I know it‘s way too hot to be out huntin’ hogs, but that’s just what I did this weekend.

With the deer season opener only a few days away, I wanted to get in a little pre-season practice in an effort to get familiar with a new video camera and get re-acquainted with my archery equipment.

I’m shooting a new bow this year (Switchback) and some new broadheads (Wac ‘em) and wanted to make sure everything was in good working order and would perform like I need it to. Also, it’s a good idea to just get in the stand a few times and polish up on your “sittin’ still” skills.

I recently put up a new stand next to a road that runs alongside one of the several crop fields on our place. I’d seen deer and hogs use this road a lot in the past and thought it might be a good spot to ambush a big buck we’ve seen in the area.

I climbed into the stand about 30 minutes before daylight and went about the task of getting all my gear unpacked and the camera mounted to the stand.  Surprisingly, things went pretty well considering it’s been nearly a year since I sat in a stand.  I didn’t drop a single thing and really didn’t make a terrible lot of noise even though I had to rummage around in a new back pack to find a few things since I’ve not yet become familiar with it.

I was hoping for a chance to get a shot at a hog to give the new broadheads a test and also get it on video.  The fact that I had used pretty near a full can of “skeeter spray” would probably diminish my chances, but it was that or take time out to go to the hospital for a transfusion! A recent flood on the ranch has given the mosquitoes the upper hand! They’re outta control!

I hadn’t sat there long before I begin to hear the hogs squealing and fighting in the pasture behind my stand. I could tell from all  the racket that they were headed my way.  When I heard them cross the small creek behind me, I turned the camera on and took my bow down from the hanger. 

The hogs found the corn I had spread down the road and began clean it up. Two pretty nice hogs soon stepped into my first shooting lane, but I was between them and  the  camera, so I didn’t shoot. They had come from behind me and I knew that just a few more steps would put them directly downwind of me and the “skeeter spray” would give me away.  And it did! Before they made it to the next shooting lane and in view of the camera, they got a whiff of the nasty bug spray and left in a hurry – taking the rest of the herd with them.

I had only sat there another 30 minutes or so before I heard another hog cross the creek. Again,   I readied the camera and picked up the bow. This time a lone boar, approximately 125 pounds,  came right down the road without even stopping for a bite of corn. By this time, I had moved the camera to the other side of the stand and was ready for action if the shot opportunity presented itself.

The hog came into range and in view of the camera, but held close to the brush at the edge of the road and never gave me a clear shot. When he too picked up the scent of the bug spray and left, I decided it was time for me to do the same.

I used the rest of the day to get some work done around the ranch, eat some lunch and catch a really fine nap! Since the temperature was so hot, I wasn’t in any rush to get into the stand and managed to get a lot of chores completed.

After spreading more corn on the road, I climbed back into the stand about an hour before dark,  and settled in for the wait.  My timing was about right I guess as I hardly got into the stand before I heard the hogs crank up again with the noise and ruckus.  This time they played right into my hand though and came from the direction upwind of my stand.

When they crossed the creek and walked out into the road, I switched on the camera and waited for them to feed toward me. There were probably 25-30 hogs in the group and they put on quite a show while I waited for them to feed into range. The big ones kept nipping at the little ones and the little ones running circles around them. Pretty comical.

As a pretty nice hog approached my self imposed maximum shooting yardage, I lifted the bow and was just about to draw when I saw another larger hog bringing up the rear of the pack. Since it was a much bigger hog, I decided to wait a bit and see if I could get a shot at that one. It was a little touch and go as I kept waiting for him to feed into range while watching the others to make sure they didn’t get to my downwind side before I could pull off the shot.  But things worked out this time and when the big boy made it to the 20 yard mark, I let the arrow fly. I hit him pretty good on the horizontal plane, but was disappointed that my arrow had hit a little higher than I had hoped for.

I’ve shot enough hogs to know that a high hit on a hog is usually not a good thing. My only hope was that the downward angle would take out the lung on the far side.  I watched as the hog turned around and headed back up the road in the direction from which he came. I marked the spot mentally where he disappeared into the woods and pulled another arrow from the quiver since the other hogs had hardly flinched and kept right on feeding.

When the hog I had originally planned to shoot turned to a good angle, I let the arrow fly again and was pleased to see this one hit right on the mark!  He let out a loud squeal and took off taking the others with him this time.  From my stand I watched this one fall only a few yards from the road.

By now it was getting pretty dark, so I gathered my gear and made my way to the ground to try and pick up a blood trail from the first hog before the light failed.  As with most high hits, there wasn’t much blood on the ground and the tracking job got harder as the light faded.  Rather than risk the chance of pushing the big hog, I decided to load the other one and head back to camp and wait for morning light to pick up the trail again. With some help from my friend, I got a few pictures and loaded the hog and headed back to camp. He weighed in at 210 pounds.

After a good dinner and a shower, we viewed the video footage a few times and confirmed that the hit was a bit high but still looked like it might be okay. The angle was good and I got good penetration with the Wac’em head.

I was anxious to get back on the trail so I slept in until good light rather than hunt again this morning.  A flock of turkeys were chowing down on my corn when I rounded the corner in the road on my way to the spot where I had seen the hog enter the brush the night before.

The blood trail was still sparse even in the morning light, but it didn’t matter. A mere 20 yards from the road lay by big boar!  He was a monster! At least by my standards. I have a hard time judging the weight of a hog, but I had no doubt this one would top 300 pounds. He was by far the largest hog I had ever taken. I could barely turn him over to pose him for the pictures.

I got on the cell phone and called my buddy to come help with the picture taking and most of all – the loading!  It didn’t take long to snap a few pictures, but the loading part wasn’t so easy. We backed my Suzuki Samurai into a small ditch so that the carrying rack was sitting flat on the ground and then drug, pushed, and rolled the big hog onto the rack. The little “Sami” let out a groan when we flipped him onto the rack!

Back at the camp, we hoisted the big boy up on the scales. We did some groaning of our own trying to lift him with a hand winch, but when he finally cleared the ground, he tipped the scales at 385 pounds!  My best hog ever!  In addition to being a whale of a hog, he had a nice set of tusks too.

I decided to have this one mounted, so my friend and I began the task of skinning him. I had always heard of the heavy gristle shield on a hog this size but until today had never seen it first hand.  It was at least 1 ½” thick! It’s amazing that a broadhead could penetrate this, but the Wac’em head did just that and took this big boy down!

It’s been a long summer, but I think I and the gear are ready!  Bring on the bucks!

John Shelley

BHNA Pro Staff

This hunt was made possible in part by our sponsors:  

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