These swamps have a jungle like canopy so to tell you it is pitch black would be the understatement of the year. The only possible way to take an ethical shot is to have a lighting system on your bow. I had experimented with countless designs over the years, but when hunting pressured hogs, I prefer a red light with a rheostat that allows the light to be dialed up slowly enough that the animal can’t perceive the increase. In the darkness I could tell that he stood just five or six yards away. As I slowly turned up the light down through my shooting hole, I was frustrated that I could only see a massive black hole but no Kong. Months of effort had gone into this moment and I simply could not see him. I could hear every breath and could hear him chewing… Where was he? I dialed up the light a bit more, and suddenly I could see two small white objects on the edge of the black hole. In amazement I suddenly realized that this “huge black hole” I was staring into was actually Kong’s back, and those white objects were his tusks. His size at this short range was overwhelming.
It would have been impossible to miss at this short range, but it became apparent that he was facing me. I certainly could have hit the back of a single lung but there was no way I was going to risk wounding this great animal. Recovery in this jungle would be near impossible if he did not leave a blood trial. I did not expect a pass through shot from this near straight down angle. I waited for him to turn for a full 6-7 minutes, but he simply stood like a statue without moving. I then realized that he was waiting on a wind change. A minute later, he got it. I climbed down at daylight and staggered back to the truck. Depressed and fully aware that it would be weeks if not months before he would return.
Another all-night defeat...
The fall of 2014 had a good acorn crop, and as in years past, Kong took on a gypsy approach to feeding and never returned to a bait site. My sole encounter with him was a single run in under a giant white oak as I walked in to deer hunt. Winter and early spring was going to be my next chance, and I spent a couple days preparing a site in the thickest area so as to provide him with the greatest security approach. Several weeks later I check a trail camera and determined that it was time to give it another shot. I approached the bait site and was disappointed to see that the feeder and everything around the bait site had been destroyed. It was as if someone had taken a sledge hammer to everything. The evidence showed that Kong had developed a new and very bad habit of ripping the legs off the feeder, ripping the motor off the unit and crushing the drum. This happened several times, and I finally resorted to using heavy wire to hold the unit in a large privet bush. A few weeks later I was perched over the site a full hour before dark with a good wind. Thirty minutes before dark, I heard a twig snap. I slowly stood and with bow in hand looked down to see Kong just five yards away staring at the base of my tree. The problem was the canopy. It was impossible to shoot down into this tangle without fear of deflection and wounding him. I had a perfect wind at this point but something told him this was a bad situation and with a roar he was gone. With a broken spirit, I strapped into the tree hoping he would come back after dark. He never did.
Topic: The Story of Kong- Video added page 11 (Read 15973 times)
