This past weekend, BDann, Arkie and his 2 sons (Lane and Joe), My buddy Tim who is not a member here, and myself went on an awesome javelina and hog hunt. This is an annual hunt for the core of our group that we have been doing for about 5yrs now. This year, we found a new ranch to hunt near Caterina, Texas. It rained a BUNCH the day before we arrived, and everything was real muddy. We went out for the first afternoon hunt, and it started raining again, so most of us (me included) opted to hunt from ground blinds on the ranch.
The rain stopped about an hour before dark, and the sun even came out for just a bit too. As soon as the rain stopped, the wildlife came alive all around me. Birds were chirping and rabbits moving around, it was awesome!!!
After a little while, I caught some movement thru the brush to my left, and sure enough, it was a pig meandering my direction. After a little while, it cleared the brush and was heading right for me.
Meanwhile, I got a text from BDann that he had shot a javelina, but they could not find it because the blood trail was virtually non existent due to all the water everywhere.
Anyway, my pig is meandering around right in front of me. He finally turns to a good angle and I draw and shoot him at about 12yds. Arghh, I hit him high, but HOORAY because I spined him! I quick second shot, and he was mine. I made a bad shot, but got very lucky so that I did not have to trail him thru all that wet brush. Anyway, here is a pic of my boar:
Around the same time I shot my pig, 12yr old Lane sent a msg that he had missed a pig, shooting just over his back. Lane has been going on this annual hunt for several years. He has shot a gazillion rabbits with his little longbow, but has yet to connect on a pig or javi.
My boar was the only critter brought back to camp for the first afternoon, but was a good start to our weekend!
The rain was done for a while, and things dry out really fast in South Texas. Overnight, the main roads became mostly dry, with pockets of slop here and there. The smaller roads were still very sloppy though!
Saturday was an awesome day for the whole group! The sun came out, and it warmed up, and the critters were everywhere!!! My buddy Tim slept in a bit and decided to hunt around camp in the morning. All the rest of us went out.
I started out in a blind because I really did not know my way around the place. About 7:15am, I got a text that Arkie had knocked down a nice big sow!!!! Now, that is a good start to a day of hunting!
Here is a pic of Nathan with his sow:
I did not see anything early, and decided to ditch the blind. I corned a few roads around my area. I was coming around a bend in my ranger and saw javies in the road! The stalk was on! I made my way through the brush till I was finally about 15yds from them. When the lead javi turned to a good angle, I drew and shot. My arrow hit him in a good spot, but he rolled on the shot, and as he ran by me, I could see that the exit was quite high. I was confident that he would be mine. I went off to look farther down the road and give him some time. After about an hour, I came back and started looking for him. Everything was still wet in the brush, and I could find very little sign. I did find the front half of my arrow, and fresh tracks, so at least I knew I was on the right trail. I followed the tracks for a ways, and even found a few drops of blood to confirm that I was on the correct trail. After about 40yds though, I got completely stuck, and just could not figure out where he went from there. I did a grid search around the area, but still no javi!!!
I finally had to concede defeat. I know that javi expired. I just could not figure out where he was at.
I decided I needed to go get Tim, and left another group of javies in the road to do so. We came back, and sure enough they were still out there. He put the super sneak on them and proceeded to shoot right over one of them.
Like I said earlier, the javies were all over the place with the nice weather after the previous 2 days of rain. A short while later, we came up on another group of javies, and it was my turn for the stalk. The brush was really thick in this area, which made getting close a challenge. I snuck thru the brush and came back to the road right where the javies were, but the brush was so thick, I could not get a shot! As I was watching them, trying to figure out how to get an opening, something spooked them, and they entered the brush towards me. I could not see them, but knew they were real close. I crouched down and scanned, when one darted into an opening right in front of me and stopped. There was not really much between me and him......except one little limb above me that my upper bow limb/string got tangled in as I was trying to draw. He stood there staring at me while I fuddled around till I finally got it loose. I could not believe he stayed long enough for me to get a shot off, but he did! Complete passthru at about 11yds or so. I backed out and marked the spot to give him a little time. After a while, Tim and I came back and began to track. The arrow was completely covered in blood, and there was good blood on a cactus pad about 5' from the shot. THAT WAS IT!!!! We looked around and could not find any more blood. Again, I was on a trail of tracks, and after the last one, was getting very frustrated. After following tracks for about 15-20yds, we fianlly started seeing blood on the ground, and my javi was DRT just a few yds farther. It was relief to recover him. He was a nice boar, and this was my first critter with my newest Sarrels longbow:
We then went back to camp for me to take care of my javi, and to eat lunch.
