2019 Traditional Bowhunters of Georgia Southern Zone Hunt

[ron w]

  got both ready to go.

[Dutchman]

One additional bit of information, shooting your bow in camp is a no-no, I'm told. So, if you need the practice, it'll need to be done in the field, not in camp.

We are in the short rows now, folks...

[MCNSC]

Y’all take plenty of pics.  I for one am looking forward to some stories.

[ron w]

Pretty much all packed and ready for the 4 hour drive tomorrow. Hope the weather holds. Looking forward to this new adventure.

[Dutchman]

Well, I’m all set up. Before dark. That’s a good thing. Cool at the moment with no mosquitoes. That’s a blessing.

[T Sunstone]

One thing that changed this year is you need to be in the military a vet or DOD employee to use the rv sites.  Was told when I called last month that civilians could camp in the primitive section during hunting season only. 
You will need the isportsman app to check for open sections and to check in and out everyday.  If you miss checking out you won't be able to hunt for 5 days and they don't make exceptions. 
If your over 65 years old you don't have to pay the the $60 yearly fee it's free.
I'm going to be there the 3ed week of Feb. 

[keng]

I made it Forsyth, plan on being at the campground by noon.

[robhunter]

See everyone Friday!

[Red Beastmaster]

Keng, take some notes and lots of pics. The tribe wants a full report when you get back.

You're gonna miss a big storm while you are down there. We will save some snow and ice for you.

Have fun and good luck!

[ron w]

Some bad weather coming so left this am. I had a great time and considered it a learning experience. Neat place to hunt,  ever did see a pig but a fair amount of sign. Great bunch of guys to talk to and learn from.

[Ulysseys]

I was there this past weekend as well...didn’t exactly hunt with the group but met a few real nice guys both at the campground and once in the woods...I pounded multiple zones and hunted nearly dark to dark from Thursday to Sunday, found tons of sign both fresh and old, fresh wallows and places where it looked like pigs were sliding in mud, found a few tiny tree frogs and followed an opossum for awhile, saw 6 deer, 4 of them bucks, one of them was huge, but never saw a single hog.  Had a great time though and am planning on returning in April for another shot.  Learned a lot about hunting Fort Stewart in a few short days.

[Dutchman]

TBG Southern Zone Hunt - Fort Stewart, GA – January 16-20, 2019
I arrived on Wednesday, 1/16 late in the afternoon. But, I had my tent and tarp pitched well before dark and was pretty well settled. Eight folks had already arrived; two in camp and six in a local hotel and one more came in after I had arrived. Wednesday afternoon produced one hog kill. No other hogs were seen on Wednesday.

Thursday for me was occupied in trying to find fresh hog sign, which I was able to do. However, for all the sign found, no hogs were seen by me. In fact, I think only one person saw hogs at all on Thursday. Around midday, three more guys showed up bringing our total in camp (hotel included) to thirteen. The afternoon hunt on Thursday produced one miss and that was it.

Friday we added two additional guys for a total of fifteen. Friday’s hunting produced more of the same; plenty of sign found but not many sightings. KenG and I hunted together and went into a previously closed area and immediately got into some sign. Not a lot, but some. Then Ken hears some squealing. We moved toward the sound and he wound up seeing a large sow and maybe 10 runts and another large adult. We were unable to get on them however and no shots were taken.

Saturday was another slow hunting day. I really can’t say how many folks saw hogs, but it couldn’t have been but one or two. Most folks were into lots of sign but no pigs. The hunt ended with only the one pig killed.

But, everyone I spoke with had a good time. We had a fire every night at one camp or another and were worn out and slept well after having walked all day. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Ulysses, I’m sorry I missed meeting you there. I didn’t know you were there until talking with one of the other guys as I was headed home on Sunday.

All told, of the fifteen guys who made it, nine were GA residents, one was from PA, one from New Jersey, and two from Michigan. We’ll do it again sometime, either there at Fort Stewart or some place else.

