Friday Morning I delayed everyone on their hunt because I had a funeral at 10am. I didn't intend to delay their hunt, we just couldn't stop talking. One thing I've learned on these hunts is that hunting is the 3rd best thing imo.
1) Fellowship
2) Food
3) Hunting
On this hunt, it was no different. The fellowship was through the roof. The food was some of the best i've ate and the hunting was the best it has been yet.
Well, back to the story. On Friday morning at 10 I had to be at a funeral. Right after the funeral I went to an area to scout. First thing I notice when getting there was a TON of hog sign. But, due to all the water, you couldn't really tell how fresh it was. After walking a couple miles at the first location, I never saw any sign that made me believe it was fresh. I do believe some of what I saw was fresh, but that it was just too washed out.
I put a heck of a stalk on a bushy tail, but he didn't want to be shot today. It never ceases to amaze me how fast those little suckers can be!! The squirrel had no idea what had just happened, he just sat 10 or so feet up the tree looking around and barking his head off! I finally moved and gave away my location and he was out of there!!!
I go on to my next stop and it's a lot of the same thing. While i'm walking in there is sign every where, but, you can't exactly tell how fresh it is. With all the rain, almost all of the sign looks the exact same. After walking around for an hour or so I caught some movement about 50 yards ahead. The terrain has a good bit of palmettos, but it also has some lanes where you possibly could see a couple hundred yards.
After seeing the pigs I checked the wind, absolutely PERFECT!! Which is such a rarity around these parts. I see a fallen limb with a tree right behind it. I set that as my next move. When I got to the tree I could no longer see the pigs. I was using the bigger tree to block some of my movement when all of the sudden the piglets emerge from the palmettos just 30 yards away. I see all of their little cousins/brothers or whatever they are coming in as well. Before I know it there are 15 or 20 piglets within 20 yards. Theyre all meandering around, but I haven't seen any full size pigs yet.
After watching them for a few more minutes I finally see a sow in the back. She is at least 10 yards behind them. The piglets are reading the script. I'm waiting on their mom to find her part of the script too. It's not looking good! The piglets keep working their way down wind. I see them start to kick out to my left and walk around the fallen limb that is up against the big oak i'm standing behind. Next thing I know I have over 10 piglets all within 10 yards of me and the closest ones are all less than a yard from my feet. I was a nervous wreck. The sow was still 20+ yards away and most of the time was facing straight at me not offering any type of shot I want to take.