Back at the skinnin-shack I butchered her. She had 2 bullets in her, actually one that had separated. It had to have hit her in the vitals but she survived. It was all abcessed (sp?) and pussey around the wounds so they told me I could get another one. We BBQ'd her backstraps anyway - great stuff.
Sunday morning we chased them around again w/o the dogs. The pasture is a couple hundred acres with lotsa cover so the animals have ample opportunity to get away - definatly not fishing in a barrel. We spotted a group of about 25 about 300 yards away and the guide turned me loose for a stalk. I kept in the shadows and crawled the last 200 yards to them. The shits bedded down just as I got withing bow-range so I had not shot. Pigs like pile up on one another and you have to be careful about pass-throughs. They finally got up and moved 50 yards so I belly-crawled after them. Just as I got to them they moved another 50 yards so I continued crawling, all the time dragging my bow along side me. Over rocks, leaves, cactus, thorns, et al. There was a decient breeze and I was down-wind, but almost no cover and lotsa dry leaves to go through (noisy) so it was a tough, slow stalk.
I got about 20 yards from where they beded. Every few minutes a few would get up. I thought for sure I was busted but they'd grub a little and settle back down. This had gone on for well over an hour. The damn fire-ants were getting to me and I was growing impatient. A big black boar on the far side of the group got up and then laid down broadside with noone behind the front half of him. There was a pile of pigs about 5 feet in front of him though. To hit him I'd have to shoot over the near pile of pigs and hope they didn't jump while the arrow was in flight, I missed, mis-judged the distance, et al. I knocked an arrow (for about the 20th time), aimed a little high so I wouldn't hit the other pigs, and released. Fred Bear guided another one home, YOWSA! Since this one was an old boar it had a pretty solid plate (cartilage under the hide around his vitals). The broadhead penetrated to the far shoulder but no pass through. They all got up and took off, one with an arrow sticking out like a flag. I got our guide and we tracked for about 1/4 mile. Even though it was a double-lung shot this old boar was tough and not giving up. I was afraid if they took off hard that he might separate and die somewhere we couldn't find him so I told him to go ahead and shoot him if he got the chance. He put 2 243 rounds into him before he went down and I stuck another shaft though his heart to finish the job. He weighed in at 130#. The teeth were well worn so he was old. This was probably my best stalk yet so I was elated afterwards. I'm so alive!!!
The spotted one on the left is the first one I killed:
#2. He reminds me of like Michael Moore without the hat and body odor...
