This is my #2 kill with a homemade head (got a doe with one this year in case someone missed it) and my first public land kill.
Felix40 got me talked into doing some public land hunting. We were both kind of between places to hunt and getting desperate. He had gone a couple times before me and had some success with a rifle. We made a couple of evening bowhunts together hunting/ scouting. Each time we covered a little more ground and started to get a feel for the place. We were seeing hogs but couldnt get bow shots.
I got there before he did saturday evening and was going to walk an area fairly close to the truck, that we had not walked previously, while i waited for him to arrive. As luck would have it, I strolled right up on a small group feeding about 30 yards or so off the trail. Made a fairly quick "stalk" and got all excited and blew a 20 yard wide open shot on an 80-100 lber. I was bummed but super excited to turn an arrow loose on public land for the first time. We hunted the rest of the evening without event.
I was so pumped that we decided to go back sunday afternoon. We had been getting there around 430 pm. We decided to get there earlier sunday. we probably arrived around 2 or so. His fiance was with us rifle hunting. We left her at a likely spot with a decent view and left in pursuit of swine. We were seeing a good amount of tracks on the way. However when we got to where we anticipated pigs, we were seeing no sign at all. We were starting to whine and moan a little as every step took us further from fresh sign. The area looked top notch to us but i guess not to the pigs. Then, unexpectedly, a good sized pig went across the trail about 50 yards in front of us. No other pigs strung across so we assumed it was alone. We threw a hasty game plan together and split ways in pursuit. Felix took what i thought was the most likely route to intersect since i had gotten a shot the day before. I was just trying to swing around behind to bump it towards him if nothing else. I really didnt think we would be able to catch up to it. He was on the move and if you have ever tried to stalk a pig in cover that is on the move, its almost impossible to keep up. Much less catch up.
However, luck was on our side. After following him maybe 40 or 50 yards into cover, we realized we were dealing with a lot more than one pig. Once he caught up to the group he stopped and began to feed with them. Game on! There seemed to be around 2 dozen pigs spread over an area. Maybe more. I never saw Kurt and he never saw me during the stalk, and we were both on pigs. They were kind of feeding as they walked so i still wasnt sure i could keep pace with them and close the distance. But then they stopped in area that was a little more open and began to mill around feeding. Im probably 30 yards at this point. I realize that a shot is a real possibility and the adrenaline really starts flowing. I'd like to say I made some super stealthy approach, but that's just not the case. The leaves underfoot were super load. I just tried to move slow and make sure none of them became alert. They were entirely calm and content. At about 20 yards I picked out about a 65 lber that was black with a white patch. That 20 yard miss from the day before was fresh in my mind, so i crept closer. At 15 yards I'm about to draw when another pig that is larger works its way towards me and turns perfect broadside in the open. I stared a hole behind the shoulder, stretched the string, and let those pink feathers fly. Thump. Squeal. The arrow flew true to it's mark and was sticking out of both sides about the same distance. I tried to keep track of her as she ran but there were just too many pigs going different directions in confusion. They didnt know what happened and werent really alarmed. They went about 30 to 35 yards and began to mill around again. I had a good boar at about 50 yards trying to figure out what had happened. I would have pursued him but he was smarter than the rest and was paying attention. I think the effort would have been futile. I didn't know whether i should just sit tight in fear of bumping the pig i shot or go after the rest of the group. I knew the shot was solid so greed won over. I started weaving my way through cover. I'm too excited to be as cautious as i should be. I lightly spook some that would have been easy targets if i had known they were there. Then i see my pig laying on its side trying to lift its head! There is nothing like the relief of recovering an animal. There were 4 or 5 much larger pigs behind it that i tried to get on but the wind began to swirl and betrayed me. I didn't care. I had a pig down on public land!!! I'd guess it ran a total of 40 yards. It kind of dog legged and ended up about 30 or 35 yards from where i shot it. I sent Kurt a text and started making some calls with my predator call to give him my location. We high fived and took pictures before the work began.
We managed to get on a few more pigs on the way out and fun was had by all.
I modified my build process a bit on this head. The others i used jb weld attach the blade to the ferrule and had 2 opposing notches that fit together. On this head I only notched the field point and then used 1/8" roll pins to assemble. The blade is still sharp enough to hunt with but could use some touching up. However when the pig stumbled or something, the broadhead buried in the ground and pulled the arrow out of the pig. The arrow was sticking straight up. I was pretty disappointed to find that the broahead was bent. But then i was happy t see that the threaded portion of the field point is what bent. The rest held up just fine.
