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"Stalk
and Shoot Hogs in Athens"
Part II
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By Michael Kennedy
Field
Editor |
When I wrote Stalk and Shoot Hogs a couple of weeks ago, I really
had no intention of writing a Part II. Well, I went back a lot
sooner than I expected. I had so much fun this time, saw so many
good hogs, and saw one of the best shots I have seen in a long time,
that I just had to write about it. If you don’t want to go down to
Hog Haven and try to arrow a hog after hearing about this hunt, then
you need to check your pulse to make sure you are still breathing.
The weather was outstanding and almost 30 degrees colder than it was
two weeks earlier. It was sunny and crisp with a moderate breeze
coming out of the north. Guide Luke Clayton also had a surprise
waiting for me, a small bucket of corn that had been soaked in magic
hog potion (cherry Kool-Aid). He told me we would spread it around
the feeder at the stand that I would be hunting for the last hour of
daylight.
As we walked towards the area where we planned to do our first
stalk, Luke told me that he and Currin had seen several good boars
recently. Before we even got to our intended stalk area we jumped
four 50 to 75 lb porkers. We decided to run our stalk down at the
creek. I took up an ambush spot about half way between the creek
and a well worn trail that cut across the dirt service road and
headed into some really thick cover on the hillside. Luke circled
around in a wide arc and started working in my direction on the
creek. I heard the leaves rustling in the distance, and then it
sounded like a stampede as the hogs drew closer. Then a dozen or so
hogs of various sizes and colors went screaming across the dirt road
about 40 yards away from me and disappeared into the thicket. Too
fast and too far to shoot, but I noticed that I was wearing a big ol’
smile. I heard more rustling behind me and a 225 lb boar went
screaming past on the other side of the creek with a sow and some
pigs in tow. This is what I’m talking about!
We decided not to go into the dense cover, cedar, and plum thicket
on the hillside after the hogs because of its proximity to the
feeder I was going to hunt and it was already 4:40. Clayton and I
decided we would head to our “killin time” stands, spread out our
Kool-Aid drenched mash, and see what kind of action ensued. I had
no sooner gotten into my stand when the feeder went off—Brrrrapp!
It was 5:05 p.m. Precisely 30 minutes later at 5:35 p.m., it went
off again as programmed. A few minutes later I heard rustling in
the woods behind me about 75 yards away. First the little bitty
pigs came down the trail, followed by some medium sized hogs and a
couple of sows, and then two 200 lb. plus boars. None of them were
the same hogs I had seen earlier. They descended on the feeder and
went to work. I waited patiently for a shot at one of the medium
sized sows. I had already decided that I didn’t want to mount or
eat a trophy sized boar. The action was so frenzied with hogs
scurrying around and constantly stepping in front of each other that
I just didn’t have what I thought was an ethical shot. So, I let
‘em walk with the hope that some would return while there was still
some shooting light.
Return they did about 20 minutes later, but it was a whole new group
of hogs. They were ten in all with two different large boars. Both
were in the 250 lb range. I immediately targeted one of two brown
sows. They were round and looked like excellent meat hogs.
Patience paid off and I finally got a good broadside shot
presentation. I centered my 20 yard pin behind the shoulder plate
and let ‘er rip. Kawaaamp! It was a good shot. I watched her run
off with my Carbon Express protruding from her right side,
fluorescent yellow and white vanes disappearing into the brush. I
listened and heard the sow crash through the brush in a wide arc,
downhill towards the creek bottom. Then there was silence. A few
minutes later I heard more thrashing around about 100 yards away,
and then silence. She was done. After a track that was complicated
by a sporadic and light blood trail, Luke and I found my hog. We
guesstimated her at around 160 lbs., well fed and in excellent
shape. She was going to make some fine pork chops and sausage! We
field dressed her, dragged her out to the service road, loaded her
in the truck and took her immediately to the skinning rack to hang
overnight. It was going to be clear and cold, and I was already
looking forward to tomorrow.
I saved the best part of this story for last, and this may be the
real reason why I decided to write Part II. Luke Clayton made a
stalk and a shot that I will remember for a long time. I wish that
I had it on video, because it is the kind of stuff that legends are
made of. You are going to love this.
