Hog Huntin with Ray Hammond

[JC]

20 quick steps later I neared an oxbow I would have to detour up the bank around.....one step up the bank and the water 10 feet in front of me parted like someone felled a tree into it's murky depths.

Holy....smokes! So that's what a gator tail looks like flailing through the water....thankfully, away from me. I scurried up the bank and continued my pursuit through the cane and brush.

10 sweaty minutes later I had covered 50 yards and now....could no longer hear the pigs. They had escaped.....

[vermonster13]

Do we need to beg some more for another installment?

[Doc Nock]

Past that boy's bedtime so I guess I'll just wrap it up! Wow...all that and then shots, misses and "Oh, Lordie" run ins with gators headed in the right direction! You live well, JC!

 :eek:    :rolleyes:    :cool:

[JC]

Ray waved from the other side of the bank.....I motioned if he heard or saw them....the look on his face said it all. They were gone.

I carefully made my way back down stream, searched a few moments for the two arrows that were now somewhere over kansas, pulled my first miss out of the muck and crossed, making my way back out to the road. Careful of course, for any scaleys that might mistake me for an overgrown piglet.

I was dejected....I was irritated with myself. I could tag a golf ball with regularity from that distance but I had nerved myself completely off a 60# porker. I knelt and after wiping the mudd off, quickly buffed a razor edge back on the miss and put it back in my quiver. Then I noticed that everywhere around me....EVERYWHERE the ground had been tilled seemingly just moments before.

And I heard the grunts....two pigs, just across the road, moving away from me but not spooked. Now spurred on by my failures I pushed it...trotting after them in an attempt to catch up. I simply couldn't keep up with them....

I got my bearings and headed back towards the road. But not before, with my head hung in shame, I noticed yet another wonder of His creation....

 

I had to laugh at myself....it was a miss, an old fashioned honest one at that...a deflection....and a "not there when the arrow arrived". I was humbled....I could think back on my six years with the stickbow and count on 2 fingers the number of previous misses on big game.....I guess I had a lesson to learn.

Back at the truck I sat on the tailgate carving a piece of dry sausage. The sting was gone now, replaced with the replaying movie of the last half hour.

Ray laughed down the trail and I turned to see his grin. "I was whistling and whistling....I was afraid that big gator had got you."

Nawww....it was only maybe a six footer. Then Ray looked really seriously and said..."No, I meant the 20'x3' slide that was another 10 yards down the bank from where you turned back." GULP.

Did you see me shoot?  With a giggle I got "I saw you miss.....3 times!" Only a good friend can jab you like that and it not hurt. We laughed and headed back to camp.

[knife river]

I'm hoping he's loading more pics -- pig pics!

[JC]

Back at the trailer I piled out and immediately perforated the hog target three times within a half inch of where I was looking.

Now why didn't I do that with that shoate! "Cuz that, ain't got fur on it" Ray said with a grin. He consoled me with the fact that I need to miss many many times over my trad future to catch up with him. Yep, it was humbling.

For all you guys that hung on looking for blood...I'm sorry. You can leave now, I've lead you on for nothing.

For all you who followed in a hunt for the sake of a hunting tale, followed a hunt that will forever be many happy memories for me, I will tell you I am a better hunter because of my failure than I would have been because of a bloody arrow and a pig hanging in the skinning shed. I choked, whiffed, messed up....whatever you want to call it....and it was my turn to. No excuses, only the burning desire to remain in control of my faculties next time...not rush my shot...pick a smaller spot....forget about the gators....and a million other things that have run through my mind since those 3 arrows that didn't connect.

Thank you Ray. I learned a lot on this trip. You are a good friend, and a fine man. I'm proud to have spent the time with you. Maybe next time....or the next. But you know what, even if not....I had a trip I will look back on for years to come and smile deeply. And I will long for the next one....

To good friends to hunt with, beautiful sights of God's endless wonder, the excitement of the hunt.....and oh yeah....pigs....I'll be back!    

 

[vermonster13]

Great pics and an even better story. Excellent job JC!

[Terry Green]

Thanks for sharing Joe....good story none the less my friend.  

[Leland]

Thanks for the story,sounds like you had a great time.You did'nt make meat, but you made some great memories.

[4runr]

Thanks JC that was awesome readin.

[Whip]

Great story Joe - had me on the edge of my seat the whole way.  Now you know how the rest of us feel most of the time..........  :(  
But you found what was most important anyway, so it all turned out good  

[knife river]

Good attitude, JC!  That's proof that a successful hunt can be measured in a lot of ways.    

[Mudfeather]

That was cool!!  

[Hogtamer]

JC: That "flower" you couldn't identify is crotalaria  (spelling??), a legume that was imported as a "land builder."  Those green pods turn brown in the fall and the seeds within are shaped sort of like a boxing glove.  NOTHING eats them in the wild because they are deadly poison.  When a farmer takes a load of corn or soybeans to the elevator to sell, several samples are pulled with long tubes that go all the way to the bottom of the truck.  ONE crotalaria seed in the samples and the whole load has to be cleaned so as to guarantee none of the seeds can be ground up as feed....

[Brian Halbleib]

Some of the best hunting stories I've ever read ended without the taking of game, and this one is no exception. But the hunt was a success anyway based on all the wonderful pictures you were kind enough to show us. Fantastic story telling JC, you really captured this reader. Looking forward to hunting with you next month.

-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com

[Ray Hammond]

great spending time with you JC. He is a great campmate, fellas...always a cheerful spirit, always ready to try whatever you think up, always offering to pitch in and help- and always happy to be doing whatever he's doing.

THAT'S the kind of fellow you want to spend your days with in hunting camp.

Thanks for going with me JC...and for not making me skin hogs in 102 degree weather!We'll get after them again soon, and you will be successful I am sure. Glad that BIG GATOR didn't get you, for sure...would have not wanted to tell Miss Kim about that.

[tippit]

JC, Great story and great hunt.  It's the trip not the meat pole that keeps your heart singing.  Sounds like you two had a wonderful ride.  Congrats on a very successful trip...Doc

[ber643]

Sure read like a winner to me, guys. Kudos to JC and Ray for a memorable hunt! Been there, done that (or similar at least -    )

[DirtyDan]

Great story, JC.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Don't feel bad about that.  If this sport was easy, it wouldn't be near as much fun.

[Miss Kim]

Now Ray I have to tell ya, I wasn't really excited when JC told me about the gators either. Notice, he waited until AFTER the hunt to tell me about them.......  :rolleyes:  
He said if that big gator had gotten him that "Ray would go back and get my bow...it's too good of a bow to leave out there." What are hunting buddies for? That's supposed to make me feel better.......oh well, you brought him back safe and sound with some great memories.
Thank you.......
Kim