Average Joe's 2018

[Lostinthewoods]

Today was an uneventful day in the woods. Didn’t see any bucks, but I’ll be back out there tomorrow. I’m not letting off this big boy the entire season (minus Saturday’s hunt and Feb 1-4 for my controlled hunt)

His days are numbered!


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[Lostinthewoods]

Game time!

 

[Lostinthewoods]

So today I had the pleasure of going on a hunt with my buddy as his guest. A local likes to do a random drawing to let active duty military or veterans come hunt his private property for the day.

We hit the road early and met up with the landowner. He set both my buddy and in our shooting houses and let us be.
This was my first time ever hunting anything other than a climber or a ground, so I had no idea what I was in for.


As the sun came up deer started coming in to the feeders that the land owner has set up.

In my morning sit I passed on a young doe, two button bucks, and a spike.

We sat until 9 and then went to a local breakfast spot for some delicious biscuits and gravy. Then it was off to a different property. One that got me excited!

These shooting houses were nothing like ive ever experienced. I’m used to a tiny climber or on the ground. Not a comfy recliner chair...

At last light the does poured into the field. I picked one of the mature ones and let the tikka rip.

Another wonderful hunt! I had such a great time hanging out with the land owner and my buddy today.
I’m going to make a bunch of summer sausage and brats with this doe and split it with my buddy.

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[sn.outdoors]

Good thing Sitka blends into that old recliner.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Good thing Sitka blends into that old recliner.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

My wife is looking at me weird because I’m cracking up

 

[sn.outdoors]

I finally found myself sitting down with nothing to do that can't be done tomorrow....

--------

I almost didn't hunt Thanksgiving afternoon. We were socializing, telling old stories I've heard far too many times to still be as funny as they are, and eating all of the foods. But the weather was changing and the winds were perfect to sit my favorite spot. Who knows how many more chances I'll get to hunt that spot with perfect conditions.

With just 90 minutes of light left I walked the back line-fence of our property like I'd done hundreds, possibly thousands, of times as a kid.

It was as if I had never left. There were still rubs on a few trees made by bucks we chased over a decade ago, and new ones from bucks currently roaming the woods. I walked through an area my dad and I did some timber stand improvement 15 years ago, and the spot was full of fresh beds but no deer at the moment.

On my way back to my favorite stand I stopped for a moment in a gap we made in the line-fence a long, long time ago. The deer were still using it, just like they were when I'd sit in the backyard with my grandpa all those summer nights we shared together.

When I got to the stand I saw that it was the same one I put in the tree 10 years ago and it didn't look like it had been removed since then... I opted to stay on the ground.

The first doe came out about 45 minutes before dark, but it was across the road and in the middle of a wide open field... She was eating alfalfa, seemingly unafraid of being in plain sight. That's something that NEVER happened back in the day. It was obvious that the area doesn't get as much hunting pressure as it did when I was a kid.

I was starting to get a bit cold, the winds were picking up, and the sun was almost gone when I looked out into the neighbor's hay field and saw a greyish figure standing there... It was a deer! A buck! Heading straight for me!

I couldn't believe it. Maybe my expectations were too low. I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. After all, a lot deer have been killed in this spot over the years.

I had to wait for him to cross the property line before I could shoot him, and sure enough, he crossed through the same gap in the photo above and stopped when he heard my go-to deer stopping phrase, "hey deer."

And that was all she wrote.

On my way back to the house to grab the tractor, my uncle texted me to see if it was me that shot, and pretty soon almost the entire family was gathered again to celebrate the luck. It was just like old times.

I almost didn't make the trip home for Thanksgiving. With everything else going on at work, preparing the house, and getting things ready to move, I had a hard time justifying the trip, but my wife basically told me to go. I'm glad she encouraged me to go. Sometimes I get so caught up in getting stuff done that I overlook or ignore the more important things in life. Life is short, and there's no telling how many more Thanksgivings our family will have together. So this trip home means a lot more to me than just a nice buck and some meat in the freezer.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

It's been way too long since I've been in the hills and life's been much busier than I prefer, but I was able to get out and look for some elk today with my wife and sister who's visiting.

The plan was to drive around, cover as much ground as possible, check for fresh tracks, and hopefully find some elk. We'd only have half a day to get it done.

The first hour of morning was pretty uneventful. I checked a few spots I'd seen elk before but each of them were dry holes. As I expected, there were trucks and UTV's driving everywhere. We heard quite a bit of shooting, and I assumed it would only be a matter of time before we spotted a group of elk running for cover. We'd drive a bit, get out, walk a few hundred yards, glass, repeat.

