Well, the last week of bow season, I was hunting a stand when two nice eating hogs came out. One was a bore and the other was a sow. I wanted the sow, but the bore gave me the best shot. Both were about 100 lbs. I shot the bore at 22 yards and he ran into the thick underbrush woods about 10 yards away. I went back to the truck and called my friend. It was getting dark to the point I needed a flash light and the temperature was in the upper 70's. I decided to give him about 10 minutes, which wasa huge mistake b/c I hit him right behind the shoulder at a slight angle. I went into the extremely thick woods for about 50 yards when all of a sudden to my left I heard something. When I looked, it was the hog and he started charging me through the underbrush. I didn't have anything on me other than my spot light and a skinning knife. I jumped behind a pine tree just as he hit my leg with his head. Then he took off in the opposide direction and I noticed the arrow was sticking out of him. After cleaning my drawers out...lol...and getting my composure, I saw blood on the leaves of the ground. I started to track him when my 1million candlewatt spot light went out. Now I am in this thicket woods and had a key chain light only to find my way out, not to mention try to track the hog. Well, let me tell you when you are in the woods that has extreme underbrush and it is night and all you have is a key chain light, it is very very very hard to know which way is north, south, east or west. After about 40 minutes of going nowhere, I remember that the moon was full and it was a clear night. I remembered the position of the moon in relation to my truck and my bow blind while talking to my friend on my cell phone back at the truck (no, I didn't even have my phone). I formed a mental triangle in the sky and said to myself that if I walked to my right no matter what, that I would come out on the dirt road that goes by my truck. So I headed off in that direction and lo and behold, I was only about 30 yards away from the road the entire time.
Well, the next day I went back to track the hog and the underbrush was so thick and the blood trail hard to see in the fall colored leaves, that I could not find him.....ugh.
Now what I have learned is the following:
1. Carry a side arm or something for protection.
2. Carry a regular flash light as a back up.
3. Carry my hand held compass.
4. Wait longer before tracking a wonded hog.
Made a mistake tracking hog too early!!!
