This past January 1st marked her second opening day pig hunt and we were up in the hills at day break. We glassed for an hour or so and froze our butts off! We decided to head up the ridge a little farther to get into the sun and warm up. After glassing for another hour or so I finally spotted some pigs feeding in the sun below us. The game plan was made and off we went!
About 100 yards from the pigs, we dropped all our gear and put on our ninja shoes. For those that don't know ninja shoes are basically lightweight tennis shoes with carpet glued to the bottom. It's amazing how quiet they are when stalking animals!! We headed in the last 100 yards or so, with Kaela in front and me pulling up the rear with the video camera and range finder. We were able to get to within 30 yards of all the pigs feeding. Kaela was ready as I ranged a small bush at 30 yards and told her whenever a pig got to that bush she needed to draw her bow and shoot. Finally after watching several different pigs feed at 40 yards one stepped into the 30 yard range. She drew her bow and settled in on the pig. Miss!! The pig jumped up and stood there, but she wasn't able to get another arrow away.
When we started up the hill to relocate the herd, she found her first shed. She coined it as her lucky shed and put it in my pack. As we headed up the hill I glassed up a giant 3x3 mule deer that I had put a stalk on a couple weeks prior. He bedded in a perfect position for a stalk so we changed plans and made the mile long hike over to try to get him. Long story short, I miss judged the yardage and missed him. After that, the plan was to hike back out to the Rhino and go to a new area. We got about half way and Kaela says "Hey I just saw something move by that weird shaped cedar tree!" I threw up the binos and there was another herd of pigs!!
The plan was made and the stalk was on. This time we had to fight the wind a little, but we were able to get in position for a shot. By this time, Kaela was a little amped up and her first shot at 30 yards was another miss!! I quickly told her to nock another arrow and get ready. I started "woofing" at the pigs and they started running everywhere! One big boar came up a trail to 10 yards but made an immediate u-turn when he saw us. I kept woofing and a big sow started coming up the same trail right at us. This time she stopped at 10 yards and Kaela was already at full draw. She took one step and Kaela let her have it!
Finally she had her very first big game tag filled!
Here's a short clip of the day's worth of footage I took. The end is amazing! Kaela busted her ass for a whole year preparing for this harvest and the emotions overflowed!
She wasn't excited or anything!
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