Mothers Day Weekend Pork Reduction Maneuvers- story complete

[Ray Hammond]

At this point, we have pork on the ground and we just started walking out of camp!  Mike walked right in and grabbed that sucker by the leg and snatched him out of the thicket to the field- we were dragging...er, I mean, Mike was draggin'- as I had just been diagnosed with a hernia about 4 days earlier and was told not to lift anything heavy -and Mike was determined that I wasn't going to either!

The hog was on the small side for something so blustery. He weighed probably 50 lbs and was a calico hog with a rusty red background and black and brown spots all over him- what he lacked in stature he sure made up for in bravado- he SOUNDED like he weighed a hundred fifty pounds. Oh well, he would eat GREAT at that size! And, its the first time I have EVER been charged so that was pretty exciting!

By the way, I highly recommend this "hernia" ploy anytime you are going hunting..feel free to use it as it works like a charm with any fellow hunter worth his salt. And if you get a little tear in your eye as you  tell the tale of the doctor visit where you learn of your predicament it will seal the deal for you. He will bust HIS gut to keep you from injuring yourself further.

At any rate, we (Mike "drag unit" Mitchum) dragged the hog out to where we could get it in the truck and took it to the shed. That's when we realized we had left all our camera equipment back in Atlanta! Yikes! We decided to dress the hog and hang him, and go back to hunting immediately. We would go to town and get a disposable (yuck) 35MM camera after dark.

[Ray Hammond]

We got after them again, deciding to drive to a different area to begin our hunt since we had burned so much daylight getting the Mad Tusker (yeah, right!) cleaned up and in the walk in cooler so we headed out East to a crossroads I planned on us parking at and splitting up, moving in two directions to cover more ground.

Before we could get to the crossroads Mike spots hogs in the distance, crossing the road just beyond my intended parking spot.

We moved on up a little shy of where I had originally planned and since I had shot first I had Mike move on up to get in behind the pigs and hopefully get him some meat made.

I took a left on a dim trail short of where Mike was, on another road that paralleled the area of the cutover the pigs had gone into. I eased along, listening and standing more than moving, when all of a sudden I hear pigs moving toward me on my left side- a different bunch!

They were in a patch of cane, below my position on the trail- next to a 4 acre square of 12-15 foot tall pines. I could hear it was a mob, but couldn't see to count. They were close, some as little as 3 feet away in that dense cane, rooting.  All of a sudden one of them moved up onto the road 6 feet in front of me- and gave me on of those pig stares- you know, like "what do YOU want!" and he turns it on, moving across the trail grunting, into the patch where Mike is headed on my right. I thought the jig was up then but all it did was make the rest of the mob move out of the cane into the pines where I coul d see them- all of them were black, and about the same size- 30 to 40 lbs and real noisy! Then a rusty red one about 10-15 lbs heavier than the rest moved across an opening and again, I didn't feel the draw or release- just saw the arrow in the hog- and in a flash the rest busted out of there and my hog was down for the count!

I waited about 10 minutes, listening, and moved over into the pines to recover my game. Two hogs down in less than two hours...I hoped Mike was having some luck!

Just as I began pulling the hog out, here comes Drag Unit (no, he doesn't wear dresses!) Mitchum to the rescue- telling me he couldn't get on the mob he was after, backed out when he heard mine squeal, and just as he got on the road he saw about 15 black hogs run out across the main road in front of our truck, crossing into another patch of timber. (those were the buddies of the hog I had just taken)

We got the second pig in the back of the truck, and moved up the road again, to check another spot and hopefully get Drag Unit a shot!

[Littlefeather]

Great story! CK

[JC]

Bout danged time! You'd think they had been workin or something since they got back, must be all them "honey-do's" fer missin mothers day?      :rolleyes:

[CJ Pearson]

Good Job Ray I love reading these.

[Marvin M.]

Keep it coming.  I love hog stories.