On the way to our 1 millionth spot, I saw 5 elk paralleling us, running full speed. I instructed my wife on what was about to take place... It would be a race. I drove to get ahead of where I thought the elk would go, and I figured we'd have to walk/run/jog about a half mile to catch them. So I went over our shot sequence, reminded her make sure it was a cow, and that we needed to move as fast as possible to catch them.

The race was on.

The terrain dipped down in front of us, and I assumed the elk would be in the bottom of that drainage. So we walked as quickly as possible to the end of the drainage. The elk came out at 500 yards. While my wife got setup on the rifle and I setup on the glass, I noticed one of the cows was obviously wounded. My wife was ready to shoot one of the other cows, but I said she should shoot the last cow (the wounded one). Unfortunately, that cow never gave us a broadside shot and the herd made it behind the next hill. They weren't running anymore, but they were moving quickly.

The chase was on.

I took off after them to make sure we didn't lose them. As I got to the top of the ridge, I spotted the herd walking away at only 350yds. They saw me too, and took off running again. I looked back and saw my wife a few hundred yards behind me... This is when I realized my style of hunting is not for everyone. By the time she caught up, the herd was outside of her range.

Since they were still moving steadily, I had my wife and sister stay there to watch the elk while I went back to bring the truck closer and get some more gear for a longer hike if needed. If the elk walked out of sight they would walk back to the road and we'd relocate.

The elk calmed down and started feeding again while I was gone, but still walked over the hill and out of sight. As I was pulling up to my wife, another truck pulled up to me and we chatted a bit. The other hunter hit the cow earlier and was trying to find them again. I explained our encounter and it didn't sound encouraging. The last I'd seen, there were still 5 elk walking over the hill.

When my wife got back to the truck she said she only saw 4 elk walk over the hill. So we shared what we knew and he took up the trail while we attempted a flanking maneuver.

It didn't take long to find them again.

The 4 remaining elk had moved only half a mile before we relocated them. They were bedded when I spotted them, but I heard several gunshots from where the other hunter took up the trail. The elk weren't too keen on sticking around to see what all the commotion was about.

We loaded back up in the truck and made another move to try to cut them off. We got out and started walking... And walking... And walking... But we never spotted them again. We got back in the truck to check the roads for tracks and found a UTV parked where the elk crossed and 2 sets of boot prints following them. As we were getting back in the truck we heard 2 almost simultaneous shots, then silence.

We drove to the next road and glassed the 2 lucky hunters processing their trophies.

Well... That was about as close as we could get without getting it done.

We burned another quarter tank of gas before calling it a day.

Sadly, I believe this will be the last opportunity to hunt this year, and also my last hunting trip in Idaho as a "local." We have a lot of work to do and not much time to get it done. I hope we're able to get out again, but there chances are small.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

"Flexibility is the key to air power." ~ Gen. Giulio Douhet

-------

I have never really considered myself to be a normal person, and I do not aspire to live a normal life. Some of my co-workers use to call me "six-shooter" because I'm always shooting from the hip and almost always winging it, and somehow when the dust settles at the end I'm still standing and the job is done. They call it chaos, but I call it flexibility.

Why am I ranting about this nonsense? Well, I'm currently tucked into my sleeping bag in the bed of my truck, parked in the middle of the Nevada desert, on my way to Arizona for a deer hunt that I planned out a few days ago. In actuality I had this hunt on my tentative calendar for a few months, but the odds of making it happen didn't look very good. Luckily for me, all of the pieces fell into place at the last minute and I got clearance from Kitchen6 (aka The Wife) to execute.

If you remember the javelina hunt from last year's thread, I'll be hunting the same area with the same people. Except this year we're going to focus on finding some mule deer. Each of us have 2018 and 2019 OTC deer tags that we're trying to fill. Ryan, Steve, and Jeff have leftover javelina tags, but I don't since they were all sold out before I knew I could make it.

Last year, we talked about trying our best to make it an annual, or at least regular, event, and I'm glad we could make it happen.

Since all of my stuff is in storage and the family is temporarily living out of suitcases before we move to NM, I'm sure I forgot some important piece of gear. But whatever. It'll buff out. I have my bow, boots, pack, binos, and rangefinder. I can get by with that.


