Arrowslinger
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Chopper's brochure says "Wild Hog Adventures" and ya know what...he 'aint kiddin.
- Thread starter BDB
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Big congrats to Steve and Jesse who got pigs. Also big thanks to Chopper for the fun. That boy sure knows how to have a good time. I'm just glad I don't live near him, I'd never get any chores done.
My quest for a biggun continues. Thursday night I left for Chopper's and of course my truck troubles continued. A U-joint starting growling just over the Grapevine on I-5 while headed north.
I limped into Lost Hills and said screw it until Friday morning. Got the U-joints replaced in Paso Robles and headed north again, arriving in time to set a turkey blind near a roost with Mike (Orso) and pig hunt Friday night.
I went back to my pig spot which was a couple of flats right off a dark canyon where the pigs bedded. I had to stay on the west side of this opening across from the timber line to keep my scent going downslope and not into the bedding area. I figured the pigs would come out and nose into the wind and about 6:40 pm I saw the first rooter poke his little black head out of the thick ground clutter along the tree line.
Dang, he was just out of range, about 40 yards out and my new longbow and me are good to about 25 yards right now. Soon there were four 100 pound sausages with legs, all black and digging worms out in front of me. I had moved downhill about 20 minutes earlier to keep from getting sniffed out and if I has stayed where I was against a big oak tree the 4 pigs would have been in easy range.
As the hogs feed north and up slope I followed, hoping one of them would range over too close to the treeline I was hiding in and I could let the air out of him. Light was fading and the pigs were moving at a pretty good pace. I stalked as fast as I thought I could without getting busted, keeping about 40 yards behind and a bit parallel to them but they were soon gaining ground. Mike showed up at last light and I pointed the dern hogs out but it was just too late. With the almost full moon we could see the little black figures feed pretty well in the open meadow.
Saturday morning we got in late for our turkey hunt and the darn birds we strutting in the road where we were going to park.
Mike resisted my urges to just punch the ole Chevy up to "Ramming Speed". Dang birds thumbed their noses at us as we drove by. I gave them the "Your #1" salute back.
No pigs that morning but the scouting and poking around said the piggies were close. Fresh turds and rooting everywhere. The place stunk bad like my socks I took off that afternoon after lunch.
Just took the bow for a long walk and with the weather a bit cooler this trip it was a nice day to be out.
Saturday afternoon we moved the turkey blind down to near the road where the turkeys had been and I went back to my spot to watch the open flat for tuskers. I stayed more in the middle of the meadow in case the same 4 pigs showed up. About 6pm I saw what I thought was a calf by the look of the long legs walk out of the treeline and start to feed. A quick check with the binos and it was "Battle Stations". The boar that was leaving the huge turds in the area had stepped out about 70 yards upwind from me. Long shaggy ears and scruffy looking legs and back, he was one homely boar. The cutters you could see even without the binos, maybe 3 inches. I spun my baseball hat backwards and plotted my sneak.
The boar headed nose into the wind up the slope and I backed off from my spot and crossed over into a little ravine to get up even and parallel with the boar. I had a big green bush to keep in between us and after about 20 minutes of the Mohican Sneak I was about 50 yards to the boar's left as he rooted in the hard dirt for worms. I still had some time before the light faded but the boar just stayed out of my range and there was no cover to sneak any closer than the big bush I was using for concealment. It was about then I beseeched the hog gods to just let me have one poke at this guy. One poke is all I asked. I knelt down and pulled out my hog bones and did a quick Creole chant. Back up I peeked through the bush to see the hog change direction a bit and start heading toward my bush. Yeehaw!! At about 30 yards I got set. If he continued feeding my way I would have a shot on either side of the bush. At 20 yards the boar turned to my right giving me a broadside shot. I spun my feet to realign for the right side of the bush and when I saw him clear the bush I drew back. The boar was slowly walking and rooting with his head down and when he put that right foot forward I launched my arrow, aiming right behind his right leg for the lungs.
