The Beast

It was the dark of moon on the 6th of June... Well not really it was early May, but it was a moonless pitch black night. Over the week prior I had an adult boar that had become a regular, but he was a night owl.... late night owl, often not making an appearance until 11pm or later. However, I was undeterred and headed West to see if I could get a shot. I arrived in time to actually drop by the feeder and dump 10 pounds of corn that had a packet of strawberry jello mixed in, and set the throw duration to double what it normally does. This is because I've been under siege by a group of 8 racoons, and I wanted to make sure there was corn on the ground for my swine friend when he decided to show up. Then it was back to camp, unpack, double check the bow, and have dinner. Sure enough at 10pm I still only had racoons and I was down 2 beers. About 10:20 my phone lit up, and there was a pig shaped dark shadow at the very edge of my camera's flash range. I set the camera duration to 2 minutes, and started packing. The shorter camera duration, let's me see updates of where said pig is easily as I drive a half mile to a parking spot, then speed walk another half mile before getting within stalking range. When I got to within 100 yards I was mildly out of breath, but could hear some serious chewing. I took off my red headlamp, donned my action camera, and nocked a broadhead. Now it was time to get low, get slow, and get quiet. 15 minutes later, I eased from behind some brush and got my first look at the lip smacking pig. My knees went weak, and I started immediately and visibly shaking. There standing in front of me enjoying his pile of corn was a truly massive hog. You don't have to think about it or ask yourself how big he is, your primal instincts broadcast it immediately.... BEAST! I could feel my release shaking in my hand, my breath was labored and totally out of control. I was watching the boar's head as it was up while he was chewing, and I decided I would wait until he went down for another mouthful to draw. It was a good time to try and pick a spot I could aim at when the time came. There was a small spot of mud that was showing up really well in the red light, but it was in the crease. I prefer to shoot them a few inches further forward, so I made a mental note to put my pin just to the right of that mud dot. The shaking was only getting worse. The massive head went down, and his hips shifted slightly my direction. My brain was still functioning sufficiently that I noticed the angle shift and altered my plan to put my pin on the mud spot, I came to full draw... I put my pin on the mud spot, my pin started making all sorts of psychedlic patterns over the boar's shoulder. I had made my aim, now I just watched the mud spot and to a lesser degree my pin like it was a TV, all my focus was on working my release... my mantra was cycling at a million hours through my head: pull, pull, pull.... it was taking forever (though the video showed a handful of seconds) so I mentally got more agressive screaming a few choice words into my mind about I had to control this.... *CLICK* then a thump like I had hit a foam target. I saw my arrow bury to the fletch in his chest as he whirled left to exit. There was immediate crashing in the brush only a few yards outside the feeder circle, it went on for several seconds but wasn't really getting further away or quieter. Was he still on his feet and about to walk back out to get to a trail opposite of where he was? It took some effort, but I managed to get another arrow nocked and eased out more in the open where I would have a better viewpoint if he came trotting back out across the clearing. After a few seconds, it went quiet. Being out of breath, and still having the shakes I dropped to my knees and set my bow down. I took a few minutes to breathe, text my wife, let her know I had just slayed a beast, and switch my headlamp LED from red to white. I've had issues lately with coyotes jumping on my pigs fairly fast, so I decided I would track him immediately and drag him to a better spot. Usually I have my dog on a tracking lead in front of me as we dive into the thickets, but he was back in camp and I wanted to make a quick recovery. Given the situation, for the first time in a long time, I set bow down unholstered the .40 S&W, chambered a round, and brought it to low ready as I started tracking. Now I was uneasy, but for a different reason. In the back of my mind I was wondering if that boar had just laid down and was waiting on me in that thicket. Fortunately the track was very short, and when I saw him 2 feet away he was very very dead. It took some effort to get him the short distance out to where I could lay my gear on top of him to deter coyotes while I went to get the ATV trailer at camp to load him up. My scale said 213#, which beat my previous personal best of 196# by a good margin. I don't know that he's a once in a life boar, but he was definitely a rare one with…

