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It’s the last afternoon and boiling hot. So Matt Napper suggested that we go back to the same general area where I killed my hog in '05. My son Matthew was conflicted. He wanted to come with me, but hanging with Cheryl was fun as well. When he came out of the cabin dressed in his Realtree gear I knew which activity he had chosen.

We climbed into Cheryl’s mule, which is an ATV/buggy sort of thing and headed down to the area where Matt and I would set up. When we reached it I started checking the wind and looking for a good ambush location. Matt Napper was checking on some things too and asked me a strange question: Pat, ever seen a tarantula before? I looked down and there it was. I had seen them in glass tanks and photos but never in the wild. It was missing a leg, so we nicknamed it Heather Mills McCartney. My kids were going wild, especially Matt. In just two days he had found countless scorpions, a copperhead and a tarantula. It just doesn’t get any better than that. I held out my hand and let the tarantula climb into my palm. It was freaky, and I sure hoped Heather was in a good mood.

We found this tarantula when setting up the blind

The spider got my son Matt thinking that it may be more fun to look for more creatures. So off he went with Cheryl and Pat Jr. I can’t say I blame him for better-dealing his old man to search for poisonous creatures.

I set up the video camera with a fresh battery and a blank 63 minute HD card then hit record. If you recall from my last hunt here at Shiloh, I was able to film a unique, reverse-angle shot at my hog which is difficult to accomplish. Because there are so many hogs at Shiloh, this is one of the few places I could pull this off. I got into position and waited. My wait didn’t take very long. As soon as Matt drove away, hogs began to appear. I had two hogs in range immediately. What they didn’t realize was that Matt had turned around and was coming back. When he drove by, he scared the hogs into the trees and one of them nearly knocked me over!

Pat checks the setup before climbing into his blind

The scene was quiet again as I began my wait. The other hogs did not go very far and began to trickle back in after about 10 minutes. There was a really big boar in this area. He had tremendous teeth. But since I had no intention of getting him mounted I told Matt I’d pass on him if he appeared. I just wanted a meat hog and he could save the trophy boar for one of his future hunters.

Watch the Video of Pat's shot (4 minutes, 11mb)

The first hog that came in was exactly what I was looking for. A medium sized sow that would be good on the grill. It stopped at my strategically placed corn pile and I drew my new Bowtech Guardian. If you count on the video, I am at full draw for 70 seconds. Finally, it moved into a good angle and I released. I was purposefully aiming low at the elbow and that's where I hit it in the chest. But in hindsight I misjudged the angle and shot too far forward. The arrow hit the leg bone which caused it to take a radical angle out the far side of his neck. The Muzzy MX-4 had blown an almost grotesque hole in the bottom of the front chest. One of the blades had bent around the elbow which allowed the arrow to continue forward. The bloodtrail was incredible and my hog laid down in 80 yards. But while he was down, it was still breathing when we approached it. I put a finishing shot into the hog and it was over. The entire family is tagged out. We shot at four hogs and we recovered all four. My kids did better than their parents and they keep reminding us of that. Julie and I are extremely proud of them and the best part? They are proud of themselves for doing it right.

Pat took his hog with a Bowtech Guardian, Easton Full Metal Jacket Shafts and a Muzzy MX-4 head. For Camo he used Realtree Max-1.

We met Julie and the kids back at the cabins for some photos. We then cleaned up and headed out for dinner with Matt and Cheryl. The evening was special and a little sad for my kids. They love coming to Shiloh (which is now a tradition for our family). We let the kids order anything they wanted including desert. My son Matt took it a little far, however. The waitress had already taken his dessert order when Matt spoke up and asked if he could change his order? He had picked up the drink menu at Applebees which had a photo of several frozen drinks. He then told the waitress that he wanted a Mudslide. I intervened and told Matt that Mudslide’s have alcohol in them. Without missing a beat, he looked up at the waitress and said, “I’ll have it anyway.”

This was one small memory from a hunt chock full of them. It’s these memories that form lasting impressions and I can’t imagine a better hunt than with Matt and Cheryl at Shiloh. This hunt exceeded all of our expectations and we can't wait to come back!