Left = Frank
Middle = Bill [from Illinois]
Right = Kevin [from Missouri]

Story Behind the Hunt:

It was a typical Florida evening.  A severe storm was rolling in and I was sitting above a feeder that had not gone off yet.  As I sat quietly in the old ladder stand that was attached to a cyprus tree and surrounded by palmetto bushes, I could feel the wind swirling and I figured that I wasn't going to see anything because of that fact.

However, I noticed the back end of a hog running behind a palmetto bush... about 5 yards from the feeder which sat 23 yards from my stand.  I thought, "No big deal.  It was a small hog anyway and I already have one hog in the bag.  If I don't get a shot at another... no harm done."

The longer I sat on stand, the worse the weather became.  Tree's began popping... and the sky was becoming quite dark.  All of a sudden the wind made an abrupt shift... into my face and away from the feeder.  Although the storm front was rapidly approaching, the wind was finally in my favor.  Without warning, lightning began to crash all around me... and I noticed a pine just a few yards in front of me that, undoubtedly, had been struck by lightning.  All bets were off... I was staying put until I saw something.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the same hog that I'd seen earlier.  This time, I could tell it was a boar... although, from my stand, I thought it to be on the small side, somewhere in the ballpark of 75 pounds.  It kept running to the feeder and snatching a morsel and then running back into the palmetto's for cover.  It knew something wasn't right.... or maybe it was the crashing of thunder.  Regardless, the longer I looked at that boar, the more I was convinced that if it offered a good shot... and if the wind slowed enough... I would take the shot.

In that same instant, the boar began making its way towards my stand.  Finally, it came into a clearing at 22 yards.  I prayed for the wind to slow for just a moment.  My prayer was answered.  Quickly, I checked the palmetto's near the hog... and they were still.  For some reason, I remember thinking, "This is like the eye of a hurricane."  The 40 MPH winds were now at standstill... not a single bird was singing throughout the dead calm that surrounded me.

At a distance of 22 yards, I saw my chance and slowly raised my Darton/ICS-340/Muzzy combo and placed the 20 yard pin where it needed to be.  As I steadied the pin just behind the shoulder of the slightly quartering away boar, I thought, "Now or never."

I made a good release on the shot and knew it was going to be a "well placed arrow" before it hit the mark.  It just felt like a good shot, and had good flight with no wobble at all.  The arrow hit exactly where I was aiming.

The hog winced upon impact and let out a short, quick squeal... but it appeared the arrow did not penetrate as far as I wanted it to... I could see the fletching.  Not a complete pass through... like on the black sow I had taken earlier.

I watched the pig run behind the palmetto's it was using for cover earlier and heard some rustling for a brief moment.  When it ran off, I could see the shoulder area was absolutely covered with blood, but there was no arrow to be seen.  "It must have rolled on it." I thought.  I watched the boar run for about 100 yards or so... until it was out of sight.  I kept hoping to see it drop, but it never did.  I began to second guess that "good hit."  Maybe it wasn't as good as I thought.  After checking the point of impact, I found the log the boar used to snap off the arrow.  It was covered in good blood. "Yeeeeah, buddy!" I thought. "I'm back in business again!"

After tracking 50 yards or so, I lost the blood trail.  It had been an easy trail to that point, but I figured the boar did something to throw me off track.  When it ran off, it was running hard and very erratic... anything could have happened.  I thought by staying any longer to look for blood, I would run the risk of losing that hog since it went so far.  Also, I kept droning on the possibility of the hit not being as good as good as it looked.  In addition, rain would arriving again before too long... washing away any trace of blood.

With those factors in mind, I decided the best thing to do was "back away from the trail so I didn't ruin any good sign and go get some help."

My decision to "get help" turned out to be a good one.  After losing sight of the boar, it reached a ravine and tore off to the right, making a 90 degree turn... and then ran several more yards.

The trail showed us that the boar eventually slowed to a walk because the blood was "pretty much" everywhere after it turned to the right.  I was almost embarrassed that I went and got help.  I still think I did the right thing, though.  "Better safe than sorry."  Lots of truth in that quote... no doubt.

The boar began walking in circles as they sometimes do and it confused all of us at that point... because blood was on both sides of a palmetto bush and heading in two different directions.  Immediately, we all froze in our tracks.

150+ yards from where I had shot that boar, my guide Hoppy turned around and said, "Frank, how small did you say that boar was when you shot it?"   I said, "It didn't look to be more than 75 pounds, or so."

Many times when deer hunting, we experience what some call, "ground shrinkage."  This is when the deer or antlers are smaller than they actually appeared before the shot.  However, for the first time in my life, I experienced the complete opposite.  When I walked up on it, I had to take a double-take to make sure it was the same boar.  I was off by at least 35 pounds.  It would take two of us to make the drag back to the truck.

It was a fine multicolored boar with a sheet-white nose and white socks... mixed with shades of burnt orange, brown, and black.

I checked entrance/exit wounds to see why it was able to travel so far after the shot.  Like I said, maybe the shot wasn't as good as I initially figured.  Wrong again!  The boar was double-lung shot.  The broadhead entered just behind the left shoulder and exited just in front of the opposite shoulder of the boar, leaving only a portion of the arrow inside.

Florida Hog Hunting.  Ya just can't beat it!

Frank Butala
 

-ps-In case you are interested, here is the info you will need.

Hoppy Kempfer [owner/guide]
Osceola Outfitters
6210 Kempfer Road
St. Cloud, Florida  34773
407-957-3593

They cater to deer and alligator hunters as well.

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