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Pretty girl vs. Prehistoric Boar
 “This is the one,” I said grasping my daughters Easton AXIS arrow and tightly wrenching down her broadhead. Picking up a pen to mark the fletching, Brittany watched as she pulled on her tight fitting Manzella gloves and strapped on her release. I had shot a nice three hundred pound hog with my Mathews Switchback XT the day before and was now sending Brittany on her first wild boar hunt.
Her hours of practice in front of the realistic Delta wild hog could not have prepared her for what was about to transpire. All bundled up with her Mathews Prestige in hand, I sent her off to hunt an animal that outweighed her three to one. If the treestand she hunted in this early morning didn’t produce, she would have to hit the ground for a spot and stalk…an idea she was not particularly fond of. To be honest, neither was I.
As a mother, this was contrary to the very core of my nurturing, protective being. Sending your youngest daughter with a guide and cameraman to get close enough to spit on an easily agitated eating machine was asking a lot of even this “hunting fanatic” Mom. My only consolations were that the guide carried a shotgun for back up, my husband was the cameraman, and I had prepared her equipment personally. If my baby (OK, she’s sixteen) was going head to head with a wild Russian boar I was going to see to it first hand that her equipment wouldn’t fail her when called on. She had enough to worry about. So did I.
Russian boars are irritable by nature. They never need a reason to act unruly. Hunting this dangerous game with the bow can be a bit dicey and requires some grit on the hunters behalf. One needs to get close enough for a good quartering away shot yet stay out of striking distance should this tusk-filled quarry decide to turn and charge. As when hunting most dangerous game, a plan “B” was definitely in order.
Greg Johnson, owner of Bear Mountain Lodge in Marquette, Michigan had briefed us both on the importance of shot placement and what to do if things turned ugly. A wild boar has a limited range of motion straight up. He also runs a straight line so the key thing to do when charged is to run away and swing behind a tree (the “Swing” technique!) at the last minute. Hopefully this will send the boar past you. If not, you better drop whatever is in your hands and scramble up the tree putting as much room between you and several hundred pounds of angry, popping, bone crushing tusks below. I wiggled in my seat.
Greg then informed us that our guide, Drew Van Buren, would back us up with his shotgun if needed. Drew had just returned from his service of duty with the United States Army in Iraq so I felt assured if he could protect us over there, he sure could protect us here. Phew! I was one step closer to being comfortable about sending Brittany out for the hunt. The tough part would be the silent wait…
The frozen boards comprising the back deck of the lodge creaked under my boots just as it had the last 25 times I had paced it this morning. Time seemed to stand still as I stood peering into the cold, naked northwoods for even a glimpse of my little red head against the white snow. Seeing nothing, I sighed and took another sip of coffee. Could she do it? Did she have what it would take at the moment of truth? What if she got charged? How would she react? Little did I know I would be there to witness the answer to that question within a few short hours.
The sun inched higher in the December sky when I opened the patio door one last time. My gaze swept right and then left. There she was! “Well?” I said trying to hide my over protective and excited motherly gene. “I shot one!” Brittany said beaming with energy “…but I hit it a little far back. We are going to come in for now and go after it in an hour” So the story began. I zoomed down stairs to meet her with the speed of a mother bear protecting her cub. After checking her over to be sure she was fine I was able to think about the predicament at hand.
Reviewing the video was not comforting. Indeed the arrow was heading for a perfectly placed quartering away shot when it barely ticked a small branch, sending the arrow deep in front of the hindquarters. A killing shot yes, but with the time we had available, we would have to trail the wounded (and now quite agitated) “Raging Russian” in hopes of getting in close enough for a finishing shot. We needed to do all this while escaping the vengeance of a 300-pound, adrenaline charged, tusk filled animal that knew it was being hunted. I started to sweat.
An hour passed quickly and soon we were all single file following the bright blood trial in the snow. After a quarter mile our guide Drew stopped on the top side of an uprooted tree, “This is where I stopped trailing him, keep your eyes open from here” The next few minutes are still a blur to me. I remember stepping off the tree root and seeing the blood trail making a tight ten foot circle right back to where we were standing at the top side of the uprooted tree. Strange I thought, uncomfortably sizing up the situation.
I had heard that when any game capable of hunting a man knows it’s being hunted, it can lay in wait for a chance to return the favor…recalled information I wish I had forgotten. It was about at that same instant I heard our guide say “OH NO!” (or something like that…) I quickly looked up at him and followed his wide-eyed stare to just beneath the uprooted tree we had just been standing on. There crouched in the under side of the tree in a hole was Brittany’s hog! Stone still, we thought it was dead…until it blinked!
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| Proving you don’t need brawn to take dangerous game, Brittany Koenig discovers that a three-hundred-pound Russian Boar is no match for a determined sixteen-year-old bowhunter. |
Brittany was about ten feet behind me and off to my right. The hog was holed up 10-feet in front of me to slightly to my right. Drew pulled up his gun and the Raging Russian leaped out of its hiding place, charging full “boar” right at Brittany. “RUN!” I screamed. One eye-popping look at what was coming her way and she turned tail and was off. Remembering what she was told she did a quick pirouette “Swing Technique” behind a tree.
By this time Drew was on his mark. BOOM! A single shot rang out and the snarling hog was dispatched just five feet short of Brittany’s hiding place behind the tree. A moment of thought gathering silence and Brittany managed, “WOW! THAT was COOL!” With a smile we emerged from our hiding places and gathered around the magnificent three-hundred-pound Russian Boar.
These Raging Russians were every bit as exciting to hunt as we had heard. On our walk back to the lodge I asked Brittany if she would ever hunt a wild Russian from a tree stand again. Her words reverberated off the frozen Michigan trees “NEVER! A spot and stalk for these wild Russians is the ONLY way to go! I can’t wait until next time!” My motherly fear turned to pride as I realized what a gem I had in my presence. Not only is she my best friend, but a fearless hunter as well. If that doesn’t make a Momma proud, nothing will.
For a really exciting Raging Russian Boar hunt call Greg Johnson at Bear Mountain Lodge in Marquette, Michigan toll free at 800-676-9821 or visit them on line at www.bearmountainquest.com Also, don’t forget to sign up for a free Mustang bow and enjoy new content at Tammy Koenig’s web site www.leadingladiesoutdoors.com
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