It was mid-day and to reach those hogs I would end up about two miles from the truck… almost all downhill. The hogs were only a little over 500 yards from me in a straight line, but that line crossed a steep and deep canyon. Just getting there to make the shot was gonna be a nightmare, and then I’d have to bloodtrail and collect the animal.

To recover the hog, I’d have had to hike back up to the truck, fetch the backpack and game bags (I had my little catquiver/pack, which would never hold a pig), then hike back down to the animal, bone it out, and then hike back up the mountain. By the time I would have been done, it would have easily been after dark, and I still had a three hour drive home.

Even so, 20 minutes later I was almost to the bottom of that canyon and still locked in on those hogs. The last hundred yards or so was steep and slick, so the only way to the bottom was to slide (glissade) in the mud and wet leaves. I’d just completed the slide to the bottom I ran into the deer who promptly ran up the hill into the hogs, and the hogs, not knowing what the deer were running from, decided they didn’t want to get eaten either.

Bowhunting is tough, that is for sure. And, for me anyway, gun season is even tougher. I have yet to see a deer in three sits. Because of that I have to keep telling myself, “it’s all about being out here”, otherwise I might go insane:):)