Tuesday A.M.  The lone boar that I went after this morning This morning I sat up in a box stand overlooking 4 different senderos/roads for a good vantage point from which to plan a stalk. The morning started out windy and cold, but when the sun came out it turned nice. Just as the sun was coming up, a lone boar came into a sendero to feed, about 100 yards away. The wind was good for a stalk, so I climbed down from my stand and got the stalk going. The wind was good the whole time, but for some reason, when I was still about 40 yards away the boar just bolted into the brush and I didn't see him again. I'm not sure what he saw or heard, but he just wasn't close enough for me to take a shot when he disappeared. The rest of the morning I saw a number of javelina, but no more hogs.  Tuesday P.M. About mid-afternoon I went out to do some spot and stalk hunting at a few different water tanks (ponds) than I went to yesterday. I hadn't been walking 15 minutes when I came around a bend and saw a group of hogs feeding around a little muddy creek coming into the water tank. Just like yesterday, the wind happened to be perfect for the stalk, but this time I didn't have to do the stalk in over a foot of water. Within about 10 minutes I was in position, 20 yards from a big sow, broadside, with my bow drawn. Then, simply put, I choked. I didn't pick a spot to shoot at, got too excited and rushed the shot and flat out missed the sow. I was good left/right, but shot right over her back. Of course they ran away. I was pretty frustrated with myself, but had to laugh about having made the perfect stalk only to totally muff the shot. Oh well, it happens sometimes! When the hogs ran off I could see that there were about 10 in the group, mostly adult pigs.  javelina  more javelina After that I checked out another water tank that had a ton of sign, but I didn't see any pigs there at that time. The rest of the afternoon I spent checking out different senderos. I didn't see any more hogs that evening, but I did see a lot of javelina, so I decided to try to take one. Those critters are smarter than they look. Throughout the course of the afternoon/evening, I drew my bow on 3 different javelina before finally getting a shot at the third one. It was easy to get within 30-40 yards, but after that it was a little tougher, even with the wind in my favor. They had a sneaky habit of disappearing out of the sendero and into the brush when I let them out of sight for a minute or two. Frequently, though, they'd be back out within 5 minutes, eating away on the corn again. At one point I was standing about 15 feet from a javelina, with my bow drawn, but it was quartering hard to me and I didn't want to take that shot, but it never gave me a better angle before it went behind some brush.  Getting close enough for a shot.... Finally I was able to get within 20 yards on a good boar javelina. He was quartering away and I took the shot. The arrow hit about midway back on the body, went through liver and lungs and exited through the spine right near the off-side shoulder blade. The arrow was still hanging in by a few inches, but almost passed completely through. I was shooting a Grim Reaper expandable broadhead on that arrow. The javelina was dead in short order after dropping on the spot.  My nice boar javelina Rick Lyda and Mitch Montgomery had an eventful day as well. Rick saw 2 sows that had about 15 piglets, and got to about 10 yards from them, but didn't shoot either of the sows because they both still had milk and the piglets were pretty small. Rick also saw a lot of javelina today. Mitch got a shot this morning at a good sized sow hog. He spotted it about 400 yards down a sendero, and stalked closer till he was within about 100 yards. He took a rest in the prone position and shot. The hog reacted to the hit and ran off into the brush. Mitch was shooting a .300 Ultra-Mag with 180 gr. bullet. Unfortunately, we could only find blood at the impact spot, and none whatever after that. Four of us looked for that pig for an hour and never found the pig or any more blood. When we got back to camp, Mitch shot his gun to make sure it was still on zero, and shooting 2 shots he determined that it was hitting 6 inches low. The scope must have got bumped off of zero on his trip down or on the ranch somewhere. We're guessing he hit the brisket and it was a non-lethal wound. Well, darkness set and our hunt was ended. We all had a great time! Mitch and Rick said they're coming back next year, and I may go back and hunt there again before then. Hunt Conclusion I have never been on a ranch where I have seen so much hog rooting, tracks, and other sign. The hogs weren't coming out to eat corn very much, but that's because they've got lots of natural food right now - more than normal - because of the huge amount of rain that area has experienced. The outfitter said that last year at this time - when they were in the middle of a drought - the hogs were coming very heavily out to the senderos to eat corn. Even so, I personally saw over 35 hogs on this two day hunt, which is great, particularly since I saw them in the daylight. Mitch and Rick also saw good numbers of hogs, and we all saw huge numbers of javelina. I give a very high recommendation to Christopher Roswell and Lazy R Hunts for their hunting operation. I should mention also that the lodging accommodations were very nice, comfortable and clean. Christopher's wife, Maria, does all the cooking and she is a great cook, making things like Enchilada's, Meatloaf, and Breakfast Burritos with all the fixings. Her meals have a definite Tex-Mex flair and were delicious, and plenty of it, too. I'm looking forward to hunting there again in the near future! I'm sorry that I didn't get more "live" photos of hogs, but I was kind of busy getting ready to shoot an arrow when I was close enough for a photo. Maybe next time! I hope you enjoyed this Live Hunt, and look for several Live Turkey Hunts between now and the end of May. See you then!
Joshua Flournoy owns and manages the Livehunts.com web site. He also arranges exciting hunts through his business Longleaf Hunting Adventures. Joshua resides in east Texas with his wife and four children. |
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