My buddy and I are 8 miles from the Mexican border at dark thirty with our bows and FoxPro FX5 electronic caller…a little outing of predator hunting in the Cleveland Nat’l Forest in eastern San Diego County. It’s a hilly area with lots of chaparral, perfect for close and personal coyote action with a bow. We sneak in 40 minutes before grey light, place the caller 25 yards out and settle in awaiting the first rosy fingers of dawn to pierce the morning sky. Other than a few birds, there is nothing moving.
Wearing 3D camo and tucked into the scrub brush, we are seated for about 8 minutes or so when I hear movement directly behind me. At first I freeze, unsure what is approaching. Then I nock an arrow and remove my knife from its sheath…not sure exactly what to expect. The sound of heavy weight moving thru the chaparral is unnerving…whatever is coming up behind me is big.
I lock eyes with my buddy, they are wide open in fear and now I am filled with dread. When you see sheer terror on your hunting buddy’s face, you know you’re in deep sh*t.
The sound is moving laterally behind, not more than 15-20 feet. My mind is racing. I’m thinking about jumping up so if it’s a mt. lion I am not such a small target but realize if it was a something like that, my pal would already be up on his feet and you don’t hear lions coming in. He’s not moving. I follow his lead. He can see what it is, I cannot…not until the sound turns again and move past me at 20 yards. At first all I saw was the gun, an AK47 slung over the shoulder of the dirtiest man I have ever seen. Then I saw his buddy, equally filthy and toting the same firearm. In tow were 34 others, all Latino, most likely Mexican. We sit perfectly still and watch as a total of 36 aliens pass by without a word. The “train” was completely male and no backpacks, which I thought was strange. Not at all like the videos you often see posted online with a mixed bag of men and women of all ages moving past a surveillance camera hidden along the trail.
[video=youtube;KD-OPWEmHp8]
It isn’t until they had passed a quarter mile away that my buddy and I broke silence. He calls the Border Patrol and gives em the GPS numbers, head count and weapons description. We beat it outta there ASAP.
Later my buddy is told we were extremely lucky. Just ahead of the group that passed us was another of equal size carrying backpacks of dope. The second group was the relief column. We had slid in right between the two. When we retrieved the game caller, there were shoe prints 5 feet away from it.
Now we never hunt that area with sticks and strings…I carry an R25 semi-auto in .308 w/ ten rd magazines. There’s an armed invasion taking place on the border and people who do not live near the southern border cannot imagine just how real the threat is. I didn’t fully appreciate it until this encounter. Though this all happened years ago…I can see it like it was yesterday. The most dangerous animal in the field has only two legs.
Wearing 3D camo and tucked into the scrub brush, we are seated for about 8 minutes or so when I hear movement directly behind me. At first I freeze, unsure what is approaching. Then I nock an arrow and remove my knife from its sheath…not sure exactly what to expect. The sound of heavy weight moving thru the chaparral is unnerving…whatever is coming up behind me is big.
I lock eyes with my buddy, they are wide open in fear and now I am filled with dread. When you see sheer terror on your hunting buddy’s face, you know you’re in deep sh*t.
The sound is moving laterally behind, not more than 15-20 feet. My mind is racing. I’m thinking about jumping up so if it’s a mt. lion I am not such a small target but realize if it was a something like that, my pal would already be up on his feet and you don’t hear lions coming in. He’s not moving. I follow his lead. He can see what it is, I cannot…not until the sound turns again and move past me at 20 yards. At first all I saw was the gun, an AK47 slung over the shoulder of the dirtiest man I have ever seen. Then I saw his buddy, equally filthy and toting the same firearm. In tow were 34 others, all Latino, most likely Mexican. We sit perfectly still and watch as a total of 36 aliens pass by without a word. The “train” was completely male and no backpacks, which I thought was strange. Not at all like the videos you often see posted online with a mixed bag of men and women of all ages moving past a surveillance camera hidden along the trail.
[video=youtube;KD-OPWEmHp8]
It isn’t until they had passed a quarter mile away that my buddy and I broke silence. He calls the Border Patrol and gives em the GPS numbers, head count and weapons description. We beat it outta there ASAP.
Later my buddy is told we were extremely lucky. Just ahead of the group that passed us was another of equal size carrying backpacks of dope. The second group was the relief column. We had slid in right between the two. When we retrieved the game caller, there were shoe prints 5 feet away from it.
Now we never hunt that area with sticks and strings…I carry an R25 semi-auto in .308 w/ ten rd magazines. There’s an armed invasion taking place on the border and people who do not live near the southern border cannot imagine just how real the threat is. I didn’t fully appreciate it until this encounter. Though this all happened years ago…I can see it like it was yesterday. The most dangerous animal in the field has only two legs.
