It had been quiet evening when I saw hiim.  I had seen a couple of does, and a small buck.  I enjoyed filming them and watching them as they consumed the grain that had been spun out by the automated feeder.  I was hunting deer, but was really looking for a nice mature fat doe for the freezer.

This wasn’t the first time I had hunted this stand in Texas, and had taken both does and bucks from here.  I had even seen two sow hogs with a whole passel of piglets a year earlier.  The wind was blowing directly from the feeder to me, that’s what had allowed me to watch the deer feeding without spooking them.  I was running out of light.  The evening was rapidly advancing and I wasn’t sure how much time I would have for filming.

I probably have as much fun filming my hunts as I do actually hunting.  I think my photo gear weighs more in my pack than all my archery gear.  I was focused on my camera when all of the sudden the deer just disappeared!  One moment I was watching three deer, I looked down at my SLR camera, and when I looked up, they were gone!  This is not particularly unusual, deer spook at just about anything.  However, they often spook for a good reason.  I had seen a bobcat at this stand last year, and I was hoping to get some video of the cat if it put in another appearance.

The blind I was in had limited visibility, so I my vision was limited by the shooting lanes built into the handmade cedar blind.  I am watching through all three of the blind openings to see what might transpire, when off to my right, I saw movement.  It was a hog, and a very good sized one!

I looked over to make sure the video camera was running, and determined that this was a shot I would take.  I waited anxiously to see whether the hog would continue into my shooting lane.  He was being cautious.  Nose to the wind, looking everywhere, he moved toward the feeder and the grain on the ground.  Hogs don’t have very good eyesight, but their sense of smell and hearing are great.  As he moved into my one of my shot windows, I raised my bow as he turned his head away from me.

But as I raised the bow, my lower bow limb clicked against my camera tripod, and the hog was instantly alert.  But his turn resulted in a perfect broadside shot for me.  I completed my draw, centered my 20 yard pin just behind his shoulder, and touched the release.  The video showed the arrow burying itself to the vanes as the hog ran off.

I waited fifteen minutes to give the hog enough time to run off and hopefully expire.  While waiting, I reviewed the video and was please with the arrow placement on the video.  But I was not really happy about following a wounded hog into the brush as light faded.  I eased my way out of the blind, found the hogs trail and marked where he entered the brush.  I would come back in the morning to follow up on the blood trail.

Morning found me and a couple of huntin’ buddies on the edge of the brush where the hog had entered.  There was a good blood trail, and it only took us about 20 minutes to find the hog.  He had only gone about 100 yards from where I shot him. 

Deer hunting had resulted in a surprise hog!