I came to full anchor anticipating a step the he didn’t make and had to let it down again. All total I drew on this bugger 4 times before he finally was cooperative enough to let me loose at 15 yards. Now something here happened I just don’t understand. I shot and nothing happened. No “whack”, no squeal, no mayhem, no nothing. The pig looked towards me for a moment, and trotted off. I was befuddled.
To really frustrate me later, I was so happy I had that encounter over a camera set to go off once per minute, I pulled the memory card to find I was just out of it’s motion detection range. No pictures of this little peekaboo game! This is where I should have had a really cool picture of me bending that longbow facing straight into some tall grass.
I went over to look for my arrow, but the joys of shooting into phragmites, I lost it. I scraped up a bit of grass but couldn’t find it. I didn’t want to tear the place up to bad, so I slipped out before I mucked up the scent too much. I had an illuminated nock on that arrow so I figured if I came back right at dark and stood where I took my shot I’d have a chance of seeing it. I look at my watch, 9:21.
I picked up the camera and went to the blind in the pines, I sat there for 3 hours and nothing happened. I’d heard this was a good spot in the last minutes of light, maybe that rumor is true. Back at camp I met up with Andrew and Charlie and told them the story above. We enjoyed some lunch and I picked Charlie’s brain a while. Afterwards Andrew and I took a tour of the property to look at feeders and rooting activity. I tell you, this week would be all about learning to read rooting activity.
It was almost 4:30 when we got back from our recon mission, I quickly repacked my gear and headed back for my arrow. I got back to grass island and see another nice meat hog standing broadside in the trail at 20 yards. I go sideways stepping into the pines for a bit, when I get to about 15 yards with a big window I prepare to shoot. Given the events causing me to pass in the morning I keep my eyes peeled. Sure enough, three piglets followed her, probably about 20 pounds. These were clearly bigger than the first 3 piglets this morning, but still not big enough that I could shoot this sow. With 4 hogs between me and my arrow, I decide to use this as stalking practice and I work around them staying downwind.
As I get around the island to where I should start looking for my arrow, there is a leg sticking out of the brush! It’s not a hog… What is that ?!?!? Coyote? Kinda looks like a coyote…. Nope it’s just a funny shadow with a whitetail deer in it at 30 yards with a good wind. I think to myself “hey, I’ve got a tag for one of them!” As I get to almost 20 yards and its head comes up. It is a tall tined, perfectly symmetrical 6 point! As soon as it's head goes down to eat I take one more step with a cruch and he takes off. Close, but this wasn't to be my first spot-and-stalk buck. I guess I’m still in the hunt for that one.
With the deer gone I head back to my shot location from the morning and I find my nock glowing inside some grass. It turns out I went cleanly just over it’s back, I have to guess some minor deflection between me and the pig. There was still enough light left in the day, so I snuck past those hogs again on the way out. I headed back to the blind in the pines, and I crept in there to see that there was nothing on the feeder. With my binos I could see the corn feeder had gone off and the P&Y squirrels hadn’t finished it yet.
Since getting in the blind would mean crossing an open field, and because I believed this food already had eyes on it, I stuck inside the plume grass and watched the darkness descend on the field. About five minutes later I heard a squeal of a pig very close. It was too dark to go chasing into the thicket at that point, but I did hear a few more squeals and a few grunts on the way out. I walked out by moonlight and scared up a hawk on the way. There was also an owl calling close and loud. What a beautiful night in the woods.
I got back to camp and Andrew had cooked enough pork tenderloin for four hungry men. About then we got the message that the other two guys had gotten stuck in traffic and wouldn’t be in til midnight. With that, Andrew and I ate way too much dinner while I recalled the evening events.
While I was walking out of the pines, here was the scene at my blind over on Dave’s Field:
You can bet there will be more to that story later!
Thom
Topic: Trad Gang at Wild Things 2014 (Read 2211 times)
