Sky Watkins and I checked game cameras for wild hog activity. It wasn’t hard to find, hog pictures were on all the cameras.
We picked out an area with hog traffic every day for the last two weeks and set up a pop up ground blind. Then Sky and I returned at 6:00 in the afternoon. It was 103 degrees and sitting inside the blind made it even hotter.
Hot weather usually means mosquitoes and right away I got my ThermaCELL out and turned it on. As always the ThermaCELL sent the mosquitoes packing.
Time passed … hotly. Finally the West Texas sun crawled down to the horizon and disappeared. A few minutes after 8:00 I saw some wild hogs walking 100 yards away. I signaled to Sky that hogs were in the area and he turned on the video camera in case they came out way.
They did.
Soon they were close enough for a good bow shot. But tree limbs were between them and me.
I couldn’t get a shot. They hog group went on past us and disappeared. Dark time came quickly and a whitetail doe came by us.
After the doe was gone Sky and I returned to the ATV. We left my blind in place for another hunt. The next day we ran the same plan, only we waited until 7:15 to get there. We ThermaCELLed up and waited.
The wild hogs showed up a few minutes later than before. And from the opposite direction.
They stopped on the side of the blind that I had the mesh velcroed down on. It took them a couple of minutes to get in easy bow range.
If they came by us on the left I could shoot through the blind’s open window. If they picked the right I was out of luck because the windows on that side were velcroed shut.
But while the shot opportunity I had was very close I would have had to shoot through the mesh. And I prefer not to do that.
The hogs passed by to the right of the blind.
On the next hunt Colten and Sky drove out to a different stand site.
This was my last hunt because we were all leaving in the morning . Sky and Colten drove off to do some last minute work and I set up to hunt.
A group of rams walked right by me. Here they are giving me the raspberry because I can’t shoot them.
Then I saw two very nice bucks in velvet. One was particularly high with long points for this early in the growing period. At last light some hogs showed.
I don’t like to shoot in low light so I waited until they left and phoned Sky to pick me up.
The next morning after I left the lodge a huge racked buck ran across the road in front of my pickup. I stopped to see if I could get a picture of this big boy. And 60 yards further up the road 4 bomber bucks crossed the road.
What a super ending to my hog hunt. I can’t wait until October and the 6th Annual Bowhunting.net Bowhunt at Big Johnson Outfitters. Maybe I will meet up with one of the 6 bomber bucks I saw on this trip.
2011 Wild Hog Bowhunts is Sponsored By:
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