Most of you might remember my earlier post thanking Bowtech for donating Jay Fondren ( a vet of Iraq who was blown up by a roadside bomb) a Guardian,well here is the story of Jay's first ever bow hunt.

Bob ( The Rev) and I got into camp about 12:30 on Friday to get things set up for Jay, Chris Gill,Joe Williams ( the 2 camera guy's) and the other 2 hunters that where joining us for the hunt.

We met Troy Thompson the owner of Sycamore Creek Hog Hunting ranch at the cabin, Troy already had a ham on the smoker for our welcome dinner.

We got on the trailer towed by a 4 wheeler and Troy took us around the place and we scattered some donuts around the feeder sites and decided on what should have been the best spot for Jay to hunt on Saturday morning, after clearing some of the under brush and erecting a ground blind we headed back to the cabin.

Just as we where getting close to the cabin Jay called me letting me know he was at the gate so we proceeded to the gate to let him in.

Back in camp we unloaded Jay from his truckthen unloaded his gear.

Jay had not shot his bow with broad heads so I loaded some arrows up and got him to shoot to see how they flew, which is lucky I did as his bow needed to be tweeked a tad but we finally got him shooting his broad heads like lasers.

Troy could not stay for the hunt he had to get back to work so he hadTom ( I cant remember his last name)[8D]come out to be our guide and main track man.

Around 5pm or so Chris turned up so we went over the game plan for the Saturday morning hunt and seeing there was now going to be 2 camera men we decided that one would be in the ground blind with Jay and myself and the other in a tree stand slightly behind and off to out right.

We waited for the other 2 hunters to come but unfortunately they never showed and the ham in the smoker was just driving us all nuts so we made short work of that ham

After a couple of on camera interviews with Troy and myself we set the camera up inside the cabin where there was a few little surprises for Jay.

When Chris gets the footage edited and on his web site I will post a link to the little surprise

But in the mean time I guess I will just put it into type.

On camera inside the cabin I thanked Troy for letting us bring Jay out for his first ever archery hunt then onto the rest of the suprise.

First out of my bag of trickswas a new string and cable from Bucknasty Custom Bow Strings, thank you very much John, Jay just loved the colors you picked out.

Next out of the bag was a MeanV CSS for Jay's Guardian, so another bigthank you to Dan Horton, it really did quiten the Guardian down not that it was loud but you can tell the difference.

Then it gave me great pleasure to hand Jay a BDU Blouse kindly donated by Chuck Pensyl from Enigma Camo unfortunately Chuck never had enough time to get the wheel chair cover made for this hunt but has it in the works and I will get it to Jay as soon as I get it. Thanks Chuck Jay loved the shirt and we had trouble getting him to take it off so he could go to bed.

Chad Wegner aka PAhardwoods sent down some Enigma arrow wraps and a Enigma window decal for Jays truck. Thanks Chad they look great.

Next up Bob ( The Rev) took over the floor and handed Jay a custom made knife.

Then to Chris's surprise ( he is also a vet that was wounded) Bob called him up and presented him a knife, that was my cue to hand Chris a string and cable from John ( gibblet aka Bucknasty) which also took Chris by surprise, after he gave both Bob and I a hug he went back behind the camera.

Seeing all these other people had stepped up to the plate and donated stuff to Jay and I felt a little left outso I handed Jay a dozen Beman shafts, which I will get cut,wrapped and made up tomorrow.

Then around 8:30/9:00 Joe the second camera man turned up and had what was left of the hamyes we left him a small tastethen once again we went over the game plan with him.

I dont think any of us except for Bob got much sleep ( that boy sure can snore)

The alarm goes off at 5am I get up make the coffee while the others start rousing from their slumber, I guess me turning on the lights might have had something to do with that not the smell of fresh coffee

We get ready had a cup of coffee and Tom comes over to take Jay to the ground blind, we load Jay up in the back of the pickup and head out.

Once settled into the blind somewhere around o'dark30we sit and wait.

Jay was visibly nervouss so Joe and I talk to him to clam him down but I guess first bow hunt nerves are hard to over come, just as it starts to break lightI hit the range finder and let Jay know the distances to things around the blind.

At about 6:45am Jay gets a nervous cough ( those cough silencers dont work btw), the feeder goes off at 7am and we can hear hogs in the scrub behind us but I think the game was up when Jay got the cough, I did see a couple down behind a cedar tree but they would not come out.

Tom came and picked us up at 9am, the heat was already starting to build.