C'mon Man

After the once in a lifetime freeze in Texas had left, it was a few weeks before I saw a pig again consistently. However, one eventually showed up, and seemed to be attending the buffet regularly. I overpacked for an overnight trip and headed West. I arrived in camp about 20 minutes before the feeder would throw, so I quickly unpacked my bow and target to send a few downrange verifying we were still in working order. Everything was money, and so I got the dog settled and popped a top. About an hour after dark my phone buzzed, and lit up with a camera notification. Game time. My normal routine of parking about 1/2 a mile away and then closing the distance on foot went without incident. As I closed to within 100 yards I could hear corn being chewed and the occasional growl as the boar moved raccoons away from the feeder. The last 5 or 6 yards always take forever, and this time was made doubly tricky due to raccoons being only a few yards away. Eventually I got into position and started looking for a shot. I'm always surprised how long it takes sometimes to get a remotely clean shot. The boars tend to move around continuously only pausing briefly here or there, and have an uncanny knack for presenting bad angles. Finally he started walking straight toward the feeder, and I bet he was going to stick his head under it. I came to full draw and let my pin follow his shoulder, sure enough his head went down under the feeder, I pulled on my release, *thump*. I saw the lit nock disappear into his shoulder and heard him head downhill through the thicket. I felt good about the shot, and it sounded like he only went 30 yards or so, but the direction he headed was no buneo. An hour later I pulled up with the dog and decided I'd scout the track first just in case it was quick and easy. The blood was phenomenal. I followed it quickly down an established trail for about 25 yards, then it veered off into what is for all intents and purposes an impenetrable thicket. I had come this far, and I could see blood so I got down on the ground and started belly crawling following the blood. Several yards later I was nose to snout with the dead pig. The brush was so thick I had trouble even getting my knees under me. I looked back through the snarl I had just come through, which also happened to be a pretty steep incline, back at the sizable boar.... and whined "C'mon Man! Why here?!". It took me the next 45 minutes to drag him about 5 yards to a more open area, then back to truck for drag harness, and another 50 yard drag to the truck. I was exhausted. The past 2 years, my goal has to been to put them down within 15 yards of impact, and about half the time I achieve that goal, I've only had one of the last 16 make it over 40 yards. This one just picked the wrong direction to run 30 yards.

Racing the Vortex

There was a rumor that a really nasty winter storm was headed for Texas, and ol crazy me decided to try and get another boar on the ground for February. About 10 miles from the lease it started sleeting lightly and the trees were frozen. The storm was early.... I decided this would be a turn around trip, and I wouldn't even stay the night. I got the bare minimum out of the truck to have a quick dinner, feed the dog, and double check my sights. Having completed all that I settled in and waited for my phone to buzz. I didn't have a long wait, which was a relief considering I was going to drive home the same night. A medium sized boar showed up about 15 minutes after dark. I slipped on my first new pair of snake boots in 7 years and headed out to start my stalk. There was a steady wind, and the temp was in the mid 40s, about perfect. I took my time picking my way across rocks and through cactus until I could see my quarry, he appeared pretty comfortable. I eased to within 20 yards and paused to find something to aim at on his shoulder, there we go a lighter spot catching the red light right in the middle of his shoulder. I came to full draw, shaking like a leaf, my pin following the boar's shoulder as he scooted from kernel of corn to kernel of corn... pull.... pulll...... THUMP. I saw my lighted nock disappear into his shoulder. He took off into the nasty thick brush, and then there was a loud crash and a few hollow thumps. I was confident he as down. Little did I know... the fun part lay in front of me. Given time restraints I decided to hike back to the truck and come straight back for the recovery. Normally I go all the way back to camp, pickup my dog, and then come back... but I was in a rush. The blood trail was great, and I followed it at an easy walk for about 20 yards.... then it veered off a path into the nastiest, thickest stuff on the planet. About 10 yards into the thick stuff I saw a bloody snout. Nice boar, in a not nice place. I spent the next hour moving the pig about 8 yards. An hour and a half later I had him up the hill, and took some photos. It was by then 26 degrees, and I was in a t-shirt.... and was still sweating. After a few pics, I broke out my knives and grabbed some all organic pork for the freezer. Finally I double timed it back to camp, loaded the dog and truck again and headed home. We pulled into the driveway right at 1am, but not bad at all. Little did I know that a day later, I would be without power for 3 days and facing low single digit temps at the same time. Bow: Prime Nexus 70# Arrow: VAP TKO 350 Broadhead: Iron Will Wide 100 Vanes: AAE Max Stealth