After sitting in our stands until about 8:30, and not seeing a whole
lot of movement because it was so cold (25 degrees), we decided to
stalk. We came out of a timber break into a small meadow where
there was a plum thicket getting the morning sun. Almost
simultaneously, Luke and I pointed and whispered “hogs”. Just on
the edge of the plum thicket, in the tall scrub grass adjacent to
it, we saw the dark outline of two good sized hogs and a few smaller
pigs. The larger of the two was definitely a boar because we could
see the outline of his parts. The boar lay down, and the sow stood
for a couple of minutes before laying down a couple of feet away
from the boar. We were 30 yards away from them, downwind, and the
sow was broadside and quartering slightly towards us. The wind was
perfect, and the hogs still didn’t know we were there.
Luke whispered that he had never taken a hog while bedded. I
whispered back “today’s the day my friend, I’ll back you up.” Luke
inched forward one painfully slow step at a time, pausing to assess
and evaluate the shot between each step. It took several patient
minutes for Luke to move eight yards to where there was a small
fallen tree. This was as far as he could go. As he stood there at
22 yards, measuring his shot, I did the same from where I was
standing at 30 yards. Frankly, from where I stood, I wasn’t sure
exactly where he was going to shoot the sow or how he intended to
navigate his arrow through the scrub grass. Finally, he slowly
turned to me and pointed at the base of his neck where the neck
meets the shoulder. As soon as he did it, I looked at the bedded
sow that was quartered towards us. The eight yards Clayton had on
me obviously gave him a lane and a shot that was lost on me from my
vantage point, because I sure didn’t see the shot he was calling.
On the other hand, I have also hunted a lot with Luke. He is one of
the most ethical hunters I know and I have seen him make some pretty
amazing shots. With that said, if says he can ethically make the
shot I believe him.
Clayton slowly raised his bow and drew. The bow string sang and
Luke’s Carbon Express CXL Hunter armed with a 125 grain Vortex
thudded into the bedded sow. It never even made it to its feet! It
let out a high pitched squeal and just thrashed in its place on its
side. The other boar and the pigs bolted through the plum thicket
and never gave me a shot. I couldn’t believe it. “GREAT shot,
Luke!” Clayton kept his eyes on the sow to make sure it stayed
down, which it did. As we eased up on it we finally saw the
cutters. It was another boar. Luke looked at me and said, “I
thought for sure it was a sow based on the way it was acting around
the other boar and having little pigs with them. There must have
been a sow in heat in there too that we didn’t see.” He was
probably right since boars are typically solitary critters unless
there is a hot sow around.
But now I wanted to know about the shot. “The shot, Luke, tell me
about the shot.” Then he told me. He learned the shot from his old
buddy, Merle Smith, at the Texas S Bowhunting Ranch. Luke went on
to say that this was only the third time he had made the shot or
even tried it. The only way to make the shot is when the hog is
quartering to you. The arrow must be precisely placed at the base
of the neck, in front of the shoulder and shoulder plate, but above
the breast bone. If you are in an elevated stand, the arrow will
travel on a downward plane through the major arteries of the neck
and through the heart and perhaps the off lung if you get good
penetration. If you are on the ground, as we were, and on a flat
plane, the arrow goes through the major arteries of the neck and
into the spine. Needless to say, you pretty much have to be able to
guarantee your shot placement if you are going to take this shot.
The abundance of bright red blood pooled on the ground confirmed the
first part of the equation, and digging Luke’s Vortex out of the
hog’s spine when we skinned and quartered it confirmed the second
part of the equation.
There. I feel better now. I just had to share the experience. It
just wouldn’t have been right to let the story of Clayton’s stalk
and shoot boar—and my, oh my, what a grand shot it was—go untold.
After all, aren’t living and sharing experiences and stories like
these the whole reason we love to do this stuff anyway? Do yourself
a favor. Call Steve Currin or Luke Clayton and book yourself a hunt
at Hog Haven. I promise, it won’t be dull if Luke is around.
Hunt hard, and enjoy the shot.
T. Michael Kennedy, copyright © 2004.
For more information or to book a hunt at Hog Haven, contact Luke
Clayton at
972-476-8881 or visit his web site at
www.lukeclayton.com. (email
lclayton@koyote.com)
Or you call Steve Currin at 903-675-1109.
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