5th Annual Beouf WMA Hog Hunt ---> What a hunt!

[John Scifres]

Day 2 started with me sleeping in and rain pouring down.  Darren owed some data to his book keeper and was in town to (I hate to use a 4-letter word here) WORK.

So there was quite a bit of camp time until Randy and I decided to get out there.  We hunted hard and walked even harder as our path back to the truck was flooded causing a substantial detour.  But, alas, as reported earlier, we struck out on the pigs.  It was still a great night in the swamps capped off by a stunning sunset.  Not to mention a fabulous chili spread by Darren!

Day 3 was another great one.  We hunted so hard!  By the end of the day, my legs were so sore from stalking.  Then the late night adventure that Daniel might someday get to really did me in   Darren and I started out heading into the wind for a couple mile stillhunt.  Somewhere about halfway through we busted a sounder and ran to get around them from each flank.  We succeed only in pushing them farther back the way we had come and decided to resume our northward course.  Somewhere about halfway through the second leg, I spot a big boar laying with its back to me snoozing in the sun.  A stalk and a step from behind a tree had me in position for a 20 yard shot.  But, once again, something alerted one of his compatriots and a group of what turned out to be 20+ hogs gets up.  Initially they move right to Darren but something gets them coming back my way.  At 25 yards, the large boar stops, quartering away.  I let fly and, according to the rules, the hog is gone before the arrow gets there.  The whole group starts milling and then Darren gets them coming back my way again but they had enough of standing still and beat feet to the north.  It was time to meet up with the others so we let them go and hoped they would settle down for the evening.

After a bit of a break, we decide a pincer move is in order so Darren starts from the north heading south and Randy and I start from the South heading north.  Despite Darren spotting pigs and getting them moving towards us, we never got into them for a shot.  Overall though, we had a great day with plenty of action.  But sometimes, I gotta admit, I wish I had my 30.06 in my hands

[Petrichor]

The story of Detective Alley day 2 continued

I came back to camp to find Will 100 bucks poorer for the new rubber boots and wool socks.  Also he had clearly helped himself to the camp whiskey which did not last long. I practiced a few longer shots 40 ish yards with my left hander and I was decently pleased with the results on the target ball that Jacob brought.

After a couple hours and a small lunch we headed back out in the truck with the plan for me to drive us go location on Wallace Road. I didnt want to walk the 1.75 miles to the road or the half mile to the water. Also I knew wills feet couldn't take it. He almost took himself out of the hunting on the first go with his lack of rubber boots. Wet soggy shoes are no good for long walks in flooded timber.

I turn on to wallace road and my truck immediately starts sliding everywhere in the mud. I know from previous muddy roads not to slow down (truck is only two wheel drive).... now I just need a place to turn around... to my dismay I had passed the parking lot by 500 yards and apparently missed what I would find out later was a small orange ATV only sign....


I know my truck is rear wheel drive so I pull my truck front across a small little ditch hoping my back wheels can pull us back across... no dice. I'm stuck and have no cellphone reception.  I try and send a text to the group that I'm stuck on wallace road and need somebody with four wheel drive and a tow strap.  As luck would have it 5 minutes later I see a silver jeep coming down the trail (Daniel) and I start waving like a mad man.  Will and I had already tried building our way out to no avail. 

As luck or so I thought would have it Daniel had a wench and tried to get out out getting stuck three different times. No dice. I thought perhaps that he had magically got my text... no he just picked the wrong place to hunt.  Finally daniel gets his grandfather with the four wheel and offers to call wildlife and fisheries for us. But there is the promise of a $350.00 ticket to go along with it.

Well ticket or no I need my truck. LDWF shows up and the agent is friendly enough. By this time I had finally glimpsed the sign I missed.... I immediately tell the agent I'm carrying concealed and showd him my commission that allows me to carry concealed on a wma.  The hardest part of all this was his first question.. so what do you do for the sheriff's office???? Uh oh you know I'm a crime scene detective. I immediately cracked a joke on myself telling the agent that I realize the irony of a detective missing a sign like that. He doubled over in laughter and said he was glad I said it because he was thinking it. An hour later we racing the correct direction and the agent tells me to "drive the &*@$ out of it". I hit the gas hard red lined twice, went perpendicular twice (but maintained control), and hit a bump so hard I hit my head on the roof and knock my brake light out.  The agent was thoroughly impressed with how far I made it down the trail in a two wheel drive truck.

Whew.... no ticket but plenty of laughs later Craig renamed wallace road detective alley. Felt bad that Daniel and Rick missed their evening hunt but I suspect the laughter at my expense was worth it.

Moral of the story. Dont miss the forest for all the trees... or the signs on them.

I'm sure Daniel can add a few more details if he so chooses.

[DanielB89]

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[South MS Bowhunter]

Come on Daniel, hurry up! 

[DanielB89]

The story is pretty much over at this point.  The guys and I tracked the hog for nearly 3/4 of a mile and never found a single bed and blood was getting harder and harder to find.  I believe that Randy is part tracking dog.  He found blood that I still don’t know how he found. 

How the hog went that far is still a mystery to me.  Get the shot you want, make the shot you want, and then not find the hog; baffling!

My only guess is that I brought a knife to a sword fight.  I’m shooting mid 50’s with an over 500 grain arrow with a simmons interceptor on front.  How I didn’t get enough penetration to get both lungs is beyond me. 


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[GCook]

So this was drug out to tell us no kills were confirmed?   
Really you could have said a great time was had and enjoyed the company but . . .
Not left us hanging.
Just sayin. 


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[Crittergetter]

But then you would have missed all the stories and pics.!!  Which is half the hunt!
I am personally bad about dragging stories out because like Darren said it’s really hard to fit everything into one post.

