TripleHog ShishkaPork
South Texas baby! Ain’t no place quite like it! Wonderful people, abundant wildlife, amazing wildgrounds and plenty of sunshine. And the TexMex food is to die for!
I like it a lot!
So old heartland bowhunting blood brother Larry Woodward had setup one of these wonderful popup blinds in the vast cactus and mesquite jungles where trails converged and scattered some golden kernels heather and yon for the last few days, and the swine had figured it out.
Trailcam imagery showed the numerous sounders showing up well before dark and even at sunup, so the porkchops were imminent.
We settled in for the ritual bowhunting ambush with the Spirit of the Wild vidcam cocked and locked. The sun was at our back and the wind in our face, and within the dark confines of the Muddy blind confidence was running a solid 10.
The beautiful iridescent green jays and assorted songbirds and woodpeckers kept us entertained as the shadows grew longer.
In just a little over an hour we heard the unmistakable gruntsnort of distant swine and we went from standby to killmode in unison.
Smaller shoats charged right in as the larger boars and sows took their time investigating the surroundings. Larry filmed the beautiful stinkers as they jockeyed for prime corn consumption when the largest red boar finally committed broadside at 20 something yards, and in an instant the mystical flight of my 400 grain GoldTip arrow was on its way into downtown pump station city.
As the glowing Lumenok disappeared into the foreleg crease all porkhell erupted in loud grunts, angry snorts and high-pitched squeals as the pigsplosion scattered in all directions.
The scary sharp two blade 100 grain SteelForce broadhead from my 46-pound draw Mathews Image bow had sliced all the goodstuff and the bloodspray was obvious all the way out of site into the thick mesquite and prickly pear cactus hinterland.
The only smile bigger than the one I sliced on the hog’s ribcage were the smiles on Larry and my face for a perfect arrow on a perfect hog for a perfect South Texas Spirit of the Wild TV bowhunting celebration.
Heck, it was still early, there was still plenty of corn on the ground, and my Mathews bow was so damn silent that we were confident the pigs were simply confused as to what had just transpired, so I nocked another GoldTip and we settled in for round two of porkchop hill fun.
And it was just a little over an hour later when the awe-inspiring scenario once again began to unfold before our very eyes. I actually smelled this new gaggle of porkers making their way into Corn City before I heard or saw them, and they didn’t waste any time pigging out on the not-so free lunch.
Oh they will pay, and pay dearly!
A larger black sow gave it to me broadside at about 30 yards, and beautiful zebra GoldTip arrow number two was on its deadly way.
A cacophony of screeches, squeals, grunts, snorts and wails unleashed in a cloud of swirling South Texas dust and away they went, with my heartpunched sow tipping over in a heap within seconds.
I mean, my God, is there anything more fun that this? I think not.
We hustled to film a quick recovery and drag back to the blind with hopes of just one more kill before the setting sun ended what was already as great a bowhunting day as anyone could ever hope for.
And sure enough, as if by the hand of God, after a short spell, here comes sounder number three for the day, carefully moving into the my kill zone for a hopeful triple header.
The absolute beauty of my bowhunting life is that every kill has a life of its own, as if I have never made a kill before. My avidity for the critter encounter is always as if it’s the first time every time.
Miraculously, I was able to pull it all together, calm down enough to execute my lifetime trained killer shot sequence, and my Mathews bow was one with my predator heart with kill number three for the day as wonderful as wonderful can be.
Larry captured the entire magical hunt on SpiritWild film to celebrate for the whole world to see exactly how perfect killing pigs with the bow and arrow is, and that they should all try it for the thrill of their lives.
Gutting, loading, cleaning and hanging our wild pork in the cooler extended the joys of bowhunting right up until it was time to chowdown on some fresh porkribs and then hit the sack to prepare for another amazing day in the wilds of South Texas heaven.
I said a prayer for the WildThings as I laid me down to sleep, thanking God for His miraculous gift of life, especially His miraculous gift of bowhunting life.