Some of you may have been following my live hunt thread but I wanted to tell the story. I had booked a hog hunt with Alan at Hog Mountain Hunting Ranch several weeks back. This would be my 3rd trip, but I hadn't been in 5 years. I was stoked to find his contact again because this place is absolutely covered in pigs. The ranch is an archery only place and I had yet to get a kill with my new bow. Needless to say I was excited. Well, I knew he did some ram hunts so I just mentioned it to my wife. She proved her awesomeness by saying "Of course you can go kill a ram. I really want a mount in the living room" (yeah she's pretty cool). So It was on. I called Alan again and asked about the rams and he told me if I wanted to kill a ram he'd let me pig hunt for free. So I called my dad and he decided to meet me at the ranch. I must admit, I was a little iffy on a ram hunt. I have seen videos and been at ranches that had rams and they seemed pretty tame. To prove they weren't Alan took me to a field that some were feeding in and told me to try to sneak up on em. Point proven! They were gone at first sight of me. The next morning was our first hunt for pigs. Let me tell you, the weather was the suckiest weather I've ever seen in April. The wind was howling, it was raining and cold!! Well the pigs decided to all go to the field my dad was hunting and I didn't see anything. He got a shot off but missed. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, his shooting lane was less than a foot wide and if you've hunted pigs, they just move around too much for that to give a good shot. After getting back to camp, we goofed around a little and I made sure one more time that my bow was dialed in before trying to put a spot and stalk on a ram. Then we headed out to the woods. Alan told us where he thought they might be but they weren't there. So we just started walking through the woods. About 300 yards of walking and looking, I spotted one about 100 yards through the brush feeding. IT WAS ON! As soon as I saw him I tried to examine the best way to get to him without getting busted. So I did the one thing I didn't want to do... I got on my hands and knees and started to crawl through the woods. I finally made it to a brush pile within 30 yards of the group of rams and saw that the ram I wanted was there. The problem was that he was looking right at me. We had a stare down for about 10 minutes until he started to walk away. I knew I had to make a move or they would be outta there. I crawled inch by inch everytime he would turn away. I was trying to make my way into a clearing where I could get a good shot. As most of you know, it's difficult to try to stalk up on a herd of animals. There's multiple sets of eyes and noses and it's just plain hard. These guys knew something wasn't right. I knew if I wanted to get a shot on this stalk, I would have to take a tough shot. I got to the clearing and stood up about the time that they started to walk away. It was now or never. I drew back quickly and they started running. My ram had gotten into the brush before I could get a shot. Well my 2nd choice of this group was the last one so I made a quick decision to take him. He was the last in line at a quick trot. FLING.....THUNK. I didn't lead him enough and the shot was farther back than I wanted but the only thing I saw was red. The Rage had done it's damage. "I GOT HIM" I yelled to my dad who was watching from a brush pile about 20 yards behind me. The ram stopped a few yards under a tree and I went ahead and tried to put another arrow in him but missed. I waited for my dad to come over and we would track it together. ~ It's been a long time since we've gotten to share the moment of a kill together. It was a cool feeling getting to do it again.~ He came over and we saw a highway of blood and started the celebration. Gave it a few minutes and started following the crimson grass. Less than 30 yards and I saw him laying dead under a tree in a pool of blood. I can't begin to express the excitement I had during this hunt. And getting to share it with my dad who introduced me to hunting at the age of 6 was just icing on the cake. I seriously recommend giving Alan a call at Hog mountain. He won't disappoint. Hope ya'll enjoyed the story. Here's a few pics for ya.
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Good deal. Congrats. -
Good job. Congratulations.Comment
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Good read congratsComment
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Nice! WTG!Comment
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Congrats. Don't overlook cooking that sucker, mighty tasty!Comment
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Nice ram!Comment
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I cooked a little bit of the back strap last night but it hadn't marinated long enough. Definitely gonna have it tonight for dinner though.Originally posted by Jmh05 View PostComment
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I'm gonna be honest when I say I think this was better than venison.Attached FilesComment
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How did you cook it? It looks like it came out awesome!Comment
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Good Job...Comment
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