Hunting the dead. - 04/04/16
On a recent hunting outing, my wife and I had a crazy experience.
We were doing a spot and stalk hunt on a private farm for some troublesome wild hogs in Oklahoma. I would guess we did a dozen stalks unsuccessfully with the habitat and wind issues. Eventually these attempts pay off. It's just a matter of time and determination.
One morning hunt was an exciting time of stalking, but without any luck we decided to head back to our camp for lunch. I knew one large pond was on the return hike back to the trailer. We put ourselves into the position for the proper wind, and slid into the position for a look see at the shore line. Sure enough there were a few hogs in the water and along the shore. I saw one that was as hairy as a wholly mammoth but not very big, maybe 125lbs.
I was at this point about 45 yards away,... however they were moving right in front of us. At about 25 yards I was able to shoot this wooly one with a Rage Hypodermic perfectly through the chest behind the front leg. The blood spouted out both sides with the arrows exit. He ran about 30-40 yards and then out of sight.
We sat a minute, with my wife commenting on how hairy that pig was. I said yeah! I noticed that right away. It's why I wanted to shoot that one actually. Maybe 10 minutes pass by and we decide to go fetch the hog, no doubt about the result of the shot, we could see the blood on the ground from 25 yards away.
We walk over to the point of impact, and my wife who really enjoys this part of the process takes over the track in front of me. She only needs to go another 20-30 yards and the hog lays dead. She is a little ahead of me and says no this is not it. It's a dead one that is old. It's Not the one we shot. Hmmm It's exactly the one we shot, not a different one to my thinking, A hog that well furred is unique!
She says no, this one is an old dead one, it's covered in maggots!
When I walk up to see it, .......wow, she is right, it's snout is broken, crusty, disgusting and covered with flys and maggots. But the 2" slice through the chest is fresh and the blood trail leads right to this hog! It looks like it has been dead for a week, yet I just shot this pig 20 minutes ago? My guess is that it's been in a fight with a bigger hog and been bitten and crushed across the long snout. Somehow these insects found a living host to live in.
Well.... I made the executive decision to not butcher this hog for fear it was septic and might have had some blood poisoning. It was quite gross, How did it live this way? Not sure it had any functional sense of smell, or taste, There was about a pint of living squirming maggots in the nostrils and inside the bridge of the nose which was gaping open.
Only the long thick hair on this hog could have hidden this from me when I shot it. I never used binoculars, they were close from the start. My focus was on the chest for my aiming. In any case now Callie says we shot a Zombie boar. Amazing what a wild animal can survive and live with!
We were doing a spot and stalk hunt on a private farm for some troublesome wild hogs in Oklahoma. I would guess we did a dozen stalks unsuccessfully with the habitat and wind issues. Eventually these attempts pay off. It's just a matter of time and determination.
One morning hunt was an exciting time of stalking, but without any luck we decided to head back to our camp for lunch. I knew one large pond was on the return hike back to the trailer. We put ourselves into the position for the proper wind, and slid into the position for a look see at the shore line. Sure enough there were a few hogs in the water and along the shore. I saw one that was as hairy as a wholly mammoth but not very big, maybe 125lbs.
I was at this point about 45 yards away,... however they were moving right in front of us. At about 25 yards I was able to shoot this wooly one with a Rage Hypodermic perfectly through the chest behind the front leg. The blood spouted out both sides with the arrows exit. He ran about 30-40 yards and then out of sight.
We sat a minute, with my wife commenting on how hairy that pig was. I said yeah! I noticed that right away. It's why I wanted to shoot that one actually. Maybe 10 minutes pass by and we decide to go fetch the hog, no doubt about the result of the shot, we could see the blood on the ground from 25 yards away.
We walk over to the point of impact, and my wife who really enjoys this part of the process takes over the track in front of me. She only needs to go another 20-30 yards and the hog lays dead. She is a little ahead of me and says no this is not it. It's a dead one that is old. It's Not the one we shot. Hmmm It's exactly the one we shot, not a different one to my thinking, A hog that well furred is unique!
She says no, this one is an old dead one, it's covered in maggots!
When I walk up to see it, .......wow, she is right, it's snout is broken, crusty, disgusting and covered with flys and maggots. But the 2" slice through the chest is fresh and the blood trail leads right to this hog! It looks like it has been dead for a week, yet I just shot this pig 20 minutes ago? My guess is that it's been in a fight with a bigger hog and been bitten and crushed across the long snout. Somehow these insects found a living host to live in.
Well.... I made the executive decision to not butcher this hog for fear it was septic and might have had some blood poisoning. It was quite gross, How did it live this way? Not sure it had any functional sense of smell, or taste, There was about a pint of living squirming maggots in the nostrils and inside the bridge of the nose which was gaping open.
Only the long thick hair on this hog could have hidden this from me when I shot it. I never used binoculars, they were close from the start. My focus was on the chest for my aiming. In any case now Callie says we shot a Zombie boar. Amazing what a wild animal can survive and live with!
