I'm blessed with kids that love the outdoors. When I asked my oldest son Jake what he wanted for a graduation gift, he wanted to go hunting. That was last year and he scored on two hogs with his bow and an axis doe with his rifle.
So...when my son Jonathon was set to graduate this year I asked him the same question and got the same answer. Johnny has several rifle kills under his belt but has never really gotten into bowhunting. When I asked him about shooting a hog with a bow, he was all over it.
I had heard nothing but good things about the Langley Ranch in Centerville. TBH'er Randy Dudley has been a prominent member of TBH since I joined up in 2003, so I figured his hunting operation would be top notch....and I wasn't disappointed.
Father's Day weekend (fri/sat) was the only time I could get away due to work and other obligations. Randy had planned on taking the weekend off and not booking any hunters but when i contacted him, he graciously agreed to let us come hunt.
I packed up the Jeep on Friday morning and later that afternoon Jonathon and I were northbound 45 from Houston. We met up with Randy and Joe at the ranch and right away I felt like we were welcomed and that I was among friends. We got settled in the nice camphouse and relaxed awhile before the evening hunt.
They are set up for some serious hog cleaning. Multiple winch powered gambrels, cleaning tables, walk-in cooler, etc.
We brought along a bow, AR15, and a .270. When Randy found out that Jonathon was after his first bow kill, he decided to put us over a waterhole with a fairly close shot. We were sitting on the side of a creek bank in a big washed out hole. We got set up and Randy threw out some corn near the water hole and then he left us.
We sat for about 45 minutes before I saw some hogs walking through the dry creek towards us. When they got close, I turned on the video camera but I think the night shot light scared them off. They didn't go far before they started coming back in. There were 3 good boars and one smaller hog. Since it was pretty much too dark to video, I turned off the camera and sat there enjoying the moment (I was hoping to see my third son get his first bow kill!).
Jonathon had to draw back the Diamond Black Ice three separate times. The boar he wanted was either behind a fallen tree, or wouldn't stay broadside for very long. Finally, he settled in to eat and Johnny let the arrow rip. As I watched the red Lumenok fly true, I realized that right at the shot the hog turned hard quartering away at the last second. Jonathon learned a hard lesson about bowhunting....when things can go wrong, they usually do. The arrow smacked the hog hard and penetrating well. But due to the hard quartering angle, it went forward of the off shoulder. The hogs ran off and I could see the lumenok glowing up on the opposite creek bank. The hog was stationary for awhile and then they all left in a group.
We contacted Randy and he showed up soon, driving the Mule. I was in some serious pain due to a knee injury (good old softball) from Thursday night. I could barely walk and was hurtin' pretty bad. We did a quick check for blood and Johnny only found one drop near the spot where he shot him. Luckily, Randy knows his bidness like no other. We were able to semi track the hog through the sandy soil by spotlight from the mule. Randy thought he knew where they were heading and we went to the other side of the pasture to a place where they bed up and seem to always go when they get injured. Sure enough, we found the hog where Randy thought he would be. Johnny had to finish him off because he still wanted to kick and growl, but it was quick and effective.
We loaded up the boar in the mule and got him back to the camp. We took some pics and then Randy took care of cleaning him for us. If hog cleaning was an olympic sport, he would be a gold medalist! The hog weighed right at 200 lbs (he lost about 5 lbs of mud after randy washed him down).
After a quick try at varmint hunting with the AR-15 (not much was moving), we ate a late supper and crashed out. We decided to sleep in and then do some fishing on Saturday. Johnny caught a big channel cat on a crappie jig! It was an epic battle between Zebco 33 and Monster Fish from the Great Depths. Zebco won!
Johnny loves bass fishing so Randy took us to a big tank that is a hotspot. They weren't big...but they were numerous. I lost count of how many we caught between the three of us, but it was a lot...and this was during the heat of the day. I would love to fish this place with topwaters at daylight!
Lovin' my Jeep Rubicon!
Our next adventure involved a lizard. I'll let the pics do the talking!
For the saturday evening hunt, we went to a different pasture and got set up in a brush/pallet blind with my AR-15 and a .270. We only had one hog come in (a real small one) but we could see the big boys at the very end of the right-of-way milling around. We heard various hogs growling and fighting. I think they may have winded us due to a swirling wind. We sat until dark and then headed back to camp.
We had a great time at the Langley Ranch and I left there feeling like I had just left a good friend's house. Randy is a truly nice guy and is good at what he does. That is a great combination in the hunting industry.
Jonathon will be going off to college soon but we made some great memories with this hunt! He will be playing football at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. I hope he's not too busy to make it to the deer lease this year. He has practically grown up on the green screen and this story is just the latest chapter! Nice job on the hog, Jonathon. I'm proud of you in more ways than one. Love ya, son!
