Tagged for later reading
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A Long Walk
In February 2015 my wife and I went to south Texas for our annual pig and javelina hunt. We arrived in camp on Saturday and met a couple of buddies from NC that regularly make the trip. They had a friend with them that was new to bowhunting and was making his first south Texas trip, so there were five of us. After introductions we pitched our tent next to theirs. It had been a long trip from Virginia and North Carolina so we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting around camp relaxing. That night we grilled some steaks, and sipped some cool beverages while reminiscing about past hunts.
My wife and I would be using our longbows, while our buddies were shooting compounds. I would be using my A&H ACS, with Grizzlystic Alaskan shafts tipped with 125grain 4 blade Magnus Stingers. My wife would be using her trusty Massie Longhorn with Gold Tip shafts tipped with 125 grain 2 blade Steelforce. We both have Hawglights on our bows for nighttime hog hunting.
Sunday morning we met up with our outfitters. We have been hunting with them for years and have been become friends so we spent some time catching up. They told us they were going to put us on a section of the ranch we hadn’t hunted before. They also told us that a mountain lion had had been spotted several times in that area. We spent the rest of the day setting our stands and doing a recon on the area we were going to hunt. We would start our 5 day hunt on Monday.
Monday was very windy, a condition which prevailed for most of the week. The animals were very skittish due to the high winds. We usually have a leisurely breakfast and don’t start hunting until midmorning. The javelina don’t usually start moving until midmorning and we usually hunt pigs into the night.
We were seeing some javvies but were not having much success on our stalks. We were also seeing some pigs at night, but without any success. My wife was set up on a wooden platform over a waterhole where there was a feeder and a light set up. I was set up on my quadpod at an intersection of 2 senderos where I had seen a lot of both pig and javvie sign. There was no light at my location so I would have to rely on my bow mounted Hawglight. We spread some corn around the location in hopes some pigs and or javelina would be drawn in.
On Wednesday we spent the day watching some senderos we had corned. Some javvies came out but we were unsuccessful in our stalks. Just before dark I dropped my wife off at her stand and headed out to my stand. I parked my truck where it would be hidden, about 400 yards from my stand, and hiked to my stand. I got settled in to my stand to wait for dark. About ½ hour before the end of legal shooting light (pigs can be hunted at night, but javvie cannot) 4 javvies crossed the sendero about 75 yards out. One of them was very unusual as it had a blond belt around its body that covered about 1/3 of its body. I had seen many javvies but had never seen one this color. They disappeared into the brush and I somewhat relaxed. About 10 minutes later I heard something on the sendero to my left. I turned my head slowly and spotted 4 javvies approaching. One of them eased out to where I had a shot. I picked a spot, came to anchor and dropped the string. The shot looked good, maybe a bit high. The javvie ran into the brush to my right and disappeared from sight. I could hear the arrow shaft slapping the brush. He suddenly reappeared crossing the sendero in front of me. I heard him thrashing around in the brush in front of me.
By now it had gotten dark and I decided I would wait and hunt pigs awhile before I got down, in hope some pigs would come in. I texted the outfitter and my buddies that I had shot a javvie and was going to hunt a couple more hours. I would text them when I got down and they would come out and help me find the javvie. About 2 hours later I could hear pigs in the brush, but they never came close enough for a shot. I texted the outfitter and got down. I went to my truck and brought it to the intersection where I got my shot. Shortly afterwards the outfitter showed up and we prepared to track my javvie. We were not finding much blood and the cactus and mesquite was really thick. I walked toward where I thought I had heard him thrashing around and there he lay.
Thursday I decided I would hunt the same stand. I parked my truck in the same spot and got on stand about an hour before dark. Just before dark I saw the blonde belt javvie again. He did not come in for a shot. There was no moon so it was really dark. Some pigs came out on the sendero but never came close enough for a shot. About 11:00 I decided I would call it a night. I strapped my head lamp on, gathered my stuff together and climbed out of my stand. Just as my feet touched the ground a mountain lion screamed just down the sendero. It was pitch black and I was armed only with my longbow. That 400 yards to my truck was going to be a long walk.
