fresh bacon

Fresh Bacon

By James Ferguson

President/CEO

Bowhunting North America, LLC

The weekend before spring break we decided to do a little hog hunting. Saturday afternoon the family and I were situated in a ground blind over looking a trail that the hogs used to traverse from a slough to the top of the hill.

I set up the blind at the base the tree that my lock on stand was located in. I did not brush in the blind, we were just out for a quick hunt and I wanted to do as little work as possible.

It was 80 degrees outside and it felt like 100 plus on the inside of the blind. Due to the temperature being so hot on the inside of the blind we decided to leave the shoot through netting up to let a little more air circulate into the blind.

I had been seeing a small group of hogs at this location on a regular basis and they always came in early. I was hoping to put an end to us baking in the blind early by sticking one of those pigs.

The usual group of porkers that normally came in early consisted of three young pigs, a 150 plus pound sow, and a young boar. The young pigs were probably the sow’s last litter but they were definitely old enough to survive on their own.

Around 5:30 pm we saw movement out in front of us. Next I heard the leaves rustling and then the three young pigs showed them selves. They came in cautiously looking at our blind. Behind the youngsters was the sow. She immediately picked up our blind and stopped dead in her tracks. Now I was wishing I had the netting down and had took the time to brush in the blind.

The sow did not like the set up one bit. She softly grunted, turned and headed towards the slough with the little pigs in tow. We sat until dark but nothing else showed itself. This made the fourth close encounter that I had had with this group of pigs and every encounter ended the same. No dead pig! I decided that I would return Sunday and hunt from my lock on and put an end to this taunting once and for all.

Sunday I arrived at the ranch in Athens, TX a little early. After dressing in my Advantage Max-1 camo, I sprayed down with my Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer and then dowsed my boots with WRC Red Fox Urine Cover Scent. One last check of my gear and I was ready to go. I grabbed my bow out of my DoskoSport case and headed for my stand.

Before climbing into my stand I spread some corn on the trail the hogs were using in hopes of slowing the hogs down long enough for me to get the camera on the hogs and make a good shot.

I had not been in the stand very long when I heard brush breaking in the slough a mere 75 yards away. I grabbed my Mathews Switchback XT and turned on the camera. As soon as I had the camera situated, the three youngster pigs came running up the trail. They stopped and began to devour the corn that I had poured on the ground. I checked the distance to the little pigs with my Nikon rangefinder, 16 yard, perfect!

The little pigs had no idea I was there. I kept thinking to myself “This is going to work this time!”

I waited and watched for about 15 minutes before I saw black legs under a cedar bush. They started moving my way. My heart began to pound and my legs began to shake as the black legs moved closer. One more step and I would be able to see the body that belonged to the legs. As the pig took the final step I immediately recognized this pig as the sow that had avoided my hunting partners and me on numerous occasions.

The sow stopped one last time, looked around and then walked right up to the youngster pigs and began eating the corn.

I checked the camera one last time to make sure the sow was in frame and then I came to full draw. The sow was quartering to me but I knew my Muzzy MX-4 would punch right through her.

I settled my 20-yard pin on the shoulder of the pig and the next thing I saw was my arrow thumping the pig and sticking in the ground on the opposite side of the beast. I did not even remember touching the trigger of my Tru-Fire Hurricane release.

The sow wheeled around and headed for the slough. I was able to see her through the cover as she ran off. The sow stopped, staggered, and then stumbled out of sight! I heard brush crashing and then all was quiet. She was down!

I looked at my watch and it was 6:30 pm. We adjusted our clocks Saturday night for day light savings time so the pigs had arrived right on time! I had plenty of light left to make for an easy tracking job.

After calling Donna and the kids to inform them of my success, I gathered my gear, lowered my bow with my Hunting Hoist, and went to take a look at my arrow.

My arrow confirmed what I already knew. The hog was down and not going to get back up. My arrow was covered in bright red blood, lung blood!

I picked up the trail and recovered the pig deep in the nastiest part of the slough. Now the work started! I was hunting alone so I would have to drag this pig through the mud and the muck just to get her to solid ground where I could field dress her. Ain’t huntin fun????

Looks like fresh bacon for the Ferguson family!

This hunt was made possible in part by our sponsors:

Mathews, Inc., The Gean-Edwards Company, DoskoSport, Lumenok, Tru Fire Corp.,
Limbsaver, Huntin' Hoist, Sure Grip Gun & Bow Racks, Advantage Max-1 Camoflauge, Nikon Sport Optics, Barnett Crossbows,

and Muzzy Products Corp., Wildlife Research Center, Whitetail Pro Log