Bob Lee TD Recurve
49# Limbs
Gold Tip 355s
Homemade Head
Felix40 got me talked into doing some public land hunting. We were both kind of between places to hunt and getting desperate. He had gone a couple times before me and had some success with a rifle. We made a couple of evening bowhunts together hunting/ scouting. Each time we covered a little more ground and started to get a feel for the place. We were seeing hogs but couldnt get bow shots.
I got there before he did saturday evening and was going to walk an area fairly close to the truck, that we had not walked previously, while i waited for him to arrive. As luck would have it, I strolled right up on a small group feeding about 30 yards or so off the trail. Made a fairly quick "stalk" and got all excited and blew a 20 yard wide open shot on an 80-100 lber. I was bummed but super excited to turn an arrow loose on public land for the first time. We hunted the rest of the evening without event.
I was so pumped that we decided to go back sunday afternoon. We had been getting there around 430 pm. We decided to get there earlier sunday. we probably arrived around 2 or so. His fiance was with us rifle hunting. We left her at a likely spot with a decent view and left in pursuit of swine. We were seeing a good amount of tracks on the way. However when we got to where we anticipated pigs, we were seeing no sign at all. We were starting to whine and moan a little as every step took us further from fresh sign. The area looked top notch to us but i guess not to the pigs. Then, unexpectedly, a good sized pig went across the trail about 50 yards in front of us. No other pigs strung across so we assumed it was alone. We threw a hasty game plan together and split ways in pursuit. Felix took what i thought was the most likely route to intersect since i had gotten a shot the day before. I was just trying to swing around behind to bump it towards him if nothing else. I really didnt think we would be able to catch up to it. He was on the move and if you have ever tried to stalk a pig in cover that is on the move, its almost impossible to keep up. Much less catch up.
However, luck was on our side. After following him maybe 40 or 50 yards into cover, we realized we were dealing with a lot more than one pig. Once he caught up to the group he stopped and began to feed with them. Game on! There seemed to be around 2 dozen pigs spread over an area. Maybe more. I never saw Kurt and he never saw me during the stalk, and we were both on pigs. They were kind of feeding as they walked so i still wasnt sure i could keep pace with them and close the distance. But then they stopped in area that was a little more open and began to mill around feeding. Im probably 30 yards at this point. I realize that a shot is a real possibility and the adrenaline really starts flowing. I'd like to say I made some super stealthy approach, but that's just not the case. The leaves underfoot were super load. I just tried to move slow and make sure none of them became alert. They were entirely calm and content. At about 20 yards I picked out about a 65 lber that was black with a white patch. That 20 yard miss from the day before was fresh in my mind, so i crept closer. At 15 yards I'm about to draw when another pig that is larger works its way towards me and turns perfect broadside in the open. I stared a hole behind the shoulder, stretched the string, and let those pink feathers fly. Thump. Squeal. The arrow flew true to it's mark and was sticking out of both sides about the same distance. I tried to keep track of her as she ran but there were just too many pigs going different directions in confusion. They didnt know what happened and werent really alarmed. They went about 30 to 35 yards and began to mill around again. I had a good boar at about 50 yards trying to figure out what had happened. I would have pursued him but he was smarter than the rest and was paying attention. I think the effort would have been futile. I didn't know whether i should just sit tight in fear of bumping the pig i shot or go after the rest of the group. I knew the shot was solid so greed won over. I started weaving my way through cover. I'm too excited to be as cautious as i should be. I lightly spook some that would have been easy targets if i had known they were there. Then i see my pig laying on its side trying to lift its head! There is nothing like the relief of recovering an animal. There were 4 or 5 much larger pigs behind it that i tried to get on but the wind began to swirl and betrayed me. I didn't care. I had a pig down on public land!!! I'd guess it ran a total of 40 yards. It kind of dog legged and ended up about 30 or 35 yards from where i shot it. I sent Kurt a text and started making some calls with my predator call to give him my location. We high fived and took pictures before the work began.
We managed to get on a few more pigs on the way out and fun was had by all.
I modified my build process a bit on this head. The others i used jb weld attach the blade to the ferrule and had 2 opposing notches that fit together. On this head I only notched the field point and then used 1/8" roll pins to assemble. The blade is still sharp enough to hunt with but could use some touching up. However when the pig stumbled or something, the broadhead buried in the ground and pulled the arrow out of the pig. The arrow was sticking straight up. I was pretty disappointed to find that the broahead was bent. But then i was happy t see that the threaded portion of the field point is what bent. The rest held up just fine.
Bob Lee TD Recurve
49# Limbs
Gold Tip 355s
Homemade Head
Attached Files
Comment