Joe Carpenter and I tried our luck on a new island and covered a lot of ground. We walked along the edge of the marsh with little activity until we spooked a nice boar. He was feeding in some tall grass and once he got a look at us, he was history. We decided to get back to the transition area between the marsh and the thickets. Once we arrived, we split up to cover a lot of area. At the very next field, I spotted a sow feeding alone. perfect!
I signaled to Joe and he began creeping my way. I searched the surrounding areas for potential stalk busters, but only noticed a bedded piglet. The sow was feeding directly away from me so I kept creeping closer and closer. When I was within 10 yards, I prepared for the shot, and waited for her to turn.
She did just as I expected and provided a perfect quartering away angle for a split second, but as I began drawing my bow, she bolted, only to stop a little over 20 yards away. I released my arrow and it found the hog. I saw the arrow hit far back so I was upset with my shot. As she ran away 2-3 other sows erupted from their beds. As hogs ran back and forth trying to figure out what happened, I readied for another shot but no other shot presented itself.
As the sows moved on I began my search for my arrow or blood. I quickly found blood and after a short trail, I found my hog! To my surprise, she was angled away more than I noticed in the heat of the moment. We made quick work of the field dressing and got her to the canal. I left Joe with the hog and our bows while I went to get the boat.
After getting the boat, I began my search for a good spot to get to the bank and find Joe. I stopped the motor and began calling to him, but no answer…How could this be? Suddenly I noticed him waving at me so I began to move towards the bank, but his hand signals continued and I realized he was in some hogs. Apparently, a small hog fed right to him, but in his dilemma to signal to me to prevent me spooking the hogs with my boat, the hand signals also caught the eye of the hog and it didn’t take long for him to bolt. What a day, what a hunt!
