HUNTING ARTICLES Dark Thirty Hogs By Matt Adcock Deer season is over and turkey season will not start for several more weeks. Most hunters have put their camo back in the closet, but go ahead and get it back out. Now is the perfect time of the year for hunters to really get serious and put some meat in the freezer. Or should I say “pork” in the freezer. If you are ready for an adventure and love to bow hunt, do I have a challenge for you . . . stalking hogs at night with a bow. Before you say I am crazy and have lost my mind, just hear me out. Years ago, I wanted to get a deer mounted and took it down to the only taxidermist I could find in the phone book, Knight's Wildlife Studio. As I talked to the owner, Tim Knight of Dublin GA, I immediately knew that we had several things in common: a burning desire to be in the woods and a passion for bow hunting. After several visits and sharing many hunting stories, Tim and I became friends. One day in conversation, Tim asked me, “Have you ever hunted at night?” I quickly said, “No, that's against the law.” Tim just smiled and said, “Actually, the kind of night hunting I am talking about is legal in Georgia.” He told me that hunting hogs at night was legal as long as your light was six volts or less. He told me to get my bow and meet him about dark and he would take me hunting. I was curious and eager to see exactly what he was talking about, so I obliged. I met up with Tim about dark and he drove me up to Wilkinson County where he had permission to hunt on some land in the swamp just off the Oconee River. He pulled out a flashlight and bungeed it to my stabilizer. It was somewhat flimsy but it worked. We then set out stalking slowly down the small roads in grown up cutover. We did a lot more listening than we did looking and walking. It was not long before we heard some hogs off in the distance. It really surprised me how noisy they were. Tim checked the wind and we made an adjustment to stay downwind. Tim said "I just thought that a deer had a good nose, a wild hog's nose is even better." As we closed the distance to the hogs, my heart pounded with excitement. I could hear hogs moving everywhere in the thicket. There must have been a sow in heat because several boars were running, squealing, and fighting all over the place. Being inexperienced in the stalking of hogs, I was starting to get concerned about our situation. There were big boars all around us and they were not very happy. And all I had was a bow and arrow. Tim knew we were fine and got me into position on the edge of the small road. All of a sudden, a sow ran out into the road and stopped. I came to full draw and she is facing me at 15 yards. She quickly turns and I put my top pin just behind her shoulder. She keeps moving and goes back into the thicket. I had the shot; I just do not like to shoot moving animals. I would rather wait for a higher percentage shot. Those hogs continued their melee for almost an hour, but we never had another shot opportunity. That is how it goes when stalking hogs with a bow, you win some and you lose some. Stalking with a bow is a challenge taking woodsmanship, practice and patience. It is certainly a fair chase situation. I have come a long way since those days in the mid 90's. I no longer hunt with a rifle and like many other Georgians, I am bow only. The technology of bow hunting has come a long way since then and makes stalking hogs at night much easier for us bow hunters. Here is a list of important factors that help when stalking hogs. BOOTS: There are two mentalities when stalking hogs that apply to boots. I guess I take the easy way out because I use high rubber boots that allow me to cross shallow creeks or sloughs. They also do a good job of scent control. There are people, however, that do not like the high rubber boots because they fill up with water. These hunters do not care how deep any water is, they are going to go wherever they have to go to get a shot at a hog. I have heard of one of these type hunters buying a brand new pair of boots and cutting four big holes in the sides of them to let water drain out after crossing a deep slough. These people are serious about their hogs, but their feet sure get a lot colder than mine do. FLASHLIGHTS: Flashlights are like riflescopes; you often get what you pay for. You can use a Mini-Mag or any other AA battery powered light, but you will not be happy with its performance. In order to get a light bright enough to hunt effectively, you must use a light utilizing lithium batteries. Most of the small tactical flashlights made by Surefire or Streamlight are perfect for stalking hogs at night. These lights can cost anywhere from $40 to $100, but they are well worth that price if they can consistently help put meat in the freezer. Another light that I have used for stalking at night is the M-6 Lithium made by Pelican. This durable and affordable light weighs an ounce or two more than the others do, but for only $30, the price sure caught my attention. It produces 75 lumens of light. The lumen rating of a light is the metric equivalent to foot-candles and measured at the illuminated object. It is the light output (lux) of the lamp. A lumen is a more accurate term than candlepower and it is often difficult to equate lumens to