Also, since someone recently asked the question, “do y’all ever kill anything “ I feel the need to reiterate what John said. This hunt is not in any way your run of the mill weekend get away at your buddies deer lease with feeders and stands. This is in the swamp lands of Louisiana, one on one with free range wild hogs that know the land better than anyone! Miles upon miles and days are spent just locating pigs just for the opportunity to get a chance to stalk one much less get a shot off. Everyone on this hunt got shot opportunities an some got multiple chances.
This is extremely hard hunting, if all your interested in is getting a kill I suggest you go sit a stand over a feeder somewhere. If you want to test your woodsmanship in an mostly unknown area, putting in the miles , sharing camp with some of the greatest People you will ever meet, eating like Kings, and possibly getting close to wild hogs then this is the hunt for you.
 

[GCook]

I don't disagree that this type of hunt is more challenging and fun.
Just dragging out the telling of it with no LDPs is kind of pointless to me. 
I share hunts with friends all the time.  30 hours sitting in stands for bears with no luck for example.  I had a good week in camp.  But the hunt was not successful for the intended animals.  I didn't post a long story as it had a anticlimactic ending.  I felt let down by it as readers would have too.
You can post a few pics and write some comments without dragging it out for days. 
Doesn't make it any less of a great camp and hunt for y'all.  Just doesn't translate to the same for us.  I may never moose hunt.  But a story of a successful moose hunt is what I want to hear.  Not a back woods camp out. 
Maybe it's just me.

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[The Vanilla Gorilla]

So this was drug out to tell us no kills were confirmed?   
Really you could have said a great time was had and enjoyed the company but . . .
Not left us hanging.
Just sayin. 


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What else have you got to do?

I enjoy good hunting stories, kill or no kill. 

[Hackbow]

G Cook, PM your address to me and I'll be glad to send you a refund check.

Next time we have a group hunt, I'll shoot you a PM immediately after and let you know whether or not anyone killed anything. Then you can choose if you want to invest your valuable time reading the thread.

Better yet, join us and enjoy the challenge and rewards of a difficult hunt, the company of some fine men and, as Randy said, food fit for a king.

[SlowBowKing]

I can’t and won’t speak for all of “us”, but I am enjoying hearing about the hunt. Sounds like a great camp and one I would have enjoyed myself, dead hogs or not!

 

[GCook]

So this was drug out to tell us no kills were confirmed?   
Really you could have said a great time was had and enjoyed the company but . . .
Not left us hanging.
Just sayin. 


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What else have you got to do?

I enjoy good hunting stories, kill or no kill.

Not a lot really but not into self inflation of a let down.  I don't care if you differ.  That's your opinion just like mine is. Doesn't make either of us right or wrong. 
Right now I'm grilling burgers at our ranch where we failed to kill anything tonight.  Sorry if that's anticlimactic but I didn't drag it out for three days with one pic of a spot of blood.

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[Cory Mattson]

GCook - shared a fair and reasonable observation and I appreciate his free thinking I respect that !

This is not a great hunting story with no kill - it is a story about a wounded animal.

Glad everyone had a good time - now is time to reflect and improve.

[John Scifres]

gcook, go away.  You are toxic.

Everyone else, ignore it.  Remember the old maxim about wrestling with pigs.

[Petrichor]

Wow.....

[GCook]

gcook, go away.  You are toxic.

Everyone else, ignore it.  Remember the old maxim about wrestling with pigs.

I'm glad they had a good time. 
Has nothing to do with dragging out a story with no delivery at rhe end.
It's not about being toxic.   It's about alluding to something and not being succinct and honest about it.
Most hunts turn up empty.  I was hunting pigs with no success this evening.   Jason and I grilled burgers and ate like kings after.
A simple telling of the story in a few paragraphs (pics icluded) would have been adequate. 

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[Petrichor]

Fine cookie. Heres a story more your speed. Got my first shot on a big game animal with a bow ever. I missed. The end.

Makes for a riveting thread.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Man if you just want to look at kill pics,  check out the yearly Highlights forums. 

Theres not many of those pesky words and pages you gotta scroll thru in there.

I look forward to these group hunts.  I was disappointed there wasnt any kill pics... but only because I wanted them to have a successful (meat on the ground) hunt. 

[Petrichor]

Man if you just want to look at kill pics,  check out the yearly Highlights forums. 

Theres not many of those pesky words and pages you gotta scroll thru in there.

I look forward to these group hunts.  I was disappointed there wasnt any kill pics... but only because I wanted them to have a successful (meat on the ground) hunt.

Heres what I'll say on the matter of ground hunting at least 6 (maybe even more) of the 9ish maybe 10 people that went got to take shots. Some actually had multiple opportunities and a couple of pigs were hit. While that's not what we wish for man was it awesome that so many people got opportunities all ground hunting.

[Buckeye1977]

I don't disagree that this type of hunt is more challenging and fun.
Just dragging out the telling of it with no LDPs is kind of pointless to me. 
I share hunts with friends all the time.  30 hours sitting in stands for bears with no luck for example.  I had a good week in camp.  But the hunt was not successful for the intended animals.  I didn't post a long story as it had a anticlimactic ending.  I felt let down by it as readers would have too.
You can post a few pics and write some comments without dragging it out for days. 
Doesn't make it any less of a great camp and hunt for y'all.  Just doesn't translate to the same for us.  I may never moose hunt.  But a story of a successful moose hunt is what I want to hear.  Not a back woods camp out. 
Maybe it's just me.

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This is why a lot of the good story tellers and thread starters have left this site because of people like this! It's about the adventure and fellowship and seeing pics of places some of us may never get to see in our lifetime. Sure everyone would like to get a kill at the end but that doesn't always happen when you're doing things the way we do. I enjoy reading all the stories of everyone's hunts so keep it up kill or no kill!