After getting my javi skinned and in the cooler, and a bite of lunch, we were back at it! Just as soon as we got back out to our spot, we found a group of javies in the road. It was Tims turn, and off on the stalk he went. I sat back in the Ranger and watched. Tim would pop in and out of the brush as he was making his way towards the javies. After a while, I could see he was right near them, and it looked like he had his bow up. Then all the javies scattered, and Tim was waving for me to come to him. When I got there, he advised that he did indeed shoot one. This one was a very cooperative javi. He ran around in a big circle, bit ended up expired about 5' from the road we were standing on, and only about 15yds from where he had been shot!
This was Tim's first javi ever, and the first large critter he had taken with his Sarrels zebra striped bow!!! After a few high fives, pictures were in order! Here is Tim with his first javi!
We all spent the rest of the afternoon chasing javies around, but no more were brought into camp. I did manage to put one bunny in the cooler though:
Lane was taken to a ground blind to sit the afternoon hunt. Remember, he is 12, and had yet to take a big game animal with his bow yet. Also remember that he had missed over a pig the first evening of the hunt. Well, it seems those pigs made old Lane just a bit nervous!
He sent out a text that he had missed over another pig. Then a bit later, he sent a text that he was out of arrows and had missed over 3 more pigs!!! He snuck out of the blind to get his arrows and then got back in. A bit later more pigs came in, but he did not miss this time!!! You could tell from his msg how excited he was. Here is a pic of Lanes first monster pig.
Whoa! That thing is huge!!! Here is another pic of the same pig to put it in a little better perspective.
A huge congrats goes out to Lane. He put a lot of time hunting in to finally getting it done on a hog!!!
We all came back to camp at dark to tell stories, clean critters, and eat dinner, but..............
The sky was clear and the moon was full, so.......
Ahh, nighttime in South Texas!!!!! I really think that stalking pigs in the moonlight is probably the most fun way to hunt them! It is a rush to put the stalk on those pigs, get close enough, and then make the shot under the moon.
After dinner, BDann and I headed out to check the roads for pigs. On the way out of camp there is a silo where they store protien for the deer. Every time they get some out, they also spill some, and the hogs come in to clean it up during the night. As we were leaving, Brian snuck up there to find pigs there. He put the stalk on them, but they winded him or saw him, and a shot never happened. We went on to to the area where we thought we might find pigs, and sure enough, there was a huge sounder on the road feeding. Brian told me it was my turn, so off I went. The moon was bright, and it was no trouble seeing the pigs on the caliche road. As I got closer, I decided to try to sneak thru the brush up to where they were. This turned out to be a baaaaaad decision. It got really thick, and I got really lost! I finally admitted to myself that I was lost and pulled out my compass to verify which direction I needed to go to get back to the road. By this point, I had given up on the pigs, and was just kind of noisily crashing thru the brush to get back to the road. When I got there, the pigs were right down the road a bit, but just out of range. I don't like to take a shot at night much over 10yds. Yardage gets harder to acurately judge and you can't see your arrow at all in the dark once you let go.
Anyway, I was watching the pigs, and figured out they were moving away from me. The brush was so thick I could not move thru it to get closer. I turned around to look the other way down the road, and bam, there was another little group of 3 or 4 pigs not more than 20yds from me, and feeding right towards me! The game was back on!!!!
