Heading to Ray's for some Memorial Day pork!

[ALDO]

Gil, keep it coming NJ boys need to keep spreading nothing but truths.

Ray be careful retribution may come in Nov.

[rushlush]

[Ray Hammond]

I will tell you that's the biggest hog I've shot at on the property- he was standing tight to the near side bank of that steep ditch, knee deep in water- and was looking UP at me!

The only chance I had to get vitals was to shoot right ON top of the dirt bank to get it into him- so that's what I tried to do- but it 'hit' the bank and kicked up enough to just burn hair.

I've never seen anything run any faster than that-maybe an antelope I shot once but nothing else! Pretty cool to be that close to a dinosaur!

[Gil Verwey]

Friday night’s hunt continued.

One thing I forgot to mention was that during the afternoon when Ray and I were talking on the deck, I mentioned I had seen an ad on the Tradgang classifieds for the Hunter Smart Seat. Since Ray wanted to me to post for the big boar, I told him I was going to give it try that night.

Also Ray said he was going to run in quick to town for some items, so I asked him if he was going to pass a liquor store. I figured out that the Woodford Reserve “SWAMP” bug relief remedy was really just for Ray since that is his favorite libation! I thought I might as well have some of my own favorite libations so I asked if he could pick up a bottle of Stoli vodka. He said he would.

I have to mention these two points because you will see why later in this story (accurate depiction of events that occurred on this hunt!).

I have been bow hunting since 1968. I found that tree stand hunting is very productive, but when we started bow hunting we mainly still hunted. I am now at a point where I want to get back to the beginning of my bow hunting and still hunt. That is probably why I like hog hunting so much.

I decided that in the future I was going to bow hunt by still hunting, try a Rancho Safari Ghille suit and wanted a hunting chair I could carry in case I wanted to sit for a while, while still hunting. I have a ghillie but haven’t used it yet.

Every seat I looked at or tried was too heavy, too noisy, too big, too small, hard to pack, flimsy or uncomfortable for my purposes.  When I saw the ad for the Hunter Smart Seat on Tradgang, I went to their web site. They had a video. This seemed too good to be true but it looked like just what I wanted. I ordered the seat, backrest and large strap (used for single tree installations).  It not only is a seat but also is a game drag. I thought I killed two birds with one stone.

This information doesn’t seem important to this story, but it will a little further along. I will tell you something I didn’t tell Ray or Mike about this evenings hunt!

I set up my Hunter Smart Seat between two trees about 3 feet apart. I also set up the backrest. The seat was easy and quick to set up. It packs in a small package and is very light. Here is the bad part – it is too comfortable! It can be used as a seat, rocking chair or hammock depending on how you set it up. It is quiet too. I set the back rest a little too loose so I could use it in any of the three configurations I just mentioned. I chose gently rocking hammock for my configuration!

I sat there constantly watching the road, the slough behind me, the open woods behind me, the short pines across the road in front me and the open hardwoods (oops “OAK” finger) next to the short pines across the road. I could shoot down the road in either direction if I stood up and took a step or two down the path I cleared earlier. I had a clear shot into the slough behind me and woods behind them. The short pines would be tough since they grow close together and the hardwoods I could get a shot into if I stood up right where I was.

I sat there for a while and noticed my Thermocell was out. For a second I panicked and thought, oh no those Yankee killer bugs are on the way. Then I realized it could have been off for hours and I would have never known the difference. I thought what the heck I will light it up again just in case the bugs got bad after dark.

I sat there a while longer and heard something behind me. I turned slowly and saw the biggest armadillo I ever saw. I had only seen two other ones in my life and they were the night before. I didn’t have my camera the night before but I didn’t make that mistake tonight. This was three times the size of the other ones I saw. By the time I got my camera it went into some palmettos behind me. I waited but never saw it again. It probably had a burrow right there and went in.

I sat until dark and no pigs. I packed up. The seat is as easy to take down and pack up as it is to unpack and put it up.  

When I was at Rays in January, Ray kept saying that we could hunt at night and that these pigs were a different animal in the dark. We all heard him but I don’t think any of us listened. It didn’t dawn on me until I was on the way home. I thought next time I go to Rays I am hunting in the dark as well. Ray said to use a red light if I saw a pig.

I thought I would still hunt back to the cabin in the dark. I still hunted down the road I was on and made a right at the road with the big pine, which would lead to the road that led back to the cabin. I still hunted for a while when I saw headlights coming down the road. It was Mike.