The 2 camera men and myslef walked back to the cabin, we got there just in time to see Tom almost drop Jay on the porch of the cabin.

Bob who was hunting in another stand said he had about 12 or so come in but none he wanted to take.

Then we went and had a look at another spot for the afternoon hunt picked what we thought would give Jay the bestchance of getting a hog.

We had a lot of time to Kill so Jay,Chris and Joe went into to town to look around.

Bob and I also went into town to get some more supplies namely a couple of towels which we forgot to take out

Back in camp we sat around, killed a lot of animals, talked of past hunting trips and general BS

Chris wanted so much to get the new string on his bow so he asked me if there was a Pro Shop he could go so i told him of one and he took off to get the job done.

WhileChris was gone Joe sat out on the porch with Jay and done a on camera interview with him, I went in the cabin and took my afternoon nap ( I am getting old)

Then we took turns in trying to hit a 3d bear at 107 yards while the camera ran, I will tell you now the bear was in no danger[8D]

After showering it was time for the afternoon hunt, Bob went back to the stand he was on in the morning Jay, Chris and Joe headed to the new site we picked out and I went to another stand, I really did want to be with Jay but the blind he was going to be in only had room for 2.

On the way to my stand I seen some hogs starting to move and thought gee I hope they head to Jay.

My hunt was unsuccessful I did have hogs moving well behind the stand but none came out to offer a shot so just on dark I headed back to camp and walked up on a group of pigs under a oak tree but they spotted me about the same time I spotted them and they took off in Jay's direction.

Bob called me and said he had hit one and was heading back out with Tom to track it.

When Jay,Chris and Joe got back into camp I asked well where's Jays hog.
Unfortunately they did not co-operate and once again Jay never got a shot off.

It worked out that when Bob and Tom where tracking the hog Bob hit that all the hogs had gone in that direction, we had the right stands but in the wrong order in hind sight we should have been in the morning blind in the afternoon and the afternoon blind in the morning [:@]but thats hunting I guess.

I let Chris wear my enigma BDU blouse for the afternoon hunt,when we where in the cabin packing up Chris mentioned to me he really liked the Enigma Camo and went to hand me the BDU and I said hang on a sec, dug in my sent bag, pulled out the pants and handed them to Chris and justsaid thank you for all you have done not only for Jay but also for the rest of us.
As the tears welled up in his eyes he gave me a big hug and saidthank you.

I did not get any pictures I was holding out for when Jay got one but I do believe that Bob did take some and will post them.

Both Chris and Joe are going to take some still shots off the video and email them to me so when I get those I will post them.


Even tho we all came away empty handed ( Bob could not find the one he shot)we all had a great time and I for one am looking forward to taking Jay on another hunt.

Joe did tell me that evenno shots where recorded he is still going to do a feature of the hunt on his Hunting on a Budget tv show.

So there you have it folks Jay's first ever bow hunt

Hopefully it will be the first of many

Sounds like you all had a good time and made someone a happy guy.Nice of you and everyone envolved to make it happen,I'm sure he will never forget it.

God will have a special place waiting for you and your friends.

As a person, a bow hunter and a vet, I say Thank You

very nice

A great time amoungst friends Ausie, thanks for bring it to us. Thanks to everyone donating gifts, Gibblet, Chuck, Ausie, Bob, Chris, Chad etc...

I wish the best for Jay and once again I thank him for his service to our country. He gave more than we can imagine.

A big thanks to all who were involved in the effort to get these brave men their first bow kills. And thanks to them for their great sacrifice, so all of us can enjoy our freedoms.

I had a blast. I would like to thank John for the Bucknasty Custom Bow Strings, Dan Horton for the MeanV CSS for my Guardian, it really did quiten the Guardian down not that it was loud but you can tell the difference, Chuck Pensyl from Enigma Camo for the camo, Russ for the arrows, Bob for the knife, Chris and Joe for filming and, Troy and Tom for a great time at Sycamore Creek Hog Hunting ranch.[/align]

Sounds like a good time. I hope I can join you guys the next time out.

man i really wish i could have been down there with y'all. glad y'all had a good time.

jay, i told you the hogs were afraid of how ausie smells. they think he's the king hog and run from him. next time have him hunt the opposite side of the property LOL.

A big thanx from Iowa to all of our brave soldiers that have went to a foreign land and protected our freedoms. This is a great country and these are great men that have served it with there bravery. And let usnot forget any of them that have not made it home from there mission or the ones that have came home wounded. This hunt was a very fitting and deserving hunt for our heros.