On Friday night I was sitting on my stand and about 10:00 I got a 2-word text from my buddy……..”Big cat”. A mountain lion had walked under the light where he was sitting.Attached FilesComment
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We've had some new trad shooters join us since this was last up, so I'll bring this back to the top. There's some good reading here that they might enjoy. Maybe someone will add some new stories.Comment
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Great stories Phillip.Comment
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Thought I would bring this back to the top, some of the newer guys here may not have seen it.Comment
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Funny you bumped this one. My wife has told me that I should keep a "book" of the hunting stories so I have them as memories. I somewhat blew it off. I was noticing that others video, etc and thought maybe I should just do a book that covers most of my hunts. So today I started by sorting pictures and copying writeups into some docs. For the lack of a better name, they are all in a new folder called "The Book."Comment
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Fall, 1978. Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness.
I was solo backpack elk hunting. Well, solo except for my Lab. My dogs have always gone everywhere with me. If my dog ain't welcome, I ain't welcome.
I made camp at the upper end of Nelson Lake, 5 or so miles in from the trailhead. In those days, 5 miles in pretty much guaranteed solitude in rifle season, much less bow season. We were sure-enough alone.
I left Mocha in camp, with the stern admonition to stay. I won't have a disobedient dog.
Hunted up toward the divide with Idaho, thinking elk, but also had a bear tag in my pocket.
By the way, Nelson Lake is an amazing geological phenomenon. I'd guess it's about 20-30 acres, maybe more, but it has no apparent outlet.
About a half-mile below, a huge gushing geyser comes blasting out of the side of the mountain. That is the outlet of Nelson Lake, and forms Nelson Creek. It runs underground for a half-mile.
Never seen the like.
So...I'm sneaking up the valley above the lake, into the wind, when I hear an ungodly crashing! Sounds like a house being demolished.
Didn't require any fancy stalking techniques, as the wind was right, and whatever was making the noise was obviously not too concerned with being stealthy.
Still, a man alone in the wilderness with a bow moves cautiously in such a situation.
At least I did.
By the way, my bow was a 65# Howatt Hunter, and my arrows were aluminum 2020s, tipped with Savora 3-blade broadheads. Fletched with plastic vanes, I'm ashamed to say.
They were the new thing then.
Anyway, it didn't take long for me to find the source of all that racket!
I'll finish up the story tomorrow.
JoeComment
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That ain't right Joe, to leave us hanging like that!!!!
BischComment
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Where was I? Oh yeah, I was a few hundred feet below the divide of the Bitterroot mountains, on the Montana side.
I had only killed my first-ever big game animal a few weeks before, a whitetail buck. I grew up just hunting small game and birds.
So...I'm sneaking up on a demolition crew. It was just below timberline, with sparse trees and granite boulders. Perfect stalking country, and the wind in my face. I moved quickly.
It was a bear, tearing apart a rotted deadfall, and eating the bugs. He was into his business, and I probably could have walked up and tapped him on the shoulder!
Didn't to do that, though. :-) As I looked around, I wasn't sure I wanted to shoot. It looked to me like I was smack in the middle of the most obvious place for him to run.
I don't recall if he was the first bear I had ever seen, but he was definitely the first I'd seen with a weapon in my hand, a bear tag in my pocket, and bad intentions.
I watched him for a while, and decided that it would be prudent to stalk around him to the south, into a little clump of boulders. I didn't figure he'd run that way.
Just as I got to my spot, something alerted him. Scent? Sound? I don't know.
He wasn't real spooked but he started walking away, right toward where I had been. I knew if he got there, he'd smell me for sure.
I drew and shot. 20-25 yards, quartering away. Hit him a little too far back, I thought.
He took off like a rocket, right over the spot where I first saw him. I was glad I had moved!
I went to the spot of the shot, and found my bloody arrow immediately. Pass-through!
Then I went back to camp, about 15 minutes away, and got my dog.
We went back to the scene, and started on the trail. Very little blood. Worried. After about a quarter-mile (maybe less), there he lay. He had bled out pretty much internally. I learned later that a fat fall bear, with a thick winter pelt, often doesn't lose much blood on the ground.
The hit was better than I thought. Got the liver going in, and a lung going out.
