Friday was my first full day of hunting. Here is what happened in the morning.
We got up early and Ray made coffee and biscuits with gravy. We ate, made our game plan and looked all over for Mike, who was supposed be there at 5:00 AM. No Mike.
Ray knew I loved the cypress "SWAMP" so the plan was I would take the right fork of turkey foot (an intersection where two roads intersect at angles that resemble a turkey track) and still hunt to a feeder at the end of the first road that intersected the right fork. Then I would still hunt into the "SWAMP" past the feeder and keep the palmettos to my left. I will tell you in a few minutes why I keep writing "SWAMP".
Oh I almost forgot, I made sure my $90 South Carolina “SWAMP” bug protection was fired up and sprayed on before I headed out.
I got to the right fork of turkey foot and still hunted down the road. I heard a turkey behind me and on the other side of the road. As I still hunted I came up to a coyote keying in on the turkey. I was camoed up and had a face mask on. We each saw each other at the same time at 10 yards. I now know what a coyote's face looks like when it screams in terror. He was wearing his terror face and took off never looking back. If I had a shotgun I would have rolled him.
I got to the first road that intersects the road I was on and made a right. As I reached a small slough with some water a hog burst out from thick palmettos on the other side of the road 5 feet from me. Two jumps and it was gone without a sound.
I went on past the feeder and into the cypress “SWAMP”, keeping the palmettos to my left. At the feeder was a metal platform stand with a blind.
It was overcast this morning without sun. As I still hunted the “SWAMP” I thought I was heading east, southeast but every time I checked my compass I was either west, southwest or northwest. The rest of the morning was uneventful, except for spotting a few bucks in velvet. I didn’t have my watch with me and we made arrangements to meet at the cabin late morning. I was whooped from the ride and thought I would head back.
Originally I was paralleling the road that ran north and south so I thought I would head east to hit the road. Without the sun I kept heading northeast working my way north, then northwest, then west and finally southwest.
I saw the light of an opening and headed to it. There was the feeder at the end of the road, only a HUGE cypress tree fell right on the platform stand and flattened it. I thought I walked in a circle but couldn’t figure out how I couldn’t have heard that monster tree fall!
Well I did walk in a circle and wound up at the end of the next road down from the road I was on with a feeder that looked just like the other one. Ha!
I headed back and noticed again no bugs, none, nada. I checked and my Thermocell was still on, yet I didn’t see any flying around anywhere, not even in the distance.
I got back to the cabin earlier than I intended, but still no Mike. Ray and I sat outside on the deck and still no bugs. I challenged Ray on that and he said, ‘Oh yea, wait until tonight”. We shall see.
The “SWAMP”. The reason I write “SWAMP” like this is because the definition of a swamp differs drastically from the northern Yankee swamps to what these Southern boys call a swamp!
Andrew has a Nature Conservancy Easement on this property because it is a special place. This is old growth forest that hasn’t been logged in a very long time. Some of these trees are hundreds of years old. To you other Yankees forget about calling this a swamp, it is a beautiful old growth hardwood forest. There are oaks, holly, sycamore, cypress, locust and mulberry to name a few. If there are any pines I didn’t notice them.
Here are some pictures of what a swamp looks like in May in South Carolina, my God what a terrible, inhospitable place (sissies).
These are pictures of the palmettos that I hunted the first morning. Scary aren’t they?
We sat around and waited for Mike. Mike arrived around noon and we had lunch. We then went out to do some practice shooting at a boar 3d target.
Now being good hosts and showing good southern hospitality and manners, both Ray and Mike made sure they didn’t shoot near my tight group of arrows in the kill zone. They would shoot far forward or far back and real low or real high. They said that since I was a guest they didn’t want to make me feel bad or damage one of my arrows. Thanks guys.
After that Mike showed me his different heads he knapped out of different types of materials. He had heads he made from chert, obsidian, flint and TV glass. He did some knapping, it was fun and now I will probably have another hobby to take more of my time. Just what my wife wanted me to come back with – another hobby.
We put our game plan together for the afternoon. Ray and Mike decided that I should sit near the slough where the big boar that was missed by another hunter the evening before. That boar was being chased by Mike for several years. That is the truth and shows the kind of guys and hunting partners Ray and Mike are. They wanted me to get a hog more than either of them and the hog they wanted me to get was the big boar Mike had been chasing for several years. I offered to let them hunt him since Mike was on him for years, but they insisted I get him.
I also finally found out what the real trophy on a boar is. It is his nuts! Every big boar that was discussed always ended in, “and he had a set nuts this big!”, as Mike or Ray would make a circular sign with their hands the size of a basketball.
Silly me, I always thought it was the tusks! Live and learn, I was close I just had the wrong end of the hog as a trophy.
The evening hunt will follow shortly.
Topic: Heading to Ray's for some Memorial Day pork! (Read 2546 times)
