With Spring break about a month away I asked KC what he wanted to do over spring break. He asked if we could go hunting again, and with limited options in the spring I asked if he wanted to go back to Oklahoma for hogs and maybe another exotic. His mom was not able to make this trip, so I had the idea to ask KC’s “Papa” if he would like to join us. He was excited and I started making phone calls to see if Tim and Victoria had any openings.
Luckily, they did, and we started to prepare for another hunting trip. I confirmed with Tim that we would be focusing on hogs and hopefully a blackbuck antelope. The weeks flew by and soon we were picking up “Papa” and headed south for our hunting trip. Three generations headed on a hunt for the first time. We spent the night in Missouri to break up the long drive, and with baseball season for KC fast approaching we headed to the local sporting goods store to get some baseball cleats and pants.
The next morning, we finished our drive and arrived in camp. The weather was sunny and 80 degrees, which was a huge switch from what we were used to in Illinois. We were greeted by Tim and Victoria and we set our plan for the afternoon hunt. We set a blind near an evening hot spot and settled in. It was not long before the woods erupted with hogs but unlike our first trip, we had our sights set on a big one. Waiting patiently, we watched around 50 hogs throughout the afternoon before finally a much bigger hog came into range. KC was locked in and made a perfect shot. He did high fives and hugs with his Papa and me and kept saying he was shaking so hard. He did great but the hogs were still super active, so it was not long after another group approached, and I got his crossbow ready. About 15 minutes later another large boar could be seen making his way towards us and KC recognized immediately it was much bigger than the rest of the hogs in front of us. I have never hunted hogs myself, so I never realized how quickly they move back and forth never pausing for more than a second or two which makes it very challenging to get a shot. KC was patient and tracked the big boar through his crossbow scope and was ready when it finally stopped for a shot. I was not surprised when he I saw the lumenock disappear behind the hog’s front shoulder, the kid is so cool under pressure and executed perfectly. We text Tim that we had two hogs on the ground, and he made his way with the side by side to help us take up the trail.
Both hogs were down nearby, and we were able to get some good photos in just before dark. The next day we had our sights set on a hog and hunting the black buck. With the black buck as our primary target, we decided to dedicate the day to that since KC had already shot 2 hogs’. We were in the blind before sunrise and finally after a couple hours we laid eyes on two black bucks headed our direction. I knew instantly this would not be easy as they were very alert and spooked off the first two times they came within 100 yards of us. About an hour later we saw them again and this time we got KC ready right away so there would be no movement or noise as they approached this time. As they were making their way towards us, I told KC we were not going to talk to him so as soon as he was comfortable with a good shot to take it. They came into range and right before KC would have made the shot, they spooked again however this time they stopped still in range and looked back our direction.
KC wasted no time and made his shot, it all happened within seconds, so I quickly pulled up my binoculars as they were running away and confirmed the shot was great. We called Tim and within the next 30 minutes took up the blood trail. We were soon taking photos next to maybe the prettiest animals I have ever seen in person. With one hog left on our list we ate lunch and got our meat in the cooler. After our break we planned for the evening hunt and had a good amount hogs frequenting the west end of the property and took our blind in and set it up. The evening was a hot sit and very windy, so we had to rely on our eyes. It did not take long, and the hogs started moving out in front of us. The first group to come in never presented an ethical shot so KC passed, and we continued to wait for the next hour. Finally, another group made their way towards us and this time KC was locked in and as soon as his target animal made the mistake of stopping, he took the shot. He had just completed an unbelievable feat; He had officially taken his 14th animal in a single season with his crossbow.
An unbelievable season had come to an end , the whole drive back to Illinois we were already planning for next fall for our next adventure.
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