The Good, the bad, the ugly at Ray's This Weekend

[wapiti792]

Back from S. Carolina and I had a blast! I want to thank Terry Green for the opportunity to hunt as he drew my name for the contributor hunt. It was an honor to be there as part of the contributors. I wish I could have done better...but I will get to that.

The Good:
The beautiful terrain, the swamp, the critters that live there, Ray's cooking, my campmates (who I hope chime in), and having a bow in my hands moving form tree to tree with a feeling of total freedom.

 
*The swamp, with it's old cypress and oak hammocks
 
 
 
*Swamp flowers of unknown name were everywhere.
 
*A holey old cypress

[wapiti792]

More good...

 
*An angel in the swamp
 
 
*Multicolored lizards of varying shapes. My daughter would love to catch these!

Ray Hammond is a good cook as is my new friend/campmate Kip. I didn't lose any weight on this trip and wished I had taken some pics of the food. I was too busy eating to find my camera.

I could barely hunt for snapping pics of the great trees in the swamp however. This midwestern fella is a bit jealous of all those ancients.
 

[Terry Green]

[wapiti792]

The Bad: 95 degree temps, skeeters that bleed ya, Ray's singing, a certain Canadian's snoring, and things that crawl instead of walk. All in all not bad if you like Teddy Pendergrass, hypovolemia, and bow backings.

 
*Teddy save us from this man and teach him some new words.
 
*Left to right: A snorer, a chef, and a shoat wisperer.
 
*I stepped on this fella. He didn't bite me and I didn't kill him. He agreed not to bite me when I came back through in the dark, and I agreed not to eat him and make him decorate one-half of my bow. I have a scar from one of these from 15 years ago and decided they love me...they really do love me.

[SheltonCreeker]

So far I have to agree with all that has been said. You take the lead and Ill chime in when appropriate as I hope the other camp mates do as well.

[Ric O'Shay]

Mike -
Nice pictorial and explanation of each shot. Waiting on the hog pics and hoping the copper colored critter doesn't craw out of my pc.    

[rushlush]

[wapiti792]

Bear with me folks...Photobucket tilts things then tilts them back at times.

A little more bad...

 
Agkistron contortrix aka copperhead. Only saw 2 snakes this trip and Ray is right. Between the pigs, birds and king snakes a poisonous snake doesn't last long.

 
*Don't know whose chair this was in the swamp but I took a nap here to escape the heat...right after I busted a giant boar out of his bed. I had the wind, he had the cover, and as the downed tree exploded with pig and I checked my shorts it dawned on me that pig huntin' is nothing like I have done before and you need more underwear on trips than normal.

[SheltonCreeker]

I honestly have to say I haven't had as much fun as I did at Rays in a long time. I'm sure some would think we were crazy for sneaking around a heat sweltering swamp with stick and string. But I absolutely couldn't have been happier. First and foremost I have to say my thanks to Mike for inviting me along on this trip to enjoy his good fortune of winning this hunt. Second I would like to thank Ray for being such a great host and Third thanks to Kip, Shaun, Berry and Joe for making this trip something I will never forget. I'm as excited about the rest of this thread as anyone! The terrain and the game at Rays is unlike any other Ive ever experienced. I'm not 100% what a shoat wisperer is Mike could you elaborate for me? I'm sure its a good thing haha.

[eminart]

Looks like fun. Thanks for not needlessly killing the copperhead.

[KOOK68]

Is the Kip you refer to Kip Manuel from Louisiana?

[wapiti792]

More good...ahhh I digress. After Dave (Sheltoncreeker)consulted the ariel photo gods we struck out on a plan to try a little finger out from hog lake into the Savanah River. It turned out to have great sign and river cane that a fella aught not try and stalk through less he wants a face full of pig or gator before he can draw.

So we made a new plan. Hunt the root sign nearby and let the cane be the cane. As we rounded a bend slowly glassing he grabbed my arm. "Pig". He had the stalk and I backed him up with camera.
 

[Ray Hammond]

Yes it is Kip M and if you ever get offered a plate of his crawfish étouffée and you don't take it someone should slap you!  

