Hoggin' Adventures with Ray Hammond at Hog Heaven- June '08 (Pics)

[pdk25]

Here are some pics of the local scenery.  A buck rub, cypress stump, some woodpecker damage and some wallow pics.


 

 

 

 

 

 

[pdk25]

More pics including a cool grasshopper,  a local flower called a rose mallow(?), a neat spider pic that didn't come out well, a little turtle from the road.


 

 

 

 

[pdk25]

Some more pics.  A big cypress deadfall and Ray in his element.


 

 

[pdk25]

Since Mike already told his story, I guess I have to show you the pic of him with his hogs.  I actually got him to smile after a dozen or so shots.

 

[pdk25]

Here is the end result of the hunt for Mike.  Note the slight S-shape of the wound from his grizzly broadhead (expertly sharpened by the world's greatest bowhunter).  Easy work made of the job with a Doug Campbell knife.

[pdk25]

Oops!

 

 

 

 

[pdk25]

No one can doubt that Mike is a fine shot, but some might say anyone who can kill two hogs with one shot is a little lucky.  To dispel this myth, look at this puny arrowhead he found later in the hunt.  Worthless piece of junk!

 

 

[pdk25]

I can't post this next pic, but anyone who is curious about the most dangerous snake in the swamp can ask squirrelbait for a picture.

[pdk25]

Here is a picture of my first trad kill.


 

[pdk25]

Last day at camp.  Time for a groug hog.

 

[pdk25]

I'm sure I'll have more to say, but gotta get some sleep.

[Ray Hammond]

What a great bunch of guys to have in camp. They knew how to enjoy themselves, didn't take things too seriously, went with the flow..and had a good time.

Mike and I were glad to have met Tim, Mike, Barry and Pat...and hope they'll return to Hog Heaven for some biscuits and boars!!!

[madness522]

Tim is right about the feel you get after those first five minutes. Seems like I had known those guys my whole life and we had just gotten back together for a couple days of fun in the swamp.  Friday afternoon hunt starts kinda slow.  Well slow is how fast I was moving as I stalked up the road on one of those huge squares of roads lining the place.  I have never hunted pigs before and I was stalking like I do deer which as I found out is pretty much way too slow.  Pigs aren't dumb by any means but you can get away with a lot until you get within 50 or so yards of them.  After a half hour or so I see something in the road up ahead, too small to be a hog, walking down the road right toward me, an armadillo.  Ray said shoot'em so here it comes, I get ready, the gap is closing, 30 yards....25 yards...20 yards... my grip tightens on the bow and by arm starts to pre-draw the string a little...now this big ole armadillo is 15 yards away when movement on the road ahead catches my attention.  A buck in full velvet is now standing in the road 70 or so yards in front of me.  The wind was perfect in my face no way mr. buck was gonna smell me so I stand there as still as a picture.  A couple of head bobs and quick peeks later mr. buck takes a few steps toward me and I started thinging about counting coo.  I don't think mr. buck knew what was standing in the road in front of him but it didn't seem like he was too concerned with me. He decided to go somewhere else and as calmly as could be turned away and headed in a different direction.

I was just getting my heart rate under control from the stare down with mr. buck as I crept up that road to where he had just been.  But little did I know my heart rate was about to be doubled again.  Once I got to the spot mr. buck had just left I hear a very unhappy grunt and splashing just off the road.  There had been a nice sized porker laying the in the mud puddle just off the road with the cover between us so thick I could barely see thru it.  I saw him as he topped the ditch on the far side and blow out of the area.

Wow three animals in less than 5 minutes.  I knew the weekend was gonna be a good one.

Ray says the feeder are set to go off at 5:30 so I build a little ground blind just in the wood line and settle in for a 10 minute wait until the dinner bell rings.  Suddenly I feel a sharp pain on my shoulder, then another and another.  Those sharp pains were up and down my back.  I turned and looked at the tree I had been leaning against and it was full of fire ants.  For those of you not from the south and are not familar with fire ants let me just say woe-is-be to the one who invades their territory.  They may be small the their bite feels like you are getting spit on my hot grease.  I think I set a field stripping record getting my clothes off and away from the fire ants.  I was just about redressed now fire ant free and kinda oblivious to anything else when the feeder goes off and scares the poop out of me.  I decided the fire ants can have that spot and I didn't want to fight them for it. So I set off back down the road.

Need coffee...more later.

[James Wrenn]

Great tale guys!    Makes me want to go to the swamps real bad.  :D

[JC]

Great stories and pics so far guys...keep it coming.

Congrats on some fine animals cleanly taken with stickbows and looks like even better table fare.

[Molson]

BISCUTS!?!?!?! you say Ray.  Hmmmmmmmmm........

Good job on the pics Pat.

I forgot to mention Chiggars.  Sum-bit let me tell ya.  Them things is the devil.  I don't think I got bit by one mosquito or fly thanks to the Thermacell but them dang Chiggars tore me up one side and down the other.  Didn't even know it was happening either.  You don't feel the things bite and it don't matter that you got your pants tucked in your boots.  Somehow they find a way in.  Got to remember to treat the heck outta my clothes with anti-chiggar radiation next time!

