Tracked using my nose this morning

Shot a small pig this morning. Put it a bit back of where I wanted it. Waited and had coffee and walked down to find not a drop of blood. Dang! Well, I followed the trail that I thought the other pigs used. Nothing. Finally, after a lot of walking and looking, I gave up and headed back to the feeder. But wait...one drop of blood with what looked like lung tissue. And I found more, where the hog rested on small trees. I've tracked wounded critters for 50 years, and the signs point to a dead pig somewhere. Then the blood drops quit. Dang! But, by golly, I smell pig. Sniffed around a bit and looked around a bit and way up under a bush I see the dead pig. Never would have seen it if the nose hadn't helped.

The darned pigs just don't bleed much, or at least not enough, and it was a good through and through, with quarter sized exit. Having backstrap for supper.

High shots on lungs often don't bleed out much at all, the blood draining internally. On top of that, between fat and shield, hogs will often seal up entry wounds and sometimes even exit wounds.

Under a bush, vines, briars, etc. is often where I will find them if they make it to the woods. A couple I have had to cut out of the briars just to get a photo.

Hey, 603Country, good story, good results, and congratulations. Have you considered renting yourself and your nose out to some the heavy duty hog hunters on this forum? The pay may not be much, but you'd have some good company and lots of action!!

Da nose knows. My wife laughs at my sensitive nose, but it's been like this since I was a kid. I swear I used to smell squirrels when I was hunting them on still days. My nose was almost crippled in the 80's when I had a huge secretary that wore half a bottle of some perfume that could be used as a paint stripper. I think it was Eternity perfume. Gave me headaches.

Truth is that the blood trailing got me close enough for the sniffer to be of use. The undergrowth here is seriously heavy, and I don't like fighting my way through it, but we needed the meat. The wife cooked up some backstrap wrapped in bacon this afternoon. Yum.

Glad you found it. Amazing the places they can go.

Sounds delicious. Tell her to shoot a small sow or large piglet for the best eating. A big boar is a nice trophy but hard to eat.

Ol snoop dog on the scent. You know they're close when you can smell em. Like muddy creek water.

Great story.. I have a pretty sensitive nose and many times I can smell them, if the wind is right, before they come out into the open. Can't say that I've ever tracked a dead one with my nose before, good job..

Good story and hunt, my nose does not help. Where did you hit the pig?

Ramsey, I must have caught the back of the lungs, thank goodness. It was almost too far back.