Bow805hunter
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Afternoon everyone, this is my review of the 12 day journey I just got back from last night. Hope you enjoy...
So I started my trip from going to LAX to Monterey for work, we had the PIE (Pool International Expo) up there, they show went really well had a good turn out and talked with some new potential clients. Along with setting the booth up, working the show, and tearing it down we ate at some amazing restaurants. Had some of the best seafood I have ever had and tried some new things I would normally would never eat. But end the show and headed to the airport to fly to LAX to catch a flight to Dallas. (Got there Sept 24th and flew out Sept 28th)
While in Dallas I had the PoolCorp show where all the higher ups in the ranks with the company show up for classes and look at all the new products their vendors have to offer. It was a long show but had a great opportunity to meet with all the purchasers and branch managers in my region. We were Staying at the the Gaylord Texan Hotel which is an AMAZING hotel with anything you want but gambling. Its like being in Vegas because of all the walking but without the slot machines. Again all in all was a great show and met some nice new people, but now the shows for work are over its time to have some fun!
So I get back to the airport in Dallas to Budget rental car, the car I wanted wasn't available so they gave my a Toyota Prius for a small extra charge (said I would save in gas anyways). Its about 5am in the morning and I head to the small town called Mabank, Tx where my grandpa lives, I get there about 630am and my grandpa is awake and we get breakfast and spend the day with him, which I may add was amazing. I have seen family in 4-5 years as everyone doesn't come to California to visit us we have to go to Texas. Later that afternoon while grandpa goes dancing with the ladies I head to Athens, Tx to visit my cousin Tamara. She cooked me an amazing bacon wrapped chickens with mac and cheese. As we were cooking a BIG thunder storm came rolling though for about an hour which was awesome because I haven't seen rain in 2 years. About 9pm I head back to grandpas to crash and as I'm driving lightning strikes about 50 feet away from me scaring the **** out of me, but I made it back safe and sound. Friday morning I head out of grandpas about 3am and make the 2 hour journey to Honey Grove, Texas where Band of Brothers Outfitters is located. And now the hunting begins!
I pull up to the outfitters about 5am and start getting dressed to get in my blind. We hop in the ATV and start cutting across the field and then we got stuck! The field just got turned on the property I was hunting (roughly about 4000 acres) so we get out and hoof it to the blind. By the time we got there it felt like I was walking with moon shoes on with all the mud n the bottom of my boots, got into the blind later then I wanted to which ended up scaring the pigs out as they got to the feeders before us as we later found out by the trail cameras. So about 1030am I walk back to camp we get some breakfast at a local dinner in the town, which I may add is pretty damn good food and for cheap! (Doc's Country Cooking). Rick and I get back to the RV they have set up and see if the ATV can handle the field at this point as the suns been out and winds have been roaring. We checked about 7 feeder cameras and we saw TONS of hogs and then about 5pm I sit in a different ground blind. About 7pm I hear grunting and see some pigs about to go under the fence to the feeder then the wind changed for the worse. I got winded and they took off running which bummed me out.
Its about 10pm when we get back to camp and I take off to the hotel, I had to be back at 5am but told them it will be a 50/50 shot if I will make it because I can tell my body is going into shut down mode from being on the road and only getting 4 hours of sleep a day.
Sure enough I sleep until 9am and get back to camp at 10pm. I get there and Matt the owner of the Outfitter took Rick and I to breakfast again at Doc's Country Cooking. We get back to camp and go around adding corn to the feeders and scouting new areas around the property, we get done with that and get back the RV and we all take naps. We get up about 430 and I get back into hunting clothes. At this point its the last day and last hunt of my trip so Rick let me borrow his personal Tekka .308 and set me up on a blind that has never been hunted with a 115 yard shot. Get into the blind about 530 and stayed till 930 which I told them to pick me up cause I still had a 2 hour drive that night back to grandpas. And to my luck nothing showed at this blind either, had a deer blowing almost the whole time scaring everything off. Rick and Matt pick me up and they are absolutely disappointed. So we start heading back into camp and this is where the real fun begins!
