After a late night snack and a brief rest back at camp, I decided I would
walk the mile or so back to my stand and hunt for the rest of the night and into
daylight the following morning. As I walked by myself into the shadows of
the moonlight, I've got to admit that the thought of being watched by a cat in
the darkness crept into my overstimulated mind a time or two! But, I
managed to make it safely back to my treestand and crawled up the tree for the
vigil that would last the rest of the night.
At 7:30 am, Ben and Steve came stalking down the road, offering mercy from my
misery of several hours on stand fighting to stay awake while seeing and hearing
nothing. Most of the other hunters had also posted all night vigils, and
with the exception of Casey and Justin, who had seen eight hogs but were unable
to get a shot opportunity, everybody returned to camp without seeing hogs.
With all the hunters now back in camp, everybody scurried to gather and pack
their gear, eager to get home and rest. After a group photo and departing
handshakes, the caravan of trucks leading out the gate began. Even though
the hog activity was quite a bit slower than we would have liked, I believe
everybody had a great time being able to fellowship with other hunters whom,
even though most have never met in person, share conversations via
TexasBowhunter.com's discussion forum, sometimes on a daily basis! The
truly exciting part of a TexasBowhunter.com group hunt is not necessarily what
was seen or harvested, rather it is the ability to watch and learn from other
great bowhunters. I'm already anticipating the next group hunt, and hope
that many of you that were unable to make this hunt will be able to join us
there!
Our group consisted of: Steven
"Mechdog" Leggett (top left), Robert
"River Rat" Lee, Ed Lipscomb (middle left),
Bryan Vickers, Rick Hale (bottom left), Michael
Middleton, Glenn Lemke, Justin Miller (standing right),
Ben Stovall, Morris and Les Tompkins (kneeling
right).
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