The weather looks like it's going to be great, and word on the street is the bucks are chasing hard in the area we're hunting. Ryan was supposed to be there this morning, but he's stuck on the highway in NM thanks to the snowstorm that blew through yesterday. But if he makes it out of there, and we don't experience any more hiccups, we could be hunting tomorrow afternoon. I'll post updates as often as possible.



"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

I got into camp midday and took a 3hr long nap before going on a short hike.

It was COLD with a steady 15-20mph wind out of the north. Not very enjoyable at all, but the javelina were out in full force. I saw 5 groups of them sunning themselves on the protected, south-facing slopes.

I didn't see any deer until the very last light. It was a group of 4 does with a decent 120-130" 4x4. They were mixed in with a herd of cattle and halfway between me and camp. So I boogied over to them as fast as I could, but I couldn't get any closer than 180yds from them. And since they were mixed in with the cows I just couldn't get any closer without spooking everything out of there. Darkness came without an opportunity.

Ryan and Jeff chased deer all day, but were never able to get closer than 150 yards from them.

Pretty good first day.


"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

The plan for this morning was to find the deer Ryan chased the day yesterday.

We found the bigger buck almost immediately.

He was pestering one doe pretty hard and pushed her away from the rest of the deer before bedding down.

Ryan and I looped around to try to stalk them while Steve would spot for us. By the time we got there, the buck and doe grouped back up with the herd and were 500yds away from us.

We moved to get in front of them but ran out of cover. The buck bedded 215 yards away and Ryan's currently in route. It's a tough spot, but he's gonna try.

To be continued....

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[d3ntalbliss]

The plan for this morning was to find the deer Ryan chased the day yesterday.

We found the bigger buck almost immediately.

He was pestering one doe pretty hard and pushed her away from the rest of the deer before bedding down.

Ryan and I looped around to try to stalk them while Steve would spot for us. By the time we got there, the buck and doe grouped back up with the herd and were 500yds away from us.

We moved to get in front of them but ran out of cover. The buck bedded 215 yards away and Ryan's currently in route. It's a tough spot, but he's gonna try.

To be continued....

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

Looks like a tough stalk but hope it pans out for Ryan, Good luck!!


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[sn.outdoors]

Well, he got a few yards closer. All of the deer bedded in the bottom of the drainage and it was looking more like a slam dunk.... But then the wind switched 180 degrees and it was over. They were out of there.

So we went and checked out an area we'd seen deer the day before.

There wasn't any cover, but we managed to get to 95 yards. Unfortunately no shots were presented and they weren't keen on being close to the creepy things crawling through the grass.



"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

Sorry for the radio silence over the last few days. The cell service just wasn't reliable enough to deal with the frustrations of uploading photos and stories. I will edit the photos and my journal entries from the week and get them posted once I get done with this drive home.

The trip was a success.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sojourner]

Aww man you can't just leave us hanging like that

 

[sn.outdoors]

Day 3 (last day of the season, beginning of my troubled electronics):

Weather was moving in and we knew the deer would be out and about before it precipitated on us. So we went back to the mesa we chased the nice 4x4 the day prior. We didn't find the guy, but a new group of deer with 3 decent bucks moved in. The air was almost dead still, and about as consistent as today's politicians. With no good way to get close we decided to sit back, take some photos and wait for things to settle down. Unfortunately, my SD card was compromised and I lost all of the pics. (I think by now, we can all imagine what a group of rutting deer looks like, so please forgive me )

After about an hour we finally had some consistent winds, and we started to make our move. The plan was to walk up the drainage in front of us, get to cover, and crawl up to where the deer were milling around.

The wind was picking up quickly, and snow began to fall. Much to our surprise, the deer actually walked into the drainage we were trying to sneak through. At 300yds it was obvious the game was over. 12 sets of ears with 5 sets of antlers stared at us over the short scrub brush. The wind was still in our favor, but the lead doe gained some elevation and decided the 2 bipedal mammals were not friendly. She blew at us a few times before bounded over the hill with the rest of the herd.

We spent the rest of the day searching for deer and slipping and sliding on the lovely Arizona peanut butter dirt. By midday the wind was howling and all we managed to turn up was a random herd of elk who were still refuge from the wind

The snow finally stopped, but the wind never relented. We tried to turn up some deer in a nearby canyon, but were unsuccessful. We definitely didn't dress for success in this type of weather, so we called it a day and headed back to the warm camper early.

