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John 3:16 © 1996-2008 Dan & Guy Fitzgerald. All Rights Reserved.
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Fitzgerald FEATURE ARTICLES (ARCHIVES) "BIG BAD BOARS! - PART ONE" by Guy Fitzgerald- March 2, 2006
When I think of excitement, true, bare bones, thrilling, hair standing events that have taken place in my life on film, I must admit that at the top of the charts for me, is just about every time I go Monster Boar hunting - or as we say in our video series "North American Rhinos" Hunting! Not just ho-hum, run of the mill, hog hunting, but searching for the Big Boy! The Monster Boar! I’m into stalking through the woods, with my Mathews Switchback, up and down the mountains, battling the terrain, the weather, and daylight running out! I like finding those solitary beasts all by their lonesome, just waiting for something or someone to come up and challenge them! They are often big, grumpy brutes, with large dagger like tusks and armor plates that would humble the best medieval blacksmiths! I am up for the task! When I am moving through the woods, searching for these magnificent beasts, and all of a sudden, I hear the hair raising deep bass grunt of a Monster Boar, that gets the ‘ol' heart pumpin’ like two nitro methane funny cars at the tree, blasting and just waiting to annihilate the ground for a quarter mile on the final race of the year! There’s nothing quite like it! When you get to see that dude for the first time on your pursuit, and he stands up and looks you in the eye, and he’s as big as a VW Bug, WOW! Nothing like it! It’s out of this world! You freeze and look around for the nearest tree to get behind, big enough so he can’t snap it like kindling in a campfire, or worse, like your neck in the hands of the hulkster! What in the world do I do? How do I move? He’s looking at me, but can he see me? There is speculation that their eyes might be similar to a bear's, in that they might not be able to see too well at distances, or be able to distinguish or obtain any type of depth perception! My thoughts on this tend to lean towards the latter. I don’t think they can see too well, and definitely not as good as a whitetail. I have been blessed to have experienced some successful stalking on these magnificent beasts, so I'm thinking maybe I can get up on this bad boy, close enough for a good well placed shot, successfully get my Switchback to full draw without him hearing me, and sail a Sharp Shooter tipped Terminator arrow through the boiler! All of these thoughts are attacking and overwhelming my mind as I continue to stand there, as still as mount Mckinley in Winter! Then he looks away, turns and get’s back to rooting. This is another activity that I will explain to those who think I am starting to speak a foreign language again! Many of you who grew up on the farm know what rooting is. Rooting is when a hog uses it’s nose as a kind of single row plow (like the kind grandpa used to pull with a mule, down on the farm)! They dive in the dirt and no matter how hard the soil, they seem to cut it like a hot knife through warm butter! They are constantly rooting, as a means for getting food. They are not picky! They are happily satisfied with any bugs, worms, snails, ants, grubs. They are also looking for acorns, other nuts, berries, basically anything edible. Now with that said, rooting is an important tool. Unlike whitetail, the wild hog is a predator. Meaning that they aren’t living every step of their life like it could be their last. It’s important to understand that. Because they are predators, they live their life as being the Boss of their woods. The big one's that I am after, are similar to a bear, in that they are extremely territorial! This means that they are not as freaked out by the smell or sight of human, as a whitetail or other types of prey animals. Make no mistake, they will often run from humans, but not always! They are somewhat unpredictable, also like a bear! This predatory attitude they have, allows one to be able to decently stalk and approach them, much of the time! Obviously, you must always be mindful of them being wild animals, and underneath man in the line up of the food chain. You don’t have to be a “Pro” to try to stalk them, even if you might lack the skills to stalk an Alaskan Sheep or a hi pressured Whitetail! Anyway, back to the adventure! My quest progressed. I began to pick up on the fact that I must take full advantage of the noise of the big boy rooting, as he grunted along flipping rocks, busting roots like toothpicks, and so on! You can't believe how powerful these beasts are! I watched his