[rastaman]

Awesome story guys...looks like ya'll had a blast!

[JC]

Everything you wanted to know about chigger bites and more!

"Chigger larvae do not burrow into the skin, nor suck blood. They pierce the skin and inject into the host a salivary secretion containing powerful, digestive enzymes that break down skin cells that are ingested (tissues become liquefied and sucked up). Also, this digestive fluid causes surrounding tissues to harden, forming a straw-like feeding tube of hardened flesh (stylostome) from which further, partially-digested skin cells may be sucked out. After a larva is fully fed in four days, it drops from the host, leaving a red welt with a white, hard central area on the skin that itches severely and may later develop into dermatitis. Any welts, swelling, itching, or fever will usually develop three to six hours after exposure and may continue a week or longer. If nothing is done to relieve itching, symptoms may continue a week or more. Scratching a bite may break the skin, resulting in secondary infections. However, chiggers are not known to transmit any disease in this country."

Now, don't you feel better?    

Permanone my brother, permanone. It's as vital as thermacell down here.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

great thread, I felt like I was there with Y'all. Glad everyone had a great time... Thanx for the story & pic's.

[madness522]

Man I like pork tenderlion biscuits!!!! Next time there gonna be some fresh tenderloin going in the frying pan.  Mike really likes country ham biscuits, don't ya Mike!!???

Pick up time was supposed to be 8:45 or so and I get back to my pick up spot a little early and I think to myself. I say self there might just be a pig or five down the road in the ditch munching on corn so lets go have a look see.  So I start down the road slowly picking my way and looking and listening for anything that might be a pig.  Suddenly I hear a twig snap and the blow fest was on.  I had stalked within 15 yards of two does standing just at the edge of the wood like across the ditch.  I start blowing and they stop and blow.  I kept blowing just like they were and danged if they didn't come back to have a look.  As I continued stalking down the road they paralleled my for the better part of 50 yards.  I kept blowing at them and they at me.  I saw them for the third time about 10 yard in the woods trying to figure out what was blowing back at them.  I gotta say here that deer down there don't act like deer I hunt in NC.  In NC they would have been in the next county after the first time I jumped them.  Seems like these deer have so little pressure on them they aren't wound as tight and flee at the anything that isn't quit right.  If only it were deer season.....

There was water on both sides of the road I was on and I reach it but there were no piggies there.  I turn down a grass road and go a little ways and hear a very loud grunt behind me. I turned to see to nice eating sized pig in the road about 50 yards up the main road so I turned around and put on the sneak.  I get to about 25 yards and one of them goes back to the ditch and I can hear it cracking corn and really pigging out.  The other is back and forth on the road looking for who knows what since there was no corn on the road.  The second pig starts work away from me in the ditch so I start the sneak up again on the one in the road.  I get to 25 yards and he turns and looks at me and I think crap I'm busted.  But no he just turns around and take a step or two and goes back to what ever it was he was doing.  I close to within 20 yards and he starts back to the ditch and stops again broadside so I let one rip.  It was the perfect shot as far as hortizonally but just a bit low and the arrow squirts under him. I think he clear the ditch in one big jump making all kinds of racket.  I had to laugh at all the sounds they make when startled.

So now it seems that I am again all by myself there on the road so I walk up and look for my arrow in the ditch. Just as I step down I see two little footballs are still in the ditch. One of them turns toward me and runs past me so close I could have punted him up into the woods.  He stops makes a weird sound that I can't describe, turns around and runs past me again. Then he and his buddy hit the woods and I'm there in the ditch almost laughing out loud and what that transpired in the past minute and a half.

To say the action is fast and furious is an understatement.  It goes from almost boredom stalking around to a pure adrenlin rush in a matter of seconds.  What a rush!  

Back to the cabin for a great dinner of shrimp spaghetti and salad.  The stories told after dinner were just about the best part of the day.  We related tells of close encounter of the pig kind, past hunts and just about everything else including some hillarious stories from Ray about 'pink stuff' and drunken elephants.  If you want to know about "pink stuff" and drunken elephants you'll just have to come down and hear them for your self.  We were having so much fun it was 12:30 before we realized we needed to get some sleep because 6:30 would come early.

After a couple cups of coffee to get the blood outta my caffine system saturday morning Ray, Pat and I headed into the swap.  We walk and stalked and most of the morning was uneventful until we stopped to talk about what I can't recall.  Ray says pigs!  Sure enough there were somewhere around eight pigs on the move right toward us.  We checked the wind and Pat went left and Ray and I right.  The wind shifted toward the pigs and just as soon as Ray had said were about to get busted the closest oinker gets our wind and that head pops up.  I imagine with eyes wide open and muttering something like I smell missles of death real close then they all take off.  We try to get around them and spot Squirrel bait and Mike.

Gotta go earn a little money so I can get back down there... more later.