Patience Pays Off

As deer season came to a close, I was eagerly awaiting the off season to chase wild hogs again. In mid-January I had an opportunity to make the first mark of 2021, but I pulled a shot high, and was unable to recover the hit boar. This trip, therefore, fell into the redemption category. I had a decent sized boar that had started patterning pretty well the past week, so I packed the truck and headed West. After a day of long conference calls, I pulled out my new bow for 2021, a Nexus Prime 4 in 70#, and slung a few dozen arrows to double check everything and get some reps in. Next up was dinner and a frosty beverage. I had a feeling this boar would show up right after dinner time, so I preemptively slow rolled that direction a few minutes after the feeder threw. I parked in my normal spot, tilted the seat back and closed my eyes. Twenty minutes later I had a bad feeling that the routine had been broken and no pigs were coming. I had the camera take a picture manually every 10 minutes or so. About 30 minutes later, I noticed that my feeder had grown some extra legs. The pig was standing behind the feeder from the camera's viewpoint and it couldn't see him. Dang it! Double timed getting gear on and hustling to start my stalk. The wind was absolutely perfect with there being enough to cause some noise and cover mine, but not so much as to be an issue when it came time to shoot. From a distance I could tell from the chewing sounds he was contentedly feeding, with the occasional growl as he moved a raccoon off a pile of corn. I took my time, slow, quiet... breathe. I got through the tricky section of brush without too much trouble, only once did he stop chewing for a few seconds when a twig caught my pant leg. I'll tell you what... stalking in dry terrain in the dark is tough. A few minutes later I got into a shooting position. The problem I had now was two fold. My first problem was I had a 20 pound raccoon about 5 yards in front of me. Every time I so much as twitched he got all nervous and stood up. The second problem was the hog had now circled around to the camera side of the feeder, and I had no shot from my side. A few times I could see his lower chest through the feeder legs and thought about sending one. I took a deep breath and reminded myself he had no clue I was there, and that I simply needed to have patience. A few minutes turned into twenty minutes. During that time I had to turn my sight light back on as it has auto-off after 10 minutes, but I was able to wait for my ring-tailed furry friend to look away to hit the button. My bow arm was getting tired. I had my bottom cam propped against my hip, left hand on the grip, right hand on the release.... waiting. After a seeming eternity the boar circled to my side of the feeder and stuck his head under it. All I could see was derrière's. No shot. I continued to wait. A little bit later he backed up, and turned left. Now he was stretched out broadside at about 15 yards.... bow arm pushed out, release came back. As I was settling into anchor he took a few steps to my left. I momentarily panicked thinking the he heard me draw and was about to skedaddle. Evidently he was just moving another raccoon, as he promptly pulled a U turn and ended up broadside facing right, at about 18 yards shuffling at a slow pace vacuuming corn. I settled into anchor, framed my sight in my peep, found a spot low on his shoulder, and started pulling. As he leisurely moved to continue his corn vacuuming, my pin followed his shoulder... still pulling.... ttthhhhhhhhhh CRACK *SQUEAL*. The boar drops with 18 inches of arrow sticking out of his shoulder. All four legs are kicking, but I've hit the brachial plexus causing his nervous system to overload, and he's bleeding out too fast to recover. I never take chances, so a few seconds later an insurance arrow hissed through the night landing between his shoulder blades, and everything went quiet. I love it when no tracking is required. This is the second pig in the last 6 months I've hit in the shoulder and by luck hit the brachial plexus .... its impressive. Its pretty much like you hit them in the spine, but the difference is, they're usually fountaining blood from the major arteries coming out of the heart. Tends to be a mess, but also no tracking required. It took me a solid 30 minutes to recover my broadhead later. Bow: Nexus Prime 4 70# Arrow: Victory Archery VAP TKO 350 with 50gr Taper Lock Outster Broadhead: Iron Will Wide 100

• Boar Dropped in Tracks with Arrow!

  2021 Got off to a decent start with a successful stalk on a nice boar.

Previous Years

• 2020 Hog Log

  2020 has been an odd year, but it has been fantastic for taking pigs at night with a bow!