We have a pig problem at our new house, as I've posted previously. I installed an infrared motion detector on our back wall that activates a chime in our house. The pigs have been coming over and running along the lava rock wall that is our back fence. Then they drop in for a visit and tear things apart. Last night the chimes went off 8 or 9 times, so early this morning, just after first light, I loaded up the crossbow and went on the attack. I stood in the palm trees along the rock wall and waited. There is a monkeypod tree 15 yards away [the pigs love the bean pods, sort of like a giant mesquite bean] and the tall, thick, green grass [6-8 feet high] that covers the 500 acres of wilderness behind us during the summer and fall rainy season is dead and trampled all around the tree. Amazing what a half-pint of Roundup will do. I've got a nice clear field of fire going out 20 yards.
So I'm standing there in my green swimming trunks and green t-shirt and sandals, staying back in the palm fronds, and I hear a rustling in the grass. Could be the morning breeze coming down off Hualalai Mountain. Then again, it could be ....
The rustling noise became more pronounced and was getting closer, maybe 30 yards off, coming from the tall grass just beyond the clearing. I brought the crossbow up and pushed the safety forward and took a look through the scope to make sure the red dot was on. Oddly, I felt a little spurt of adrenaline and the shaky buck-fever sensation. It was very mild, but I consider it odd because I've been doing this so long and so often that I should be over it by now. Oh, well. On with the show.
The pig just appeared, and it was a very, very large light brown boar, an unusual color since 99% of the pigs I've seen here have been jet black. It was just inside the grass but easy to see. I brought the scope up, put the dot on the pig right behind the shoulder, the pig began to move forward, and I fired.
Not a sound from the hog or the impact of the arrow. The boar exploded out of there and disappeared into the grass. I waited 10 minutes and went in to retrieve my arrow, assuming I had missed. No arrow, and I really looked. It should have been easy to find since the pig was down below a lava outcropping that formed a large backstop to my shot. I looked around for blood, but most arrow-shot pigs I've dealt with didn't leave a blood trail until they had run 10 or 20 yards---sometimes more. No way on earth I was going to crawl along the tunnel leading through the thick grass so soon after shooting. I'll do that later today, maybe a couple hours from now.
Anyway, I'll let you know what happens. I used to drive 10-15 hours roundtrip from San Diego to hunt hogs, often not seeing a thing over the course of 2 or 3 days. Today I walk 150 feet and if I remain still for 30 minutes, there is about a 50% chance I'll see a hog within 30 yards. Can you imagine what my success would be if I bought a hundred pounds of dry corn and sprinkled it around? Of course, the hogs would eat awhile, then climb the fence and tear up my yard even more.
I've got an 8-foot A-frame ladder that I might put right at the wall. I'd have a really good vantage point from there. This winter, along about January, the monkeypod will be producing beans again and all the tall grass will turn brown and lie flat along the ground. Visibility will be 75 yards or more. I can spot and stalk to my heart's content. The owner of the property asked me to kill as many pigs as I can since they are eating his fruit crop.
This is turning into a lot of fun. Glad we moved to the Big Island. I can hunt sheep, goats, pigs, and bulls 7 days a week, 365 days per year, and the bird season opens in 6 weeks or so. Fishing has been lousey this year, but what the heck. The hunting has more than made up for it.
Hey, as I'm typing this at 7:52 AM Hawaii time, a pair of gray francolin is sitting on our front lava wall singing up a storm. We also have a lot of turkeys around, two species of dove, an occasional pheasant, and a bunch of wild chickens. Nobody bothers the birds because they eat the centipedes and we have a lot of centipedes.
Aloha for now.
So I'm standing there in my green swimming trunks and green t-shirt and sandals, staying back in the palm fronds, and I hear a rustling in the grass. Could be the morning breeze coming down off Hualalai Mountain. Then again, it could be ....
The rustling noise became more pronounced and was getting closer, maybe 30 yards off, coming from the tall grass just beyond the clearing. I brought the crossbow up and pushed the safety forward and took a look through the scope to make sure the red dot was on. Oddly, I felt a little spurt of adrenaline and the shaky buck-fever sensation. It was very mild, but I consider it odd because I've been doing this so long and so often that I should be over it by now. Oh, well. On with the show.
The pig just appeared, and it was a very, very large light brown boar, an unusual color since 99% of the pigs I've seen here have been jet black. It was just inside the grass but easy to see. I brought the scope up, put the dot on the pig right behind the shoulder, the pig began to move forward, and I fired.
Not a sound from the hog or the impact of the arrow. The boar exploded out of there and disappeared into the grass. I waited 10 minutes and went in to retrieve my arrow, assuming I had missed. No arrow, and I really looked. It should have been easy to find since the pig was down below a lava outcropping that formed a large backstop to my shot. I looked around for blood, but most arrow-shot pigs I've dealt with didn't leave a blood trail until they had run 10 or 20 yards---sometimes more. No way on earth I was going to crawl along the tunnel leading through the thick grass so soon after shooting. I'll do that later today, maybe a couple hours from now.
Anyway, I'll let you know what happens. I used to drive 10-15 hours roundtrip from San Diego to hunt hogs, often not seeing a thing over the course of 2 or 3 days. Today I walk 150 feet and if I remain still for 30 minutes, there is about a 50% chance I'll see a hog within 30 yards. Can you imagine what my success would be if I bought a hundred pounds of dry corn and sprinkled it around? Of course, the hogs would eat awhile, then climb the fence and tear up my yard even more.
I've got an 8-foot A-frame ladder that I might put right at the wall. I'd have a really good vantage point from there. This winter, along about January, the monkeypod will be producing beans again and all the tall grass will turn brown and lie flat along the ground. Visibility will be 75 yards or more. I can spot and stalk to my heart's content. The owner of the property asked me to kill as many pigs as I can since they are eating his fruit crop.
This is turning into a lot of fun. Glad we moved to the Big Island. I can hunt sheep, goats, pigs, and bulls 7 days a week, 365 days per year, and the bird season opens in 6 weeks or so. Fishing has been lousey this year, but what the heck. The hunting has more than made up for it.
Hey, as I'm typing this at 7:52 AM Hawaii time, a pair of gray francolin is sitting on our front lava wall singing up a storm. We also have a lot of turkeys around, two species of dove, an occasional pheasant, and a bunch of wild chickens. Nobody bothers the birds because they eat the centipedes and we have a lot of centipedes.
Aloha for now.
