Wild Things & Hog hunting 101

[WESTBROOK]

First thing, gotta thank Terry & Rob for putting up the $250 gift drawings for these hunts. I have been wanting to get down there for a long time  and this was the kick in the pants I needed to get me going.

Hog hunting 101- Yep that's me, the only thing I new about it is what I've seen and read here, heck I've never hunted outside of Michigan and Co when I lived there so everything about this trip was a first for me. Thanks Thom & Terry for the tips & advice.

Pulled into camp early Monday afternoon got unloaded and shot a few arrows. Andrew was out running some errands so I hopped in the gator with Charlie and went for a quick tour and checked some feeders and get a general lay of the land.

Only had one other hunter (Jeff Brisson from N.C.) in camp this final week of the season so we pretty much had the run of the place. Hadn't had any rain there in a week or so and it was getting pretty dry, with a dry forecast of temps in the 80's-90's. Less than ideal weather but, you take what you get in that department......

[pdk25]

   

[Rick Butler]

Oh yeah, bring it!!

[jcar315]

[WESTBROOK]

lots of little gators in the pond...
had a 8 footer sunning himself on the far bank a couple times.


 


Mornings were spent creeping through the swamp on the roads out of the Turkey Foot. This was a tough game, you could move along the road silently but off the road it was all but impossible. Down in the sloughs the ground was soft but the leaves were dried out as were the litter of twiggs over them, much like walking on corn flakes with a covering of pretzel sticks.

Saw one small pig the first morning, but it got out of site before I could get around on the same side of the slough.


 

The first evening Jeff was in the Hog Wallow stand and I wasn't too far away in ??? I don't remember..but Steve Angel killed a nice hog there earlier in the season. I just remember sitting there being slow cooked by the S.C. sun & praying for some clouds LOL. Watched about 6 deer feeding around the field most of the evening.

Saw 1 hog just before dark a couple hundred yard out, never came in to the feeder..found out why a little later. Jeff had put an arrow through it at his stand a few minutes before. We all met up at dark, his arrow had some good blood on it but sounded like it was hit a little far back so Andrew figured it best to get on it first thing in the morning....

[sticksnstones]

[WESTBROOK]

Surely I'm not the only one that finds it therapeutic to sit and watch the Ol' Savannah roll by while the swamp sings it's song to ya...

   

 

 

2nd morning, Andrew, Charlie & Jeff went to trail Jeff's pig. The picked it up where I saw it cross the 2 track, followed it for a couple hundred yards till it played out, sadly.

I was back in the swamp on the left road off the Turkey Foot working my way down to McHenry at a snails pace looking & listening for anything piggy..but it wasn't time yet...


The one thing about this hunt that had me stumped, but I was lovin' it... I was heading into a swamp with temps in the 80-90's and I just new the mosquitoes would be off the charts! I had 2 thermacells with me (incase 1 broke) and never turned them on...seriously..I bet I only killed 5 mosquitoes a day. I told Andrew...I don't get it, I killed more skeeters in Mich one night the weekend before I came down than I killed all week...    but I'm not complainin'

That evening I was in the Blue Lake stand, don't remember where he put Jeff. I was sittin & watchin squirrels and turkeys, a little after 7:00 I hear hooves and a couple seconds later I got pigs in front of me..   :D

I slooowly get to my feet and survey the sounder for the larger ones...lock my eyes on a small boar moving away from the feeder to the left...behind a tree...bow slowly comes up and the safety is OFF...he come out from behind the tree...I feel my glove touch the corner of my mouth and see the yellow feathers disappear through his ribs just above center and a few inches back of the leg, not ideal but should get it done....

[WESTBROOK]

I watch the pig whirl and shoot off straight away from me with my arrow dangling by the fletch along the edge of the woods and is out of sight in a second. I sit back down to wait a bit and start breathin' again.

Then I hear hooves again and got pigs in front of me a second later...HHMMMM...OK...   :D

I'm sitting sideways in the stand 90 to the feeder and lock on to another young boar.

I shoot well out of treestands, I shoot well sitting, even shoot well sitting on the ground  with my bow horizontal...but I forgot I haven't shot sitting in a treestand. It felt good, but it wasn't and I'll never try that again. The shot pulled right with a CRACK and a SQUEEEEAAALL...I think they heard it in town. I buried the Grizzly 3 blade in his spine in front of the hams and immobilized his rear end. He pulls himself toward the drop off to the swamp...calms down for a second facing directly away from me...I sneak down out of the stand and creep slowly to the side of him and put an arrow through the chest and that finishes him quickly, but not before he tumbles down the 15' bank.

So by now I'm wound up tighter than a cheap watch and need to walk it off...

I go over to where I hit the first pig, find my arrow...looks good...follow the blood along the woods edge for about 15 yds..good blood...then it stops at the 2 track that follows the edge of the woods...so I mark it there and walk out to the road to meet Andrew and fill him in. We go pick up Jeff and head back to my stand.

Its dark now and you can see the blood better with the flashlight. It was like that pig jumped that 2 track diagonally cause we only found 2 specs of blood in it and then got back on good blood on the other side immediately. Someone said ..where's Harry?.. I shined the light around and said, he's right there...and so is my pig!! We were about to trip over it in the grassy field. All together it went maybe 30-40 yds.

Drug him over to the truck and then went to get the spine shot pig (long dead by now)down the bank.
 
 

[pdk25]

Great job!

[CoachBGriff]

Awesome!

Thanks for sharing!

[Red Beastmaster]

I can visualize your shots and aftermath. I was in that stand in March but only saw turkeys and ducks.

Congratulations!

[acedoc]

Thanks for sharing

[MCNSC]

Congratulations ll

[wooddamon1]

Congrats Eric, sounds like a great hunt!        

[Ken Sorg]

Very nice!!! Envious of you!

[Warden609]

Great story. Congrats

[Rick Butler]

Congrats Eric! Way to get it done!  Wild Things is indeed a special place.

[Sam McMichael]

This sounds like a fun hunt. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.

[WESTBROOK]

The next evening (Thursday)was spent in the Gumbo Stand. Had a couple sows come in with a litter of youngin's

   
   

I just watched these for about 45 in till they wandered off. They are comical, them piglets nock each other around like the 3 stooges  LOL. After they cleaned up the corn and played in the mud holes the little ones decided it was time to eat...they'd latch onto mama and she would just drag them around. When she had enough she went over to the little crater between the feeder and the wallow and just tipped over and the youngins' piled on.

I figured that would that would be a fun pic to have, but I'd forgot about the other sow that was about 10 yards beyond them and I think she caught movement as I went for my phone in my leg pocket. She made a grunt and from then on while the others were nursing, she "watch dogged" walking back & forth making a real low growls. After a little while they got up and wandered off...It was fun just watching pigs be pigs.

About 15 min before dark, another pig is headed in to the stand. This one was a good bit bigger than anything I've seen, a nice boar. He gets into about 40 yards and is behind a tree behind the wallow, he spins around and heads back to where he came from. Not sure what was on his mind, I had been standing up for a while and did not move and there was no wind...maybe just checking to see if there was any others at the feeder...

[WESTBROOK]

Friday & Saturday the heat is kicking in, low 90's, and we're pretty sure its effecting the pig's movement limiting it till after dark. No pigs were sighted the last 2 days.

Sitting at Dave's field the last night I saw (what I thought) was an odd critter...

 

 

...showed the pic to Andrew and he said its just a fox squirrel...looks nothing like the fox squirrels up here....