It was a perfect morning for a hog hunt. The weather was a little cool and partly cloudy, so we were all hoping that the hogs were going to be frisky.
This was Mike Alstott’s and Rich Clements first time hunting with a crossbow, so the excitement was high. I wanted to make sure they were hunting with the best crossbows, so I got in touch with my sponsor Barnett Crossbows in Tarpon Springs, Fla., and got them set up with a Ghost 350 and a Buck Commander Bow. These crossbows are amazing, and if you can’t kill a hog with these Masters of Disaster, then ”you can’t kill a hog.”
Just as our journey is underway and Mike and Rich are feeling comfortable with us guiding them, Tommy, my hunting partner, slams on the brakes and jumps out of the truck barefoot. He grabs a small rope so he can catch a 5-foot Moccasin snake that is on the road. Needless to say, the look on Mike and Richs’s faces was one of question and concern. I could tell they were beginning to wonder if they were hunting with some crazy folks. Once the live 5.2-foot, 5.5-pound Moccasin was in the bed of the truck, it was time to head back down the road to go hunting for something equally as dangerous.
We arrived at the hunting location and started to get Mike and Chris comfortable with shooting their Barnett Crossbows before we headed out to the stand. At the first location, we climbed up into the stand and settled in to wait for our monster hog to show up and say “hello.” We saw quite a few hogs running around but none of them decided to offer themselves up for the kill. We had to take matters into our own hands.
Tommy climbed down and started looking down the trails to see if they had all run to the other side of the property, but we were in luck. They were just waiting on the outskirts of the clearing. Tommy signaled that he was going to get around behind them and see if he could push them our way so Rich could take down his first hog. Once the hogs started running our way, Rich was ready to take the shot and he nailed it right behind the front leg. Man that hog took off, but he was not going to make it far with the shot Rich made. He was at a full run for about 20 yards then just went end over end and hit the ground hard.
Now it was time to hit the ground and do what we call “walk and stalk.” Mike was anxious to start tracking down the hog’s and get some action of his own. Rich and Tommy went off to the left, and Mike and I started off to the right. We were hoping they would come across some hogs and send them our direction. Mike and I found a good spot on the edge of one of the game trails and we got into position. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two big black hogs coming our way! I signaled to Mike and he was ready to burn one as soon as they came into range. They were on to us, because they did not miss a beat coming by us at a full run. They were here and gone in the blink of an eye. Mike tried to get a piece of one but they were moving so fast he missed.
We re-grouped again to figure out a game plan and make sure we were going to take home the bacon. Starting to “walk and stalk” again, we split into two groups, this time I went with Tommy, and Mike went with Rich. Off in the distance, Tommy and I spotted a huge black hog. He had to weigh at least 160 pounds and looked pretty grumpy, he didn’t like the thought of us in his woods. We started to track him to see if we could get closer, but he was too far into the trees to get a clear shot. Suddenly, we hear Mike’s crossbow go off and sure enough he had hit a hog.
Now it was my turn to snag a hog, so I loaded my crossbow and headed to the north of the property. Crouching behind a large tree I saw a pretty good-sized hog to the north down the trail but he was out of reach. That hog stood there for quite some time before Tommy decided he was going to sneak around the east side and see if he could maybe push him my direction. That all sounds good as long as I don’t miss when he decides to run at me. The hog starts to ease out from the brush a little bit and I could see the front half of his body. I had a pretty good eye on him and I figured I better take a shot before the hog made his move. I fired an arrow real quick and hit him right in the heart. He started running full speed toward me. I stood up and started to get another arrow loaded, hopefully before he reached me, because he was ready to rumble, and it may not go my way. Luckily my shot had split his heart in two and he turned and dropped right before he reached me. That was close!
The good news is we all had a great time! We got three hogs and got to use our amazing Barnett Crossbows. The surprise of the day was the 5-foot Moccasin skin to boot! It was a great day of hog hunting with Mike Alstott and Rich Clements.