As we start heading down the road Rick and Matt ask me if I smell that...they smelt pigs and they were close and ask if I mind if they check a few spots, I said hell yea its the last day and if you smell them lets go! We cut across the road and they have the AR15 with a thermal scope glazing the fields and sure enough we find them. We shut the ATV off and there is a herd of about 15-20 of them coming towards the farm road we were on about 300-400 yards ahead of us. They had my the gun and we begin the stalk! Were walking (safety is on!) and I'm keeping the thermal on them, the wind is working in our favor and they their about to cross the road, I tell them I'm going live and the first pig that crosses the road is getting it! Then I aim, steady, steady, pull the trigger and BOOM! First pig starts yelling and takes off running from the rest of the herd, I try and get a couple more shots off but didn't get good shots. After they start running towards the tree line I start looking for the first pig I shot, scanning the field and about 75-100 yards away I see it just laying down. SUCESS!!! Last day, last minute we get it done! You know I read all these stories and watch the shows on TV and never thought it would happen to me! It was my first big game animal as an adult. I started hunting when I was 10 in Maryland and stopped once I moved to California over 15 years ago (I'm 29 now). Oh man was I jacked. I went to do some bow hunting but nothing was working for me but none the less I'm excited I got it done! But I got to give a shout out to Band Of Brothers of Texas (www.bandofbrothersotx.com) Matt and Rick you got it done and did everything you could do to get me one, and they were just as jacked as me too. Was a fun and exciting trip and I will be coming back again when I'm in Texas again. By the time we got done skinning and gathering all my stuff it was about 11pm and I had to hit the road back to grandpas and got back to Mabank, Tx about 1am.
All in all it was a very long and fun trip being on the road for 12 days, which felt like a month or more. I got back into LAX about 1030pm last night and boy am I glad I'm home! The best thing about the trip was being able to visit family, hunting was amazing too but the family was the best part for me. But to conclude my story I will attach photos below for you enjoyment. Some are not animals and hunting but pictures of my whole trip. Enjoy and sorry I typed so much!:thumbs up2:
View attachment 83048
So I started my trip from going to LAX to Monterey for work, we had the PIE (Pool International Expo) up there, they show went really well had a good turn out and talked with some new potential clients. Along with setting the booth up, working the show, and tearing it down we ate at some amazing restaurants. Had some of the best seafood I have ever had and tried some new things I would normally would never eat. But end the show and headed to the airport to fly to LAX to catch a flight to Dallas. (Got there Sept 24th and flew out Sept 28th)
While in Dallas I had the PoolCorp show where all the higher ups in the ranks with the company show up for classes and look at all the new products their vendors have to offer. It was a long show but had a great opportunity to meet with all the purchasers and branch managers in my region. We were Staying at the the Gaylord Texan Hotel which is an AMAZING hotel with anything you want but gambling. Its like being in Vegas because of all the walking but without the slot machines. Again all in all was a great show and met some nice new people, but now the shows for work are over its time to have some fun!
So I get back to the airport in Dallas to Budget rental car, the car I wanted wasn't available so they gave my a Toyota Prius for a small extra charge (said I would save in gas anyways). Its about 5am in the morning and I head to the small town called Mabank, Tx where my grandpa lives, I get there about 630am and my grandpa is awake and we get breakfast and spend the day with him, which I may add was amazing. I have seen family in 4-5 years as everyone doesn't come to California to visit us we have to go to Texas. Later that afternoon while grandpa goes dancing with the ladies I head to Athens, Tx to visit my cousin Tamara. She cooked me an amazing bacon wrapped chickens with mac and cheese. As we were cooking a BIG thunder storm came rolling though for about an hour which was awesome because I haven't seen rain in 2 years. About 9pm I head back to grandpas to crash and as I'm driving lightning strikes about 50 feet away from me scaring the **** out of me, but I made it back safe and sound. Friday morning I head out of grandpas about 3am and make the 2 hour journey to Honey Grove, Texas where Band of Brothers Outfitters is located. And now the hunting begins!
