Just prior to the PBS convention in St. Augustine, I had the pleasure to assist Sean and Karen Walp, from New York, on their hog hunt.
These folks are as prepared and dedicated as any traditional hunters I have seen.
Always ready on time, quiet, clean and knowledgeable.
Just as the weather finally dried up here, the hogs got a little harder to find, but we kept chipping away at it, and eventually they both got shots at some wild, free range swine.
Sean's opportunity came on the last morning and Karen's on their last evening.
On the day before, we installed Karen at her stand, Sean carefully making sure she was safe and secure, while I sprinkled some corn, then we began the drive to Sean's stand on the same property.
As we approached one of his choices, we quickly exited the vehicles to get a feel for the actual wind, which can be different than predicted, depending on trees and terrain.
While taking a brief look at the hunt site, we heard two boars fighting in the tall grass just behind the stand. We were both thinking..."get in the stand quick", then reality hit...the wind was perfectly wrong.
We would drive to the next stand about a half mile away thru the swamp on an elevated dirt road.
We no more than got started when Sean noticed the two boars in question on an open side grassy lane.
He signaled me to stop, hoping to begin a stalk, and we were both disappointed when we decided that, with the wind being as it was, it was useless, and we would rather not educate these two fellows.
That day nothing for either hunter.
Our decision proved to be a good one as no sooner had Sean got on stand his last morning, but the two boars made their appearance at the same site where they had been scuffling the day before.
The wind had changed overnight and was now ideal.
Sean made a good quartering away hit (6:40 AM) with about 15" of penetration, later finding the broken wooden shaft. However, very little blood, no exit hole, and head high grasses hindered the tracking process. And even though we all believe that hog is dead....the 150# beast was not recovered.
That afternoon we all returned to the same stands for the last evening.
Karen had her normal visitor, a hungry raccoon, but just at last light was visited by a nice hog which she promptly shot.
Again a tracking job with very little blood, continued to the neighbors fence, and even though we had permission, the trail ended there.
So...the bittersweet feeling of having stuck it out for 3 plus days, from early till late, and going home without any meat.
Both took the outcome like champions.
They preferred to, and had the opportunity to, do as much of the hunt themselves as possible, right down to the tracking. I would deliver them to their site choices, we would discuss the options, and they would go DIY.
I was pleased that at the end, they both offered that they had a wonderful time and would hope to return.
It is such a bonus to meet folks who understand that this is the nature of hunting, and unless we are in a controlled environment (read dogs, swamp buggies, and many times high fences,) we will have adventures that are thrilling, fun, and rewarding...but perhaps end a little differently than we would like.
Every stickbow hunter I have had the pleasure of helping has always had this same attitude, and although I do everything in my power to control all the variables that I can, it is unrealistic to expect we are going to be successful in every outing.
Hogs are a very tough animal with a very small vital area.
Thanks for the opportunity to serve you both.
Thanks also to the mentality of this fine community of Tradgang members and hunters.
Topic: Florida pig adventure for a real nice couple... (Read 412 times)