So...when my son Jonathon was set to graduate this year I asked him the same question and got the same answer. Johnny has several rifle kills under his belt but has never really gotten into bowhunting. When I asked him about shooting a hog with a bow, he was all over it.
I had heard nothing but good things about the Langley Ranch in Centerville. TBH'er Randy Dudley has been a prominent member of TBH since I joined up in 2003, so I figured his hunting operation would be top notch....and I wasn't disappointed.
Father's Day weekend (fri/sat) was the only time I could get away due to work and other obligations. Randy had planned on taking the weekend off and not booking any hunters but when i contacted him, he graciously agreed to let us come hunt.
I packed up the Jeep on Friday morning and later that afternoon Jonathon and I were northbound 45 from Houston. We met up with Randy and Joe at the ranch and right away I felt like we were welcomed and that I was among friends. We got settled in the nice camphouse and relaxed awhile before the evening hunt.
They are set up for some serious hog cleaning. Multiple winch powered gambrels, cleaning tables, walk-in cooler, etc.
We brought along a bow, AR15, and a .270. When Randy found out that Jonathon was after his first bow kill, he decided to put us over a waterhole with a fairly close shot. We were sitting on the side of a creek bank in a big washed out hole. We got set up and Randy threw out some corn near the water hole and then he left us.
We sat for about 45 minutes before I saw some hogs walking through the dry creek towards us. When they got close, I turned on the video camera but I think the night shot light scared them off. They didn't go far before they started coming back in. There were 3 good boars and one smaller hog. Since it was pretty much too dark to video, I turned off the camera and sat there enjoying the moment (I was hoping to see my third son get his first bow kill!).
Jonathon had to draw back the Diamond Black Ice three separate times. The boar he wanted was either behind a fallen tree, or wouldn't stay broadside for very long. Finally, he settled in to eat and Johnny let the arrow rip. As I watched the red Lumenok fly true, I realized that right at the shot the hog turned hard quartering away at the last second. Jonathon learned a hard lesson about bowhunting....when things can go wrong, they usually do. The arrow smacked the hog hard and penetrating well. But due to the hard quartering angle, it went forward of the off shoulder. The hogs ran off and I could see the lumenok glowing up on the opposite creek bank. The hog was stationary for awhile and then they all left in a group.
We contacted Randy and he showed up soon, driving the Mule. I was in some serious pain due to a knee injury (good old softball) from Thursday night. I could barely walk and was hurtin' pretty bad. We did a quick check for blood and Johnny only found one drop near the spot where he shot him. Luckily, Randy knows his bidness like no other. We were able to semi track the hog through the sandy soil by spotlight from the mule. Randy thought he knew where they were heading and we went to the other side of the pasture to a place where they bed up and seem to always go when they get injured. Sure enough, we found the hog where Randy thought he would be. Johnny had to finish him off because he still wanted to kick and growl, but it was quick and effective.
We loaded up the boar in the mule and got him back to the camp. We took some pics and then Randy took care of cleaning him for us. If hog cleaning was an olympic sport, he would be a gold medalist! The hog weighed right at 200 lbs (he lost about 5 lbs of mud after randy washed him down).
After a quick try at varmint hunting with the AR-15 (not much was moving), we ate a late supper and crashed out. We decided to sleep in and then do some fishing on Saturday. Johnny caught a big channel cat on a crappie jig! It was an epic battle between Zebco 33 and Monster Fish from the Great Depths. Zebco won!
Johnny loves bass fishing so Randy took us to a big tank that is a hotspot. They weren't big...but they were numerous. I lost count of how many we caught between the three of us, but it was a lot...and this was during the heat of the day. I would love to fish this place with topwaters at daylight!
Lovin' my Jeep Rubicon!
Our next adventure involved a lizard. I'll let the pics do the talking!
For the saturday evening hunt, we went to a different pasture and got set up in a brush/pallet blind with my AR-15 and a .270. We only had one hog come in (a real small one) but we could see the big boys at the very end of the right-of-way milling around. We heard various hogs growling and fighting. I think they may have winded us due to a swirling wind. We sat until dark and then headed back to camp.
We had a great time at the Langley Ranch and I left there feeling like I had just left a good friend's house. Randy is a truly nice guy and is good at what he does. That is a great combination in the hunting industry.
Jonathon will be going off to college soon but we made some great memories with this hunt! He will be playing football at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. I hope he's not too busy to make it to the deer lease this year. He has practically grown up on the green screen and this story is just the latest chapter! Nice job on the hog, Jonathon. I'm proud of you in more ways than one. Love ya, son!
, and graduating HS too! And congrats to Pop too 
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