It was a disappointing way to end the season, but luckily tomorrow is opening

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

Day 4, Entering "The Pit":

The wind shook the camper all though the night, and was still a nuisance after we woke.

Day 4 was opening day for 2019 deer and javelina. We figured out best bet of finding any animals was going to be in what we refer to as "The Pit." The Pit is a series of paralleling ridges which feed into a larger perennial creek. Each drainage cliffs-out at the bottom, and there's no easy way to get out once you've found yourself in the belly of the pit. The challenging terrain lends itself well to being a consistent spot for finding animals.

We were hoping to find some javelina, but none of them came out to sun themselves in the protected drainages. It was pretty cold for javelina to be out and about, but we did see some a few miles away on the neighboring private land. Not seeing javelina was definitely a surprised, especially after I saw over 50 of them just a few days earlier. We saw 3 bucks that morning, but since we were really after pigs, we decided to hold off.

It must have been a rough year... Even the cows were munching on cactus.

Just after noon we saw one of the bucks get out of his bed and stumble up a ridge to another bed. He struggled to cross a fence, but was able to muster up the strength to jump over it on the 3rd or 4th attempt. He was all alone, missing his left antler, and was obviously injured.

The buck bedded in a very hunt-able spot, and the wind was good, so we made a stalk. Steve stayed back and glassed for Ryan and me. Both of us were easily able to get within range. I setup downhill in the event he busted that direction, while Ryan snuck in at the buck's level. I pulled my camera out to take pics when I discovered I had a card error... Perfect...

I set it down and got ready as Ryan was closing the gap. He made it to 50 yes and I signaled to wait. He signaled that he wasn't in a good spot and moved a few yards to his left where he had better cover. In that cover was a cottontail rabbit who wanted nothing to do with Ryan. The rabbit busted out of there and barreled straight (and I mean straight) into the buck's bed and spooked him out of the country. Talk about tough luck.

Being late and a few miles from the UTV, we decided to head back up and out of the pit (which was actually more of a down, then up, then down, then up, down and up again.)

As we made it to the bottom of the first drainage, Steve radioed us. He spotted a large heard of pigs just below the ridge we spent almost the entire day. Ryan and I kicked it into gear and made it up there in a few minutes.

We made a hasty stalk and had them within range, but they weren't able to connect.

Up and out of the pit of misery we went.

Not a bad opening day.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

Day 5, "Why won't the wind stop?":

530 came quickly after a long night of laughs and a couple few drinks with good friends.

The wind didn't stop. In fact it was blowing stronger than it did the day before.

The plan was to drive to a completely new area and glass some steep, south-facing slopes we thought would be mostly out of the wind.

The first 2 spots were dry holes, so we pressed on further into the canyon.

While driving to the next vantage point, we spotted a deer from the road in a very deep and steep spot. The wind was good for a stalk, so Ryan and I grabbed our stuff and headed down the hill. Steve was going to. Drive around and pick us up at the bottom... 2 miles away.

We watched the buck walk into a steep but shallow cut and he didn't come out. It was on like Donkey Kong. We raced down the hill to get into position.

We slowed down when we were a few hundred yards away from the tree we thought the buck was under. As soon as we started walking again after a quick look with our binos, a decent 3x3 popped out of the cactus at 30 yards. He wasn't having any of it and bounded his way over the hill in front of us.

We weren't sure if the other buck was still there, so we proceeded with caution. As we created the hill we spotted a set of horns staring right at us. He was 80 yards away and on full alert. We slowly lowered our level, waited a minute or two and tried to get a little closer. While we were waiting the buck climbed a few yards up the other side of drainage. We were busted.

Both bucks took off in the same direction so I followed to see where they were headed. I made it about 20 yards when I looked back up the hill to see a different buck feeding a 3-400 yards away. Ryan went after him and I kept after the other deer.

I didn't catch up to them, but I did see them go over the top of the hill, 2 ridges away.

Apparently, while I was messing around, the buck Ryan was after started walking almost straight to him. I couldn't see where Ryan went so I radioed him about the deer I watched run away... No response...

Hmmm, where'd he go?

Then I herd the telltale sound of a mule deer bouncing away.... I blew it.

The buck was 70 yards away from Ryan and about to walk broadside right in front of him. But the buck saw me and took off.

Bad luck again. I felt terrible.
------

We glassed a few other areas for the rest of the day, but turned up nothing.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

Day 6. "Slow start, but a sprint to the finish"

Ryan's dad got back to camp on day six, so we were back at full strength.

