St. Jude Hunt - A trip down under

[wv lungbuster]

[GRS]

More, please.  
Gerald

[Buckskin57]

Man, that green southern swamp looks great.Had a whiteout snowfall here today.Great tale can't wait for more.

[lt-m-grow]

Wednesday started wet.  The weather forecast - provided via text - from RC's wife said we were to expect 100% chance of thunderstorms.  Well I am not really a betting man, but a 100% is fairly good odds - so we decided to go to breakfast.  

One could look at this as kind of a letdown, but it really was not.  Since I never met RC, this gave us lots of time to get to know each other.  We talked about kids, grandkids, how we grew up, all sorts of stuff.  This really set a neat base for what I think will be a life long friendship as it turned out we grew up very different and many miles apart but we had a lot of common values.

Despite taking the longest path possible to and from breakfast, we still hadn't beaten back the rain and when we got back to camp it even look like more storms were coming.

Since camp was comfortable and I was still dragging a little bit from the long drive the day before, we decided to retreat to our "tents" to read and wait out the driving rain.

 

I put tent in quotes because I slept in my truck.

[beachbowhunter]

time to wake this one up!

[lt-m-grow]

All right, so the rain didn't let up until early afternoon and I emerge to find RC sitting in front of an erector set that somebody might call a grill.   He had thoughtfully stopped at the Walmart and picked up a new gas grill for us to use, but I don't think he expected the quantity of parts that there were.  He made a weak attempt or two to start putting it together and said let's go hunting.  I laughed but I was ready.

On the way out hunting he mentioned that his buddy John just bought the same grill and despite  the protests from the girl in the department insisted on taking the display model.  Lesson learned there.

And the grill never did get put together while I was there despite my urging.  I even had elk steaks with me, but no go.  He did text me this

 

after I left but I suspect someone else put it together or he went back to the Walmart and did the John trick.  :-)

[lt-m-grow]

So the plan is the same.  Go long and go deep into the swamp.  The rain had stopped but I thought I was still gonna get wet as we moved through the swamp just from the vegetation.   Not so.  For some reason, the understory plants didn't hold the moisture like I am used to.  Another bonus of the swamp!  

Of course the rain also made for quiet travel and it wasn't long and we were on pigs.   They were out about 50 yards and a little down in a slough bottom.  It would turn out that that is almost always the case.  Most of the pigs we saw were rooting around the edges of the water.  Noting this pattern, I asked the master and RC said that is usually the case.

The early instructions I had were - get low and don't dawdle.  So with the two simple rules I was off on my first Georgian hog stalk.  

So I bounced from tree to palmetto and back.   Soon I was within about 30 yards are so and I get busted.  Dang.  A pig I hadn't seen took off.

But luck was still with me as some of the pigs went back to rooting.  So off I go to close some more of the distance and dang if it doesn't happen again.   And then again and that was that.

The pigs won and were gone.  I turn to the master with the obvious question of what did I do wrong.  RC response was I told you to get low.  So I offer I thought I did.  He offers get lower.

It was fun.  With this batch of pigs, since I essentially blew them out in three waves, we decided not to pursue them with the hope that the would be there later in the week.

They were.

We hunted hard until dark and walked out with the creepy sounds of the pond scoggin.

It was a great day regardless of no arrows being launched.

[lt-m-grow]

Here is another picture or two...

This oak was soo cool.  

 

It really could have been the poster child for mossy oak camo.  The camera really didn't grab the beauty of this baby.  It had this weird presence that made it seem like "the" tree in the forest and must have gone up 70 ft.

The cyprus trees are cool and the little starter nobs (I suspect that isn't any more scientifically correct than pond scoggin :-) ) are great.

 

 

[lt-m-grow]

So Thursday dawned a lot nicer and we went off in a new direction.
 
I always love covering new ground.

After about an hour or 3, I spot hogs just ahead of us.  Yes.  I did.  Not my trusty guide!.  Seriously I did, but I have to make a big deal of it because it was the only time I did.  :-)

All I had to do was move a little bit to get a clear shot and I was good to go.  I was much lower this time and even got the high-sign from the boss.  The wind was good, but a nice black pig still caught something not right and bolted a bit.  Fortunately it didn't disturb the others and soon the black pig rejoined the other two and had moved close enough for a shot.

So I draw back.  Get a clean release and miss.  Dang.  Right over the back.  The hog actually jumps forward right into RCs window and he releases and misses.  The three hogs move off but not overly nervous and we regroup.

My frist words were to thank RC for missing too so I didn't have to feel bad.   :-)  He proceeds to find some stick or something and claims he hit it.   I tell him that I don't have a lame excuse. :-)

Nonetheless, RC thinks the pigs are not spooked at all.   And we should circle downwind in front of them and try again.

Long-story short, it works.  We can hear them approaching down in another slough.  I get out in the lead to intercept them.

Up comes a very nice hog right in front of me at about 15 yards.  It is standing in some river cane, but I am confident that I can get an arrow through it.  I drop the string and all heck breaks loose.  

I couldn't see the arrow hit very well, but it felt good and listening to the retreat of the hogs, it sounds like my hog is down.

I am excited, but still have that nervousness you feel when you don't know.

[lt-m-grow]

BTW:  If you are wondering why I keep poking at RC, it is because I know he is at work.   He has a schedule that he works his tail off for a bunch of days, then he has a handful of days off.

Since I know he is working ...

[Buckskin57]

Sounds like a Blast of a Hunt!MORE,MORE,PLEASE.

[elknutz]

I don't mind if you poke him, I would just like you to poke him more quickly!  This has been a good one.

[steadman]

I didn't know RC missed     Must have been a branch. Great story and pics!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Bet RC missed to make you feel better, he's that kind a fella.          

[gregg dudley]

Originally posted by elknutz:
I don't mind if you poke him, I would just like you to poke him more quickly!  This has been a good one.

It was a four day hunt.  He is telling the story in real time...  

[rastaman]

Awesome story so far!

[Over&Under]

I like the way this is going.  

Ttt for some more action.

[hunt it]

I luuve hawg stories from de swamp, keep it coming RC's gonna be done work soon! Fine story telling and great pics to boot.

[EL Mejor]

WOW,GREAT,,,THANKS,,,

[lt-m-grow]

I am not gonna drag this next piece of the story out anymore than I already did because despite looking for several hours we didn't find this hog.  I do not know what went wrong.

That bummed me out some. Though I am not the kinda of guy that gets wrecked by this as I know when anybody decides they are gonna hunt -- they have also accepted the fact that they will lose an animal now and then.  That is a fact regardless of the weapon used.  RC was great.  Gave me the pep talk and off we went.

We hunted hard the rest of day, and we did get on pigs.  This was one of the few times they were in the thick palmettos and we only saw flashing glimpses of them.   It did provide great fun and it is super exciting to know that at any minute you may get a shot.

Here are some of those thick palmettos