I did not move, but just waited. After just a few minutes, a pig popped around the brush on the edge of the road on my side, and right in front of me, not more than 10yds away. I drew on him, and he stopped, so I'm pretty sure he must have seen or heard me. I let the arrow loose and heard it hit home. The pig ran out into, and across the road, and I watched it fall over just off the road. It is really hard for me to judge size at night, so I really had no clue as to exactly how big it was. It turned out to be a nice perfect eater size sow.
Bisch
The rain stopped about an hour before dark, and the sun even came out for just a bit too. As soon as the rain stopped, the wildlife came alive all around me. Birds were chirping and rabbits moving around, it was awesome!!!
After a little while, I caught some movement thru the brush to my left, and sure enough, it was a pig meandering my direction. After a little while, it cleared the brush and was heading right for me.
Meanwhile, I got a text from BDann that he had shot a javelina, but they could not find it because the blood trail was virtually non existent due to all the water everywhere.
Anyway, my pig is meandering around right in front of me. He finally turns to a good angle and I draw and shoot him at about 12yds. Arghh, I hit him high, but HOORAY because I spined him! I quick second shot, and he was mine. I made a bad shot, but got very lucky so that I did not have to trail him thru all that wet brush. Anyway, here is a pic of my boar:
Around the same time I shot my pig, 12yr old Lane sent a msg that he had missed a pig, shooting just over his back. Lane has been going on this annual hunt for several years. He has shot a gazillion rabbits with his little longbow, but has yet to connect on a pig or javi.
My boar was the only critter brought back to camp for the first afternoon, but was a good start to our weekend!
The rain was done for a while, and things dry out really fast in South Texas. Overnight, the main roads became mostly dry, with pockets of slop here and there. The smaller roads were still very sloppy though!
Saturday was an awesome day for the whole group! The sun came out, and it warmed up, and the critters were everywhere!!! My buddy Tim slept in a bit and decided to hunt around camp in the morning. All the rest of us went out.
I started out in a blind because I really did not know my way around the place. About 7:15am, I got a text that Arkie had knocked down a nice big sow!!!! Now, that is a good start to a day of hunting!
Here is a pic of Nathan with his sow:
I did not see anything early, and decided to ditch the blind. I corned a few roads around my area. I was coming around a bend in my ranger and saw javies in the road! The stalk was on! I made my way through the brush till I was finally about 15yds from them. When the lead javi turned to a good angle, I drew and shot. My arrow hit him in a good spot, but he rolled on the shot, and as he ran by me, I could see that the exit was quite high. I was confident that he would be mine. I went off to look farther down the road and give him some time. After about an hour, I came back and started looking for him. Everything was still wet in the brush, and I could find very little sign. I did find the front half of my arrow, and fresh tracks, so at least I knew I was on the right trail. I followed the tracks for a ways, and even found a few drops of blood to confirm that I was on the correct trail. After about 40yds though, I got completely stuck, and just could not figure out where he went from there. I did a grid search around the area, but still no javi!!!
I finally had to concede defeat. I know that javi expired. I just could not figure out where he was at.I decided I needed to go get Tim, and left another group of javies in the road to do so. We came back, and sure enough they were still out there. He put the super sneak on them and proceeded to shoot right over one of them.
Like I said earlier, the javies were all over the place with the nice weather after the previous 2 days of rain. A short while later, we came up on another group of javies, and it was my turn for the stalk. The brush was really thick in this area, which made getting close a challenge. I snuck thru the brush and came back to the road right where the javies were, but the brush was so thick, I could not get a shot! As I was watching them, trying to figure out how to get an opening, something spooked them, and they entered the brush towards me. I could not see them, but knew they were real close. I crouched down and scanned, when one darted into an opening right in front of me and stopped. There was not really much between me and him......except one little limb above me that my upper bow limb/string got tangled in as I was trying to draw. He stood there staring at me while I fuddled around till I finally got it loose. I could not believe he stayed long enough for me to get a shot off, but he did! Complete passthru at about 11yds or so. I backed out and marked the spot to give him a little time. After a while, Tim and I came back and began to track. The arrow was completely covered in blood, and there was good blood on a cactus pad about 5' from the shot. THAT WAS IT!!!! We looked around and could not find any more blood. Again, I was on a trail of tracks, and after the last one, was getting very frustrated. After following tracks for about 15-20yds, we fianlly started seeing blood on the ground, and my javi was DRT just a few yds farther. It was relief to recover him. He was a nice boar, and this was my first critter with my newest Sarrels longbow:
We then went back to camp for me to take care of my javi, and to eat lunch.