I pull up to the outfitters about 5am and start getting dressed to get in my blind. We hop in the ATV and start cutting across the field and then we got stuck! The field just got turned on the property I was hunting (roughly about 4000 acres) so we get out and hoof it to the blind. By the time we got there it felt like I was walking with moon shoes on with all the mud n the bottom of my boots, got into the blind later then I wanted to which ended up scaring the pigs out as they got to the feeders before us as we later found out by the trail cameras. So about 1030am I walk back to camp we get some breakfast at a local dinner in the town, which I may add is pretty damn good food and for cheap! (Doc's Country Cooking). Rick and I get back to the RV they have set up and see if the ATV can handle the field at this point as the suns been out and winds have been roaring. We checked about 7 feeder cameras and we saw TONS of hogs and then about 5pm I sit in a different ground blind. About 7pm I hear grunting and see some pigs about to go under the fence to the feeder then the wind changed for the worse. I got winded and they took off running which bummed me out.
Its about 10pm when we get back to camp and I take off to the hotel, I had to be back at 5am but told them it will be a 50/50 shot if I will make it because I can tell my body is going into shut down mode from being on the road and only getting 4 hours of sleep a day. Sure enough I sleep until 9am and get back to camp at 10pm. I get there and Matt the owner of the Outfitter took Rick and I to breakfast again at Doc's Country Cooking. We get back to camp and go around adding corn to the feeders and scouting new areas around the property, we get done with that and get back the RV and we all take naps. We get up about 430 and I get back into hunting clothes. At this point its the last day and last hunt of my trip so Rick let me borrow his personal Tekka .308 and set me up on a blind that has never been hunted with a 115 yard shot. Get into the blind about 530 and stayed till 930 which I told them to pick me up cause I still had a 2 hour drive that night back to grandpas. And to my luck nothing showed at this blind either, had a deer blowing almost the whole time scaring everything off. Rick and Matt pick me up and they are absolutely disappointed. So we start heading back into camp and this is where the real fun begins!
As we start heading down the road Rick and Matt ask me if I smell that...they smelt pigs and they were close and ask if I mind if they check a few spots, I said hell yea its the last day and if you smell them lets go! We cut across the road and they have the AR15 with a thermal scope glazing the fields and sure enough we find them. We shut the ATV off and there is a herd of about 15-20 of them coming towards the farm road we were on about 300-400 yards ahead of us. They had my the gun and we begin the stalk! Were walking (safety is on!) and I'm keeping the thermal on them, the wind is working in our favor and they their about to cross the road, I tell them I'm going live and the first pig that crosses the road is getting it! Then I aim, steady, steady, pull the trigger and BOOM! First pig starts yelling and takes off running from the rest of the herd, I try and get a couple more shots off but didn't get good shots. After they start running towards the tree line I start looking for the first pig I shot, scanning the field and about 75-100 yards away I see it just laying down. SUCESS!!! Last day, last minute we get it done! You know I read all these stories and watch the shows on TV and never thought it would happen to me! It was my first big game animal as an adult. I started hunting when I was 10 in Maryland and stopped once I moved to California over 15 years ago (I'm 29 now). Oh man was I jacked. I went to do some bow hunting but nothing was working for me but none the less I'm excited I got it done! But I got to give a shout out to Band Of Brothers of Texas (www.bandofbrothersotx.com) Matt and Rick you got it done and did everything you could do to get me one, and they were just as jacked as me too. Was a fun and exciting trip and I will be coming back again when I'm in Texas again. By the time we got done skinning and gathering all my stuff it was about 11pm and I had to hit the road back to grandpas and got back to Mabank, Tx about 1am.
All in all it was a very long and fun trip being on the road for 12 days, which felt like a month or more. I got back into LAX about 1030pm last night and boy am I glad I'm home! The best thing about the trip was being able to visit family, hunting was amazing too but the family was the best part for me. But to conclude my story I will attach photos below for you enjoyment. Some are not animals and hunting but pictures of my whole trip. Enjoy and sorry I typed so much!:thumbs up2:
View attachment 83048
