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Glenn, Ed and I returned to our portion of the ranch to see if anything had
hit the area overnight. All the corn we had put out the previous evening
was still undisturbed. We elected to pull up our stands and blinds and
move to the main part of the ranch, in part because there didn't seem to be an
abundance of sign in the area, and also due to the fact that it took quite some
time to travel to the area, and walking back to camp was out of the question
should one or more hunter see the need to stay longer than the others.
Casey took us around to show us where the others were hunting so that we
didn't step on any toes. Ed found a good looking spot just beyond the
feeder at which Casey had arrowed his hog. A tripod was already in the
area, but we moved it 40 or so yards to get a better vantage point overlooking
several merging trails.
It seemed to me that the majority of the hog activity would be centered near
the river, so Les and Bryan, who had joined us during our scouting efforts, took
Casey and me to the road that paralleled the river. Ben and Steve were
hunting the same road near the south end, and Justin was hunting almost all the
way to the north on the road. I found a suitable spot to hang my Woodsey
Too treestand, overlooking an area where the hogs had cleaned the corn scattered
the previous evening. Ed and Glenn found a suitable spot for Glenn, and
thus we were prepared for this evening's hunt.
We returned to camp during the heat of the day and rested in anticipation of
the long night ahead. At around 6:30, hunters began filtering out of camp
to their respective locations. Casey narrowly averted a potentially
disastrous situation when he drew back his bow with his release still
attached. The release got caught in the cam, forcing the cables off their
tracks! Fortunately, Robert saved the day, and more importantly Casey's
hunt, by using two ratchet straps in tandem on the split limbs to press the bow
and reinstall the cables and strings. Casey made a few practice shots to
make sure the bow was still sighted, and with minimal adjustments we were on our
way back out. Les had opted to hunt the tripod where Casey had arrowed the
hog the previous evening, and Steve, having arrowed a hog of his own, chose to
sit with Ben in the ICE Blind for the evening hunt, leaving Casey the
opportunity to hunt the Woodsey Too that Ben had hunted previously.
I climbed into my own Woodsey Too anxious for an opportunity to finally see
an animal. . . any animal! What transpired was completely
unexpected! As I sat looking down upon the road, I spotted movement to the
south. It was something walking up the road, but was too light in color to
be a hog, and too large to be a deer. I figured it to be a cow, but was
shocked when it stepped into the open and I realized it was a cat! A
really big cat! I was faced with a dilemma. My bow was hanging
between two forks in the branches in front of me, with the arrow resting on the
tree separate from the bow. My first instinct was not to try to get my
bow, but to turn on the camera, which was mounted on a tripod head secured to
the platform of my Woodsey Too. I had to bend down in my stand to reach
the camera, and I figured the odds were pretty good that the lion would spot my
movement, but I had to take the opportunity to get video of the huge cat!
My heart was racing as the cat walked to within 30 yards before his eye
caught my movement as I attempted to frame the beast in the viewfinder while at
the same time trying to zoom in for a closer shot. (click on image below
for video clip!)
Knowing that it was at
this point futile to try to retrieve my bow, I managed to position the camera on
the cat before he became nervous and turned away and retreated back toward the
river. I'll tell you that that was one of the most thrilling experiences
I've ever had while hunting!
I tried to radio Casey to tell him what had
transpired, but he was out of range. I managed to get through to Ben and
Steve to let them know about my exciting encounter.
When I returned to camp, just before midnight, everybody gathered around
Casey's computer to get a look at the video of the cat. Everyone was
equally amazed at the size of the cat, and at the incredible length of its
tail.
Oh, I had seen a couple of hogs that fed to my stand, but just before they
entered the first shooting lane, they veered around the opening, but reappeared
in another opening. The only problem was that I could only shoot to that
lane if I was standing, but my seatbelt kept me fastened to the chair. By
the time I removed the belt and stood up, both hogs had cleared the lane!
When hog activity is as scarce as it had been up to this point, I realized that
the missed opportunity might be my last.
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