Up to this point, everything had gone perfect.
I couldn't have planned it any better. I've been after a big ugly boar for years with a bow and it was all about to come together. Or so I thought. As I released the string the hog heard the Thwap!! and spun hard left, directly away from me and my arrow. Watching my perfectly targeted missle I suddenly realized I was about to rudely stick that boar in the butthole since he was not broadside anymore. Just as I expected impact the arrow dipped and went under the hog's butt and ricochetted off the dirt out in front of the boar. The boar trotted over to the far treeline and stopped about 60 yards away. He hadn't seen me but that sound that jolted his head up was danger close. He scanned downslope trying to figure out which way to go. I wasn't sure if I had deballed him or not but since he wasn't tearing out for the county line I grunted at him to try and calm his spooky butt down. I guess it was the sudden breeze near his package that made him decide to move on to safer rooting. He trotted off down the hill and back into the dark cover.
I was beside myself. My longbow isn't a loud bow, even other archers who've shot it say it's smooth so why the quick reaction from the hog? Was it a slow arrow? I have no idea how fast the arrows are going so maybe I need to chrono them and go to a lighter arrow. Heck, it was only 20 yards.
I've had deer duck arrows so I guess it was the same sort of reaction. Sheer survival instinct at it's finest. Playing the shot over where the boar had stood I would have hit the lungs, I wasn't low on the shot. He just swapped where the lungs were for his caboose in about 3 nanoseconds.
After calming down I went over and looked for my arrow. It was out further than I thought from the ricochet. I was expecting to find a hairy grape on the end of the broadhead.
Nope, nadda. Not one drop of blood or hair. I checked the spot where the hog was standing to be sure and nothing. Curses. Foiled again.
That night we had carne asada to fulfill our tapeworms.
Sunday morning we were late again getting to our spot and I crept into the blind without seeing or hearing any turkeys. Hmmm. Where did they go? After playing a turkey concerto until about 10am with no takers Mike picked me up and we went back to the Chateau to eat and relax.
Sunday evening as we drove back in the turkeys were strutting in the road again where I had placed my blind earlier.
Rotten no good birds. Again Mike fended off my pleading to just sort them birds out with the front bumper. Rotten, no good, low down birds.
I watched my flats with Mike just down from me and when I saw Mike backing out and heading across the road I knew he was onto some piggies. I stayed on my spot but never saw anymore hogs. Mike had a stalk but no joy on a large sow and some smaller hogs.
The only good thing to say about Sunday night was my truck made it home without breaking down.
One bad thing is I filmed a bunch with a new Canon GL2 camcorder and thought I could pull still pics off the tape like I do with my Sony camcorder but that is not the case. I'll try and find a way to get some pics of the cam tape of this hunt.
My quest for a biggun continues. Thursday night I left for Chopper's and of course my truck troubles continued. A U-joint starting growling just over the Grapevine on I-5 while headed north.
I went back to my pig spot which was a couple of flats right off a dark canyon where the pigs bedded. I had to stay on the west side of this opening across from the timber line to keep my scent going downslope and not into the bedding area. I figured the pigs would come out and nose into the wind and about 6:40 pm I saw the first rooter poke his little black head out of the thick ground clutter along the tree line.
As the hogs feed north and up slope I followed, hoping one of them would range over too close to the treeline I was hiding in and I could let the air out of him. Light was fading and the pigs were moving at a pretty good pace. I stalked as fast as I thought I could without getting busted, keeping about 40 yards behind and a bit parallel to them but they were soon gaining ground. Mike showed up at last light and I pointed the dern hogs out but it was just too late. With the almost full moon we could see the little black figures feed pretty well in the open meadow.
Saturday morning we got in late for our turkey hunt and the darn birds we strutting in the road where we were going to park.
No pigs that morning but the scouting and poking around said the piggies were close. Fresh turds and rooting everywhere. The place stunk bad like my socks I took off that afternoon after lunch.
