Hog Hunting - Final

It always amazes me how mother nature can turn the most well laid out plans and details around into a totally different agenda. My long awaited hog hunt with Brooks and Chris was finally here and as soon as we turned off pavement, torrential rains and muddy roads greeted us. The drive in, 12 miles of dirt roads, was interesting to say the least. We did make it to camp, however, and with much anticipation began unloading our gear.

Mr. Barkley, Brook’s dad, is the Ranch Manager and would serve as our guide for the weekend. All the water on the ranch would certainly hinder our efforts but not our spirits. We were all ready to hunt.

Bows in hand, we set off for the first evening hunt. I was set-up in an area that had lots of game tracks. As soon as I set my Double Bull pop-up blind up and crawled in, I immediately heard turkey’s gobble in the distance, then another and another. It quickly became apparent that had we been on the ranch two weeks later, turkey would also be on the agenda. Darn the luck, turkeys were not in season.

The first evening and next morning were fairly uneventful. I did not see a single hog, nor did I even hear the faintest of a squeal or snort. It did not matter; the bottom line was that it was springtime and I was bow-hunting rather than sitting in my house watching the television.

It is now Saturday evening and finally the weather is breaking a little. I have moved to another location that really looks promising. There is fresh hog sign all over the place. I’m set up early and plan on staying late. This is the night it is going to happen; I can feel it. Wrong.

After what seemed like 15 minutes on stand, I hear the tell-tell clacking of a diesel engine. Surely, Chris is not already coming back to get me. Well, that is exactly what was going on. With at least an hour of daylight left, Chris shows up and he is as excited as I’ve ever seen someone.

Chris scored on a nice full-curl Mouflan ram. He was sitting on stand and glassing a mountain. Well, a Texas mountain anyway. Just as he was settling in for a long evening hunt, this Ram steps out. The Ram was much too far to take with a bow, so Chris slithers his way back through the woods to his truck to retrieve his gun and rangefinder.

He made a great 206 yard shot and collected his first exotic trophy. He was too excited for me to question his early arrival. We’ve all been there and so I shared in his joy as we trolled through the woods, diesel clacking away, soon to irritate Brooks.

In the end, Chris’s Mouflan was the only animal harvested over the weekend. However, needless to say, we all had a great time. Cabin fever gone…at least until I get home and back into the grind of work and commitments.

By Randy Miller

Randy works for Keith Warren and decided to give him a break from writing while he is out slaving away filming fishing shows.