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We all sprung to life around
5:30 a.m. Rick Stepped outside for a second and
returned into the camp house to report that the wind was
picking up and the temperature was dropping. We were
about to get hammered by the cold front.
In a move that would twist
fate, Ben and Steven begged Rick to swing by their hunting
spots with his tailgate feeder in hopes the corn would
entice the hogs to appear. Rick made his way over
and corned their areas before heading to his stand.
He reported that his morning was rather uneventful from
that point forward.
I headed to the tripod
where Glenn had hunted the evening before. Glenn
dropped me off before making his way down the same road to
his ICE Blind. I sat and watched the front block out
the sun without seeing anything except a couple of brave
deer. They fed to within about 35 yards of me and
left when Glenn drove up in his Dodge. Below is a
picture of the sun as the front obscured it:
Glenn had seen one very
large group of hogs. They made their way up the road
to his stand just before the weather turned nasty.
He was able to get a shot off and a large lead pig.
Click the photo below for the video:
A solid hit resulted in a
dead end, Manson-esque blood trail. The hog had left
a large trail, but eluded being found after stopping the
bleeding in a creek bottom. It was simply
unbelievable that we did not find this hog. They are
amazing creatures.
David and Jerry hunted
together and were unfortunate enough to get blanked.
Dave Inbody hunted nearby and suffered the same fate.
Jerry Gonzales' friends got
off more shots at pigs, but also were unable to recover
their prey. The hogs were doing their best to give
us the painful slip!
Ben and Steven had split up
for the morning hunt. The night before, they had
ventured out to hang a tree stand for Steven to
hunt. By 7:30 Saturday morning, Steven had released
two arrows but had not put a hog down! He had
nothing but exciting stories to show for his efforts!
Ben went back to the Brush
County ICE Blind that he and Steven had hunted the evening
before. With corn on the road, he felt that it would
be his morning. Things transpired something like
this:
"I
was in the ICE Blind with a nicely corned road just before
daylight, hoping my first hog would come by. It wasn't too
long before a 50-60 lb black hog fed down the road,
vacuuming up the corn. I set Steven's video camera up and
tried to get the shot on video when he got in range, but
it wasn't meant to be. He wandered off into the
brush."
"I had
a few more groups of hogs come down the road within the
next hour but the wind was blowing so hard, as the cold
front hit, that I had to hold the blind down so it
wouldn't blow away. I finally ended up having to fold the
blind down and hide in the brush. It wasn't too long
before a large sow fed her way into my shooting lane. I
got the camera ready, focused it, hit record and drew my
bow. After a few seconds of rotating the tripod with my
foot, I had everything right. I settled the pin low behind
the shoulder (Middleton style) and squeezed the pin. The
shot was true and my trophy was down 250 yards
later. An amazing but rather long blood trail
resulted from a severe shot to the heart with a Spitfire
broadhead."
Ben's
amazing video is linked to the picture below. His
shot nearly put the hog down in it's tracks. But, as
he reported above, the amazing creature made a long run
through the brush. Ben said his blood trail was
simple to follow, never breaking for more than a couple of
feet. He walked upright along the trail all the way
to his trophy! Ben's sow tipped the scales at 80
lbs. and secured him his place atop the Largest Hog
Leaderboard in the quest for the quadpod! What a
great first bow-killed hog for the talented young prospect
from Cisco, Texas!
As
Glenn and I made our way back to camp after our morning
hunt, we happened across a large boar feeding in a
road. We got into position and started a rather
lengthy stalk. Glenn was to film as I attempted to
shoot. After spooking the boar into the brush once,
we were excited to see him re-appear, further down the
road. The brush bordering the road at this point
allowed us to cover only a minimal portion of the distance
between us and the hog. The last 70 yards had to be
stalked on the side of the sendero. I worked to get
within range, trying to stop when the hog could see me,
and move when he was looking away. Finally, at about
40 yards, he lifted his head, and made his way slowly
towards cover. At this point, I stopped, drew and released in vain
as the hog avoided my arrow and ambled into the
thorns. Unbeknownst to me, Jerry and David had also
closed in on the hog from the other direction. They had
reached a wall in the surrounding brush and decided to
hold tight, hoping he'd feed to them. After my shot,
they stepped into the road not 30 yards beyond the spot
where the hog had entered the brush. Click the
picture below for a brief video. 
The
rest of the day was marked with feeble attempts at
stalking javelinas. David and Jerry were able to get
close enough for Jerry to put a shot on one. David
went into the heavy brush to retrieve the tusker only to
be sent back out by the gnashing of teeth. He was
finally able to finish off the javelina with a head shot. We
spent some of the afternoon watching the wind blow and
then prepared for the evening sit. Ben and I decided
to hunt the road at which he had shot his hog. We
again gave Rick $20 to corn the road and then set up for
our vigil. A slow afternoon was highlighted by the
sighting of a single hog, feeding down the road towards
us. Ben had gotten off his duff to go glass the road
and quickly retreated to tell me about the pig. As
we sat patiently in the brush, camera and bow ready, the
hog never showed. It had given us the slip. We
packed our gear at dark and headed over to pick up Steven
and Dave. Dave
had bailed out of the vehicle on the way out to our stands
when he spotted a couple of hogs feeding in a recently
corned bottom. He made a quick stalk to the pigs but
was unable to get within range. Feeling confident
with the area, he sat up his chair in the brush and waited
on more hogs. Not long into his hunt, the two small
hogs pictured with Ben's sow above, dropped in on Dave for
an evening meal. Dave was waiting for a shot
opportunity on the black and white spotted pig when he
decided the orange shoat would have to do. At the
next available opportunity, Dave hammered the hog with his
broadhead and watched as it died within 25 yards of the
shot. Below is a picture of how we found Dave when
we picked him up: 
After
loading Dave into Steven's Urban Assault Vehicle and his
hefty hog into a feed sack, we decided to see if the hogs
had returned to his corn, 100 yards away. I got my
bow and Ben picked up his spotlight and we eased over the
ridge to glass the muddy bottom. Sure enough, one
nice blonde spotted hog was on the corn. I told Dave
to watch me through his range finder. If I drew, Ben
was to hit the light. After slipping to within 15
yards of the hog, I drew my bow, only to have the hog dart
for the brush, just as the light hit him! It was
exciting none the less. Steven
spent the evening in his non-typical stand only to be
busted by a small group of hogs. Other than a seeing
a couple of deer, his hunt was rather uneventful. As
posted prematurely on the discussion forum, here is a
picture of Steven's hogs: 
David
and Jerry had again been blanked by the hogs. Glenn
saw another good group of pigs, but was unable to get them
into range. Rick
let an arrow loose at a lone hog that wandered into his
area. However, the perforated hog eluded Rick by
vanishing into the brush without a trace. Back
at the camp, the rancher's buddy had cooked up an awesome
meal. We spent the better part of an hour devouring
fajitas, sausage, cactus pads and onions, guacamole,
quesadillas, and countless other Mexican delicacies while
swapping hunting stories. It was an incredible meal
that left most of us moaning in content! Afterwards,
Glenn and Jerry made a quick trip out to see if the hogs
were feeding at night. They found a large group and
set the stalk into motion. Glenn got within range,
but missed a shot under the light at a hog that would
"give Ben a run for his money"! Ben
and I also made a trip down some corned roads but were
unable to find the pigs. Sunday
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