The plan was to check out our best pig spot. Ryan, Jeff and Steve carried longbows with pigs being the main goal for them. I carried my compound in case we found a buck.

Our high hopes diminished when we found an unusual amount of vehicle tracks on the road we normally don't see anyone traveling. It was almost like they read our playbook. Despite the fact we knew the area had been hunted the day before, past history in this spot said anything could happen.

A few hours of hard glassing and some hiking, all we saw was 3 does and 4 coyotes. Ryan and I walked the bottom of the drainages to check for sign, but all we found were bootprints... Another dry hole.

We called it off around noon, and headed to another spot....

Much to our dismay, there were trucks parked where we were planning to hunt. 2 of them were bird hunters, and the other truck was unknown.

Back to The Pit...

We grumbled about how other hunters are just a fact of life on public land. I wondered why I was always seeing more people this year in the spots I hunted in the past. I don't think there are anymore hunters than there was in the past, so it's interesting that I've been seeing more and more people in the field.

We might have driven half a mile, when mid-grumbling, I spotted a pig crossing the road in front of us. "HOLY CRAP! THERE'S A PIG... right there."

We egressed the UTV like it was an aircraft flaming to it's demise. Steve, Jeff, and Ryan had their bows in hand and were on there way before I got out of the the middle seat.

The wind was perfect, and the pig didn't seem to be in any rush.

I pulled out my phone and switched it to video mode.

We scooted closer, on line with the direction the pig was walking. Surprisingly, the pig turned and walked straight toward Ryan, who was in the front of our formation. Steve was to the right in the middle, and Jeff had the rear. I was just a few years behind Jeff. The javelina popped out in front of Jeff and me at 30 yards. The pig, Jeff, and I stood frozen, misstep, while a brief staredown commenced.

Jeff wisely passed on the shot since it was pretty far and the pig was walking straight to Ryan and Steve.

The pig kept waking as if nothing was wrong, straight at Ryan.... And downwind from Jeff and me.

The pig stopped 12-15 yards in front of Ryan and stared at him dead on. He didn't have a shot. Steve was at half draw the entire time. He wanted to let Ryan shoot the pig, but when it puffed up and looked alerted, Steve let the arrow fly.

The shot found the middle of the middle and was surely lethal. We grouped up and gave a brief rundown to the camera.... When I hit the button to stop the video, my phone started recording. (Must have been amateur hour)

We followed blood for about 70 yards when we heard the pig's last gasp. High fives all around. It was awesome.

-----

Since the day was still relatively young, and our spirits uplifted by the success, we decided to check out the pit before dark.

We walked about a mile down the road when I spotted what looked like a deer on the opposite ridge. After a closer look, I realized it was definitely not a deer.

It was a mountain lion, and he was on a mission. He disappeared into the drainage in front of us, so we walked a little further down the ridge in an attempt to get another look at the cat.

A buck popped out around the next corner, and he was heading straight to where we last saw the cat. The deer was tired. His mouth was hanging open and his tongue was flapping in the wind. He didn't seem to notice we were standing just a few hundred yards from him. He probably had some does on his mind.

As soon as he dissuaded into the pit, I made my mind up to chase him down and try to kill him. I tightened up my pack as Ryan and Jeff (thinking I was crazy) said, "good luck. Oh and don't get eaten by that lion."

"Thanks... I'll try not to." Down the hill I went, trying to cut him off. As I got to the first pinch point I spotted him on the other side of the drainage. I was only 150 yards behind him.

When he disappeared to the left, I sprinted to the top of the next ridge on my right. I was gassed by the time I got there, but I felt confident I was in front of him.

I slowly walked in the shaded part of the ridgeline, opposite of where I'd last seen the buck. If he made it over, I had a really good chance of seeing him to my right.

My hopes began to fade the further I walked. "There's no way he's gone. He's gotta be here somewhere."

I quickly glanced to my left.... There he was... Bedded. Only 180 yards away. He was staring straight at me, but didn't seem too alert. I froze, and slowly lowered myself down when he looked back across the hill to where he saw me on the other ridge.

Ryan and Jeff were chasing pigs and weren't on the radios, so I had to go after him alone. I looked over the terrain and thought I could get close enough if I walked on the backside of the ridge.

I peaked over the hill where I thought I'd be close enough, but I was 110yds from him.

Luckily, he was still staring intently in the wrong direction. I could tell he relaxed a little bit as he flicked his ears and lowered is head away from me.

