BDB
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Well, I finally got my first boar with the bow this weekend. A few of decided to go back up to Choppers to chase turkeys and pigs. Many of you have probably seen the pic in the "bubba got a boar" thread but here is the story. It's kinda long but it was a pretty damn exciting hunt so I thought I would share the story for anyone who wants to read it.
Hunted Friday afternoon and saw 6 hogs. I passed on a little 100# hog at 20 yards. 20 minutes later I snuck up on a nice 200# sow and 3 50-60 pounders and was debating about the sow. She was on the edge of a chemise thicket that dropped off into a deep canyon. Finally decided to take her but of the little ones busted me at about 10 yards though before I could get off the shot.
Saturday, hunted hard all morning and didn't see hogs. Arrowslinger (Kirk) and I chased some turkeys and headed back to camp at noon. I went back in at 3pm to the area I was the evening before. I set up a little stand site with a chair at the edge of a draw coming out of the pig bedding areas where I saw one the night before. I hunted the ridges until 5:30 then settled into the chair to wait them out. At 6:45 (sunset was 6:30) I heard one coming up from below me not the direction that I had expected them to come from. It turned and started up the hill and was going to pass me from behind at about 10 yards. I turned to get ready and when I saw him crest the hill I started to draw. He saw something and froze at 12 yards. He looked like a nice little 100 pound hog in the dim light (forget the picture for a little bit) and I had a slight quartering to shot. I decided to take the shot since it was a small hog and only at 12 yards. I figured I'd have no issue hitting vitals. He was watching me, I released and heard the whomp and some squealing and he ran off. I could hear him go about 100-150 yards then all was quiet. I backed out after a few minutes to be sure and to go get Kirk to help me track it. He did wheel a bit just as I shot but I thought the arrow hit home before he turned.
I picked up Kirk and headed back to check the blood trail. I was now about 45 minutes since the hit. We were going to look for blood and then make the call of tracking it at night or coming back in the morning depending on the hit and sign. After about 30 yards there was blood everywhere and some big pools of it so we figured it was definitely down and took up the trail. We had also called chopper to bring Dolly the pig tracking wonder dog since it was dark and we figured we may need help finding it. Kirk and I trailed for about 500 yards with blood everywhere fully expecting to find it around every corner. At about 500 yards we bumped some animal up ahead but decided that it probably wasn't my pig due to the blood so we slowly kept at it. We followed it for quite a while and Chopper showed up with Dolly and we put her on the trail. Took her a while but she was following the trail up the road and then bailed off the road into a chemise canyon.
This is where things took a big turn !!!!! I was about 70 yards ahead of Kirk listening for the dog. He was searching some thick stuff for blood. Next thing you know Dolly starts barking her head off and Chopper yells at us to get up there as she's on the pig and it's not down yet. Kirk and I drop into the canyon and start working to Dolly's barks. This is a thick chemise canyon and hillside that you cannot walk through. We spend half the time on our hands and knees in the tunnel brush closing the distance up the next hill side. I was almost leaving my own blood trail up the hill crawling through the underbrush. Kirk got to her just ahead of me and was looking through the tunnel at the pig and dog 5 feet away.
I said, is he a little one (as I thought it was). The answer was very quick "&@#* NO". I stuck my head through and saw a really unhappy 200# boar with cutters and pit bull hanging off his ear. If you could have seen the look on mine and Kirk's face I'm sure it would be worth a laugh. Things changed at this point, we are no longer chasing a small hog but we are after a big boar with cutters who is wounded in the dark in tunnel brush on our hands a knees. The adrenaline was seriously pumping now. We also were feeling a little under gunned each with our knives with 3" blades and a headlamp
Dolly let go of the hog and luckily it turned and went up instead of at us. The chase was on again. The next 10 minutes seemed like an hour while we tried to get into position above them. Finally we got above them and Dolly had the hog and Kirk, who was in front of me, bailed down through the tunnel. I thought he was going to jump in and grab the back legs and I would come through after him and finish the hog, but when I came through he was putting the finishing touches on him.
When all was said and done, we had my hog and the dog was no worse for the incident except a little tired, as were we. The shot as it turned out was not what I had thought it was. The hog did manage to turn more head onto me before the arrow arrived. That and the shot was about 2 inches low. The pig was working up hill when I hit it so it's chest was higher than the rest of the body. The arrow entered and broke the front left leg (severed the bone clean through), continued into the body just under the heart, through the stomach and into the middle of the right rear leg and stopped with the broadhead touching the skin on the back leg. A complete pass through from the front left to the back right without hitting the heart or lungs or severing a major blood vessel. I was pretty unhappy with the result of the shot as I never want an animal to suffer and always want a clean kill. I guess sometimes things just go that way even with the best intentions.
That said, the way the whole event played out after the shot was without a doubt the most exciting hunt I have ever been on. I will NEVER forget crawling through the tunnels to finish off that hog. A HUGE thanks to Chopper, Kirk and Dolly the wonder dog. Without Dolly that hog would have crawled off into a hell hole and died during the night never to be found by us. Kirk by the way has to be at least half Indian the way he can track a blood trail, it was quite amazing to watch.
