dk-1
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I went to a small chunk of public land yesterday evening to deer hunt. This area is open to hunting but restricted to archery equipment or shotgun use only, so I took my bow. I had been sitting on a small ridge top glassing as the evening set in when I spotted something black moving through alarge patch of tall weeds. I knew right off it had to be a hog. When I put my binos up to it I could see its male parts, indicating it was a boar. I hit it with my rangefinder and discovered it was about 800 yards away. I began my stalk on it and used the rises in the terrain to cover ground quickly.
When I got to about 400 yards of it, I dropped my pack and unneeded gear, and then crept up a small hill to get eyes on him again. I spotted him again, he had moved about another 100 yards away from me. I assessed the terrain and decided it would be best to climb a ridge which paralleled the flat the hog was in, and then creep down to him using brush and rocks for cover. When I reached the spot directly above him I picked out a big rock to stay behind to close some distance on him. I arrived at the rock and ranged him, 81 yards. I have been practicing with my bow every day out to 80 yards and am somewhat confident at that distance, but I didn't want to risk missing him or worse yet, wounding him. I picked out another rock about 20 yards further down the hill and began my crawl. The wind was in my favor, blowing from my right to left at about 10 miles per hour. I got to the second rock and peaked over it, ranged the hog at 57.5 yards. I set my HHA Optimizer sight to the exact distance, stood up, and went full draw on him.
As I drew my bow, he began walking from left to right, nose to the ground rooting around. I held at full draw for a brief moment and he stopped to dig alittle deeper with his snout. I took the wind into consideration and held about four inches into it, then let the Beman arrow tipped with a Rage chisel tip flyfrom my Bowtech Assassin! The hog let out a quick snort, stood there for a split second, then began the death run! He made it 40 yards before he dropped, thoroughly bled out. I gave him a moment to ensure he had expired, and let my nerves calm a bit, then made my way to him. I saw no chest rise so I approached him with a freshly knocked arrow and poked him a couple times, no response. I did it!!
Not only was this my first hog ever taken on public land, it was my first big game animal ever taken with a bow!! By now the euphoria was wearing off and I realized it would be a VERY LONG night! My initial plan was to take the back straps,tender loins, and a shoulder or two, as well as the head/cape (yea, he's goingon the wall) and pack the meat out in my Eberlestock pack. I hung my tag on him, gutted him out and removed the tender loins, then the sun set and reality sunk in. It was a dark night with no moon and some cloud cover, I was alone with a dead animal in known lion country with no firearm, 2.5 miles from my pickup.
Being that I was only 200 yards from a navigable water way, I decided to hump back to my vehicle and go home...... To get my bass boat. Fast forward three hours and I was launching my boat, with the help of a good friend we recovered the entire hog by midnight! I stayed up until almost 4 AM skinning and caping him out, he ended up being about 200 pounds with 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch cutters. I dropped the meat off at my butcher to be turned into carnitas and German Sausage. The cape went to the taxidermist for head mount.
He's not the largest hog I have harvested or put on my wall, but he is the highest placed trophy in my book because of the circumstances surrounding the experience!
Okay, Okay, here's the pics...
Looking down on the hog as I made the final leg of my stalk.
Arrow stuck in the ground, complete pass through.
Blood trail.
When I got to about 400 yards of it, I dropped my pack and unneeded gear, and then crept up a small hill to get eyes on him again. I spotted him again, he had moved about another 100 yards away from me. I assessed the terrain and decided it would be best to climb a ridge which paralleled the flat the hog was in, and then creep down to him using brush and rocks for cover. When I reached the spot directly above him I picked out a big rock to stay behind to close some distance on him. I arrived at the rock and ranged him, 81 yards. I have been practicing with my bow every day out to 80 yards and am somewhat confident at that distance, but I didn't want to risk missing him or worse yet, wounding him. I picked out another rock about 20 yards further down the hill and began my crawl. The wind was in my favor, blowing from my right to left at about 10 miles per hour. I got to the second rock and peaked over it, ranged the hog at 57.5 yards. I set my HHA Optimizer sight to the exact distance, stood up, and went full draw on him.
As I drew my bow, he began walking from left to right, nose to the ground rooting around. I held at full draw for a brief moment and he stopped to dig alittle deeper with his snout. I took the wind into consideration and held about four inches into it, then let the Beman arrow tipped with a Rage chisel tip flyfrom my Bowtech Assassin! The hog let out a quick snort, stood there for a split second, then began the death run! He made it 40 yards before he dropped, thoroughly bled out. I gave him a moment to ensure he had expired, and let my nerves calm a bit, then made my way to him. I saw no chest rise so I approached him with a freshly knocked arrow and poked him a couple times, no response. I did it!!
Not only was this my first hog ever taken on public land, it was my first big game animal ever taken with a bow!! By now the euphoria was wearing off and I realized it would be a VERY LONG night! My initial plan was to take the back straps,tender loins, and a shoulder or two, as well as the head/cape (yea, he's goingon the wall) and pack the meat out in my Eberlestock pack. I hung my tag on him, gutted him out and removed the tender loins, then the sun set and reality sunk in. It was a dark night with no moon and some cloud cover, I was alone with a dead animal in known lion country with no firearm, 2.5 miles from my pickup.
Being that I was only 200 yards from a navigable water way, I decided to hump back to my vehicle and go home...... To get my bass boat. Fast forward three hours and I was launching my boat, with the help of a good friend we recovered the entire hog by midnight! I stayed up until almost 4 AM skinning and caping him out, he ended up being about 200 pounds with 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch cutters. I dropped the meat off at my butcher to be turned into carnitas and German Sausage. The cape went to the taxidermist for head mount.
He's not the largest hog I have harvested or put on my wall, but he is the highest placed trophy in my book because of the circumstances surrounding the experience!
Okay, Okay, here's the pics...
Looking down on the hog as I made the final leg of my stalk.
Arrow stuck in the ground, complete pass through.
Blood trail.
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