Hog Wild Weekend

It seems lately that my ‘unplanned’ hunting trips are turning into some of the best trips. I keep saying that the spontaneous trips are always the best, so here we go again. My husband and I had been debating on what to do with a short weekend. Most of our hunting trips are always out of town requiring days off from work, otherwise we stay close by.

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At 1:00pm on Friday he called me at work and told me we were going hog & turkey hunting at the ranch we got married at! I was ecstatic and it took everything I had not to get up and leave work to go home, pack & go! Luckily the place is only about an hour from our home.

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By 6:30pm we were both sitting in our own ground blinds we had set up for the hunt waiting on hogs! This place was a target rich environment sitting right along a river and even the rest of the land had plenty of water. With hogs, if you have water they will be there, and if you have corn, they will be there in masses!

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As I sat in the blind, I couldn’t get my camo face to stop smiling. Here I was with my amazing husband, back where we were married, hunting. Could it get any better than this?? Of course! As the feeder spun and slung corn across the ground, I waited, listening for the loud, evil creatures to come crashing through the brush.

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A few minutes later I was rewarded with 3 hogs crossing under the fence and headed straight for the corn. There were 2 black ones about 100 pounds and a smaller reddish one about 50 pounds. The hardest part of hunting pigs besides beating their sense of smell is that they rarely stop moving. They are constantly dancing around while eating corn, pushing each other out of the way making it difficult to pick the perfect time to draw your bow back. On the plus side though the crunching of the corn, grunting and squealing of the hogs is usually so loud they have no idea what is going on.

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One of the larger boars moved in front of the others and I drew back. I had to hold my draw for about 20 seconds because he was moving around so much. Finally, he turned slightly quartering away and I released. I saw my arrow hit and blood start pouring out. He ran with the other 2 back through the hole in the fence toward the river. I began praying he didn’t try to cross the river because that would make a much more difficult recovery.

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I knocked another arrow and waited for another group. As the sun set I heard a sound I have never heard before. I was about 30 yards from the river (river bank was very steep on both sides) and I heard hogs jumping in the river and swimming across! It was so loud and such a weird sound but I was excited. I wish I could have seen them in the water swimming. The hogs, all 40 of them, came across the river and under a different hole in the fence behind me.

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My heart sank. They were coming out downwind of me and beating a hogs nose is nearly impossible, especially the one that was over 300 lbs. I peaked through my ground blind corners since the back windows were closed and watched as 20 piglets, and a whole lot of boars and sows marched around out of my shooting lane. I saw the monster boar sniff around and head back to the river. He had smelled me even with my scent cover; I couldn’t beat the wind or his nose. The rest followed shortly after and never came to corn.

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Oh well, it was time to recover my hog. My husband left his blind and met me at mine; with flashlights in hand we saw the large spots of blood under the feeder and began the tracking process. The blood trail led us under the fence and down the steep river bank about 30 yards to the edge of the river. There on the bank in the water was my boar. We pulled him out and as I began climbing the steep hill with loose sand and dirt I lost my footing and began sliding back down the hill. As I grabbed for tree branches or brush, I prayed I would stop before falling into the dirty river water! I stopped just short but had some cuts and scratches on my arms from the slide. A little bumps and bruises was worth it though for my hog!

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We loaded him up in the truck, headed to the cleaning station; he weighed in at 105 lbs an was a very fatty boar, perfect to keep and eat. I was unsuccessful the rest of the hunt, the turkey weren’t talking either, but my husband was also able to harvest a nice red 100 lb boar the following night as we night stalked the hogs. Another great size, fatty boar that would feed our families.

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Our last minute trip was not only a successful hog hunt but a great weekend spent with my husband doing what we love and enjoying the outdoors together. I feel beyond blessed and hope everyone has a chance to experience these moments.