This is from earlier in the week,,,,,Went out to the lease to bow hunt some hogs with my PSE Nitro I purchased 18 years ago, used Spitfires and Beman Matrix from that time I bought it, lol. I had a 15 year absence from bowhunting due to blurry vision in my right eye from a severe bacterial infection from a shrimp horn that stuck my right part of the eye when I pressure washed my boat, its what happens when I don't wear safety glasses. Glad I found the verifiers last year, so I was sitting in a chair 20 yards from my feeder, and out in front of me partially blocking my silhouette was a cactus patch and some low brush. Right around 6 30 pm, I hear some pig grunts and squealing heading my way, so I get ready. Once I saw them pour in the area one by one, my heart beat faster and its a great feeling seeing them personally up close. I waited till the rest of the hogs came, and to my horror a huge boar, I would say about 300 to 325 lbs was the last one in,it was a solid boar with 4 inch tusks and it gave me the stare down and my azz puckered, lol. It was about 12 yards away, and it towered over me in size compared to me while sitting. It stared at me for about 45 seconds and I never budged an inch, in my mind I looked at the tiny Spitfire mechanical and it will just stick in his gristle plate without any good penetration, I was not going to shoot him anyway, but if he charged me, I'll grab my Sig .40, lol. I wanted to harvest smaller hogs for better and tastier eating, so the big boar went about its business once it was satisfied that I was not a threat or did not know what I was. So at 70 lb draw ( I tweaked it up at camp from 58 to 70 ) I slowly got up to stand and picked out a nice looking female hog to shoot at, and checked her position which was next to the close feeder leg where I range find earlier which is 18 yards, so I slowly drew the bow, damn, it was hard drawing it very slowly when there is 20 hogs about 60 feet away and you are half not obscured by any brush. So I was a bit nervous ( hey, its been 15 years since I bow hunted ) and took some extra time to get the first pin settled in the center up the leg of the hog and let her fly, as the arrow zipped off and saw the arrow fly over some brush moments after and all the hogs took off. I was dumbfounded and not sure what happened. I was sure all my 4 pins were sighted at camp out to 50 yards. I sat back down and waited to see if they would come back, about 5 mins later, a different pack of hogs came by the feeder and most of them were bigger than the first pack. One of the males made some signals and all the hogs followed him out into the brush and never came back. I got up to check my arrow and found it, it was spotless clean of blood and I am sure it never hit the hog. It got dark and went back to camp with my head down. Got there and checked the sights and it was right on.

I think one lesson I learned is,,,,it may apply to all of you,,,don't think you can handle the most poundage out of your bow if you cannot keep it steady for your shot. So I went home and went to Bass Pro the following day to buy some new arrows and Ram Cats. Had the bow checked for poundage and it was at 68 lbs, so I had it turned down to 60 and felt more comfortable and easier to keep it steady. Keep your bow to the poundage you are comfortable with at a level when you draw it and keeping it steady on the target. Also felt that the draw length was a bit short, so added a quarter inch to my draw length. ( I guess my arms grew longer during the 15 year absence of bow hunting, lol )

Soon I will go for Round 2 and hopefully get one hog home. Cheers

Hang in there

Missed this weekend. No fun! Keep at it

It's a whole different story trying to get muscles you haven't used for a long while and get them to work from a cold start.
I used to hunt with a 65# compound for years and I shot 3D tournaments also, and then due to shoulder problems went to using a crossbow for about six years and now I've come full circle to going back to my roots shooting a recurve with plain Jane bow no sights.
It's a 40# bow I might add and it was a bear to pull the first time I tried.
Most guys over bow themselves anyway for hunting where you limit your ethical bow range unlike 3D competition where you try to pull the heaviest bow you can and shoot 50 yard targets.
Yes, shooting long range increases your confidence at close hunting ranges, but for hunting Texas whitetails you don't need more than 60# if you keep your practical hunting range at 30 yards.
After you get into shape you can always kick it back up there but even then 65# is plenty.
Everyone is different, and I never was a fan of multiple pins on a hunting bow. I used two pins and no more. It's hard to stay focused when the adrenaline starts pumping, at least for me anyway!

Sounds like an exciting hunt but your way sounds difficult to me doing it on the ground. Get 12-14 ft in the air, it is alot easier.

I missed two doe four times Saturday morning with my recurve. So Saturday evening I went out and killed a pig with my Spyder.