Thanks Chopper, Kirk and Dolly
Kirk (right) and I with the boar:
Dolly the wonder dog:
Close up of the cutters:
Hunted Friday afternoon and saw 6 hogs. I passed on a little 100# hog at 20 yards. 20 minutes later I snuck up on a nice 200# sow and 3 50-60 pounders and was debating about the sow. She was on the edge of a chemise thicket that dropped off into a deep canyon. Finally decided to take her but of the little ones busted me at about 10 yards though before I could get off the shot.
Saturday, hunted hard all morning and didn't see hogs. Arrowslinger (Kirk) and I chased some turkeys and headed back to camp at noon. I went back in at 3pm to the area I was the evening before. I set up a little stand site with a chair at the edge of a draw coming out of the pig bedding areas where I saw one the night before. I hunted the ridges until 5:30 then settled into the chair to wait them out. At 6:45 (sunset was 6:30) I heard one coming up from below me not the direction that I had expected them to come from. It turned and started up the hill and was going to pass me from behind at about 10 yards. I turned to get ready and when I saw him crest the hill I started to draw. He saw something and froze at 12 yards. He looked like a nice little 100 pound hog in the dim light (forget the picture for a little bit) and I had a slight quartering to shot. I decided to take the shot since it was a small hog and only at 12 yards. I figured I'd have no issue hitting vitals. He was watching me, I released and heard the whomp and some squealing and he ran off. I could hear him go about 100-150 yards then all was quiet. I backed out after a few minutes to be sure and to go get Kirk to help me track it. He did wheel a bit just as I shot but I thought the arrow hit home before he turned.
I picked up Kirk and headed back to check the blood trail. I was now about 45 minutes since the hit. We were going to look for blood and then make the call of tracking it at night or coming back in the morning depending on the hit and sign. After about 30 yards there was blood everywhere and some big pools of it so we figured it was definitely down and took up the trail. We had also called chopper to bring Dolly the pig tracking wonder dog since it was dark and we figured we may need help finding it. Kirk and I trailed for about 500 yards with blood everywhere fully expecting to find it around every corner. At about 500 yards we bumped some animal up ahead but decided that it probably wasn't my pig due to the blood so we slowly kept at it. We followed it for quite a while and Chopper showed up with Dolly and we put her on the trail. Took her a while but she was following the trail up the road and then bailed off the road into a chemise canyon.
This is where things took a big turn !!!!! I was about 70 yards ahead of Kirk listening for the dog. He was searching some thick stuff for blood. Next thing you know Dolly starts barking her head off and Chopper yells at us to get up there as she's on the pig and it's not down yet. Kirk and I drop into the canyon and start working to Dolly's barks. This is a thick chemise canyon and hillside that you cannot walk through. We spend half the time on our hands and knees in the tunnel brush closing the distance up the next hill side. I was almost leaving my own blood trail up the hill crawling through the underbrush. Kirk got to her just ahead of me and was looking through the tunnel at the pig and dog 5 feet away.
I said, is he a little one (as I thought it was). The answer was very quick "&@#* NO". I stuck my head through and saw a really unhappy 200# boar with cutters and pit bull hanging off his ear. If you could have seen the look on mine and Kirk's face I'm sure it would be worth a laugh. Things changed at this point, we are no longer chasing a small hog but we are after a big boar with cutters who is wounded in the dark in tunnel brush on our hands a knees. The adrenaline was seriously pumping now. We also were feeling a little under gunned each with our knives with 3" blades and a headlamp
Dolly let go of the hog and luckily it turned and went up instead of at us. The chase was on again. The next 10 minutes seemed like an hour while we tried to get into position above them. Finally we got above them and Dolly had the hog and Kirk, who was in front of me, bailed down through the tunnel. I thought he was going to jump in and grab the back legs and I would come through after him and finish the hog, but when I came through he was putting the finishing touches on him.
When all was said and done, we had my hog and the dog was no worse for the incident except a little tired, as were we. The shot as it turned out was not what I had thought it was. The hog did manage to turn more head onto me before the arrow arrived. That and the shot was about 2 inches low. The pig was working up hill when I hit it so it's chest was higher than the rest of the body. The arrow entered and broke the front left leg (severed the bone clean through), continued into the body just under the heart, through the stomach and into the middle of the right rear leg and stopped with the broadhead touching the skin on the back leg. A complete pass through from the front left to the back right without hitting the heart or lungs or severing a major blood vessel. I was pretty unhappy with the result of the shot as I never want an animal to suffer and always want a clean kill. I guess sometimes things just go that way even with the best intentions.
That said, the way the whole event played out after the shot was without a doubt the most exciting hunt I have ever been on. I will NEVER forget crawling through the tunnels to finish off that hog. A HUGE thanks to Chopper, Kirk and Dolly the wonder dog. Without Dolly that hog would have crawled off into a hell hole and died during the night never to be found by us. Kirk by the way has to be at least half Indian the way he can track a blood trail, it was quite amazing to watch.
Thanks Chopper, Kirk and Dolly
Kirk (right) and I with the boar:
Dolly the wonder dog:
Close up of the cutters:
