Thanks guys. Ya know Izzy, everytime Doug and I head down there to hunt we talk about that trip and hunting with you and your cousin Ray. What a great time that was. Someday we'd love to share a camp with you guys again.
This was my 7th trip in 6 years down to Hog Heaven/Wild Things and so far I had not connected on a hog. I'd had a couple of shots(both times I shot under the hog)over the years and many times I got into hogs but no shot opportunity presented itself. This year we were sitting tree stands and ground blinds to improve our odds.
Rain was somewhat of a factor this year too and the forcast for the week did not bode well. We were use to sunny skies and warm temps, but what we got was overcast days and intermittent rain.
I sat a ground blind the first two days courtesy of my friend Thom Jorgensen. Thom has spent a good deal of time at Wild Things this year and he and Andrew had set game cameras over most, if not all of the feeders. One of the highlights of our days there was reviewing the photos on the laptop after Thom had pulled the memory cards.
So the first 2 days past and the only hogs I saw were 2 that I bumped walking in to my blind the first evening. There was no shot there as they cleared out pronto. Tuesday came and Thom suggested I hunt a stand known as Wildfire that evening. The problem was Wildfire had neither a stand or a ground blind set up. We threw a ladder stand from the practice area into Andrew's truck and with Doug and Brian Sears (from Indiana) following us in the gator we hot footed it out to the site.
This spot was torn up! There was a deep wallow right next to the feeder. Tracks were everywhere-and fresh!
With 4 of us working on it we had the stand set and ready to go in no time. We were maybe 12 yards from the feeder. We dropped some cob corn around and left. All in all it took maybe 20 mins. to get the stand set up.
At 5PM Doug dropped me off at the cross roads and then headed to the picnic area where he parked the van. I hiked into the stand, and got settled in with 10 min. to spare before the feeder went off.
Five thirty, and for 3 seconds that feeder spewed corn everywhere. You can anticipate that feeder coming to life but you're never ready for it when it does.
Ten minutes past and I had something coming into the feeder.
A troop of eight small pigs burst into the area and began to "hoover up" the corn. Six were jet black, one was spotted and one was the color of smoke. None of them looked to be more than 25 lbs. or so. While they milled about snorting and grunting at one another I caught movement in the grass behind and to the left of the feeder. I could make out ears sticking up above the grass. This was a good hog!
I had nocked an arrow as soon as I got settled into the stand. With one eye on the group of little ones in front of me I kept a watch on this black one hanging back. A few minutes past and she turned and started coming in. As she started in I had the bow up and focused all my attention on a spot directly up her rt. front leg.
The string came back, my middle finger touched the corner of my mouth, and the arrow was gone.
At the moment I released the string she took a step forward and the arrow caught her just behind the last rib. I watched as the chartreuse fletching led by the STOS head disappeared in her hide.
I thought; "Man that can't be good", but she didn't charge off. s
She simply turned and walked back the way she had come in.
I sat back for a moment and drew a ragged breath. I watched as she went maybe 40 yards then stopped. I saw her ears flick back and forth then she dropped, squealed a time or two, then went silent.
Surprisingly enough, I still had 6 of the little footballs milling around the base of my stand. I had nocked another arrow and seriously considered shooting one for the grill but decided against it.
I gave it a half hour then climbed down and found her right where I saw her go down. She was a good sized sow. I said a silent thank you, and grabbed a hind leg. I wasn't going to budge her. I was going to need help getting her out. Later we put her on the scale before we gutted her, she weighed 110 lbs. I was a very happy hunter!
Topic: Rick Butler Up top (Read 633 times)
