Al33
Senior Member
The weather radar looked intimidating yesterday evening as a wide band of storms were approaching from the SW. The wind had already picked up a bit but my buddy Jerry and I decided we were going to pig hunt no matter the weather. After a quarter mile walk and wet with sweat I got to the ladder stand and climbed up. My hopes of seeing a pig were quickly dashed when the SW winds started shifting immediately after getting up in the stand. I had only been up for about 5 minutes and was still getting things arranged for a hunt likely lasting into the night. The mosquitoes were quick to find me and I was standing facing the tree with my back to the feeder getting my Thermacell going and in place. It was already 6:00 PM and I had hoped to be there by NLT than 5 but a bad traffic situation delayed us for an hour. I turned around and sat down only to see two red pigs, 50-75 pound range, under the feeder.
I was anxious to kill a pig with my new Tinley recurve which is a dream to shoot and which I am very confident with. Even so I waited for the closest pig to turn broadside and was just as cool as if I were shooting a 3D target and when he did give me the opportunity I came to a full solid anchor, picked my spot and the string slipped from my fingers. The bright red Luminock indicated the shot hit where I was looking, the pig squealed, ran a few steps and stumbled, then took off peeling string tracker line from the spool. The string stopped spooling after maybe 10 seconds and I waited a few minutes then went to look while I still had daylight. The tracker line led me into a huge impenetrable thicket where I became so entangled I struggled to free myself to get back out while the vines and briars ripped at my hat, glasses, and clothes. I could still see the tracker line about 6 or 7 yards past as far as I could go but with no other options I had to back out. Returning to the stand I continued to hunt and wait for Jerry to hopefully help find the pig. Jerry managed to go a short distance further than I did only to find the end of the string but with no blood trail to follow. Continuing the search was impractical even if we could have gotten through the undergrowth.
After the shot I was believing I would be sending Michael Tinley a hero shot of his bow, my pig, and myself, and of course sharing it with all of you here but unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be. However, I do, at least, get to share this hunt and adventure without the trophy pic's which often is the case as many of you know. Thanks for letting me take you along, maybe next time I will have a REAL show and tell.
I was anxious to kill a pig with my new Tinley recurve which is a dream to shoot and which I am very confident with. Even so I waited for the closest pig to turn broadside and was just as cool as if I were shooting a 3D target and when he did give me the opportunity I came to a full solid anchor, picked my spot and the string slipped from my fingers. The bright red Luminock indicated the shot hit where I was looking, the pig squealed, ran a few steps and stumbled, then took off peeling string tracker line from the spool. The string stopped spooling after maybe 10 seconds and I waited a few minutes then went to look while I still had daylight. The tracker line led me into a huge impenetrable thicket where I became so entangled I struggled to free myself to get back out while the vines and briars ripped at my hat, glasses, and clothes. I could still see the tracker line about 6 or 7 yards past as far as I could go but with no other options I had to back out. Returning to the stand I continued to hunt and wait for Jerry to hopefully help find the pig. Jerry managed to go a short distance further than I did only to find the end of the string but with no blood trail to follow. Continuing the search was impractical even if we could have gotten through the undergrowth.
After the shot I was believing I would be sending Michael Tinley a hero shot of his bow, my pig, and myself, and of course sharing it with all of you here but unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be. However, I do, at least, get to share this hunt and adventure without the trophy pic's which often is the case as many of you know. Thanks for letting me take you along, maybe next time I will have a REAL show and tell.
