This was my second trip to Stretch A String. I wasn’t able to connect the first time I went out but I really enjoyed hunting with James, he’s a top notch guide and runs a great hunt. I wanted to try to get out there before summer hits and booked the dates April 29^th to May 1^st 2011. I was planning to get there Friday and my friend Deb was going to show up Saturday.

Friday:

I got there around 3:30 pm and I met James and one of his friends the Doctor.  We spoke for a bit then headed out to check the feeders and game cams. After getting back to the camp house we took a look at the game cams and each of the feeders showed hog activity. James said the “dead cow” stand looks to be a good bet.

After some dinner I headed out to the “dead cow” stand and poured out some soured corn around the feeder. At 10 or 11, I heard a boar grunt a few times. I turned on my thermal vision and saw him to the right of the feeder. He was walking towards the corn as quiet as possible. Then he got up to the soured corn and took a whiff and just took off.

I decided to sit and wait and close to midnight another group of hogs came in, they slowly made their way to the feeder. I was watching their every move with the thermal vision. After a few minutes they started to eat the corn and I started to get my bow ready. Then all of a sudden a tree branch fell or cracked and the hogs all spooked. A small pig stayed and kept eating but took off before I could set with the bow.

Saturday:

I didn’t hunt in the morning and decided to sleep in. James had scouted where I hunted and checked the other stands. He said he wanted to put Deb at the stand called the “wallows” and put me in “skunk hole”. Deb showed up around 3 and I was napping at the time. I finally woke up and hung out with James and Deb. We ate some BBQ for dinner and got ready to head out.

I headed out at 6:30 and got situated in the ground blind. Around 8:20 I heard a hog wallow in the mud and start munching on some corn. He looked to be around 100lbs from about 25 – 30 yards. I drew my bow and had a hard time seeing him clearly (I’m near sighted) and the sun was setting fast. It took my eyes a few seconds but they adjusted and I saw the hog through the peep sight. I waited till he was broadside and I let the arrow fly. WAS IT A HIT?  The hog kind of look around, trying to figure out what happened then he started to trot off. After about 10 minutes or so, I heard some noises in the distance like leaves and bushes rustling. I was thinking that he probably crashed not too far away.

I decided to wait since I knew the game cams showed more hogs coming in and just not one boar. Then around 8:45 – 9:00, I looked around with my thermal scope and saw white dots moving in the distance. I knew they were hogs! After a few seconds I heard grunting and watched the leader boar sniff the air. He must of smelled the blood trail left from the other hog since he walked around to where the hog took off and sniffed the air some more. Man these hogs are smart! I watched everything through the scope and was impressed how careful they are.

The boar would not come in to the feeding area but two small hogs did. I decided that it was probably best to try and take a shot. I drew back the bow and turned on the hawg light. I couldn’t see them at first then my eyes adjusted and I saw a small black one. I let the arrow fly and heard a thud.

I thought to myself, man two hogs!! I waited for another hour before I started to track them. Around 10:00 pm I got out of the blind and tried to look for a blood trail. I found the 2nd arrow and it had no blood on it at all! The thud must have been when the arrow hit the mud.

I thought to myself “what an awesome archer you are!”. Then I looked around for the first arrow and saw it sticking out of the mud as well, I was thinking to myself “ha, you missed both you dumb###”. As I got closer to it, I saw blood on the arrow! I looked around for more blood and saw a good blood trail! My heart started pumping, but to make tracking easier, I turned on my thermal and saw a big white spot in some thicket where the trail was leading to. I found the hog, he was covered in mud and was in some thick thorny stuff.

I pulled the hog out of the thicket and took a closer look at him. I must have misjudged his size at first but he looked to be around 150 – 160 lbs. I dragged him about 70 – 80 yards then pulled him up a small hill. Oh man I was breathing real hard when I was done! I pulled up the ATV and set the hog on the front grill, what a BIG MISTAKE!

As I was driving back to camp, I had to go down a really steep hill. It was real dark and the hog was covering the ATV lights, as I was going down the hill and I got off the trail. Well I ended up skidding into a ditch and falling off the ATV. The hog fell into the ditch as well. I started to panic since it was real dark and I wasn’t sure if I could get the ATV out. After I stopped panicking I was able to push the ATV out of the ditch. This time I decided to set the hog on the back of the ATV and not cover the ATV lights.

I finally made it back to camp and woke up James. I shouted “James! I almost died! I was so scared”. I told him about running into a ditch and falling off the ATV. After telling him what happened he asked me if I had seen any hogs and I told him “oh yeah there is a hog on the back of the ATV”.  He seemed pretty excited when I told him.

 I ended up gutting the hog myself and James helped me hang him in the cooler. Deb got back about an hour later and said she didn’t see anything. But she was real excited about the hog! Ah thanks Deb! ; )

James, Deb, and myself sat around for a bit and talked about the hunt and shared a few stories. Around 2:00 am we decided to call it a night.

The next day, I slept in and so did Deb. James took off early in the morning to go to church. When he got back we finished skinning the hog and I took off after that. Deb stayed a few extra days to try to get a hog. But I had a great time at Stretch A String and thank you Deb for coming out! James is a top notch guide and he is a great guy. Oh yeah, I’m alright from the fall, just a few bruises. It does make quite a story : )