candlepower. As a comparison, 65 lumens of light would be close to 39,000 candlepower. One of the brightest and best lights for the money is the TL-2 from Streamlight. It produces 105 lumens of light with a burn time of one hour. You can buy lights that are brighter, but most of them are not legal for hunting hogs in Georgia. Your light must be 6 volts or less to be legal. As a general rule, the brighter the light, the lower the burn time. The Streamlight and Surefire tactical lights are slightly brighter than the Pelican M-6 and have a burn time of about 1 hour. The Pelican's burn time is 1.25 hours and that is more than enough time to go head to head with some of Georgia's finest piney rooters. MOUNTING THE LIGHT: Once you get a light, you then need to attach it to your bow. You can bungee a light to your stabilizer as we did years ago, but that often ends up with the light pointing in an area lower than your sight window. When you go to shoot, you cannot see your pins very well. I remedied this problem with an accessory bracket called the Night Stalker Attachment. This “L” shaped aluminum bracket fits between the stabilizer and the riser on your bow. It allows you to mount a light above the stabilizer so the light shines on the target with no difficulty in seeing your pins. The Night Stalker Attachment is designed to accept an M-3 Tactical light from Streamlight, but other lights may be used with detachable scope rings. With an M-3 Tactical light on my bow, I can shoot excellent groups at 30 yards at any time of night. STALKING TECHNIQUES: Hogs are a lot like deer, they respond to hunting pressure in a negative way. The more they are hunted, the more cautious they become. This is important for someone who is stalking with a bow because you must get so close to the animal for a shot. First, wild hogs are noisy animals and you do not always have to be whisper quiet to stalk up on them. There are often multiple hogs feeding together so as you move through the woods and make noise, they just think you are another hog. Pressured hogs will often run as soon as they hear the slightest noise or see a white light. At other times, a light will not bother them. You can remedy the light problem in one of two ways. The first method requires a little skill and practice but is very effective. When turning on your light, make sure it is pointing up towards the sky. Draw your bow with the light pointing straight up. Then slowly bring the light down onto the hog. Here is where the skill and practice come in. Once the light comes down on the pig, you usually have a several seconds to aim and shoot depending on the mindset of the hog. Generally, the bigger the pig, the less time you have to get off a shot. Practice makes perfect when it comes to using this method, so be sure you practice like this at home before heading to the woods. Another method to keep hogs from spooking with a light is to change out the light's lens. I changed my light to a red lens and Tim changed his over to an amber lens. Your effective range decreases when changing to a colored lens, but the hogs never know you are there. They cannot see a colored light. I am willing to sacrifice effective range to remain undetected. When stalking hogs at night, you should do as much listening as you do walking. Do not be afraid to cover some ground; just take your time in doing it. I prefer to walk on roads or firebreaks because of the easy access with minimal noise. I have discovered the best way to stalk at night is with a small LED light attached to my head or hat. I like to use a red LED light so it will not spook them, but a green LED would work also. This keeps you from burning up the batteries on your hunting light and your LED light will last a very long time. Once you hear a hog, you must first check the wind. If the wind is wrong for your location, you must move and move fast. As I said earlier, a hog's nose is better than a deer's so you must have the wind in your face or hunt a crosswind. Once in bow range, it is much easier for you to get in position to shoot and let the hogs move to a perfect position for a shot. When you are up close with a group of hogs, be patient. If a shot opportunity presents itself, take it. If it does not, reposition after the hogs move out of range. Patience is the key to putting pork in the freezer. Hogs usually do not bleed as much as a deer so try to wait for a perfect broadside or quartering away shot. Even the biggest of boars will not go far if you hit him through both lungs. Even though this article refers to stalking hogs at night with a bow, it also applies to gun hunters. The limiting factor for gun hunters is the strength of the light. The effective range with a scoped rifle is only about twice the effective range of a bow. So why not put down that rifle and accept the challenge of the stick and string. Every year I hear of hunters killing a big deer or hog with a rifle and their peers call them lucky. I have not heard many people call a bow hunter lucky. To harvest animals consistently with a bow, you must be a good hunter. Get out your bow and see if you have what it takes to be the ultimate predator. Originally published in Georgia Outdoor News, March 2004. | |
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