SPOT AND STALK BOW HUNT: BIG BOAR! (EPISODE 617 TRANSCRIPT)

This is the video transcript. To watch the video for this episode click here.

>>DANIEL: [Whispering] Okay. Wait.

>>DANIEL: [Whispering] Hold on. Hold on. He’s coming. He’s coming, Grant. He’s coming.

>>GRANT: Spot and stalk hunting is one of my favorite techniques. When I get the wind in my face and use all my woodsmanship skills to try to get within bow range of a critter, I feel really alive; I feel really in tune with the environment. It’s really one of my favorite outings.

>>GRANT: That’s one of the reasons I really enjoy chasing hogs at the La Hamaca Ranch in south Florida. It’s a target-rich environment for a guy with a bow wanting to tag a hog.

>>GRANT: I want to take a moment here and say I definitely do not want hogs at The Proving Grounds. And I fully support those state agencies, especially those midwestern state agencies, that are doing everything they can to eliminate pockets of feral hogs. Those hogs got there by people trapping them somewhere like Florida or Texas, bringing them up there, and typically releasing them on public land.

>>GRANT: That’s wrong. Please don’t do that. You don’t want hogs in your area. They’re extremely destructive and they can carry diseases that impact humans and most forms of livestock.

>>GRANT: But in areas like south Florida or south Texas where hogs have been established for a long, long time – south Florida for hundreds of years – and the state agency is not trying to eliminate them, then hog hunting is a great sport.

>>GRANT: The habitat at the La Hamaca Ranch is about ideal for spotting and stalking hogs.

>>GRANT: It’s a large working cattle ranch. Large pastures kind of bordered by wetlands, swamps and patches of timber. That allows you to walk around, or even drive around, glass those pastures, spot a sounder of hogs, get the wind in your face and plan a stalk.

>>GRANT: Daniel, Clay and I went to the ranch to chase turkeys. But I took my bow knowing there would be sometimes in the afternoon when I’m maybe out trying to roost a tom that I could spot some hogs and do a stalk.

>>GRANT: When we arrived at camp, I shot my bow to make sure 20 hours of driving hadn’t vibrated my sight off. And you know what? It was spot on.

>>GRANT: I like the High Roller target. It’s perfect for practicing with field points and shooting your broadhead to make sure they’re both flying exactly the same.

>>GRANT: The next afternoon there was a fairly light rain which was perfect conditions to grab the Prime and see if we could find some hogs out in the pasture.

>> ANNOUNCER: GrowingDeer is brought to you by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s. Also by Reconyx, Green Cover Seed, Winchester, Avian-X Decoys, LaCrosse Footwear, Thlete Outdoor Apparel, Morrell Targets, Summit Treestands, RTP Outdoors, Yamaha, Fourth Arrow, onX Hunt, Scorpion Venom Archery, Case IH Tractors, Burris Optics, Bloodsport Arrows, Code Blue, D/Code, G5 Broadheads, Prime Bows, and Redneck Hunting Blinds.

>>GRANT: The showers and cooler than normal temperatures would likely have the hogs up feeding long before dark. The wet conditions would help make the stalk very quiet. You could step on grass or leaves, and it wouldn’t be as noisy as normal.

>>GRANT: Within a short time, we’d spotted a group of hogs on the edge of some timber, the wind was in our favor, so we started a stalk.

>>GRANT: [Quietly] There’s a whole bunch back there. About 175 yards for some big hogs and some little ones with it. That’s kind of odd. I mean, these are big hogs and then some little ones with them.

>>GRANT: [Quietly] And our wind is cutting like this. And the hogs are there, so we’re kind of threading the needle. They’re just kind of milling around. We can’t get a direction, so we’re going to stay back a little bit. And if we can figure out a direction, get some trees between us and try to cut the distance.

>>GRANT: We used the trees as visual cover and, of course, the wind was in our favor, so we moved tree to tree trying to cut the distance.

>>GRANT: Hogs are like a lot of critters. They rarely just work in a straight line. And I realized they settled on going away from us and they can be difficult to get ahead of a group of hogs. You’ve got to play the wind and hogs can move pretty fast, even when they’re foraging.

>>GRANT: It became obvious it was going to be better to find another group and try again.

>>GRANT: Daniel spotted two large hogs on the edge of some timber. So, we slid into the trees and started cutting the distance.

>>GRANT: As we were stalking through the timber, we spotted several hogs in a pasture on the other side and knew we were in the game.

>>GRANT: Suddenly, one of the boars turned around and started back in the timber straight toward us.

>>DANIEL: [Whispering] He’s coming. He’s coming, Grant. He’s coming. He’s right behind the palmetto.

>>GRANT: The boar changed paths just a little bit and veered off from coming straight toward us. And when he was about 20 yards, I took the shot.

