Wednesday - May 1, Day 1
South Texas Hog Bowhunt
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This is a bowhunt for Wild Hogs on the Trulove Ranch in Uvalde County, Texas. The ranch is bowhunting only, some 2,000 acres, is open-range (no boundary high fences) and is absolutely loaded with Wild Hogs, Whitetail Deer, and Turkeys. This is my 4th year bowhunting the Trulove. Last year I was fortunate to take a nice hog . I'm hoping to do the same again this year.
J.J. Reynolds has been managing the Trulove Ranch hunting operation for 8 years, and is a serious bowhunter. I've bowhunted several places in Texas, and J.J. has by far the best stands and the best stand placement of the places I've hunted. He puts a LOT of effort into seeing that the stands are concealed, and hunts the stands strictly by the wind. He will always make a good recommendation each evening on which stands to hunt. The hogs rarely move more than an hour before sunset, so I'll be going out to my selected stand about 7:30 p.m. each evening. I'm hoping to have shooting opportunities at pigs before dark. However, if they're only moving after dark, I have a light set-up for my stabilizer, and have a Tritium sight pin on my sight bracket that will glow after dark. A.M. Hunt The spot I hunted this evening is one I've hunted before. See the photo at the top of this page for a photo of the spot. In fact, I've killed pigs at this spot each of the last 2 years. It is a waterhole in a long, wooded draw between 2 fields. Besides the fact that hogs love water, and particularly when it's hot, this spot acts as a natural funnel of sorts as well. J.J. feeds the area with corn every day, and the waterhole has a plethora of tracks and wallows around it. My tripod is looking at a slight downward angle towards the waterhole. About a half hour before dark a lone boar came to the other end of the waterhole. He spent about 5 minutes wallowing and drinking, and then left the way he had come, without coming to the corn.  Here's a pic of the boar that came and went this evening About 20 minutes later, with just 2 minutes or so of shooting light left, a group of about 15 pigs of all sizes came to my spot. I picked out one of the biggest in the group, drew my bow, and let fly at about 10 yards. The pig ran off, obviously hit. Being that it was almost dark, it was difficult to determine where I hit it, and with the whole group running off through the brush, I couldn't hear it crash to a halt, dead. I immediately got down, put on my headlamp, and found the arrow. There was a blood trail right away. I spent the next 15 minutes alternately crawling and crouching through the low brush following the blood trail. The trail was pretty constant, and before long I found the pig, dead. I had hit it high in the lungs, and apparently it impressed the pig because it only ran about 65 yards. I guessed it in the 125 lb. range. It was covered in mud and wet. Guess it made a trip to another waterhole before hitting this one. Check back tomorrow for more hog hunting!  My sow from this evening
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