Sky Watkins and I checked game cameras for wild hog activity. It wasn’t hard to find, hog pictures were on all the cameras.
![Sky-Game-Camera-1](https://bowhunting.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sky-Game-Camera-1.jpg)
![Sky-Game-Camera-9](https://bowhunting.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sky-Game-Camera-9.jpg)
We picked out an area with hog traffic every day for the last two weeks and set up a pop up ground blind. Then Sky and I returned at 6:00 in the afternoon. It was 103 degrees and sitting inside the blind made it even hotter.
Hot weather usually means mosquitoes and right away I got my ThermaCELL out and turned it on. As always the ThermaCELL sent the mosquitoes packing.
Time passed … hotly. Finally the West Texas sun crawled down to the horizon and disappeared. A few minutes after 8:00 I saw some wild hogs walking 100 yards away. I signaled to Sky that hogs were in the area and he turned on the video camera in case they came out way.
They did.
Soon they were close enough for a good bow shot. But tree limbs were between them and me.
I couldn’t get a shot. They hog group went on past us and disappeared. Dark time came quickly and a whitetail doe came by us.
After the doe was gone Sky and I returned to the ATV. We left my blind in place for another hunt. The next day we ran the same plan, only we waited until 7:15 to get there. We ThermaCELLed up and waited.
The wild hogs showed up a few minutes later than before. And from the opposite direction.
They stopped on the side of the blind that I had the mesh velcroed down on. It took them a couple of minutes to get in easy bow range.
If they came by us on the left I could shoot through the blind’s open window. If they picked the right I was out of luck because the windows on that side were velcroed shut.
But while the shot opportunity I had was very close I would have had to shoot through the mesh. And I prefer not to do that.
The hogs passed by to the right of the blind.
On the next hunt Colten and Sky drove out to a different stand site.
This was my last hunt because we were all leaving in the morning . Sky and Colten drove off to do some last minute work and I set up to hunt.
A group of rams walked right by me. Here they are giving me the raspberry because I can’t shoot them.
Then I saw two very nice bucks in velvet. One was particularly high with long points for this early in the growing period. At last light some hogs showed.
I don’t like to shoot in low light so I waited until they left and phoned Sky to pick me up.
The next morning after I left the lodge a huge racked buck ran across the road in front of my pickup. I stopped to see if I could get a picture of this big boy. And 60 yards further up the road 4 bomber bucks crossed the road.
What a super ending to my hog hunt. I can’t wait until October and the 6th Annual Bowhunting.net Bowhunt at Big Johnson Outfitters. Maybe I will meet up with one of the 6 bomber bucks I saw on this trip.
2011 Wild Hog Bowhunts is Sponsored By:
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