I thought I could cook til I tasted it- wow!!!

[Ray Hammond]

If u get the chance to hunt with kip, sean sullivant, mike davenport David gage joe caba or Barry marontate do it

They are all the kind of guys you want as hunting partners !

[wapiti792]

I got to witness something cool    Dave jump in and tell it from your end. I watched a "train" of shoats walk out into the road and they sounded like D5 cats winding up for some dirt work. I had a hard time keeping the camera still as I watched the little fellas size up Dave. Here are some intersting pics:
 
*A piglet train
 
*Lead little piggy giving the once over to Sheltoncreeker.
 

After awhile momma showed up and let them know they were being bad, not noticing the hunter near her babies or the idiot grinning from ear to ear with the camera. Dave did the noble thing and let momma have a pass. Proud of ya bud  

[tarponnut]

Great storytelling as always Mike!
Keep it coming, I'm home with a sick kid.

[SheltonCreeker]

I made the comment to Shaun in camp that a pig was a pig not matter the size and I was shooting it. That was until..... that little fella in the front there lead his siblings in the cutest little pig train you could imagine. Me and Mike were stalking up the road kinda stair stepping each other (and occasionally cursing the wind) when I saw a little black flash dart across the road.  I told mike what I had saw and he told me it was my stalk. So I start easing that way with the hopes that bigger pigs may be close. As I got well within bow range the little fellas were still in the cover. They were making all kinda of noise leading me to believe that nothing else than the largest pig to ever be seen at Rays must be just behind that bush. Well it wasn't long and what i had made out in my mind to be HAWGZILLA revealed itself to be these little porkers. It was as awesome of an experiece as one can have. Small or not wild game is wild game and to see them doing what they do and acting the way they do was something I won't soon forget. These little guys moved like a school of fish darting from one way to another and when they got as close as they could would all look up with just their eyes without moving there heads. Now you talk about funny. These guys were sure I was nothing more than another funny looking tree but werent sure I could be trusted. Once the sow showed up it was over just as quick as it began. How cool was it to have your buddy over your shoulder to catch something like that on camera! Awesome. I'm glad everyone gets to share in that experience thanks to mike.    

[steadman]

Awesome Bud!!!  

[wapiti792]

No biggie Brother...I was just happy to there  

Ray, appreciate that! I had a good time with these fellas. Thanks again for being a great host. I love your place and can't wait to see it again!

So, end of the shift for good and bad...we finished our evening hunt with grins as big as saucers and made our way back to camp to eat some of Ray's good cookin' (pot roast...WOW was it good!) and to enjoy our campmates company. What gents we had there. Dandy fellas all!

[wapiti792]

The Ugly

I hate losing game. I hate missing my spot. I have been so fortunate to not have lost many animals that I have shot. It hurts to write this but it is hunting. The ugly is painful but I want to learn from this...I want others to learn as well.

On a stalk hopping from downed treetop to downed treetop the first day a sudden burst from my right revealed a group of hogs running from Dave's advance. Suddenly there were pigs running straight to me from the other direction. I had to make a quick decision to nock up, pick a spot and let loose if I chose. I chose poorly...or I didn't do the most important thing in my opinion: PICK A SPOT!

After reading and re-reading Terry's pig shot tutorial I should have known better. The spot was behind the shoulder but too far back. I got a complete passthrough and thought I was golden. I was not. A nightmare tracking job insued and I am sad to say that after a quarter mile I lost my small eater pig to the swamp. Dave helped me with my track and when the light ran out so did the blood.
 
*The first blood looked good but soon went dark.

So, I held the ugly card. I will remember this day and will learn that a pigs vitals is not a deers vitals...that a 60 pound pig is pound for pound the toughest critter on the planet. No way a deer holds that arrow and never beds, never slows, and walks to the swamp away from trouble and into trouble.

So that is it. My tale of Good, Bad, and Ugly. Thank you Terry for the chance to hunt, thank you Ray for being a great host, thank you Tradgang for reading this yarn, and thanks to my new friends from camp. It was an honor to be with you on this trip.