It was a Monday night, January 18, 2016 to be exact, and I
felt compelled to go out searching for hogs because I was unable to go on the
weekend. I met up with Jackie, one of the girls who worked on the ranch, and we
set out stalking for hogs. As we walked down the road we saw 2 big black spots
running across the field in the dark; we tried to turn to cut them off but they
linked up with another group of hogs that came into range before we were ready.
Frozen in an open road with no cover and less than perfect wind, I stood and
watched their movement. We couldn’t advance forward so we crouched and watched.
Unfortunately they started to scatter, I stood and began to draw on one but
they crossed a small hill and headed downwind of us eliminating any attempt of
a shot.
As we made our way back down the main road towards the
target feeder I saw another large group of hogs crossing the field. Once again
we stopped and I watched them cross the road. This time we had good wind but
they were splitting up and moving away from us. I was conflicted between
continuing on to the hog at the feeder and trying to stalk this group. As I
stood and contemplated, I watched the hogs; the group had stopped nearly 80+
yards away and 3 solo hogs had broken away from the group and were now parallel
to us and the road. I ranged one of the solo hogs at 48 yards.
I was unsure of the shot at that distance. I practice out to
55 yards, mostly for elk hunting, but this was at night, in tall grass, on a
smaller target, and out of my comfort zone. The hog I ranged moved away but
another one nearby was still standing and feeding in the field, so I drew and
decided to take the shot. My hope was that if I missed it would be a clean miss
and the group would spook slightly, move on and we could continue to stalk to
the hog at the feeder. The red light on my bow was dim at 50 yards so I took a
few extra looks outside of the peep. I put my lighted 50 yard pin on the hog
and released.
Although I have increased my draw weight to 47-48 pounds, at
50 yards there is still some time to watch my arrow get there. So as Jackie and
I stood in the dark watching my blue lighted nock fly through the air I heard
it hit! Not only did the arrow hit on the hogs left shoulder area, but it
squealed, completed a 180 turn and dropped right in her tracks! As I began to
freak out, Jackie was just as excited. Jackie is a hunter, but has never been involved in bow hunting and as she expressed “that was the coolest
thing I have ever seen” I responded in disbelief by saying “I am not that good,
they never drop like that!”
I ranged the hog again to confirm I wasn’t completely insane
and it said 48 yards. Jackie tapped me on the shoulder and said “Candace, you
were standing back here next to me”. Apparently I had taken a few steps forward
after I shot to anticipate the hog running and I needed to keep my red light on
her for as long as possible. So I took a few steps back to where Jackie was
still standing and ranged again. 50 yards! I nearly fell over from disbelief
but still had to finish the job.
As a bow hunter typically the only time an animal will drop
like that is due to a spine shot which requires a follow up shot. With my
pistol on my hip and my AR-15 in Jackie’s hands, we slowly made our way over to
the downed hog. I told Jackie, if she gets up to run shoot her! As we approached I
looked for my arrow in her spine but couldn’t see it. She wasn’t trying to get
up but still breathing so I told Jackie to put a bullet behind the ear for our
safety and to ensure faster expiration because I was unsure of where she had
been hit. As we flipped her over to see my shot I found my arrow broken and bloody, lying
under her body. To my surprise there was a broad head hole right in her lower
shoulder where I had pierced her heart!
The rainbow effect of my arrow at 50 yards created a perfect
downward angle right behind her shoulder and it had created just
enough penetration to knock her down. I was completely baffled and stunned that
I had just made that shot! Everyone told me I should have just said “yeah I am
that good” or “I do that all the time” but my over-excitement clearly showed
that didn’t happen all the time!
I practice shooting my bow quite often, I
practice out to 55 yards, I even practice in the dark, but to see it come to
fruition with a witness by my side, I was in heaven.
We drug her to the road and weighed her on our hitch hoist
at 133.5lbs. It was officially my longest confirmed kill shot ever with a bow
and one of the few shots where tracking was not needed! I was impressed
with her extremely long Russian snout and the smile on my face could not be
erased for days!
