Search the Community

I was in bed by 8:30 New Year's Eve leaving my wife to host a house full of people. It was the night before pig season and I was more excited than the night before Christmas as a kid. The partiers knew how much I love to hunt these things so it was no surprise I put in earplugs and left them to bring in the new year. Up at 4:30am and I could hear parties still going on as I pulled in to pick up my partner. I made sure he had his license this year so we didn't have to drive back home like we did last year which got us a very late start. I'm going to cut this story short so I can get to why I'm actually posting this. Scott kills his pig and I miss a 30yrd shot straight up hill. I know better than to shoot that far but the excitement of all those pigs whoofing and running around had my head moving like a bobble head on a dashboard. Scott's pig After some pictures of Scott I headed for where I figured the pigs would go. I thicket from he!! that I knew quite well. My plan was to setup and call after Scott made his way to the truck and back to be my spotter. We were now in position and I was getting ready to call when Scott motions me to stay put and get ready. The pigs were moving out of the thicket to get the last light of day and to feed since they didn't get a chance to do so since we messed up their daily routine. I pass on a couple smaller pigs and was holding out for a larger one feeding in my direction. I almost blew it by letting pigs get on both sides of me. The wind changed and the whoofing began and pigs were running everywhere. I turned and caught one standing still at 20yrds and I twisted my body and let an arrow fly. I should have taken the time to reposition my stance but rushed the shot. I wasn't sure of the shot but did see the arrow sticking out as it ran back into the thicket. I walked over where I last saw the pig and wasn't happy with the color of the blood even though it looked like you were pouring the blood from a coffee can. The only two pictures I have thanks to my brother. This is my nephew Nathan who had never seen a pig before. Now to get to the reason I posted this in the first place. Not just to share another pig story but to share why you should never give up on a wounded pig. I would have waited much longer but as it turned dark I was not really looking forward to crawling thru this thicket since I've been here before but in the daylight. 1 hour had passed and I now was on my hands and knees in the pitch black hoping this pig was dead but knew in the back of my mind I was probably pushing this pig. I just wanted to get it over since we had an hour walk back to the truck. As expected I push the pig from it's bed with lots of blood. I lay there in the dark for another 20min and then continue on thru the nastiest thicket you could ever imagine. I'm now on my stomach pushing the bow ahead of me and wondering why I even tried to bring it thru here. After 1 1/2hrs of crawling thru pig crap and stuck several times I wonder to myself if I was in my right mind. It was all I could do to lift my head as I push the pig from yet another bed where it probably would have died if I wasn't so crazy stuck in this mess. I decided to get out and head back to my partner and quit pushing this pig. We arrive back at the truck at 8pm and I know my decision to come back in the morning would leave me with a spoiled pig. Scott had to work and I found myself back in there in the morning and found where it bedded but then left no blood after it left it's bed. It was now going on 9pm and I was all but ready to call it quits when I see a broken limb in front of me. Something had broke it and as I turned around I was standing 2ft from my pig and it scared the daylights out of me. It wasn't quite stiff to the point I expected and did not stink. I had hit it behind the ear and it bled out with the head in the down hill position. I decided I would gut it to determine what it smelled like so I tagged it. To my surprise it didn't stink at all and had zero blood in it. I began to think I was just not smelling it because of wishful thinking? Got back to the truck in an hour and started to skin it. The meat was cold to the touch so I decided the hide would be better left on since I had forgotten to buy some ice so I headed for the nearest store half hour away. I loaded the cavity with ice and was home in another half hour. Peg had the walk-in on and I skinned it right away. It still didn't stink so I had Peg smell it. She couldn't smell anything so I let it hang over night and knew by then if it was any good. Being that it got down to 32deg and I believe the thin skin along with where the shot placement was is the only reason this didn't spoil. The sausage turned out awesome and I tried it on my neighbors just to be sure. My message here to all you hunters who are just getting started. Every animal you hunt deserves the up most respect and if you give it your all and you can't find it then you don't have anything to be ashamed of even though it hurts. I've lost animals and so have all the archery hunters I know. It comes with the territory but you will sleep well at night knowing you gave it 100%. I hope my experience can be of some help to you if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. TJ