No Success Hog hunting...or was it?

[hobbeeman]

I finally have been able to join a hunting lease here in West Texas (after looking several years for a way to hunt in my home State without $$)

My son (14) and I went to the lease last weekend (full moon) taking with us some smelly rotten catfish feed, soured dogfood, and moldy/smelly birdseed. We were instructed to bury this mess just off of the riverbed and that the pigs would likely find it within 24 hrs. After burying it the first night, we explored the lease, 10 sections (10 square miles) and saw turkey, whitetail deer, roadrunners, quail, mule deer, and lots of black angus Our '88 4-runner could not get stuck on any of the sand trails or in the riverbottom, nor matter how hard we tried

On the second night, we went back to a bluff about 60 feet above the buried smelly mess, across the riverbed, and sat from 3 hours before sunset, til about 2 hours after sundown. Wind was blowing from south to north, right up the bed of the river. We ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches, drank gatorade and observed the West Texas beauty all around us. We were especially impressed that we could make out the crosshairs in our optics by the light of nothing but the full moon

We did not see any hogs, and we did not get to shoot a single shot through either of our rifles but my son said that it was one of the best hunting trips we have taken

A good weekend.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

sounds like a good hunt to me, maybe you should have brought along more PB&jelly sandwiches fer bait tho! hogs would come a-runnin!

 

[TehK1w1]

Some of the most enjoyable hunts of my life have not involved sighting a single huntable animal. It's all about the experience

 

[koja48]

Over the years I have come to the realization that it is not necessarily the actual "hunting" or harvesting that is of the most memorable worth and that time spent with one's children or other loved ones comprise the greatest of treasures. We all too frequently tend to become overly-focused on the quarry and lose sight of those "other" things . . . the closeness of a wet Lab trembling with anticipation of the first flight of morning . . . the sweet smell & serenity of a new dawn . . . the lonely call of a coyote or elk . . . the cacophony of goose talk as they make that final pass.

Among my personal favorites:

The look of utter surprise on my oldest Son's face at the tender young age of 5 when he saw the duck he had shot his BB gun at tumbling into the decoy spread (to this day, I don't think he even heard my 20-gauge & I evidently was convincing when I told him, after the fact, that I picked a different bird & had missed).

The protective warmth of my Father's presence as his big, work-toughened hand held mine & led me to the very same duck blind so many years before . . . and now with Grandchildren, the experience is perpetuated in a different state, to a different blind, but with a similar treasure at the end . . . life is so good . . .

 

[MCgunner]

Give the bait time. Keep baiting the spot until you start seeing sign. Or, you could set a hog trap and let that do your night hunting. I'm all rigged up for night hunting, but just ain't a night person. Hogs I've taken have been in daylight usually while deer hunting or in areas that were ate up with hogs.

Yeah, a good, bright scope is pretty awesome in a full moon, almost like a night scope. I have a 44mm "Weatherby Supreme" 3x9 on my 7 mag that is excellent.

 

[Neophyte1]

Being Outside

My agreement of good family visits during the Moonlight hour.
'My Wife doesn't agree'
Having been a Coon hunter with decent friends; we have moseyed about, late into the night, following along behind some hounds.
Experienced some of the finest moments of my life.
Out-standing Fellow-ship with friends to embrace the moment.
Mucus freezing in the nose, falling in creeks, lying as** dawgs.
What blessings.

Craig

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

Sounds like a great trip to me, especially the peanut butter and honey sandwiches!

 

[Kurt S.]

Sounds like a good hunting trip to me, as some other folks have pointed out it's the outdoors experience that counts.

I'm not sure about your hogbait mix, although I have seen hog tracks and wallows even around nasty old gut piles. The best bait I have found is deer corn mixed with "Hog Wild", or if you prefer home-made (a lot cheaper!) you can mix strawberry jello powder with un-iodized table salt and throw that in with your corn.

I have heard people swear that mixing corn with diesel fuel works great.

 

[Shadow Shock]

You still got to experience the best part of hunting, nature. Next time, for bait try deer corn soaked in desal (I can't spell). Hogs love it, and other animals wont touch it (can't blame 'em).

 

[waterhouse]

Best hunts I ever had involved walking and talking with my dad, whether we shot anything or not. He always joked that if we didn't see anything to shoot it made cleaning the guns easier.