After a record setting May in regards to rain, it has been dry for a week and a half, and temps a little over 90. Not sure which I prefer. I am a crybaby about the heat. One thing it does around here, is it keeps the hogs in the deep cover of drainages until after dark, so hog hunting is usually dusk or later.
I leave for a bear hunt in a week, so I have been putting in alot of time at work, in addition to catching up with chores that got pushed back due to rain and mud. I really didn't plan on hunting tonight, but I got word that the gas company is going to be starting a big project on my eastern border starting tomorrow, so hunting at this feeder would a waste of time for the next month or so. I figured I would give it one last shot.
I was at work during the heat of the day, but got home in time to get my gear ready, and have my wife drop me off at the stand with her electric cart so as not to leave a scent trail on the way. I got there around 7pm. We saw a group of 6 turkeys slowly walk away from the feeder as we approached, two of them still strutting. Maybe a good omen.
Not much wind when I got there, so it was pretty warm in the blind. The wind that was there was blowing SSW, which is what I had been waiting for. I had been busted at this stand with virtually every other wind, and with the drainage running high, I was hopeful the pigs would cross at a lower level to keep the wind in my favor.
Just before I left, I grabbed an arrow and put a big snuffer on it to add to my quiver, hoping to skewer on of the coons that has been after our chickens and taking liberties with our orchards. It wasn't long after I was sitting, that one came in to the feeder. I already had my VPA tipped arrow hooked up to my string tracker for hogs, and I thought there would be plenty of time before the hogs came to allow me to retrieve the arrow, so I let loose. The arrow passed through the coon, and string started peeling out, as it circled behind my blind to die, much like the last one I shot did. I was just getting ready to leave the blind when I heard hogs grunting their way to the feeder. These hogs are pretty wary, so I grabbed the first arrow at hand and put it on the string. Turns out it was the big snuffer, but there was no turning back now.
They fed in a frenzy, so getting a clear shot was tough, but I was patient with the wind in my favor, and me facing the feeder to the east. I kept focused on the largest one, waiting for a shooting lane. When the big ones feel safe, they usually stake a claim to the area directly under the feeder, where there is more corn. Unfortunately, this often puts a lot of smaller hogs between the big hog and the shooter.
Eventually, I had a shooting lane and took the shot. It looked good, maybe an inch or two back of where I wanted, the hog squealed and bolted, with hogs scattering in every direction. I was going to wait an hour, then go look for blood. Being near dusk at the time of the shot, not having a lit nock as I was planning on, and with hogs going everywhere, it was tough to tell exactly where it went, but I was pretty sure it bolted to the south initially.
I waited around 15 minutes, but the other hogs came back, including a nice one that had me almost thinking that it was the same one that I shot at. I resisted the urge to shoot and potentially have a confounding blood trail. Eventually they moved off, growling quite a bit. I was pretty sure they had caught wind of my dead hog, but still waited a little over an hour to track and it.
It always amazes me.how hard it can be to find blood after dark, but after a few minutes I found first blood, and followed it, setting an upright arrow each time I found new blood.
It didn't take long. Instead of crossing the drainage like they normally do, this one died right on the road in, having only gone around 45 yards. I found the whole arrow next to the hog, covered in blood. Turns out the cheap aluminum insert broke at the ferrule, and the arrow slid out. It had hard impact on the far shoulder, and when I was gutting the boar, I found the snuffer peaking out of the heart. Pretty cool, but I am glad the ferrule broke on the offside and that this hog didn't have a huge shield. Think it was probably around 200#.
Topic: Snuffed one (Read 471 times)
