Trad Gang at Wild Things 2014

[sticksnstones]

Day 5
I was laying in my bunk thinking about all the things that went wrong the night before and what I could do different tonight. I made a few mental notes just a few minutes before alarms started going off. We all enjoyed some breakfast before spreading to the winds. Joe was back off to White Oak, Terry and Keith were off to the pines. I let everyone get out and then I loaded up to walk out of camp.

I hunted the 35 acre field between the camp and the boat ramp. I found a nice hog skull in there and took it back to camp. I checked a few other spots near Rattlesnake Field and a few spots in between with some acorn rooting. I was still back in camp early enough to invite Andrew to come to Dave’s Field for my reset of batteries, memory cards, and to put out a little more hog candy.
     

We did that little chore to prepare for the night and went back to camp. The other guys were back and not bloody so we all headed to town for some good BBQ at Lester’s. After a trip to town the guys returned to the woods. Since they were all up in the pines, Andrew and I went to the swamp to pickup tree stands, place cameras, and do a couple other little chores. We were back in camp at 4pm and I was showered/changed and on my way to my blind at 4:30. I guess I was motivated! Apparently it was a pretty short trip to my spot too:
     

I settled in and relaxed, I thought this could be a long sit as the cameras on this spot had slowed down steadily over the course of the past few days. At 6:06 three does came in and started eating the plain corn spread by the feeder. It was a lot of fun watching them trying not to touch or eat any of the hog candy that was down there. Once it was fully dark I started moving around a lot in the blind. I wanted to know how much movement I would be granted if any hogs came in later. I’m all but waving my arms inside the blind with the closest deer at 5 yards and it doesn’t notice me. This is good. I’m also impressed that either my scent isn’t carrying, or leaving that hunting shirt in here for a few days got them used to the idea that I belonged here. Even when I burp and reminisce on my recent trip to Lester’s it doesn’t spook them out! This is good.

At 6:36 something comes into my blind. I kept my phone next to my toe so I could use it as a low power flashlight for such occasions…. But whatever it is, it’s sitting ON my phone.  I wait and it scurries up into my SafariTuff quiver. Now I grab my phone and shine it up in there to see what it is! It’s just a mouse but I scare the scat out of it and it comes running back down towards my hand!  Apparently this situation is a little too much for the little dude and he’s high tailing it out of dodge. As it tries to get under the wall of the blind it ends up running up it! In a split second he fell off and went out as planned, but the sound of it’s nails on the nylon was enough to send the three deer off like a shot!

I got out my other flashlight and I put my cell phone in my boot, I also got out one extra broadhead to dispatch said mouse should it return. It had only been a minute but I already was missing the company of those deer.

We’ve got a lot of pictures coming up here, next part will take a few different posts.
Thom

[sticksnstones]

Day 5 continued
At 7:35 I can hear the sounds that hogs make. The sounds are close and they are getting closer. I ready myself and decide I’ll shoot from my knees instead of seated. I make all needed adjustments silently while I wait. I also move my backup arrow to be even handier in case it might be needed.
I catch my first glimpse of them at 7:40:
 

More come into view at 7:41:
 

Also at 7:41 a fog comes in, this is a BIG problem with my light situation:
 

Nothing to do but sit and wait, I can hear more of them have come in but I can’t see for a shot:
 

7:45 the fog begins to lift, but I still can’t make out a clean shot:
 

By 7:46 I’m confident in what I can see but they are stacked up 2, 3, and 4 deep! Knowing the penetration I get out of these TuffHeads with this 85# longbow I don’t dare shoot. Still waiting….
 

Patience is a really good thing to have on days like this.
Thom

[sticksnstones]

Thom

[sticksnstones]

Once everything was absolutely perfect I drew back on a nice hog and loosed my arrow.

The bow was dead silent, the smallest sound of an arrow passing through a ribcage could be heard, and the arrow came to rest in the clay behind the animal. For a split second nothing happened. Even the animal that I shot didn't flinch. Then in unison they all scattered back about 30 yards.

I watched as three of them started to come back in, and then held on the perimeter at about 20 yards facing straight at me. I thought I saw the one that I hit move to my right. Just about 15 yards past the feeder I thought I could hear a little thrashing in that direction. I head it a few times, but not loud.

I waited a few minutes and nothing more happened. I exited the blind at 8pm on the button and went back to camp to get some helpers.
Thom

[sticksnstones]

While I was getting the boys and my blood trailing kit:
   

Little buggers did come back in as soon as I left.
Thom

[smokin joe]

All of you folks out there are going to like the rest of this story.
   

[sticksnstones]

Everyone was pretty excited to come help so we loaded up and headed back to the spot.

As soon as we got there Keith and I heard a pig run off to the West. It sounded like one critter and it came out of the place I'd thought I heard the noises a little earlier.
     

We looked at the arrow, the blood trail going to the pool where the animal had been resting. It was in fact only about 15 yards from where the arrow was buried in the mud. Had we given it just a little more time the story would have ended here.
   