[Ray Hammond]

We moved down between Blue Lake and a cutover that has big wet areas just off the two track- easy afternoon spots to catch a hog rooting in the mud close to the road so you can sneak up quiet and get a shot off.

You always move slow late in the day...listening more than moving...cause usually you hear a pig before you see a pig.

Mike was out in front, me backing him up..and I knew pretty quick he was going to get a chance. I could hear them, even with my one bad ear just slopping in the mud ahead of me. Then I heard the soft locator grunts they use to communicate  with when feeding.

I kept one eye on the wet spots and brush, hoping for a glimpse, and the other on Mike, knowing he would likely get on them before me.

As predicted, I soon watched Mike raise up, draw, and release his big 190 Ribtek-tipped aluminum shaft-right over the hogs back!! His usual deadliness had apparently been distracted by too much hog-draggin', or not enough recent practice.

We remained quiet, as the hogs scattered at the shot, hoping for another chance. True to form, their gluttony got the best of them and they quickly began moving out of the brush again, into the wet, to feed.

Mike raised up, drew, and promptly shot over a second time! Yikes. I've known Mike quite a while, and seen him shoot under pressure- the boy doesn't miss much either on foam or hair so it was disconcerting to him and me. I tried to ease his obvious displeasure as the hogs moved off into the cutover, offering no more opportunities this night.

Goodness knows I know what its like to miss, and knew it was a temporary thing and that he would work it out on the target at camp in a few minutes.

[Jumper]

Keep it coming!  

[Ray Hammond]

We drove back to camp and took care of pig #2, and got the coals going on the fire for some home made ground sirloin cheeseburgers to go with the field green salad we had planned for supper.

We sharpened up broadheads, talked about the day, as the burgers sizzled on the grill. It had been a good day, especially in light of the fact that I had come home the previous weekend with no pork.

As the stars and clouds changed places overhead, and a full moon rose to light the woods a pale, ghostly silver, we practiced a little shooting. Coyotes howled out there in the dark...all was right with this corner of the world, anyway.

After supper we drove into Barnwell to get a camera..and made it just in time for Wally World to close. Oh well, tomorrow we would get a camera. Off to bed we went as soon as we got back, and sleep came fast.

[Ray Hammond]

Up at oh dark thirty, it was raining softly and low gray clouds were skudding quickly by as we dressed and drank our rich, cowboy style coffee in the almost morning soft light.

We took our time getting ready, knowing the pigs had likely fed during the night and were laying up now...but as soon as we could see well we wanted to hit the street, so to speak, and see what all had been moving around during the night.

As we suspected there was a ton of activity during darkness, with huge amounts of sign including some very large tracks in the areas we searched, but there was nothing stirring at all this morning. We finally just gave in after 4 or 5 hours and headed for camp, changed, and made for town to get a disposable camera.

[Ray Hammond]

We returned in a couple hours, had lunch, got our gear together, shot a couple dozen arrows and headed out to show Mike some more of the property.

We IMMEDIATELY found pigs moving around at the first intersection- the GANG O' SIX I called them- all black, all teenage boars- out looking for trouble. And Mike was gonna give them what they were looking for. He got out, grabbed his rig and headed off to smoke some pork!

The wind is fickle though, in these flatlands, and often betrays you. He moved quickly to close the gap, but in the end had to watch them disappear into the cutover like smoke in a breeze.

Rats!

We then drove around, looking at more sign to see where we needed to focus our attention this evening. We saw loads of sign laid down during the night, even in the river swamp itself which had been hammered hard by the hogs during the last week or so. It was going to be difficult picking a place to concentrate our efforts.

[Ray Hammond]

We decide to split up and double our chances..Mike spent his time on pigs pretty much all afternoon, and had some near close encounters, but no cigar.

I spent most of my afternoon "walking with weapons". The scenery was nice...there was a good breeze blowing..but all I saw were turkeys, deer, and a coyote. Then I began walking back toward the big crossroads to turn for camp(I was actually thinking about supper- I wanted to get the charcoal going, because we had some great looking NY strips marinating in Dale's Sauce in the fridge!)as I was getting kind of hungry.

