Redneck75
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2006
- Messages
- 480
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- 6
Well...Tried my luck up at VAFB this weekend. No Pigs.
I took a buddy who has never been hunting before. He got his hunter's safety course done and got his rifle all sighted in so we tried the rifle thing up there. We called ahead to confirm everything would be open and the game warden said the whole base would be open all weekend. Apparently Sunday is not part of the weekend since the entire North part of the base (from the fire station north) was closed to hunting in preps for an upcoming launch.
We tried unit 3 and 4 on Friday, 6 on Saturday and never saw a pig--with the exception of the big boar hanging out in the field next to the guard shack in the no-hunting area. Lots of coyotes and deer but no pigs.
Woke up early Sunday for the last morning's hunt and made the dark-thirty drive up to area 3 only to run into the signs along the road saying that hunting and outdoor recreation activities were secured.
We scrambled to get down to area 6 but we arrived well after daylight and it was so foggy we could only see about 30 feet so we decided to give it up and head for home.
On the way back to camp, we drove through one of the archery areas to look at coyotes and we actually spotted a pig in a legal area!! It was about 500 yards away so I grabbed the bow out of the case and the stalk is on. I got in to about 80 yards along a fence-row and ran out of stalking cover so I waited to see what would happen. There was a large sow (175lbs or so) and 4 smaller pigs (about 50 pounds) but the sow was definitely dry to I decided to try a shot at her if it presented itself.
I was hiding behind a fence post with a bush next to it, completely out of sight for about half an hour. They had no idea I was there at all. It became pretty obvious that mama wanted to head out the open part of the fence right where I was sitting but she was having trouble convincing the little ones that it was time to go. She kept wandering to within about 80 yards and then back to about 115 yards to where the other pigs were. The wind was perfect and they would pass at 24 yards if they headed out the fence where I expected them to. She finally got the little ones moving and they were headed right down the trail like I hoped. They were at about 72 yards and closing when I felt the wind on the back of my neck. It only swirled for a second but that was all it took. Mama put on the brakes, swapped ends and was out of there in a big hurry.
My first attempted stalk of a big-game animal with a bow and it was pretty exciting! I'll keep trying and it will work out soon enough I guess. On a brighter note, my buddy had a front-row seat of the whole show through my spotting scope and he's decided he's buying a bow now!
I took a buddy who has never been hunting before. He got his hunter's safety course done and got his rifle all sighted in so we tried the rifle thing up there. We called ahead to confirm everything would be open and the game warden said the whole base would be open all weekend. Apparently Sunday is not part of the weekend since the entire North part of the base (from the fire station north) was closed to hunting in preps for an upcoming launch.
We tried unit 3 and 4 on Friday, 6 on Saturday and never saw a pig--with the exception of the big boar hanging out in the field next to the guard shack in the no-hunting area. Lots of coyotes and deer but no pigs.
Woke up early Sunday for the last morning's hunt and made the dark-thirty drive up to area 3 only to run into the signs along the road saying that hunting and outdoor recreation activities were secured.
On the way back to camp, we drove through one of the archery areas to look at coyotes and we actually spotted a pig in a legal area!! It was about 500 yards away so I grabbed the bow out of the case and the stalk is on. I got in to about 80 yards along a fence-row and ran out of stalking cover so I waited to see what would happen. There was a large sow (175lbs or so) and 4 smaller pigs (about 50 pounds) but the sow was definitely dry to I decided to try a shot at her if it presented itself.
I was hiding behind a fence post with a bush next to it, completely out of sight for about half an hour. They had no idea I was there at all. It became pretty obvious that mama wanted to head out the open part of the fence right where I was sitting but she was having trouble convincing the little ones that it was time to go. She kept wandering to within about 80 yards and then back to about 115 yards to where the other pigs were. The wind was perfect and they would pass at 24 yards if they headed out the fence where I expected them to. She finally got the little ones moving and they were headed right down the trail like I hoped. They were at about 72 yards and closing when I felt the wind on the back of my neck. It only swirled for a second but that was all it took. Mama put on the brakes, swapped ends and was out of there in a big hurry.
My first attempted stalk of a big-game animal with a bow and it was pretty exciting! I'll keep trying and it will work out soon enough I guess. On a brighter note, my buddy had a front-row seat of the whole show through my spotting scope and he's decided he's buying a bow now!