After getting my javi skinned and in the cooler, and a bite of lunch, we were back at it! Just as soon as we got back out to our spot, we found a group of javies in the road. It was Tims turn, and off on the stalk he went. I sat back in the Ranger and watched. Tim would pop in and out of the brush as he was making his way towards the javies. After a while, I could see he was right near them, and it looked like he had his bow up. Then all the javies scattered, and Tim was waving for me to come to him. When I got there, he advised that he did indeed shoot one. This one was a very cooperative javi. He ran around in a big circle, bit ended up expired about 5' from the road we were standing on, and only about 15yds from where he had been shot!
This was Tim's first javi ever, and the first large critter he had taken with his Sarrels zebra striped bow!!! After a few high fives, pictures were in order! Here is Tim with his first javi!We all spent the rest of the afternoon chasing javies around, but no more were brought into camp. I did manage to put one bunny in the cooler though:
Lane was taken to a ground blind to sit the afternoon hunt. Remember, he is 12, and had yet to take a big game animal with his bow yet. Also remember that he had missed over a pig the first evening of the hunt. Well, it seems those pigs made old Lane just a bit nervous!
He sent out a text that he had missed over another pig. Then a bit later, he sent a text that he was out of arrows and had missed over 3 more pigs!!! He snuck out of the blind to get his arrows and then got back in. A bit later more pigs came in, but he did not miss this time!!! You could tell from his msg how excited he was. Here is a pic of Lanes first monster pig.Whoa! That thing is huge!!! Here is another pic of the same pig to put it in a little better perspective.
A huge congrats goes out to Lane. He put a lot of time hunting in to finally getting it done on a hog!!!
We all came back to camp at dark to tell stories, clean critters, and eat dinner, but..............
The sky was clear and the moon was full, so.......
Ahh, nighttime in South Texas!!!!! I really think that stalking pigs in the moonlight is probably the most fun way to hunt them! It is a rush to put the stalk on those pigs, get close enough, and then make the shot under the moon.
After dinner, BDann and I headed out to check the roads for pigs. On the way out of camp there is a silo where they store protien for the deer. Every time they get some out, they also spill some, and the hogs come in to clean it up during the night. As we were leaving, Brian snuck up there to find pigs there. He put the stalk on them, but they winded him or saw him, and a shot never happened. We went on to to the area where we thought we might find pigs, and sure enough, there was a huge sounder on the road feeding. Brian told me it was my turn, so off I went. The moon was bright, and it was no trouble seeing the pigs on the caliche road. As I got closer, I decided to try to sneak thru the brush up to where they were. This turned out to be a baaaaaad decision. It got really thick, and I got really lost! I finally admitted to myself that I was lost and pulled out my compass to verify which direction I needed to go to get back to the road. By this point, I had given up on the pigs, and was just kind of noisily crashing thru the brush to get back to the road. When I got there, the pigs were right down the road a bit, but just out of range. I don't like to take a shot at night much over 10yds. Yardage gets harder to acurately judge and you can't see your arrow at all in the dark once you let go.
Anyway, I was watching the pigs, and figured out they were moving away from me. The brush was so thick I could not move thru it to get closer. I turned around to look the other way down the road, and bam, there was another little group of 3 or 4 pigs not more than 20yds from me, and feeding right towards me! The game was back on!!!!
I did not move, but just waited. After just a few minutes, a pig popped around the brush on the edge of the road on my side, and right in front of me, not more than 10yds away. I drew on him, and he stopped, so I'm pretty sure he must have seen or heard me. I let the arrow loose and heard it hit home. The pig ran out into, and across the road, and I watched it fall over just off the road. It is really hard for me to judge size at night, so I really had no clue as to exactly how big it was. It turned out to be a nice perfect eater size sow.
Bisch
Comment