This Texas boy had just killed him a bear, in the Montana wilderness!Comment
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Great story Joe.Comment
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Great story Joe!Comment
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Blue Wildebeest
August of 2003 found me in the Limpopo Region of South Africa. I had dreamed of hunting the dark continent since I was a kid, but had always pictured it being with a double rifle after dangerous game. When I did finally see my way clear I booked 14 days and decided to take my trusty longbow and hunt plains game as it was more in my price range. I was using my Jeff Massie Longhorn, 64”, 55lbs at my 28” draw. It had a cocobolo riser with bamboo lams under clear glass. For arrows I would use Arrow Dynamics tipped with a 160 grain, 1 ½’ wide broadhead for a total arrow weight of 610 grains.
We had been seeing a herd of Wildebeest near a waterhole and I had sat in a treestand there a couple of times, but could not get a shot. There was a nice bull in that herd that I really wanted. Finally, a few days before the end of my hunt, my PH Kruger, decided to set up a pop-up blind on the waterhole. There was a pushed up pile of brush at just the right distance from the waterhole so we set the pop-up in the middle of the brush pile and cleared a shooting lane. To add to the camo, we draped a camo net over the blind. When finished you could not tell there was a pop-up in the brush pile. We also had shoot through netting on the window.
On the morning of the next to last day of my hunt Kruger dropped me off at the blind and I got settled in. I would be sitting by myself. During the course of the day there was not much activity at this waterhole and I was getting a bit despondent. I considered calling Kruger and having him move me to a different location, but decided to tough it out. About midday a big male baboon came into water. When he didn’t spot me I knew that my hide was well camoflauged. I decided to try and take this baboon. I came to anchor and dropped the string, the arrow passed under his arm and shaved a bit of hair off his chest, man, these baboons are fast.
About 4:45 a small herd of wildebeest came in. They watered and milled around the waterhole, but didn’t offer a decent shot. As they started to leave the waterhole, they paraded past my shooting lane in single file at about 8 yards. I knew they weren’t going to stop, but they were moving slowly so I decided if the bull I wanted followed the same path I would attempt a shot. The bull strolled past my shooting lane. I touched anchor and dropped the string. The herd bolted out of there. The shot looked good but I wasn’t sure. I called Kruger and let him know I had shot the bull. Kruger and the African tracker arrived at the waterhole about ½ hour after I called him. We found good blood and tracked for about 100 yards where the bull crossed the road into another thick block of bush. There we lost the blood. We searched until after dark, but could not recover the blood trail. We did find the back half of the arrow and it looked like I had good penetration. We decided to back out and resume the search in the morning.
Early the next morning we returned to where we had found last blood and resumed the search. It was a cloudy, windy dreary day. We could not find any more blood but the tracker was able to follow the tracks. We finally lost the track where they mixed with the tracks of a herd of wildebeest. We decided we would do a grid search in the last block of bush where we had found. Kruger, the tracker and I lined up about 40 yards apart and started through the bush. As I was walking I spotted a pair of bat eared foxes and decided I would try to get a closer look. Suddenly I realized I had lost sight of Kruger and the tracker. I yelled to make contact but got no response. I realized I had left my compass in my backpack. I knew the block of bush was only a couple of miles square so I knew I could walk out to the road if I could hold a straight line. Because of the clouds I could not use the sun to maintain direction. After thinking about it a few minutes I realized the wind had been pretty much constant on my left side as I came in. I put the wind on my right side and started walking out. Sometime later I came out on the road about 200 yards from the truck. I waited at the truck until Kruger and the tracker returned. They had not had any luck. Since it was now almost noon we decided to call a stop to the search.
I spent the rest of the day at another waterhole, but did not shoot anything. The next morning was spent packing up. Kruger took me to the airport and I flew back to the states, still feeling bummed about the Wildebeest even though I had taken some nice animals.
The day after I arrived back in the states I got an email from Kruger. They had found my Wildebeest. He had apparently died just before they found him as the hide had not slipped and was still in perfect condition for mounting. Apparently my shot had been a bit far back. The kill zone of African game is a bit farther forward than where I was used to shooting whitetails
The picture shows the location of the pop-up, you can see the shooting window on the left side.Attached FilesComment
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Great story Phillip, as usual.Comment
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Great storiesComment
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