I know in my earlier post I was whining that July had not started well, but is ending well. Took the bow out to the local spot tonight, in the seat about 8 or so. Gusty, swirling winds so it wasn't too hot. Had just made an adjustment to the seat back and settled back and felt something crawl onto my hand---it was a big scorpion, but I was able to flick him off with no sting. Whew!!

About 8:40 or so I caught motion to my left--a doe. She hung up on the trail I walked in on--and I discovered a distinct disadvantage of not having cows around---no cow pies to use as scent cover. Doe backed off and I saw more motion further to my left--another couple of deer, and noticed a really black spot behind a mesquite about 18 yds away--Pig!!!! He did the same thing as the doe when he hit my trail, sniffed about twice, swapped ends and started back to my left. Since I'm a lefty--that is not a good way for him to go but I was able to turn slowly, get hooked up to the string, draw, and anchor. When he stopped at 14 yds, I put the pin on what I thought was mid-chest and squeezed it off. Heard the dull "thump-crunch" sound I associate with a good hit, saw the lighted nock in the ground behind where the hog was standing, and the hog lunged and took off. Too dark to see anything though--but listened and heard a crash, so I was confident. Waited 15 minutes, climbed down and checked the arrow--bubbly blood on the vanes.



Couldn't find any other blood immediately but started along his exit path--got 25 yds out and still no blood--went back to the arrow to start over, and found this about 5' away.



I scanned the area with the thermal scanner several times but nothing showed, so started doing the zig-zag along his exit, and about 25 yds out found this--not so encouraging:



Nothing else so I opted to go out into the field and scan both the field and the woods--no luck. Made a circle back to the arrow and started one more time. Got about 10-12 yds past the tiny spot and found where he crashed and knew he was down (I thought).



Found more sign--and the drip was a constant leak so at that point I was sure I had him.



Followed on another 5 yds to the edge of the treeline and darn near tripped over him!

Entry wound:



Exit wound:



And, so after a drag to the buzzard buffet, and a "de-tail" job, it was homeward bound, back in the house by 10!!

I'm guessing 140-150. Quite a contrast to the one I shot earlier this week.

Good shooting there Dusty.

Bloody mess huh?

George

Well done! How far did he go?

Question on the thermal scanner - I've never used one and thought it might be another gimmicky hunting device. So which one do you use? And do you find it useful very often?

Google earth says 73 yards from feeder to where I found him, minus 14 yds from feeder to stand, leaves about 59-60 yds of travel.

The distance from the shot to the first little blood sign indicated the shot was high and took the lung area a while to fill up with enough blood for it to come out--but once it filled, plenty of blood.

Sometime I think the blood just collects on the hair/dirt before it starts to drip. Especially with boar that has some shield. Had a few that rubbed blood but never dripped then perished not far! Night before last was a nice breezy sit though nothing showed!

Hannay---forgot to answer your question about the scanner---I started with a thermal scope on my rifle, an XP50 and love it. Only bad thing is having to swing the rifle around to scan, so I bought a less-expensive night vision scope to use as a hand scanner. One time out and I knew it wasn't gonna be worth it. Contacted the dealer and he said send it back and if it was unmarked he'd refund or give me credit towards some other scanner. I ended up buying a Pulsar Axion Key. Not cheap, but worth every penny. Just leave the rifle on the rest while you use the hand scanner to check for targets.

Bowhunting, it lets me see animals coming from a good distance thru the brush when you wouldn't necessarily see them, and get prepared. Once you have poked one, it is really helpful finding them in thick stuff. I don't know why I didn't see this one though, except I think he was down on the spot with all the blood and heard me coming, and moved on off just outside the treeline. The field is full of mid-thigh high dove weed so that may have kept me from seeing him.

My source is Outdoor Legacy in Nacogdoches, and Jason is the contact. He tells it straight and their service is outstanding.

Thanks for this info - sounds like it would be pretty useful for hunting in the dark.

In the dark for sure, but it also shows the same image during daylight hours, meaning animals approaching even in bright sunlight are detected.

Nice!