Back from the hog hunt...

[lockmaster]

I'm back from the hunt & BT is on his way home. He should be there around 2:00 PM today.

I'm happy to report that we had a very successful hunt, we got through the hunt safely and Had a marvelous time! I must say that BT is one of the best, most personable and fun guys that I have ever had the pleasure of sharing a hunt with! We generally just had a great time.

However...
BT had a very close "encounter with a Russian Boar of the mad kind". He escaped what could have been a very serious injury by a "dead boar running". We'll have that posted here as well!

In addition to the great hunt, we have some new info on a few broadheads... One confirmation of poor flight, one other one on flight and one we discovered new design flaw in as well as new info on penetration of the same head from a conventional bow!!

Between the two of us we have about 100 or so pics and a lot to share with you.

The weather turned out to be perfect all day yesterday for the hunt with the temp around 70-75 degrees.

As we left there this morning, BT described it to me as one of the most fun hunts he has ever been on......and I agree!

A lot of details will follow, so stay tuned!

[vonottoexperience]

Sounds like a great time! Tell us more

[BT]

I knew you'd be right on here

Don't you have a wrapping job to do?....

Right back at you my friend as to the comments of personality and camaraderie.

My wife forgot to get the freezer tape so she is running to get that and when she returns I will be out of here for awhile.

I droped the film off and they are not sure if it will be finished today but maybe

As far as the flight testing it was Lockmaster shooting the Muzzy and he managed to get a two out of three on the bulls eye with the third being off about as much as my own testing showed.

Had I had a couple of new heads we could have shot them 30 times as I do in the test and got a real comparison going.

The Wasp XXL that I failed a few years back for flight did the same thing out of his bow and in the end we left one as a sign of our visit in a pine tree due to it missing the target totally.
(Good penetration though ;D )

We used the sonic heads with the improved blades and I can tell you for sure that they are perhaps the strongest replacement blades out there.

Down side was that I leaned (on two attempts) that the same design is not forgiving on low K.E. bows
(More on that later)

We also had the good fortune to have shared or lodge cabin with a father and son team on their first preserve hunt.

To say that they were happy , I think would be putting it mildly and that fine young gentleman is already talking about a follow up fallow deer hunt
(hopefully with a bow )

As to the run in with the Russian

I can tell you that when a 220+ pounder perceives you as a threat and deems the time right to address that threat... it (the Boar) can attain the proportions of a 500+ Pounder ;D

I'm fine and just need a new set of pants as they are a bit messed up in a couple of places

I look forward to getting a review up on the preserve and I think that Lockmaster and I should do this one together first and then submit it.

As to the Pics....

They are the real way to tell a story and I really need to put captions under each so that you will get an idea of what went on there.

Hope to get to it soon

[2chucks2]

I am looking forward to all the details. Good job guys.

[BT]

Below you'll see Roger all smiles because he has managed to arrow this great Boar and he also had a great view of it heading toward me



Here is the view below from where Lockmaster had his perch.



To give you an idea of the size of Rogers hog....mine was 120-130#
Notice the amount of rocks !
This made it impossible to stalk nearly 1/3rd. of the area where the pigs tended to hang out.


(This is where the hog headed after the hit and where I was.... but I could not see roger and didn't hear anything prior to seeing the hog.)

This is where we found the leading part of the arrow which broke in 3 pieces as the boar charged forward (after the pass through) , snapping one section off inside of itself.
Notice the Sonics newly redesigned blades after having gone through a 200+ hog and into a dead stop flat rock.



Here my hero kneels with the hog that I wounded due to a hard deflection.
I hope Roger has the photo of where he was standing when he shot



Lockmaster had surveyed the area and while the guides and myself were trailing behind the hog , Roger chose an area to guard where he determined a fleeing animal would pass.

He took the shoot from an outcropping of shale rock which overhung a depression at the edge of a swampy thicket and it would have been an outstanding video shot had someone been there to assist in that.

I didn't feel I had any rights to more than the pig I paid for but Roger wanted me to climb up there and ham it up anyway



Just to give you an idea of the size of Rogers first hog...this one here is 120# class but you really dont see it because it is laying in a hole and that dish is eating up alot of body in the pic.

But look at the head and then look at his first one

[michihunter]

You guys looki like a couple a teenagers with thos big ol grins!! Must be a great feeling to be with friends enjoying something you both love!! Plan on me being with you guys next time!!

[lockmaster]

In afterthought, the one photo I wish I really had was the one of the rock "shelf" where I was standing when I shot the smaller one!

If you can, picture a 10-12 foot rocky cliff with a flat 2-2/12 foot shelf extending out near the top. The spot was overlooking a very rocky nearly flat area down below with a mix of tangled grapevines, small saplings and huge flat rocks. Behind me about 20 yards was the edge of the field. I chose that spot because throughout the day I had seen hogs go through that area from an out of range vantage point.

When the hog came up towards me from the bottom, he was climbing over those rocks like a "mountain goat" and I saw BT's arrow still sticking out of him in the same position as it had been for the last 2 1/2 hrs. He came up towards the base of the cliff to about 25 yards from me, turned left very slightly and stopped on top of a big flat rock in a very slight quartering away position....just like a goat! I pulled back and slammed the arrow in a little high so it would angle down to the rear of the opposite front shoulder. He ran about 8-10 yards and fell in the little "dip" you see him laying in! I managed to get a great double lung on him also at about 25 yards.

The strange thing was that I hit it in almost the identical same area but on the opposite side from where BT had hit it and almost the identical angle. Where his deflected, mine completed a complete pass through. We were using identical heads.

[BT]

The diffrence being about 40# diffrence in K.E.

[lockmaster]

This one shows what the arrow looked like after passing through this big one and hitting the rock!

The wound you see on the hog is the exit area of the broadhead.

[2chucks2]

Wow! that looks like tough terrain and even tougher prey. Great job guys.