>>GRANT: As we were watching that hog run through the timber, we realized another hog had come out of the pasture and was headed right toward us. She had obviously heard us, and her hair was bristled up. She was looking for a fight.

>>GRANT: Unfortunately, that hog never gave me a good shot opportunity.

>>GRANT: [Whispering] Whew. Bunch of hogs. I had to take a little bit quartering shot; got shoulder. Looked like I got penetration. We’ll find out soon.

>>GRANT: We picked up the hog’s trail and it wasn’t long before I was looking at a big, black boar laying under a tree.

>>GRANT: [Quietly] Oh, man. He’s bigger than I thought it was. I probably wouldn’t have stood up there so brave. Holy mackerel! Here’s my new Prime Nexus and it’s – I don’t know – almost a foot longer than my bow.

>>GRANT: Holy mackerel! That’s – that’s a hog right there, boys and girls.

>>GRANT: If you’ve ever hunted hogs, especially boars, you know they’re extremely tough. They’ve got long, thick hair. And it usually has a lot of dirt in it because they wallow in the mud and it dries out. It’s a very tough coat to penetrate.

>>GRANT: Knowing that, I was super impressed with the penetration by the M3 broadhead. The entry hole was right on the point of that boar’s shoulder – the thickest part of the bone.

>>GRANT: Well, I’m shooting 54 pounds. And I’ve got the M3 -the G5 M3. Sharp, those babies are sharp. This hog was coming to us. Things happened in a hurry. And man, I put my pin on there – 20 couple yards – went in – look. I mean, I’m in the bone.

>>GRANT: I – I’m not back here in the thin part of the shoulder. See how I can push that in? I’m up here in the bone and drilled through that thing. That 54 pounds with the Prime Nexus.

>>GRANT: Well, let me pull this out where you can take a look at it. I’m going to need some Wheaties here. Oh. Golly. Look at those cutters on that thing. I mean, I’ve done nothing to it. We just walked up on this thing right before dark. And look at those bad boys.

>>GRANT: You don’t want that getting a hold of your leg. Holy mackerel! Boy, that bad boy up – put it on the desk or in my living room. Make Ms. Tracy happy. That would be awesome, man.

>>GRANT: I love coming to south Florida. Chasing turkeys until about two or so, you know, when they just really slow down. Longer if we’re working one.

>>GRANT: And – and then, grabbing a little lunch right quick, grabbing the bow – scouting for turkeys also. We’re scouting. But, see some hogs, take off on the chase, man.

>>GRANT: This was a cool stalk. Daniel actually spotted him through some timber, and we got in there and thought they were coming our way – got behind some palmettos. I thought, “Oh, man. It’s going to work out.”

>>GRANT: And then they – like hogs just do, man. They don’t ever go straight. Went the other way – didn’t smell us or anything.

>>GRANT: So, we’re trying to catch up; we’re trying to catch up without busting. And they popped over this little ravine. Couldn’t see too well.

>>GRANT: And we get up there in this little field ahead – and there’s, I don’t know, 20 plus hogs and piglets and everything out there – a bunch.

>>GRANT: These were closer and we’re trying to slip up because they’re over this little ravine – no clear shot.

>>GRANT: Get up there, you know. I don’t know. At that time 35 +/- yards. And I don’t know if they heard us or just instinct or what. But come up over. Stick their hair up. I’m like – I’m standing up front, man. Daniel and Clay are behind. I’m not going to stop much of a hog.

>>GRANT: And I’m like, “Yeah. Okay.” And it veered off and gave me a quartering to shot and it was just going to get out there. And man, I know these broadheads are razor sharp.

>>GRANT: And I put it right on there. You could hear it smack. It wasn’t a gut smack. It was a hard surface smack.

>>GRANT: And I wasn’t sure, to be honest, how far it would run. But here we go.

>>GRANT: This broadhead had done its job and done it well. And that’s important to pair that with the fact that I’m shooting a 54-pound bow at a 28-inch draw. Imagine that. 54 pounds taking down a big boar.

>>GRANT: Now think what this setup would do – razor-sharp broadhead, you know, your arrow is tuned – to a whitetail.

>>GRANT: A whitetail’s skin is much thinner than that of a large boar.

>>GRANT: This is just another reminder that you don’t need to be over-bowed or pulling so much weight you can barely get it back or pulling so much weight that when you’re cold and stiff, you damage your shoulder.

>>GRANT: Get you a bow that you shoot really well, really efficient bow. Get it tuned and make sure you’re using a razor-sharp broadhead.

>>GRANT: It’s so fun hunting hogs in south Florida. You can bet that‘s not the only hunt we had while chasing turkeys. And we’ll be sharing more hog hunts soon.

>>GRANT: Whether you’ve got a hunt coming up soon or you’re just tuning up your bow preparing for deer season, both of them are great activities to enjoy Creation. But more importantly, make sure you stay tuned by being quiet every day and listening to what the Creator says to you.

>>GRANT: Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.