As the intense Texas summer heat gives way to cool autumn mornings, Texas hunters know white tail bow season is drawing near. This past Friday, 9/30, my hunting buddy and I headed to our deer lease in Callahan County for the opening of whitetail bow season. We had taken my RV to the lease during the opening weekend of dove season so not a lot had to be done at camp. The first order of business was to make sure the deer feeder was working and pull the memory card out of my Cuddeback trail cam.
I popped the card into my laptop. A review of the card showed 1,078 pictures had been taken since 9/1. About 1,000 pigs, 60 cows and the remaining pics were deer with one nice 8 pt. buck. The feed times showed the pigs were clearly keeping the deer away from the corn. The farmer that leases the land told us he’d counted over 160 pigs in one field and they had completely destroyed a 92 acre crop. He ask us to kill as many pigs as possible.
I arrived at my ground blind at 6:30 opening morning. There’s something special about the excitement of opening day. I always feel a great closeness to my Creator and this morning was no different. The air was cool and there was no wind. As the darkness was replaced by the soft morning light, I could see there was no corn on the ground under my feeder which meant there had been activity during the night. When my feeder didn’t go-off at 7:00, I concluded it must have gone off at 6:00 and the corn had already been consumed by either deer or pigs. At 7:15, 15-20 pigs arrived at the feeder. I knew I would have to act fast since there was no corn on the ground. I calmed my nerves and selected a nice sow, within seconds my Hoyt V-Tec launched a Muzzy broadhead and it found it’s mark.
Fifteen minutes later, 5 young pigs arrived at the feeder. I nocked another Muzzy, selected what I knew would be some good eatin’ and again let an arrow fly. It also found its mark. Wow, the sun wasn’t even up and I had two nice pigs on the ground. I hoped my buddy, who was in his stand about 150 yards away was having the same luck.
At 7:50 a single young boar arrived at the feeder. I was down to my last two arrows and had nocked an arrow I only use for varmints. The boar turned broad side and presented the perfect target. Arrow number three was launched and like the previous two, it also found its mark. Three opportunities and three kills.
At 8:00 my feeder finally went off. I had an important decision to make. I only carried four arrows in my quiver and I was down to my last arrow. If another opportunity presented itself to take a pig, would I take it or wait for a buck. After all, it was opening day of whitetail season. I didn’t have to wait long. At 8:04, the king of the boars arrived with 15-20 members of his harem. I had no desire to kill a big boar, since they’re not the best tasting meat, but decided it would be a service to the land owner and to the whitetail deer in the area. As with the previous pigs, mister “big boy” didn’t waste any time giving me the perfect broadside shot. My Hoyt launched my last Muzzy and it also found its mark. All the pigs scattered and I played back in my mind the direction each of the pigs has gone after being shot.
At 10:00 my buddy arrived and announced his excitement at me getting a pig. He heard the pig I shot at 8:04 squeal but he was unaware of the other three. I told him to look at my quiver, which was empty and then told him in detail the events of the morning. Four pigs in 50 minutes. Not a bad mornings work. The realty was the real work lay ahead. We had to blood trail each pig and get it to the meat processor as soon as possible. We were able to locate three but after an hour of looking for the big boar I called off the search. I didn’t want to risk the meat on the other three going bad.
I’m sure I’ll never experience another day like I had at “Little Pig Horn”, but hope that big whitetail “wall hanger” will be mine the next time I head to the lease.
I popped the card into my laptop. A review of the card showed 1,078 pictures had been taken since 9/1. About 1,000 pigs, 60 cows and the remaining pics were deer with one nice 8 pt. buck. The feed times showed the pigs were clearly keeping the deer away from the corn. The farmer that leases the land told us he’d counted over 160 pigs in one field and they had completely destroyed a 92 acre crop. He ask us to kill as many pigs as possible.
I arrived at my ground blind at 6:30 opening morning. There’s something special about the excitement of opening day. I always feel a great closeness to my Creator and this morning was no different. The air was cool and there was no wind. As the darkness was replaced by the soft morning light, I could see there was no corn on the ground under my feeder which meant there had been activity during the night. When my feeder didn’t go-off at 7:00, I concluded it must have gone off at 6:00 and the corn had already been consumed by either deer or pigs. At 7:15, 15-20 pigs arrived at the feeder. I knew I would have to act fast since there was no corn on the ground. I calmed my nerves and selected a nice sow, within seconds my Hoyt V-Tec launched a Muzzy broadhead and it found it’s mark.
Fifteen minutes later, 5 young pigs arrived at the feeder. I nocked another Muzzy, selected what I knew would be some good eatin’ and again let an arrow fly. It also found its mark. Wow, the sun wasn’t even up and I had two nice pigs on the ground. I hoped my buddy, who was in his stand about 150 yards away was having the same luck.
At 7:50 a single young boar arrived at the feeder. I was down to my last two arrows and had nocked an arrow I only use for varmints. The boar turned broad side and presented the perfect target. Arrow number three was launched and like the previous two, it also found its mark. Three opportunities and three kills.
At 8:00 my feeder finally went off. I had an important decision to make. I only carried four arrows in my quiver and I was down to my last arrow. If another opportunity presented itself to take a pig, would I take it or wait for a buck. After all, it was opening day of whitetail season. I didn’t have to wait long. At 8:04, the king of the boars arrived with 15-20 members of his harem. I had no desire to kill a big boar, since they’re not the best tasting meat, but decided it would be a service to the land owner and to the whitetail deer in the area. As with the previous pigs, mister “big boy” didn’t waste any time giving me the perfect broadside shot. My Hoyt launched my last Muzzy and it also found its mark. All the pigs scattered and I played back in my mind the direction each of the pigs has gone after being shot.
At 10:00 my buddy arrived and announced his excitement at me getting a pig. He heard the pig I shot at 8:04 squeal but he was unaware of the other three. I told him to look at my quiver, which was empty and then told him in detail the events of the morning. Four pigs in 50 minutes. Not a bad mornings work. The realty was the real work lay ahead. We had to blood trail each pig and get it to the meat processor as soon as possible. We were able to locate three but after an hour of looking for the big boar I called off the search. I didn’t want to risk the meat on the other three going bad.
I’m sure I’ll never experience another day like I had at “Little Pig Horn”, but hope that big whitetail “wall hanger” will be mine the next time I head to the lease.
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