Hunting Razorbacks in Arizona

By Kevin “RED” Curran
Game and Fish Liaison
AZOD Guest Writer


I was told about TNT Adventures from a co-worker who guaranteed me a fair chase hunt and big hogs.  My first discussion with Ron Thompson from TNT was to ask him to donate a hunt for the 2001 BHH, which he did.  I had no idea at that time I would be contacting Ron again to book a hunt.

Ray Dean and myself were drawn for a Camp Navajo archery cow tags.  Due to the September 11th terrorist attack the base was closed to all civilians and our tags would go unused.  I still had the itchin hunters get every fall and it needed to be scratched.  Ray and I decided we would give the hog hunt a try.  When we first decided to book the hunt I was skeptical because of a past experience on a California hog hunt that was unchallenging and not something I would recommend.  Ron assured me the hunt would be fair chase and challenging.  We booked the hunt for the first weekend of December.

We left for San Manuel at 6 am on the 30th of November.  The drive was filled with conversation of past hunts and Ray giving me pointers since this was my first traditional hunt.  Once we hit Reddington road we knew it was only 15 more miles to the camp, but with Ray giving mileage updates at every mile it was a long 15 miles.  We pulled into camp unloaded our gear and were ready to hunt.  When Ron saw us unloading our equipment and saw the traditional bows he asked what we had for back up.  He looked at us like we were nuts when we just pointed to our full quivers.  We got the usual question asked when someone sees a bow without sights:  How accurate are those things?  Ray took this as an opportunity to do some showing off and shot a 5” stump at 30 yards dead center.  Now that the showing off and introductions were complete it was time to hunt.

Ray and I both chose to sit at a waterhole that afternoon.  We spent about 4 hours at the water without a pig coming in.  We did have numerous amounts of quail and a bobcat come in.  I want to make a back quiver from a bobcat hide so I got pretty excited when I saw the cat but he never came within bow range.  After being at the waterhole about four hours we realized we hadn’t eaten so we decided to go back to camp for a bite to eat.

After lunch I went back to the waterhole hoping to get a shot at the bobcat.  Ray decided to sit at a feeder.  Just as I was getting my shooting lanes cleared and my gear situated I heard a frantic call on the radio.  It was Ray Dean broadcasting from a tree. .  He was asking for Ron to come with the truck and help him drag his pig out.  Ron said he’d be there in about 5 minutes.  Ray’s response was that there was no hurry because he was in a tree and the hogs weren’t letting him down.  He had a good shot at a pig but the rest of the herd didn’t understand that they were the hunted and not the hunter.  On his way to Ray’s stand Ron stopped to pick me up thinking some of the herd might still be in the area and I might get a shot.  Once we got to Ray’s stand he was still in a tree.  When he decided to come down he was looking over his shoulder like a mobster with a price on his head.  We walked over to the blind and saw skid marks left by a hog that had charged the blind and skidded within inches of where Ray was sitting.  We hadn’t been there very long when we heard the hogs in the brush.  When I saw everybody climbing trees I started wondering what I had gotten myself into because I was on the ground with my bow waiting to get a shot.  I stayed in the area until dark and the hogs never came my way.  I would be back bright and early the next morning.

We woke about 5 am on Saturday because I wanted to be on stand at daylight.  After a Danish and some coffee I was ready to go.  It was a cold clear morning on the San Pedro River but with the anticipation of the hunt I didn’t notice.  It turned out to be an uneventful morning and about eleven Ray went back to camp to make some sandwiches and get some hot coffee.  He returned at noon and was going to bring lunch to the blind but I needed to stretch so I went to the truck.  After a couple of sandwiches and some of his famous 20W-50 coffee I headed back to the blind.  BUSTED!  The hogs decided to have lunch at the same time I did.  To get a shot I would’ve had to crawl under a fence, which I wasn’t about to do once I saw the size of some of those hogs.  I tried to circle them and crawl under the fence at a different spot but they had already winded me and split.  I went back to the blind to await their return.

At about 3 pm I heard what sounded like a herd of elephants coming through the brush.  It was a herd of about 30 hogs!  I was finally going to get an opportunity to harvest an animal with the recurve.  The hogs were bunched together so I had to wait for one to separate from the herd before I could shoot.  After what seemed like an eternity a hog stepped out and I picked my spot.  The 615-grain cedar arrow with a grizzly broadhead passed through both lungs.  When the hog turned I could see my broadhead sticking out the other side.  Needless to say I was surprised to see the hog take off with the rest of the herd.  The herd then turned and came back toward the blind.  The pig I had already shot was now about 25 yards away quartering to me.  I shot another arrow, which appeared to enter the chest cavity.  The herd took off again with my pig close behind.  It was now about 4:30 pm and we knew we didn’t have much daylight so we started blood trailing.  We followed the herd up a canyon and saw the shot hog on a couple of different occasions but I wasn’t able to get another shot.  The last time we saw the herd they had went back across the river headed to the fields to feed for the evening.  It was getting dark and we were sure the hog would die in the field so we decided to come back and get him the next morning.

We were glassing the field bright and early the next morning.  To my disappointment the hog was no where in the field we had last seen him in.  Despite the fact that I had seen my broadhead pass through both lungs I started doubting my shot.  Finally, at about 10 am we found the hog still alive!  The animal was obviously wounded so out of respect for the animal and not wanting it to suffer anymore than it already had I had Ron finish him off with his rifle.  Once we got the animal back to camp and cleaned it I saw that my broadhead had passed through both lungs.  I couldn’t believe the animal had lived that long with a double lung hit.  Ron had told us these were very tough animals.  Now I know exactly what he meant.

If you are interested in a good hog hunt without going to Texas and paying Texas prices I highly recommend TNT Adventures.  They are currently remodeling the old ranch house for a hunting lodge.  If you want to camp they have a campsite complete with water and electricity for $10.00/night.  For those of you who don’t like to rough it there is a hotel within 20 minutes of the ranch.  If you are interested in hunting with TNT you can contact Ron Thompson at: TNTadventures@webtv.com .  Good luck and happy hunting! - END -

Articles on Arizona Hunting, Fishing, Boating, Archery and much more. If it's Outdoors in Arizona, we have it covered. Bass Club Results, The latest Outdoor News, Arizona Game and Fish Statistics, you name it we cover it. All Arizona, All Outdoors.

 Arizona Outdoorsman Media, Inc.

 P.O. Box 796
Wickenburg, Az 85358
Tel 928-684-2840 - FAX: 928-684-2840 *51

 Password Protected TEAM AZOD Site

About AZOD.com | Privacy Statement | Submission of info Policy| E-mail the Editor | 
E-mail Webmaster | Subscriptions | Free Web Page | |Mission Statement

Trademarks (click for proof): Arizona Outdoorsman™ | AZOD™ | 
AzOutdoorsman™ | OutdoorsmanAz™

© 1997-2005 Arizona Outdoorsman Media, Inc.,  all rights reserved Unauthorized reproduction or use of any 
material in this site, without written permission,  is strictly prohibited.