In June Sarah and I took a trip to Chester for a day chasing pigs at Hunt N Shoot. We had a blast! Brian has an awesome place!
We got there late on Sunday primed for a Monday hunt. We were able to shoot a bit just before dark to ensure our bows made the trip from dallas without any adjustments needed. We then settled in for the night.
We woke up about 0530 on Monday popped the pigs in a blanket (that we had so wisely prepared the night before) into the oven for a quick heat up. What better way to start off a day of chasing pigs than to eat pigs in a blanket?
Brian arrived at 0545 or so and showed us to our stands. We we arrive at the first stand the one I am sitting in, the pigs were already under the feeder, but it hasn't yet gone off. I begin the first stalk of the day only to get busted at about 28 yards or so. So I climb into my stand while Brian commences taking Sarah on the way to her stand.
Several more groups of pigs make their way through before the feeder goes off, but I am unable to get a shot at any so I continue my wait. About 6:15 the feeder goes off and I can hear a freight train of pigs headed my way. I finally pick one out that I think will fit nicely on my new spit and wait for her to feed outside the rest of the group. Finally at 28 yards, I am able to let one of my Beman ICS Hunters fly. A beautiful double lung shot that had the sow run a 30 yard circle and crash 10 ft from the base of my blind.
I begin to make my way back toward the cleaning area to get this one on ice when I find Sarah has gotten down from her stand, she wasn't able to connect with one from the stand and is ready to start stalking.
A quick field dressing job and one pig on ice later we are back out there chasing the pigs about. Brian had told us they liked to hold up in some tall grass on the north side of the property and wouldn't move until you just about stepped on them. Man was he right, we were making our way through the tall grass around a pond, I had point with Sarah in tow about 3 ft behind me. I stop and turn to her, and between us a nice 60lb boar jumps up and takes off. I never saw him till it was too late!
We continued on stalking through out the morning bumping pigs and all other kinds of critters across the pasture without connecting again. Shortly before lunch Sarah connected on a nice pig at about 7 yards, he was hiding behind a tree that had fallen over and it's root structure was still in tact, we come around the root structure and I didn't even see him there, but Sarah did
Brian had warned us not to stop when we saw them hiding but to keep on moving or they would spook and run. Sarah continues on never looking back for about 6 steps, and in a single motion comes to full draw and spins on this boar. Drops her pin on him and lets an arrow fly. He had a hard time getting up, I thought he was going to be down for the count, but he didn't manage to make it about 30 yards before falling in sight! This was Sarah's first hunting trip and first bowkill!
We then decided to take a break for lunch and cool down a bit. After lunch we continued chasing these pigs around, having a blast. There is not telling how many times we walked 5 ft from hogs lying under downed trees or in bushes we never saw. In the early afternoon I was able to connect with another smaller hog (still looking for the right size for my spit). Walking down a trail, once again Sarah has point, and I never see the little buggars, Sarah just keeps on walking and calmly says "there are a pair of pigs under that tree we just walked by" to which my reply was "Well arent you going to shoot one?!?" She says "No" and keeps on walking?!? So I take a few more steps till I figure I'm about 15 yards and turn and bury one right through the shoulder of this pig, he runs about 35 yards and lays down. I wait for a few minutes thinking he's expired, only to find he hasn't. Not wanting to watch the lil guy suffer any further I move into position for another shot which quickly puts him outa his misery.
Now that I've got my two pigs outa the way I can gun the camera for the evening hunt with Sarah. We end up both sitting in the same blind on a different pasture than we've hunted all day. Unfortunately as pigs come in just after the feeder goes off we are visited by a stray dog that somehow managed to make it in the fence. We then return to the original pasture we have hunted all day for a few more stalks.
This was truly awesome to witness! Unfortunately seems Sarah's sites got moved sometime during the day and when she let the arrow fly it went into the mud and flung some mud up on this guy. We'll he wasn't going to let that or Sarah disturb his nap so to our amazement he continued on with what he was doing. So I crept over to Sarah to give her a second arrow and urge her to get a bit closer.
The second arrow followed a path very similar to the first one, once again spewing mud on the sleeping pig. This time I guess he has had enough because he gets up shakes off and trots away.
All in all we had a blast, I continue typing about shot opportunities and missed shots but I believe I 've been long winded enough.
Hunt N Shoot Hogs!
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