Saturday afternoon we moved the turkey blind down to near the road where the turkeys had been and I went back to my spot to watch the open flat for tuskers. I stayed more in the middle of the meadow in case the same 4 pigs showed up. About 6pm I saw what I thought was a calf by the look of the long legs walk out of the treeline and start to feed. A quick check with the binos and it was "Battle Stations". The boar that was leaving the huge turds in the area had stepped out about 70 yards upwind from me. Long shaggy ears and scruffy looking legs and back, he was one homely boar. The cutters you could see even without the binos, maybe 3 inches. I spun my baseball hat backwards and plotted my sneak.
The boar headed nose into the wind up the slope and I backed off from my spot and crossed over into a little ravine to get up even and parallel with the boar. I had a big green bush to keep in between us and after about 20 minutes of the Mohican Sneak I was about 50 yards to the boar's left as he rooted in the hard dirt for worms. I still had some time before the light faded but the boar just stayed out of my range and there was no cover to sneak any closer than the big bush I was using for concealment. It was about then I beseeched the hog gods to just let me have one poke at this guy. One poke is all I asked. I knelt down and pulled out my hog bones and did a quick Creole chant. Back up I peeked through the bush to see the hog change direction a bit and start heading toward my bush. Yeehaw!! At about 30 yards I got set. If he continued feeding my way I would have a shot on either side of the bush. At 20 yards the boar turned to my right giving me a broadside shot. I spun my feet to realign for the right side of the bush and when I saw him clear the bush I drew back. The boar was slowly walking and rooting with his head down and when he put that right foot forward I launched my arrow, aiming right behind his right leg for the lungs.
Up to this point, everything had gone perfect.
I was beside myself. My longbow isn't a loud bow, even other archers who've shot it say it's smooth so why the quick reaction from the hog? Was it a slow arrow? I have no idea how fast the arrows are going so maybe I need to chrono them and go to a lighter arrow. Heck, it was only 20 yards.
After calming down I went over and looked for my arrow. It was out further than I thought from the ricochet. I was expecting to find a hairy grape on the end of the broadhead.
That night we had carne asada to fulfill our tapeworms.
Sunday morning we were late again getting to our spot and I crept into the blind without seeing or hearing any turkeys. Hmmm. Where did they go? After playing a turkey concerto until about 10am with no takers Mike picked me up and we went back to the Chateau to eat and relax.
Sunday evening as we drove back in the turkeys were strutting in the road again where I had placed my blind earlier.
I watched my flats with Mike just down from me and when I saw Mike backing out and heading across the road I knew he was onto some piggies. I stayed on my spot but never saw anymore hogs. Mike had a stalk but no joy on a large sow and some smaller hogs.
The only good thing to say about Sunday night was my truck made it home without breaking down.
One bad thing is I filmed a bunch with a new Canon GL2 camcorder and thought I could pull still pics off the tape like I do with my Sony camcorder but that is not the case. I'll try and find a way to get some pics of the cam tape of this hunt.
I was at the cabin, had a huge fire going in the fireplace, the generator running with the fight on, sausage slow cooking on the bar-b-q, a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other. It was beautiful, the sun had just set over the Monterey Bay and I was settling in for a nice evening with all the guys shooting the bull when over the radio what do I hear?.............................................................................
"Hey Chopper, this is Steve, I got one down and we might need the dogs"
You can refer to BDB's story for the rest. As you can imagine, I was pretty happy to see Dolly come out of the brush unscathed with Steve and Kirk dragging a big boar. Congratulations to Steve, Jesse and Kirk for making the shots count.
"Hey Chopper, this is Steve, I got one down and we might need the dogs"
You can refer to BDB's story for the rest. As you can imagine, I was pretty happy to see Dolly come out of the brush unscathed with Steve and Kirk dragging a big boar. Congratulations to Steve, Jesse and Kirk for making the shots count.
