The Almost Perfect Hunt

I have wanted to shoot a wild pig since the end of deer season. It had been awhile since I had seen any pigs on The Farm. They come and they go on their own schedule. On Easter morning two passed in front of my trail cam up on the mountain.

I decided to move my camera to the location on the creek where I had film pigs before. Pigs, like every animal, need water. So I figured that sooner or later they would end up down there. Sunday afternoon I set off to move my camera. I was not paying much attention to being quiet. I heard a sound that I thought was an armadillo. I went into stealth mode and eased around a pile of downed trees. Just on the other side I saw two piglets and then their mother staring at me eyeball to eyeball. I backed away slowly. I did this for three reasons. First, I have no experience with being that close to a mother pig and her little ones. Second, I did not want put too much pressure on them and cause them to leave the Farm. Third, I hoped to get back to the house and get my bow before they left. They were gone when I got back. I set up the camera and headed for home.

I have no idea how I got that close to them. I was upwind of them and making noise. They should have sensed me coming long before I saw them.

The next afternoon I went looking for the pigs. This time I had my bow and was being careful of the noise I was making and the wind direction. I was almost to the creek when I heard something in the bushes. It was a pig. I could not make the shot because of the thick brush between me and the pig. As I watched to see if it would give me a shot, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a smaller pig step out of the woods into the trail and stop. I had just come to full draw when it suddenly ran into the brush. I turned back to the other one, but it was gone. I continued towards the creek. As I rounded a curve in the trail where I could see the creek, I saw them crossing the creek. Stalked a little closer to where I had a good view of one of the big ones. Once again I came to a full draw only to have the pig walk behind some bushes. I watched them go into the thick bushes in the other side of the creek. I did not follow them because I believe that that area is a bedding area for the pigs and the deer. I want to reserve that part of the Farm as a sanctuary. I changed the disc in my camera and dropped some corn in front of the camera. My second encounter with the pigs was over.

Tuesday was the day I decided to go full tilt wood ninja on the pigs. I put on my full camo gear, used cover scent, fired a few arrows to get my muscles warmed up, and got my head into ultimate stealth mode.

I eased down the creek trail being as quiet as possible, stopping every few steps to listen for the pigs. I made sure I stayed downwind of where I left the corn.

When I rounded the curve in the trail, I saw the back of a pig where I had dropped the corn. I was so excited that I started to shake. I took a few moments to calm myself down. The situation could not have been more perfect. I was downwind of two sows with I do not know how many piglets. They had their heads down eating corn. Between me and their heads was a tree that blocked their view of me. They had no idea that I was there. I started my stalked keeping a close eye on the piglets. They were running all around the sows. I was afraid that they would spot me and sound the alarm. I finally got within 20 yards of the closest sow who was presenting me with a clear broadside shot. I came to full draw. Just then one of the piglets walked between me and the sow. I could clearly see its eyes and the way its nose twitched as it looked at me and tried to pick up my scent. I knew that at any minute it was going to busted me. It was time to take the shot or watch them scatter.

I heard the arrow hit with a good solid “thunk”, I knew instantly that I had hit the pig. And then all hell broke loose. Pigs went everywhere. But I had my eyes on only one of them. That was the one that I had hit who was now charging directly at me. Remember, I was only 20 yards away. I was reaching for my sheath knife as if I could fend off a pig when she veered off to follow a trail that ran close to me.

I put my head down for a bit to let the shakes subside. I had stalked and hit a pig with my bow. Now I had to wait to give her time to go down, assuming that I had made a good hit. To be honest, I think that I had suffered short term memory loss. I did not know where I had hit her. I called Anita and Paul to let them know what had just happened. After a few moments I walked to where they had been feeding. I saw my arrow embedded in the ground and completely covered in blood. However the blood was dark and smelled bad. I had a feeling that I had made a bad shot.

I busied myself with a screen blind that I had brought to set up where I could watch where I had put out the corn. Little did I know I would not need it. I waited for 30 minutes before I began to track my pig.

I spotted a large blob of blood at the last place I saw the pig. Then I found another smaller spot of blood. A few feet beyond that, I found a small drop. I was beginning to get worried. I was worried that I may have gut shot the pig. The blood on the arrow looked like blood from and abdominal shot. The fact that the blood trail had quickly disappeared supported my fears.

A few drops of rain fell just then. I was despairing of ever finding my pig. It was getting too dark to see any blood on the dead leaves. There was a 90% chance of rain the next day. I knew if that happened, the blood trail would be gone.

It was time to think like a pig, I figured that a wounded pig would follow the path of least resistance. I looked at the brush where she had disappeared and noted where the growth was thinnest. In just a few minutes I found her. The scene grossed me out.  She was lying on her left side, the side where the arrow had entered. Her right side was covered with her intestines. Where the arrow exited, it actually cut a hole in her side that let the intestines work their way out of her body. She ran about 70 yards before dying.  Evidently she had turned slightly towards me before the arrow hit. I hit the shoulder, but it was a bit high. But because I was shooting at a downward angle, it caught some lung and then passed out the abdomen. The net result was that she died quickly and that pleases me.

What does not please me and the reason I consider this the almost perfect hunt is that the sight of her intestines hanging out grossed me to the max. I grew as a farm boy who hunted. Butchering animals does not bother me. But this did. I did not want touch it. Paul said that pigs are pests and leaving it was OK. I did, but it still bothers me.

But, I remained stoked for days afterwards. I had proven that I could take down an animal by stalking it and hitting it with an arrow.

Some interesting facts I learned from my trail cam. The pigs arrived at the corn at 6:20 pm. I shot between 6:27 and 6:28 pm. In other words, I showed up just at the right time in the right place. Any earlier and they would not have been there. Any later and they would finished off the corn and moved on. I was destined to shoot that pig. And I lived up to my destiny.

I hope there is a deer in my future.