I've been meaning to post this for a while, just havent gotten around to it. 5 other guys and myself went on a hog hunt in South Texas back on the second week of February. The first night out I knocked one down with a neck shot at 228 steps right at dusk with my 30-06. I'm not proud to say we never found it, not one drop of blood. Broke my own rule of hog hunting wich is shoot until they know they're dead. However another guy in my group did take a good eatin sow (guessing aroun 130#). These were the only shots at hogs that anyone in our group got over the three day hunt. Two of the guys did get javelinas out of stands though. The weather was cloudy/rainy with highs around 50 at best, so the weather wasn't quite what we were hoping for. Not sure if that was the major factor in lack of pigs or what? There was alot of sign, we hunted moring , afternoons, and Late into the night, We hunted 6 or 7 seven different ranches. The Guides really seemed to bust thier butts trying , just no pigs. Finally on the last day, they offered us the "hog jump" just to get something. The hog jump turned out to be a canned hunt in a 200 acre high fence. I'm here to tell you that finding hogs you know are there in 200 acre of Texas brush is alot harder than I thought it would be (I'm getting the last of the cactus out of my leg as I'm typing). We walked that pen 4 times and got 1 boar out of it. Finally the guides called a friend of thiers to bring his dogs.This was a totally new experience for all of us. I passed each oppurtunty to another hunter in the group even though I usually could get to the hog and dogs first. I think one of the biggest thrills of my hunting life will always be watching one boar the dogs had bayed but not grabbed yet, charged right at my Dad! Iwas about 5 yards behind him carrying the .22 for dad just in case. Dad has some pretty good moves for a 54 year old! The dogs got on that boar good 5 minutes later and I got the pleasure of watching my Dad kill the boar with his belt knife.
I never didget a pig this year, but as a group we got 2 javelina and 4 hogs. we were all disapointed with tthe lack of critters, but leting us do the "hog jump" free of charge was a Really nice gesture. If any of you boys at South Texas Outfitters are reading this, Thank you and i'll be back next year!