I worked my way around the back of the ridge again.

The new perspective got my close enough to shoot, but there was too much brush in the way to get an accurate range on him. There was a short cat claw bush blocking my rangefinder at 10 and 40 yards. The ground behind him was 80. The bush next to him was 65. Since it was shot m such a strange shot angle, I really wanted to get a solid range. I moved a bit closer and to the left. Nothing.

"Ok. I'll wait him out for 5-10 minutes before I throw a rock and him." I thought

As soon as I decided to wait, the wind tickled the back of my neck. The buck swung his head around and I ranged him at 64, 66, and 68... 66 it is.

But the buck bolted as soon as I clipped my release to the string.

I ran around the ridge and he stopped at 50, but I could only see his rack and eyes. I couldn't make the shot. And he bounced his way over there hill and out of my life.

"Ugh.... Just a quick 1 mile hike up a steep hill back to the UTV.... Totally. Worth. It..."

My lungs were burning and caught a case of the coughs on the way back up. I almost pulled it off. I guess that's enough cardio for a while.

----

We celebrated Steve's success and my birthday back at camp. We cherished the fact that the wind was gone, and relived the day and many previous stories over a few beverages. Day six sure did get exciting at the end.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[sn.outdoors]

Day 7, back to The Pit:

We had a new guest and first time bowhunter, Greg, in camp on day 7, and we decided the most appropriate way to welcome him to the sport would be to drag him into the pit.

The morning was completely uneventful. We only saw 2 does, a fawn, and the same group of javelina on private land. We glassed the hillsides all morning hoping to find anything we could hunt, but nothing showed up.

As we were about to pack up and move, the herd of pigs on private land surprisingly decided to walk toward us and onto public land. They were still over half a mile and a few drainages away, but they were the only animals we could see. After a little bit of convincing, we were on our way over.

When we got over to where we last saw the pigs, they seemingly disappeared. I went around the backside of the hill to see if the herd changed directions, but I didn't see anything. As I made my way back to the rest of the guys, Ryan waived his arms at me semi-frantically and signaled for me to stop. He saw a pig, and it was walking toward us.

I was about 80 yards away from them, and as luck would have it, a pig walked out and stopped directly between us. They couldn't shoot...

That pig scurried off, but luckily it didn't alarm the rest of the herd. They were all bedded down on the hillside right in front of us, but we couldn't see them due to the thick brush and cactus.

We decided to have Ryan loop around and come at them on their level. Jeff and Greg would slowly walk straight at them. I stuck close to Greg to help him out and call out ranges.

It didn't take long before we started seeing pigs moving around in the brush in front of us. They had no idea we were there. As the animals walked through clearings, I'd range them and Greg would adjust his sight. After a dozen or so glimpses, a pig finally stopped long enough for a shot. I ranged the pig and reminded Greg to set his feet properly. Greg set his feet, adjusted his pin, drew his bow, and shot.... Just barely over the pig's back.

Dang.

A few pigs took off, but most of them had no clue what was going on. (That's the best part about hunting javelina; multiple shot opportunities happen a lot) Another pig stepped out at the same distance and we went through the same process. Range, adjust feet, shoot.... Miss....

WTH...

In the chaos of ranging pigs at all sorts of distances prior to the first shot, Greg had his pin set 5 yards too far.

Luckily, most of the pigs weren't too spooked, or at least they seemed to be confused or unaware what was going on. A dozen pigs trotted to the other side of the drainage about 150 yards away. A bunch of pigs were still scurrying around in the brush in front of us. There must have been 40 animals in the herd, because they seemed to be coming out of every nook and cranny.

Two pigs walked out into the open and rubbed up on each other. I ranged them and Greg said he could make the shot. I asked if he dialed the prescribed ranged, he double checked, set his feet, drew back, settled the pin, and shot. This time the arrow found it's mark.

Then the real pleasure of introducing a new hunter to the finer aspects of the hunt...

The sun was low in the sky by the time we got the pig cleaned up and in our packs, and by the time we made the long hike out it was dark.

The night was spent playing guitars, eating sushi, and sharing stories around a warm fire. It was awesome to be a part of someone's first kill, and watch it all happen. Seeing the excitement and hearing him tell the story and explaining everything from his point of view reminded me of my first experiences. That night was one of the most enjoyable nights I've ever spent at hunting camp.

"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe

 

[WhiteOak]

That's awesome man congrats on a hell of a year. Whereabouts in NM they sending you this time?