# Bears, deer and hogs.



## jerry russell (Feb 28, 2017)

I have had an incredibly busy year. With the wide variety of hunting trips that we offer we really only have a couple weeks in February where we sit back and relax.  This season was focused much more on mountain bear hunting for me.  It was a terrible year for Georgia bear hunters and finding a bear was a needle in a hay stack proposition.  I ended up passing on several small bears and then getting the chance I wanted. The shot looked good but something went wrong an my blood dog went several hundred yards on a blood trail before we lost the bear.  That just about killed me.   I did shoot a few deer and chased some really big hogs which is something I really love to do.  Here is the story of one of those hogs.  This story was written in late October....

Following the 3.5 year hunt for Kong, I really lost the desire to hog hunt for quite some time. This past spring I located another monster hog and the fire was reignited. Gator season came along and got in the way and then Georgia Bear season kicked in an that has really consumed me. Man do I love hunting those mountain bears.

This past weekend I decided to change gears a bit and head down to my Trad Bow deer and hog leases in Central Georgia. With the rut just a couple weeks away I thought it best to get in the swing of it all.

I passed on a few deer the first day and decided to hunt an old stand location that has been good to me over the years. My son Luke has recently been hired as a Fireman and with his 6 months of training has had very little opportunities to hunt. We located a smoking hot white oak feed tree and I was really just waiting on him to shoot. I had my Bavarian Mountain Hound "Bear Dog" in camp when the call came from Luke.

 -  

As 10 AM came and went I had seen only some does and a single coyote when I heard a hog squeal nearby. Soon the string of 8-10 hogs could be seen eating under a white oak in a deep banked creek. I really had no desire to shoot a hog on this morning but that changed when the end of the hog string showed itself. The last three hogs all were between 270-300 pounds and were and awesome red color. I have killed more hogs than I can remember but I have never killed a red one. The hunt was on, lol!

I have had great success calling feeding hogs but it normally only works for me when there is a lone boar or a boar on a hot sow. Today was no different. They continued to feed 50 yards away paying my calls no attention. I considered climbing down from the tree to try a stalk but that would be very difficult due to the dry noisy leaves. I knew the late morning hour would soon have them abruptly leaving for their swamp beds. I knew they would utilize the deep creek bed to make time and I decided that when they departed I would fly out of the tree and sprint ahead to a pinch point in the narrow swamp approach. 

The plan worked perfectly... sort of. When they departed they did it at a trot and I did a flying squirrel impersonation and hit the ground running. I knew the deep creek bed would cover my noise and I ran full out 150 yards and eased up to the creek bank, ready for action. A muddy trail told me that they had already passed and I bolted to the next pinch point another 200 yards ahead. The old road bed would veer away from the creek before turning back to it and this is where everything got sideways. As I trotted down the road, a small 100ish pound pig caught my eye on the right side of the road so I knew at least some had beat me to the crossing. I nocked an arrow and tried to slide to where they would cross. Suddenly a monstrous red pig stepped out at just 15 yards and presented a chip shot. I was at 7/8 draw and it stepped forward. Simultaneously, I became aware of a long string approaching from the left side of the road. The big hog turned away so I tried to get closer to the predicted crossing point. I could only get a step or two between the smaller pigs crossing. Most were 90-140 pounds but I knew the bigger ones would bring up the rear. Suddenly I could see a big red boar around 260 walking to the crossing point. He would cross at 25 yards and I needed to close the distance but a smaller black hog had stepped into the road and was walking right up to me. I froze and let it walk by but this put the big hog out in the road where I grunted to stop him. I took the shot at 25ish yards and the shot looked good until the lest second where it appeared that the arrow had gone under the boar. He exploded and I quickly nocked another arrow as more were about to cross. As I readied for another shot I could hear a strange noise and realize that my string tracker was SMOKING line. I had hit the big boar.

 -  

The blood trail looked like a horror movie and while I normally don't let my blood dog track hogs, I decided to use the track for a little training maintenance work for him. 

We put the dog on the line and I fully expected the trail to be well under 100 yards. As we passed 250 yards we found it difficult to believe that any animal could lose this much blood and still be standing. at 300 yards the blood trail stopped completely. Now, it was all up to bear dog. The hog dropped into a deep creek and we waded more than walked. We were without blood and when Bear climbed a steep bluff I knew where the boar was headed. A large 20 acre, terribly overgrown field. The Chinese privet made walking behind the dog impossible as we passed 700 yards. I decided to take him off lead so that he could escape an attack at the close quarters. He entered a 100'x100' tangle of privet so thick that I could not see him at 15 feet. We circled to the other side and watched him on GPS as he made it half way through and stopped dead still. No sound.... nothing....suddenly it sounded as if a bomb went off as the boar crashed out towards us. The boar was weak and was dispatched to end suffering. The arrow had passed through and somehow he had gone this far completely running on empty. I have blood tracked with dogs for 35+ years and have never seen one this tough. The boar literally had almost no blood left in his body. 

It felt good to be back after the hogs. I have an addiction to hunting those monster boars. I caught that bug 40 years ago and have never been able to shake it. 

My bow was my resurrected 20 year old Black Widow SA-3 53@28 with a Stinger two blade Stinger.  

Man do I love hunting those giant hogs.


----------



## Clipper (Feb 28, 2017)

I didn't get to do any hog hunting this winter so your story was just what I needed.  Loved it. About the only posts showing up now concern shoots which is necessary and fine, but a good hunt story sure does get your blood moving!  Thanks.


----------



## Barebowyer (Feb 28, 2017)

Great story and good job Jerry.  Thanks for sharing!


----------



## AllAmerican (Feb 28, 2017)

Dang Jerry! Congrats on a nice hog, thanks for sharing.


----------



## pine nut (Mar 1, 2017)

Good story Jerry and when I was looking at the picture it looked like it was breathing still!  My eyes playing tricks , I know but it was almost spooky


----------



## SELFBOW (Mar 1, 2017)

That's a good one!


----------



## dm/wolfskin (Mar 2, 2017)

Thank goodness for Bear. Give him some ice cream.


----------



## longbowdave1 (Mar 2, 2017)

Great story Jerry.


----------



## Stump Shooter (Mar 2, 2017)

Thanks for the story enjoyed it.


----------



## Barry Duggan (Mar 2, 2017)

Good stuff Jerry.


----------



## charlie 2 arrow (Mar 2, 2017)

good read! Thanks for taking us along.


----------

