Thanks everyone. Sorry I just saw this post!
First off I need to thank Irv for donating this hunt to the Michigan Longbow Association's banquet last winter, and happy to say I was top bidder. Through e-mails we discussed some dates and agreed on the second weekend in January. I figured I'd be ready for a break from the winter weather here in Michigan at that point.
Andrew Zwerk( pokerdaddy here on TG)and I flew into Orlando January 7th and then drove down to Ft. Pierce, checked into a motel and then gave Irv a call to let him know we were in town. Andrew and I had hunted hogs together 2 years previously at Wild Things in S. Carolina with the annual Camp (h)Ambush crew. Neither one of us killed a hog on that trip but we sure had a good time and Andrew was a great hunting partner. When he expressed an interest in going along on this hunt I was happy to have him join me. We didn't arrive til late in the evening so Irv said he would meet us at the motel at 0530 the next morning
I was wide awake well before the alarm went off. I dressed stuck my head out the door and Andrew was standing outside ready to go too.
Irv showed up at the appointed hour we shook hands, had a brief strategy session there in the parking lot and then jumped in the car to follow him out to the first area we would hunt.
It had rained through the night and continued to sprinkle off and on as we drove. We hit the first area, parked and gathered our gear and proceeded to follow Irv out to the stands.
Now most of the parcels we hunted this weekend are used for grazing cattle and this particular property, although not particularly big had probably 15 head of cattle on it with some very impressive horns! Fortunately they were pretty docile and generally scooted out of the way when we approached.
We followed Irv through the pasture to the first stand. All of the recent rains had left this field pretty soggy with plenty of standing water in the low spots. We got to the stand and Andrew said he'd like to sit that one so we dropped him off and then proceeded to the 2nd ladder stand. I scooted up the ladder, got strapped in Irv wished me luck and headed back to his truck. As the sky grew lighter I could make out the feeder in front of me. Before he left Irv had dropped some additional corn near the feeder. Each feeder on these grazing lands sat in a fenced in area to keep the cows away from the corn. Pigs could get to it but the cows couldn't.
The rain was intermittent, not hard but enough to let you know you were getting wet. By 0800 Andrew and I texted each and decided to call it a morning and go dry out. No hogs were seen
Back at the motel we gave Irv a call, he said he'd come over around noon and we'd go get some lunch.
Irv showed up and we headed out to a little place he knew about on the river kind of a Mom and Pop place but judging from the crowd the place was popular, and with good reason the food was excellent.
We talked a lot about hog hunting and you could tell that Irv was pretty passionate about the hunting and what he wanted his hunters to experience, and he wanted to make sure we got what we wanted out of this hunt.
That afternoon we decided to head back to the property we had hunted that morning. The rain had quit and we got some intermittent sun. Sitting in the stand that afternoon was pretty comfortable. We sat until dark but despite plenty of fresh sign saw no hogs.
Saturday morning Irv met us at 0500 at the motel and we followed him out to a different property. Apparently at one time this was a three hundred tree farm but was now used for grazing cattle. I got dropped off as we pulled onto the property. Irv instructed me to follow the road next to the canal down until I came to a small white building then turn in and follow the fence down about 50 yards to the tree stand. Somehow I missed the "50 yard" part of the direction and when I came to the pump house and fence I turned and kept walking. I must have gone about 2 hundred yards before I realized my mistake so I started backtracking and sure enough the stand was tucked into the trees right where Irv said it would be.
By now it was starting to get light so I got up the ladder as quickly and quietly as I could and got settled in. Now this was a 15 foot ladder stand and the feeder was only about 10 feet away.
I was in the stand maybe 20 minutes when I heard something moving behind me. I had an arrow out of the quiver and nocked when I heard a soft grunt over my left shoulder.
I turned slightly to my left just as a gray hog that would probably go 150 lbs. appeared at the base of the feeder. With the bow up I picked a spot straight up from the right leg, drew and released.
The arrow went high and zipped right over his back! He grunted, harder this time, and bolted.
"Dang it!" I couldn't believe I had missed at that distance but I hadn't taken into account the steep downward angle. I sat back and stared at the chartreuse fletching sticking up from underneath the feeder. Shortly after as I sat there I heard something in the canal that was just to the right of my stand. I looked down to see an otter climbing up onto the bank and then back into the water!
The rest of the morning passed with no more hog sightings. Andrew and I met up at mid morning and headed back to the motel.
We met up with Irv later that afternoon. I had told him my sad tale over the phone earlier. He had a different property in mind for that afternoon so we followed him out to another ranch and drove back into the property to a parking area. The 3 of us hiked back in for a ways and then I headed into a tree stand on the edge of a small clearing overlooking another feeder. I climbed into the stand but found it was a bit far from where I figured the hogs would come from and a good 20+ yards from the feeder. The surrounding area was thick with small palm trees and palmettos. I climbed down and set up in a spot on the ground where I could watch the trail leading into the feeder. I swept the ground clean of any debris and trimmed back a few fronds to make a shooting lane.
An hour after I settled in I had 2 hogs come down the trail and into the feeder. One was jet black and the other was red. Both looked to be about 100 lbs.
The red one literally flopped down on her belly next to the feeder(which hadn't gone off yet)while the black hog nosed around looking for whatever tidbits it could find to eat.
The breeze was iffy but for the time being I was downwind of them. I eased to the side of the Palm I was standing behind to get clear for a shot. These 2 were well within 15 yards, but the red hog was laying smack behind an oak that blocked her vitals. I had a great view of her head and ham but nothing else. Meanwhile the black had discovered something of interest in the palmettos just behind the feeder. I was trying t figure out how to get a shot at the red when the breeze shifted ever so slightly but enough that they winded me and skedaddled in record time. A disappointing outcome but never the less exciting!
Andrew and I texted each other and called it a day shortly there after, and hiked back out to the vehicle.
We talked to Irv that evening, we told him that we'd like to hunt that property again in the morning but from the ground, he thought that sounded good and said he would meet us in the morning at the motel and bring some stools for us to use.
Sunday morning found us back at the same location. Andrew and I both headed into where I sat the night before and got set up some distance apart. These palmettos provided excellent cover but you had to be careful you didn't brush up against them because of the noise .
The morning passed uneventfully and we realized our hunt was winding down. One more evening sit and it would be over.
More to come, got to call it a night for now.
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