As I mentioned, this was an odd year weather wise and the hogs weren't moving as normal. Mixed with the rut kicking in I had a bit of a dilemma. Saturday morning we all hit the blind and saw nothing but tumbleweeds and listened to crickets. By ten o'clock my buddy agreed we were going to see nothing. After all the racket in the area the previous day not a lot was happening. We leave our gear (except my bow) and take a drive in the Argo. We spotted a big tusker with a hot sow and he was following her like a love sick sixteen year old. I set up on an old skidder trail my owner friend pointed me to. We just passed it and there were two busy game trails crossing it. I set up between the two trails and my owner buddy slowly circled back and walked slowly towards me. I heard some hogs about fifty yards behind me and had a boar about thirty yards in the dense bush in front of me. I never saw him but the grinding of his cutters and that deep throaty growl was unmistakable. I saw a sow cross the trail above me about forty five yards or so away. That was it. My buddy went and picked up the Argo and came to get me. I climbed in and told him what transpired and he told me, 'we're going to the swamp'...as he calls it. There's a big dugout (or big pond) surrounded by the thickest, ugliest tangle of willows you can imagine. They grow close together and create what look like tunnels of various sizes that the hogs run through effortlessly but every movement we make is a fight.
Well, I was there once before and I have to be honest, I really didn't want to go back in. The first thing that hit me was that overpowering musky hog scent. I begrudgingly left my perceived safety of the Argo to move out into the 'swamp'.We spotted hogs across the water and one HUGE boy, of course, following a sow. We split up slightly and I was on the far left in our group. We weren't out very far when a couple sows and a young, but decent, boar busted out in front of us. It's so thick in there twenty yards would be a long shot. We pressed on and went maybe another forty or fifty yards. I see two sows right in front of me cutting to my left and I freeze. Partially from instinct, mostly from fear! One of the sows turns and walks right out in front of me and goes just past me and cuts off at about one o'clock. I was shocked to see Mr Big come out right behind her. I shouldered my 405 and leveled my crosshairs and followed him. He just stepped clear of, you guessed it, the willows and I squeezed the trigger. I tthought the shot was good but I literally had the sun directly in my eyes. As soon as that 600gr zombie tipped with the 125 grain toxic hit I saw the Luminok disappear and the giant shrieked something horrible. The speed he took off at (directly opposite my direction, thank Jesus) was terrifying. I was frozen watching and listening. In seconds my friends were beside me and I'm so glad they were able to see what just happened. The pounding of hoofs had stopped and now the crashing of willows stopped and everything was silent. We stood there another moment and took a few steps forward to where the giant was. It was thirteen yards from where I shot and blood was pouring out immediately. We walked about seven more yards and the blood was literally pouring non stop. We all agreed that he should be dead with the blood we were seeing but also agreed that with this monster it would be better to err on the side of caution. We walked back to the Argo and waited about fifteen minutes before getting the rope and heading back to follow the blood trail. The blood poured continuously all the way to the boar. You can see where I found him in one of the pics Marcel was kind enough to post. He had run about 45 yards from impact to expiry. I shot him on the right and the arrow exited the left side cutting through both lungs and the heart. The broadhead broke off some how. I found the arrow within twenty yards from where I shot but the arrow was broken right where I slugged it and the 110 grain brass insert met. We managed to get some pics and load goliath and head back to the blind to gather gear before dealing with him. As we're approaching the blind in the Argo we were actually charged by a big sow I'm guessing weighed between 225 - 250lbs.. I mean changed course and full on charge at the Argo at a crazy speed only to turn away at about ten feet away. Crazy! Big Boy, aka Blondie as we've named him, hit the scale with a completely empty stomach and weighed 330lbs. He had old scars that had healed and a big fresh one that made it through that ridiculous shield. Anyway, that's the story. Thanks for taking the time to read it all. I really needed that because now it's back to work. All the best.
Paul