every move like a mother hawk desperately searching fields for mice, rabbits, and so on. I was totally in synch with his every move. When he flipped a rock, I took a few cautious steps, he'd make more noise, I'd move a few more cautious steps closer, and so on! I used the noise of the rocks slapping the ground or other rocks, along with the rooting and grunting, to cover any possible noise I would make. "If he has the sound of a rock cracking the ground right in his face, then if I accidentally snap a twig in unison, he probably won’t hear me", I thought rather assuredly! In my many years of experience (I have been stalking and hunting hogs for about 20 years), I am leaning towards this being an effective method and approach to stalking them! He'd move a rock or snap a root, and I'd move again. This continued for a few long hours, until I finally moved close enough for a good high percentage shot. I located a brush pile up ahead that I figured dad and I could get behind, and get ready for him to kind of root his way to us! We cautiously moved into position, never taking our eyes off of him. We turned the camera and wireless microphone on, and got ready for what we thought was going to be the moment of truth! With all of you guys watching across the nation through the lens of our Sony Beta SP TV Camera, I began to feel that rush! We were going to do this together, all of us! That old familiar, but never familiarly old adrenaline started at my toes and moved rapidly up my body, until my heart was beating relentlessly in my ear drums and eyes! I started to feel weight on my chest! Breathing became more and more difficult! It doesn’t matter that this was a hog and not a big buck! I don’t care what I am shooting, from squirrels to black bears, if it’s got a heart beat, my adrenaline rushes like class five rapids through my body! "The moment of truth is here and now", I thought to myself! I looked down for a split second, and when I looked up, he was aggressively rooting in the other direction! Yes, he turned and started going down the other side of the mountain, directly away from Dad and I! I looked at Dad and we smiled at each other! "I didn't think this was going to be easy", said ol' Dan! "This is going to be another long hunt, isn't it Dad?", said I! "Yep!", he said. I said, still shaking with adrenaline, "Well, we came here to hunt big boars, and this one might be the biggest I've ever seen, so let's go!", I said excitedly! With that, we grabbed our packs and started down the hill after him! To Be Continued! Stay Tuned Everyone! Part Two is Coming Soon! -Guy Responses From Readers, Such As Yourself!
* Hey Guy! Great article! I have read some of your
articles in the past in Bow & Arrow, Ultimate Bowhunter, etc. and I think you
should definitely do more writing, because you truly have a gift of making
your readers feel like they are right there with you and your dad in the
action. That's something which is hard to do with video, because the art
of writing captures thoughts, and video is more of a performance! Not
that one is better than the other, but you do well at both, so I say, do more
writing, so we know what you and your dad are thinking out there in the woods!
Keep up the good work. - Your Friend, Joshua K.
* Good job on the article. It makes me feel like I am right there with you! That's a cool dynamic! Looking forward to part two. - Bob R. * I want to go on a North American Rhino Hunt with you guys so bad! I always have wanted to, but after reading this article, I am even more pumped about giant boar hunting! - Thanks, Steve L. * I think it's a great article. It really gives you the feeling that you are right there on the hunt. I keep checking back for the rest but have so far been disappointed, not to find it here. I almost prefer the feeling of being there, that I get from reading an article like this, over seeing it in video. Almost is a key word here, though, because your shows are awesome! Keep doing what you guys do, its great ! - Walt * Amazing article. The best one I've read about a true father son bowhunting team, having fun in the woods! Like it should be. You, like the Nuge, have a great gift of articulation and detail in your descriptions! It's amazing what you've done and seen for your age! I am learning from you, so please keep it up, and let's see part two, already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Matt T. CLICK HERE TO EMAIL US & TELL US WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS ARTICLE!
ARCHIVED ARTICLES - CLICK ON ARTICLE TITLE TO HEAD TO THAT FEATURE * "A WORD (OR TWO) FROM GUY FITZGERALD"
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