With a huff he stormed out through that jungle with the nock lighting his every step. I also had a string tracker attached to the arrow and the whirring of the string gave additional comfort that the arrow was still with him. As soon as the red glow disappeared, everything went silent. A second later I heard a step or two more and felt a short tug on the line. The sound of his last roar drifted back to me. He had traveled less than 80 yards.
I stood motionless for a moment longer and then just sat down in silence for a long time. It was over, and I was having great difficulty figuring out how it made me feel. This was not the first time this feeling had come over me, but it was certainly the most intense occurrence.
My first call was to my son Luke. He was happy and jumped at the chance to bring my Bavarian blood tracking dog (Bear) to the site. I called another buddy and he organized a drag team. The trail was good but could only be followed on hands and knees down hog tunnels. We used the dog to follow the blood trail which turned out to be quite easy given the string tracker line had stayed with Kong all the way to his last bed. As we approached the down giant it was a very special moment. Yes, he was a giant, but to me it was so much more than that. What a magnificent, awesome, intelligent animals lay before us.
The end of this story could have come right then but it actually occurred three days later. My 17 year old son advised me upon returning to the truck that he had lost his knife during the tracking. He was quite upset because it was a beautiful custom knife that I had given him for Christmas that a friend had made. To be honest I started to scold him but bit my lip when he said “Dad I wanted Kong to be the first animal that I skinned with that knife”. It’s funny how a couple of words can change your perspective.
I told him that I would go back in a couple of days to look for it, but it would be like looking for a needle in a stack of needles. I would spend a couple hours crawling through those hog tunnels looking for the knife without success. I changed gears and began to remove gear from the stand site for the haul back to the truck. With the last load on my back I walked out the same trail that Kong had come in on. His tracks were still there and I paused to take it all in one last time. Sure he was just a hog but those of you that have had the rare opportunity to have that 2-3 year connection know the feeling. I took a knee and gave thanks for the many blessings that I have in my life. I then stood and looked up into one of the deepest blue skies that I can remember. I shouldered my load of gear and took two steps out of that jungle to see that special knife covered in frost in a place I don’t even remember us walking. I smiled all the way back to the truck thinking that there simply could not have been a more perfect ending to this story.
Topic: The Story of Kong- Video added page 11 (Read 15968 times)