Instead we decided to pull back and pursue in the morning. Blood was a good color and we believed this should be a short job in the morning. Tempature was pretty good for it and weather report suggested very little chance of rain.

In the morning we all shared a big breakfast and everyone wanted to participate in the recovery. We went out at 8am and got to work. We were all surprised that once that pig took to it's feet it dropped very little blood. I found the first droplets about 30 yards up it's trail and we picked up a tiny spec every six feet or so. I was really happy I brought a mist bottle filled with hydrogen peroxide, it confirmed blood we almost wrote off and disproved red spots growing on grass blades. I was mightily impressed with the tracking skills of my camp mates.

A bit up the way we found her.
     

She was not the monster boar I planned to hunt for the last few months, but she is the perfect size for eating and a wonderful blessing to my household.
Thom

[sticksnstones]

I tell you what Joe, I've really been liking the way this story ends!

I liked it the night after I got back:
   

And then two nights later:
   

And two days after that I was told I could come pick up the 43#s of sausage that she yeilded. I tried one last weekend and it was even better than my last sow off the property.

A little side note, on this last trip I donated a digital meat scale to the camp that will go up to 880 pounds. I knew if I shot that really big boar I'd really want to know how much it weighed. Once we found her, everyone tried to guess her weight. Guesses ranged from 65 to 85 pounds, then put her on the scale and it read out 101.6 pounds. I can't believe the amount of meat on this little hog!

It will be interesting to see how other groups fair with their guessing in the future! Oh, and if someone brings in one of those big boys, what they weigh in at!

With that I'll quiet down and let my hunting partners weigh in any stories or pictures they want to add to tale. Thanks to everyone for their patience as I got this all typed out.
Thom

[tippit]

Congrats Thom!  Those big boys are fun to hunt kinda like lone wolfs...but that 75-100# hog is best for the table.  Got this guy right next to y'all @ Bacon Strip a couple of years back...wish I'd had a scale then.  I'll be trying a new lease this year near Charleston...but may need to show up at Wild Things just to see the old neighborhood...tippit

   

   

[smokin joe]

Thom:
Man, that meat looks really good.
Yum.

[smokin joe]

Thom's shot was a darned good shot. It took out both lungs, put a slice in the heart. punctured the diaphragm and cut open the top of the stomach. Part of the lung tissue came out of the exit wound and plugged it up.

Even with all of that damage, the blood trail was very sparse and difficult. When Thom says that there were tiny spots every six feet or so, he really means it. Some of the spots were almost microscopic and often six feet stretched into ten or twelve feet. And, when we found the hog there was not a blood pool under her.

When Thom and Charlie opened her up there was a lot of blood inside her body cavity.

That is the second thin blood trail I have been on this season. In both cases the exit wound was plugged up from the inside.

The lesson here is that we should always do our best to follow up a thin blood trail.

We all did a lot of patting Thom on the back. And in honor of his success we let him fill his plate first at supper that night.

[Terry Green]

I'm going to jump in right quick and say we did have to battle the full moon, and we did stay after them a lot during the day including mid day....

And I've never seen more 'BIG' tracks on the property than I've ever seen....in several different areas as well, ...not just the same hog.    

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Congrats Thom. Looking forward to more tales from camp.

[SheltonCreeker]

Congrats, Thom. I enjoyed the read very much. That meat looks great and I'm glad you ended up with as much sausage as you did. Great eating in your future!

[Pointer]

So you shot the hog in the dark at 8pm..thats impressive Thom. When we were there last January, Andrew wasn't wild about us hunting at night so we didn't. Glad to see he's OK with it now..looking forward to giving that a try if we have no luck during the day next month

[Flingblade]

A tip of my Stetson to you good sir.  Just flat out can't kill 'em any better than that!  Great pics and story, thanks for sharing.

[Red Beastmaster]

Way cool story Thom!

All your hard work paid off. Congratulations!

[Terry Green]

Got some pics to post.....hopefully get them tonight....along with comments.

Yes....the blood trailing was a highlight in itself as everyone involved was a major contributor. ....including my flashlight I used in daylight to pick up blood ahead on thin blades of grass.  It's amazing what a really good bright light can do.  It can also help you focus on an area better when your eyes get tired.

[sticksnstones]

Thanks guys, it was fun to tell! Beauty of a hog there tippit!

As for hunting hogs under a light, Andrew still isn't hot on the idea. I made arrangements well ahead of my hunt, and there were still some special terms I needed to agree to abide by. I wouldn't just show up thinking it's cool these days.

For whatever it's worth, 6 out of 7 times I drew my bow on hogs that week it was between 9:21am and 1:20pm. I'd hate to leave anyone with the wrong idea about that.

I'm looking forward to seeing what pictures you guys took, hopefully you got some good ones!
Thom

[Terry Green]

Had a Christmas Chorus Concert tonight....that I'd forgot about.  I'll try and post more tomorrow.