This past February I and six other friends went to the Texas hill country for a wild hog hunt. The Hog Mania Ranch near Lometa Texas only offers archery hunts. They have Russian, Razorback and feral hogs roaming freely throughout the rolling 100 acres of open land dotted with Mesquite brush. My buddy had booked this hunt about nine months before make sure they had a spot for us. Sometimes reserving these more popular cool Texas hog hunts is difficult.

This was my second visit to this ranch. Upon arrival David & Bonita Barnard the owners of the Hog Mania Ranch greeted us. Friendly and down to earth these folks have accommodations that are no frill setups with one small cabin that can sleep up to six people. It has a stove and refrigerator and a small bathroom with a shower. Across the drive is a smaller building that will sleep up to six people with an outdoor bathroom and shower close. This cabin also has a walk in cooler on the site for your harvest.

The cost for this hunt is $200 for a two-day hunt that includes the cabins and two hogs of any size. No trophy fee here which I think is a plus. The cost is definitely hard to beat, for an area that is 100 fenced acres with a variety of terrain types and tripod stands over feeders if that is the way you like to hunt. Stalking is also an option for those who prefer to stealth through dense brush.

The first day we went out to hunt about noon and everyone went to a separate stand of choice. That day the temperature rose in the mid 70"s. It was a good idea to take plenty of water for the day. I set on my stand till almost dark when my feeder went off, which usually means the hogs are coming but this time no such luck. So after dark we all met back at the main gate. The other hunters had the same luck. Only one guy saw and took a shot. Nevertheless, he missed at 30 yards and as expected, he said it was a monster pig.

After getting back to cabins we all got together and fixed a great meal that is one of my favorite times of any hunting trip. We had a great time just setting around enjoying all the hunting stories told of days gone by and the camaraderie. Of course all the stories told around the campfire are always true.

The next morning we up early and ready to go again and again we all tried the stand hunting first in the cool of the morning. We thought the hogs might come into the sound of feeders going off but no such luck. After about two hours on the stand I decided to get down and try to stalk, so off through the thick mesquite I went. Boy, did I see lots of hog sign and then I started seeing the first of many hogs. I just had no way to sneak up on them after trying this for about an hour I ran into my buddy Dave. He had the same luck it seemed we had been running the same hogs back and forth between the two of us.

Later that afternoon David and Bonita got the dogs out for us. This was the first time I had ever hunted hogs with dogs but boy, it was a blast. The dogs would locate the hogs and bay them until you could run to where they were to get a shot with your bow. Let me tell you a hundred acres is a whole lot bigger than you think when you try to keep up with a hog chase. Needless to say I got my first wild hog on this trip. The dogs had bayed me a small 100 pound hog but I wasn’t going to turn down this opportunity to get my first hog. My Gold Tip arrow coupled with my new MX4 Muzzy broadhead did the job on this hog slicing through him like butter.

This was the first animal I had harvested with the new Muzzy MX 4 broadheads they had sent me to try and then review. I used the 100 grain 4-blade with a one and one eighth cutting diameter and blade thickness of .025. These are one tough broadhead. They are the toughest I"ve used to date. The Gold Tip XT Hunter 55/75 is the cream of the crop. When it comes to hunting arrows with close tolerance I don’t think there is a better shaft made on the market.

At the end of the day we had four hogs on the ground. That night was quite an experience. I have to say, hunting in the dark, for wild hogs, with dogs hot on their trail and flashlight in hand will get your blood pumping. By the end of the night and the next day we had a total of 10 hogs down and te meat prepared to bring back to Missouri with us. What fun that off-season trip was for a price of about $350 apiece. The cost included splitting gas and food cost. It is a very cheap way to have fun.

So if you get a chance head down Texas way and try out the Hog Mania Ranch you can call David and Bonita at 512-752-3948 or email Bbarnhogmania@aol.com at for year round hog hunting adventures.