Texas Hog Huntin'

For whatever reason, I decided this past year that I wanted to go hog hunting.  I'd never done it, Bill has in Mississippi, but I'd never done it and I just decided it was time we make this happen.  We have a friend that lives in Nacagdoches, Texas and so I started talking with Charlie  about hog hunting near him and within a few weeks I had a hog hunt put together for the three of us.  When we left here, it was  -12*, with the camper in tow.  It was so stinking cold, the heater in the camper wasn't able to make any difference in the temperature.  Basically, we were putting stuff in the refrigerator simply to keep it from freezing and stuff in the freezer to just keep it contained while traveling.  The roads were pretty slick which made for slow going so we only made it as far as York, Nebraska the first day and the local temperature was no improvement.  The next morning, until the wind came up anyway, was certainly an improvement; and by improvement I'm talking it was probably around +15*.  Hey that was a +27* difference.  THAT'S a HUGE improvement!

Second day we made it as far as Denton, Texas where the grass was green and the trees were trying to bud out!  Time to get the flip flops out!  When we arrived in Nacagdoches on Sunday the temp's were in the mid 70's and life was REALLY good!!!!!!  Perfect weather for a margarita and those rib eye's Charlie was grilling for us! Casey was an excellent traveling buddy the whole trip, although once we finally reached Charlie's, it was definitely time for us all to get out of the truck.  As I was asking Charlie if it was OK for Casey to get in the pond, she found it and splashed.  It was just the ticket for her!

Bill, our friend Charlie, and his friend Sandy

Casey was on duck patrol while at Charlie's.  It was great entertainment watching her chase this duck around the pond!  She kept it worried the whole time we were there; you'd have though it would have gotten tired of being chased and left but it never did.  I only thought Casey was legged up when we left, after days of swimming in the pond, now she's REALLY in shape!

I got my first hog!  A sow in the 120 pound class!  This has the Russian Boar characteristics, the real long snout.  Casey didn't get to go with on the hunt, but she got to go with to retrieve it.  She was a very happy little dog playing in the creek and trying to figure out what this 'thing' was.

Bill asked me if I wanted to have the pig tail taxidermist'd so I would always have a pig tail.  (Not!!!!)

I was surprised at how thick the hide was.

Sunset our last night at the hunting shack.

Hogs are very destructive animals.  I knew they tore the ground up, but I truly had no idea how bad!  This was all fresh rooting that the rancher didn't know was there.  Once the grass starts turning green, they don't much care about the corn but are far more interested in digging for worms and such.  This picture really doesn't show it, but the ground was really tore up!  No wonder folks that live where the hogs are think they are a pest.

Find a hog in this stuff!

Bill got a shot at one our last morning but it went into this kind of stuff.  To say it was thick is an understatement!  He knows he made a solid hit, but we were unable to recover it.  The cover they live in is so thick, this happens sometimes.  When you hunt in this, it's far easier to move around on your hands and knees.

I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but look at all the thorns on the branches.  This is what we were 'walking' through hunting.   We also had lots and lots of cardinals around - so many so that I don't think I'd ever seen so many!

Back in Nacagdoches, Charlie had some work around his farm that he needed a little help with. 
I guess I've brought to much firewood in over the years......it really pained me to see such good wood burned in a bon fire!  Pine trees are what he needed cut down and people down there only buy oak for firewood so a bon fire is the only option for getting rid of it. 

Uncle Charlie gave Casey a giant bone for the trip home....and y'all think WE spoil her!

She LOVES her bone Uncle Charlie!!!!

And this is what we came home to.

As far as Casey was concerned, if she couldn't have a pond to play in, a snow bank was the next best thing!

Now that we have gone hog hunting, and I realize all the damage these animals do, I understand why they are viewed as pests.  I have to admit, if (when) they make it to South Dakota, I won't be real happy about them tearing up our place. 

I now have a whole new respect for these animals.  I truly didn't realize that we would really be hunting; all the hog hunting you see on TV is done from a stand.  We could have done this, but chose to use the stalk method instead.  (To me, sitting on a stand is boring.  There is certainly a time for sitting and watching, but to make that the entire hunt - just not my thing.)  Even in that really thick stuff, once you get in it, they have worn trails that are practically highways!  Again, they are very abusive to the land. 

Our second morning I had the opportunity of shooting a very large boar, probably in the 350+ pound class.  (It was big enough we thought is was a cow!)  Again, these are very tough animals.  It was eating on some corn we had thrown out the night before and had no idea we were there.  Even though I made a solid hit, it got down over the edge and we had a hard time finding a blood trail.  I finally picked it up when I was literally on my hands and knees trying to get through some trees.  Charlie and I decided to just leave it be and not push it hoping it would just lay down and we'd come back for it.  (When they get that big, they aren't worth trying to eat.  They have a trophy value, but mostly ranchers just want them taken out as, again, they are very destructive animals.)

I hit this boar hard enough that Charlie found a piece of rib bone while he was tracking it and Bill found a piece of lung while he and I were on the opposite side of the creek tracking it.  We tracked it for at least 400 yards before it made it over onto the neighbor's place and we weren't able to track it any farther. 

These really are big and tough animals.  Again, I have a whole new respect for just how tough they are.  We had a really good time and I'm looking forward to doing it again.  I think next time we will go a little earlier in the year and maybe a different spot so we can see some different country.  If you are interested, I've made a public link on my face book page at https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33641&id=1728739403 if you would like to see all the pictures from our trip.  (Just click on the link and it should take you directly to it.)