jb229
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2004
- Messages
- 877
- Reaction score
- 9
What can I say about Choppers place, it’s awesome? I got to the Ranch before sunrise on Thursday morning and began my morning hunt after meeting up with Chopper. Not much happened that morning besides the rain and learning the lay of the land since this was my first trip to Choppers. A lot of the regulars told me to go to this certain area for the evening hunt so I went and this area was awesome. I walked down the main road all the way just getting a look at the area on my way back I decided to cut across area to look on the other side. I looked up and 70yds away were 2 hogs slowly working their way down the trail. I quietly worked my way toward them as at this point the wind was perfect. I closed the distance and ranged them at 43yds now, I was sure I could get closer as they were headed toward a large downed tree that would be a perfect cover for me to get within 20yds. And of course as soon as I decided not to take the shot and try to get closer the wind shifted and the hog trotted off to the Fence line and into thick brush and never saw them again. Not much to report on for Friday morning. Friday Evening I headed to an area and hiked around a bit and was not finding much of anything. I was thinking about heading back when I heard a Gobbler and the day before chopper said it was ok to shoot a turkey as well so I took out my call got to work. I could hear the gobbler getting closer and closer so I hunkered down under a tree as I was expecting it to walk in front of me at about 30yds. It popped out of the bush directly in front of me but never stopped walking and never gave me an opportunity. I tried calling again and now I had gobblers all around me responding. I had been calling for a good 40 minutes at this point bringing them in. Directly behind me I heard a gobble and this guy was close, so I moved location behind a pine tree and starting calling again. I picked up the top of his head and ranged it real quick at 23yds. At that point all I could see was his head as he slowly moved up the knoll he was in full strut. He crested the hill and I put my pin on him and let it go, THWAPP. Looked like a good hit as he ran off toward the creek bottom. I waited a minute to go look and I found a good blood trail and bloody feathers but never found that bird. I could keep going on as I experienced a lot of great moments on this trip but I will get to the point and try to not write a novel. One quick comment though turkeys that sleep standing up with their head in a bush are not the Turkey you thought you shot the day before. I have a knack for having plain dumb luck when it comes to hog hunting with that said I jumped about 6 hogs around 5pm on Saturday after my little sleeping Turkey ordeal but never saw them again. So here’s the luck part I decided to head back to my truck about a mile or so down the road and about half way I am approaching a bend in the road and I see 3 black hogs running down the road. I had already knocked an arrow for the walk back and clipped in my release. 3 hogs come running around the corner and stop at what I guessed to be 35ish yards and just looked at me. Somebody early in the trip said "you can't kill if you don't fling some arrows" So I took their advice and drew back put my pin on its shoulder and let it go. THWACK. The hit sounded good but the hog never let a peep out and then proceeded to run up hill with the other 2 into brush that looked like Macy Grays hair. I waited a little bit and looked for blood and found nothing. I decided to walk around to where I last heard some brush breaking and managed to find a decent hog path to get around in the brush when I looked to my Left and said; no way that’s my hog. Sure enough she piled up about 50yds off the road. The arrow severed the artery along the spine and she bleed out internally. I was STOKED! My first bow kill to boot. I dressed her out and dragged her to the road and ran the last half mile to my truck. I used the same arrow that I shot the turkey with to kill this hog, the Muzzy MX Phantoms do some serious damage. Great trip and Great people. Thanks Nick for everything on this trip.