I get to the crossroads and who do I see but the Gang of Six...all strung out and feeding near the first crossroads.

I quickly got off the road, and entered the cutover and worked my way close to them, and hooked back out to the edge to reconnoiter their position. Holy cow, there they were- they must've been moving quick to get this far up so fast! I loaded my Centaur and waited. I was wishing the whole time that Mike were here..and then they moved through my shooting lane in the trail- but instead of my usual not thinking about it- just lettin' it happen- I tried to be cute and MAKE the shot happen. You know what's coming next- MMMMMMIIIIISSSSSSSS right over his back! Off they go, into the other side of the road thickets...DANG!

Well, I've done this enough I know a quiet bow can often lead to second chances so I just hung in there- not moving except to slowly load up another Grizzly tipped carbon and wait.

It wasn't long- maybe 10 minutes- and here they come again...back out the same hole...and cross my shooting lane again. Again, me being the smart fella I am- I decide to FORCE the issue again and !Voila!- another MMMMMIIIIIISSSSSS.

Off they go. Well, I was just dumb enough to stay put once more and it wasn't five minutes they came back out again. This time I just went with the flow and things worked like they should this time with that familiar watermelon thumping sound and a passel of pork stretched out headed for the promised land. I saw my arrow stickin' out of him side to side like a Steve Martin sight gag and I said to myself, self, that is one dead pig right there!

I heard him and the others in the brush, about 30 to 40 yards in raisin' sand...all upset..then everything got quiet.

Mike was coming down the road shortly after that and spotted me so he came down to see what was happening. I explained the situation and because it was getting cloudy, and we weren't sure of the rain situation we decided we would get on the trail...but guess what? No trail to follow..not one drop. But we did know where the sound came from so we went in on the two possible trails, sort of paralleling each other into the thicket of the cutover, and worked the trails out trying to pick up sign. Footprints was about all we could muster, and we just stuck it out for about 60 yards and Mike clicked his tongue to tell me he had him spotted and we moved in, checked his eye and slapped each other's hands. Splash THREE pigs for the ol' Centaur! He was black with a white blaze on his nose, and weighed about 125 lbs. The drag unit went to work again while I carried his bow and we got the pig loaded and moved him to the skinnin shed, cleaned him out, and hung him in the cooler.  Steaks, HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!

 

[Ray Hammond]

The pigs in this picture were already field dressed, so they look even smaller than they were!

I'd tell you about the fantastic steaks, so tender you could cut them with a fork, and A1? Forget that stuff...these tasted too good to use any kind of sauce on them,and the cool salad and cold adult beverages we enjoyed with them, and how we sat outside listening to teh night sounds of the whipoorwill and owls and coyotes doing their things...but you probably wouldn't be interested much so I will spare you the details!

[Squirrel Bait]

Did someone say: MISS!!! Ray, I told you the reason was , I had already told myself not to shoot one of them small piggies and then when I decided to shoot my mind hadn't caught up with me yet! That's got to be the only explanation?

[Ray Hammond]

dddhuh????              

[Squirrel Bait]

Hey wait , I resemble that remark!!  

[Jeff Holchin]

Sounds like a perfect weekend to me - good friends and food, great hog hunting, nobody got snake bit, and the women didn't care that the guys were having so much fun.  The only way to top that was for Drag Unit to not mmmmmmiss.  I'm jealous.  I gotta remember the old "I have a hernia" trick.........

[CJ Pearson]

Congratulations Ray, A well deserved weekend for you brother.

[Ray Hammond]

we ain't finished yet....We are off to bed and then Sunday morning hunt is yet to come...hang in there while we get a couple winks.

[Charlie Lamb]

Got some hogs to attend to or I'd stay for the conclusion. Guess I'll pick up where I left off when I get back. Hope I have a story as good as this when I get back bud... way to stack em!