Lone Star Bowhunters Association

BAO PIGZILLA

This story really starts a few years ago when my best friend and bow hunting buddy passed away due to cancer. I didn’t have anyone who I could take off and go hunting with. He was the kind of friend that you could just call up at the last minute and say lets go hunting and it didn’t matter what for or what the weather was going to do. So I started hunting with my father exclusively. Now I love my dad, but he isn’t “ate up” with the bow hunting bug like my buddy Rick. But we hunted whitetails and made some great memories. However I was still looking for that one real good hunting buddy.
Fast forward a couple years and I was on Texasbowhunter.com and saw where this guy Texbama (Stephen) was looking for a place to shoot in Katy. I needed a shooting buddy so I invited him over. We shot that night and I could tell right then that I really liked him. He mentioned that he wanted to meet some more shooters in the area so I got on TBH and posted a get together shoot at my place and we had a great turn out. That day we both met Krisopp (Kris). Immediately we could tell that all three of us were going to hit it off and become friends. Shortly thereafter a hunt was scheduled to Keith Johns Outdoors and my son got his first bow kill, but that is another story. Kris almost got his first bow kill, again another story.
I decided it was time to ask them a serious question, how did they feel about bow hunting in Texas? If they really liked it and wanted it to continue that they should join the Lone Star Bowhunters Association. I kept on them and reminded them and eventually Stephen joined and a week or two later Kris did too. However to our surprise Stephen won a free hog hunt at Brazos Archery Outfitters. He sent me a message and asked if I wanted to go, to which I replied yes and when. He made the plans and the day came and off we went. We talked hunting most of the trip there and just hoped for a good time, even if we didn’t get anything.
We made a few stops on the way and I mentioned that I thought I had seen a place called David’s Outdoors and I thought they were a sponsor of TBH. Stephen quickly turned around and we browsed around inside and met the owners. We mentioned that we were going to BAO and we were going to hunt with Trailboss and they said that he was a great guy and we would really like him. Stephen bought a package of Rage broad heads and we were back on the road.
We arrived at the ranch around noon on Friday and met Trailboss (John Shelley) and realized right then that everything that we had heard about him was true. He was a great guy and told us where all the stands were and where he thought the hogs would be. He also told us that we would have the ranch to ourselves and we could hunt wherever and however we wanted, just treat it like it was ours. Also, John would have to leave on Saturday and we would be on our own and just to turn everything off and lock up before we left.
Stephen knew that I hadn’t shot a deer this last season and that my freezer was getting a bit bare. So he suggested that I hunt the stand called blue. John said that this was probably the best bet to get a hog. I tried to give it to Stephen, but he insisted. So off we went, it was 2:30pm and we were hunting. We didn’t see a single hog when darkness finally settled on us. Stephen and I had been texting each other with updates and he asked if I was ready to call it a night, to which I replied lets give it another 10-15 minutes. He texted again, saying that he had missed a coon. I replied with “done” by then I was very cold and hadn’t heard anything or seen anything. While texting and putting up my phone I noticed what appeared to be a hog in the darkness and he was headed to the feeder. I turned on my hog light and drew back, but couldn’t see him. So I let down and adjusted the light more to spot. (I did this 3-4 times before getting it right) Finally I think I can see him enough and let loose only to see my tracer nock sitting under the feeder and no “thwack”. I missed too. Back to camp for some dinner and then back out to chase hogs with lights on our bows. We saw hogs by the truck load. After all the lessons we learned that night we were certain that we could do it the next night. So off to bed we went. Up early the next day and stalked around for several hours with out any pig sightings. We went to another part of the ranch and walked a long way following the Brazos River. I found a spot where the river made a bend and the fence went straight, leaving a big chunk of land that was in my opinion, undisturbed. So I started stalking through the brush and the wind was in my face and blowing about 15 miles or so. I saw Stephen in the field walking around ahead of me so I kept stalking that way. I found an old bleached out buck skull and picked it up and put it in my back pack. When I got up from that I saw a dark spot about 100 yards or so through the brush and thought it looked like a hog. Thinking that I was just seeing things I decided to get out my binoculars and check just to be sure. Funny but when I looked through the binos it looked even more like a hog lying on its side. So I started stalking closer towards it and realized that I couldn’t walk straight to it and keep it in sight. The brush was just too thick. So I found a place where I could get through the brush with out making too much noise and proceeded that way. When I came around a brush pile there was the pig 10 yards or less lying in the sun. I couldn’t see it breathing and I thought that the guys that had hunted the weekend prior had lost a hog and it just was too cold for it to rot just yet. I was down in a small ditch and tried to step up on the bank and got my quiver and the antlers stuck in a tree and the branch made a noise against the hard plastic of my quiver on my back and the hog rolled on to its stomach. Now I’m only 10 yards or so from it and I’m guessing this hog to be 150lbs or so. I get my bow up and wait thinking that any second it is going to stand up and walk off. I guess it went back to sleep. After 5 minutes or so I decided that if I wanted this hog I’d have to shoot him where he lay. So I came to full draw and took careful aim and squeezed the release and “THWACK”. All heck broke loose as the hog jumped up and ran into the ditch and towards me. He stopped about 5 yards away, then turned and bolted into the brush away from me. Realizing that the brush was so thick and I would never see the hog run off because of it I took off after the hog. I ran to where I last saw it to see if I could hear it breaking brush as it ran away and get a bearing on where it went. Instead I heard a chilling sound. I heard this hog take its last two breaths and it was only a mere 10-15 yards away. I texted Stephen and told him I got one, but he later thought I was kidding him. I knelt down and said a most heartfelt prayer and thanked God for letting me be out in his beautiful creation. I also thanked him for letting me take this wonderful animal as I really needed the meat to feed my family.
Stephen finally got there and we put the track on. We found him 12 yards away and Stephen asked me what I had done. This pig was not 150lbs as I thought. I grabbed a leg and I could only move him about three feet. Stephen and I both grabbed him and together we drug him about eight feet. It was all we could do to move him. We devised a plan on getting the meat back and finally went and took a nap. At home I weighed both rear hams, the back straps, and the head and it weighed 100lbs. My guess is over three hundred pounds total, but we’ll never know. It is the biggest hog I have shot to date. I still can’t believe my luck and am so glad that I have a couple new hunting buddies.
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