[deerfly]

Sounds like a fun trip, I thought about trying to make it myself, only about a 4hr drive, but saw it too late. I used to be on a lease for many years up near Irwinton and loved hunting the Ga swamps and bottom land.

Too bad there weren't more encounters, but as primarily a public land hog hunter that experience sounds about right to me. Pigs living on natural forage across large tracts of non-manicured land ain't easy. 15 guys on that much property isn't that many to figure them out in short order. Unless you just plain get lucky you'll need to cover a lot of ground. Not uncommon for hogs to travel a mile or more between bedding and feeding areas too. You may think you're close when you find some sign, but unless you can see, hear or smell them sign is only where they been. They could be a long ways off. Doesn't take many hogs to tear up a lot of ground either, esp when they work all night. You may see an acre of tilled ground and think there's at least 2 dz hogs at work when there really may only be a half dz or so, but they worked it for 3 hours straight one evening. Finding fresh sign is no guarantee they'll back any time soon, if at all, either. Can't say how many times I found sign and more mast to eat, sat the evening and the next morning and saw or heard nothing and had to keep looking. Very nomadic and nocturnal creatures. I think wild hogs invented the phrase here today gone tomorrow.

Anyway, I will try to get in on the next one, been too long since I hunted the great state of GA.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Sounds like a fun time!

[Dutchman]

Anyway, I will try to get in on the next one, been too long since I hunted the great state of GA.

The next hunt may come much sooner than you might expect. We are talking already about the tail end of February...

[Ulysseys]

No worries Dutchman...I didn’t expect to hunt as hard or as long as I did each day...I’d say I rivaled some of my western elk or bear hunts on that, by the time I got back I was too cooked to do anything.  Is that pretty typical for a hog hunt in terms of results?  I can see the obsession in seeing one building up.

[deerfly]

Anyway, I will try to get in on the next one, been too long since I hunted the great state of GA.

The next hunt may come much sooner than you might expect. We are talking already about the tail end of February...

Hogs are still wide open until 3/2 here in Fl, but I may cross state lines before then. Are you planning the same place or a different WMA?

[deerfly]

  Is that pretty typical for a hog hunt in terms of results?  I can see the obsession in seeing one building up.

I think a lot people in other states see a lot of private land and bait operations for hogs and have a misconception about how difficult truly free range hogs can be to hunt. They are every bit as wary as deer, better nose and smarter. They travel great distances and are most active at night. That's a lot to overcome to get withing stick bow range.

The only thing that makes the hog a bit easier than a deer is once you find them feeding you can usually work out a stalk. Although more rare to get in on, but when boars are fighting you can move in on them pretty quickly too. Once feeding they tend to feed for a long time unless spooked. So you have more time to get close and they don't look up and around every 5 seconds like a deer. If there's more than one hog feeding they tend to make quite a bit of noise too. You have more eyes and ears to contend with but they are all focused on eating so its possible to slip in there if wind and cover is right.

The thing is you have to find them and find what they are eating. Sometimes that takes a lot of miles on foot. When they are on acorns it can be just be a matter of finding a good tree near a bedding area. If they're rooting for tube roots and what not predicting the next excavation site is a lot more difficult. If you can find someone that was on them yesterday that's who you want to talk to. But wild hogs are such nomads its far from a guarantee. Invariably you have to keep moving and thats part of the fun.

[Ulysseys]

How do they use the swamps? Or don’t they? I was thinking of bedding and cover during my hunts and wondered if the swamps came in to play.  The bucks I saw were hanging right on the fringe between swamp and palmetto thicket and when they eventually spotted me they went straight in to the water.  It sure is fun trying to figure a new animal out and a new method of hunting.

[deerfly]

river bottoms and swamps are the first places to look as are any habitat edges like cypress transitioning to pine, etc. But hogs can bed in the middle of huge palmetto thickets among old growth pine on high ground or around ponds on dry ground surrounded by wax myrtle or willow. Depends on where the food is and how pressured they are. But they will go almost anywhere if the food is there then retreat to thick, largely inaccessible places to bed during daylight hours.