My 18 year old granddaughter, Kelsey, and I took Ray up on his offer to hunt over the Easter weekend. Although there wasn't anything put on the ground, there was no shortage of turkeys and pigs. The group saw over 100 pigs.
My hat's off to both Ray and Mike for showing us a great time. We also met John Carnahan, his son, Samuel, and Adam a close friend of John's. All were great company.
The first morning Mike and I head down to the swamp to see if we could get any turkeys close enough for a shot. We walked a short distance and Mike gave out a call, and he immediately got several gobblers to answer. We headed in the direction of the closest one and set up quickly. Not more than 15 minutes later, I caught movement to my left, and as I slowly looked out the corner of my eye, I could see a short bearded bird about 10 yards to my left. The way I was set up, any movement would have spooked the bird. I waited the bird's next move and it was to my front. At about 18 yards I got site of the bird, I let an arrow fly. Unfortunately, a miss.
That afternoon I took off down a fire break, and neared a ditch that still had a lot of standing water. I stopped to listen, and heard some grunting heading in my direction. I first caught site of piglets on the opposite bank. Then a little bigger pig, and not long after that came the momma. I could see there was still some movement through the brush moving slowly towards me. After a short wait, a 125 lbs pig made its way into the small opening where I had a shot. I came to full draw and the arrow hit a little high. But at the downward angle, I thought it was a good hit. John joined me in trying to locate blood. We found blood on a nearby cane stalk, but could not find any more. It was so thick that I could not tell after the scattering of pigs in every direction where the pig exited. John and I looked for quite a while before we called it.
The next morning I went back to turkey hunting. Again Mike was calling, and in no time we had gobblers answering in every direction. We set up, and about 30 minutes later I spotted movement about 50 yards in front of me. But instead of turning, the bird went further down before cutting in. Mike had a jake about 10 yards away from him that I never did see. That afternoon, I saw several sounders, but with no shot opportunities. I made my way to an area, and sat up against a tree. I had four jakes come running in, but never made it to a point for a shot. A few minutes later, a doe came in behind me and bedded down not more than 15 yards. I watched her for over 20 minutes before I finally hissed a few times, but she wasn't sure what the noise was or where it was coming from. So I finally started getting to my feet, and she got to her feet and we stood face to face in a stand off. She trotted a few yards and turned to see what the big blob was moving in front of her. She finally slowly moved back into the woods.
The last morning I tried one more time to see if a turkey would come in. Mike called, and the gobblers answered. Again we set up, but the only interest was with a hen that came within a few feet of where Mike was set up.
Ray and Mike were great hosts. Ray's meals were great. Having John, Adam, and Samuel in camp was a real treat.
My granddaughter wants to go back. She had a blast. She saw more turkeys that she could count. Also, she had a couple of encounters jumping up deer right in front of her. She did have a question for Ray the first morning and that was, will those turkeys attack me? This will be a venture that she will long remember.
Thanks Ray for a great weekend of fun. Mike, I appreciate your time and efforts calling in birds.
Topic: Easter Weekend at Hog Heaven (Read 430 times)