Mike pulled up and asked if I needed help since he and Ray were sure that I probably had shot at a hog. They were so sure that Ray sat along the road at the first intersection from camp glassing down to the big pine. Mike told me that Ray watched a big hog keep going back and forth across the road at the big pine. I told Mike I didn’t see any hogs only one armadillo.

I noticed that Mike had his overhead light on and he kept swatting at bugs. He told me he left his window open when he went hunting and all these horse flies flew in his cab. I think the real story is that Mike and Ray planted them to make me think there were really bugs in South Carolina. At first I thought, “ah I will finally have use for this Thermocell thing I had to buy”, since Mike invited me to ride back with him. So far the only bugs I have seen have been in his truck cab. I should have known better though. These things were tame flies. They wouldn’t even move. You could grab them by the wings if you wanted and throw them out the window one at a time. I finally had Mike and Rays number for sure now and was convinced this bug story was just that!

On the way back it dawned on me what happened to cause that hog to keep going back and forth across the road. I wouldn’t dare tell Mike or Ray why though.

We got back to the cabin and Ray had dinner prepared. I hate to compliment him on anything but that boy can cook. We had steak and roasted potatoes with sweet Vidalia onions. Oh man was that good. After dinner we had some ice cream with all kinds of stuff in it. It was great, what ever flavor that was. I was afraid to ask because I have some weight to lose before I go back to Colorado in September.  

I asked Ray if he remembered the vodka and he said yes, that it was in the freezer. I thought uh oh, he knows about vodka too since he knew it is best to keep it in the freezer. It doesn’t freeze and is nice and cold.

Sure enough, Ray says, “Gil you know those bugs were pretty bad tonight, I think I may have to try some of that Stoli. It looks more medicinal than that Woodford Reserve and I think a poison one may have gotten me. I don’t want to take any chances”.

If I learned one thing in life it is never mess with the cook, especially a good one like Ray. I said sure Ray have as much as you like. One thing I didn’t tell him is that if you aren’t used to Stoli it can KICK YOUR BUTT! Ray had one and said man I feel a little woozy already, then number two and yep here it comes, “Man this stuff is KICKING MY BUTT, I am going to bed”. I should have known that was another southern trick to get me to do the dishes. Just when I thought I may have gotten over him, he and Mike got me again!

We all headed to bed (after I did the dishes!) to get ready for an early start tomorrow. We discussed the game plan and I was roaring to go.

[Margly]

Good story    

[4dogs]

[Ray Hammond]

wow...another Charlie Lamb disciple....I like it! Even if you tell 'big ones'!  

[Gil Verwey]

Ray I am surprised you didn't ask me what I didn't tell you or Mike about my evening hunt where the boar was missed!

[Ray Hammond]

did I miss something? Oh, about the smart seat? I figured it would come out sooner or later, right?

[Gil Verwey]

"This information doesn’t seem important to this story, but it will a little further along. I will tell you something I didn’t tell Ray or Mike about this evenings hunt!"

"On the way back it dawned on me what happened to cause that hog to keep going back and forth across the road. I wouldn’t dare tell Mike or Ray why though."

[Gil Verwey]

Ha!

[Gil Verwey]

Here is the thing I didn’t tell Ray or Mike about the evening hunt when Ray saw the hog going back and forth on the road.

You see I said the following in the last post.

“I chose gently rocking hammock for my configuration!”

“I sat there constantly watching the road, the slough behind me, the open woods behind me, the short pines across the road in front me and the open hardwoods (oops “OAK” finger) next to the short pines across the road.”

“I sat there a while longer and heard something behind me. I turned slowly and saw the biggest armadillo I ever saw.”

“I sat until dark and no pigs. I packed up.”

I should have said the following:

I chose gently rocking hammock for my Smart Seat configuration. It was so comfortable!

I sat there constantly watching the road, the slough behind me, the open woods behind me, the short pines across the road in front me and the open hardwoods  next to the short pines across the road, as I gently rocked back and forth in the hammock. I was in the shade and there was a nice soft breeze. I was so comfortable.

I constantly watched as I rocked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Then the next thing I know that damned armadillo woke me up! I fell asleep for about an hour in that damn comfortable Smart Seat. I told you earlier, “Here is the bad part – it is too comfortable!”. I was out for about an hour when that pig would have been going back and forth across the road. Who knows what else was running around me during that time period.

After that I was sharp as a tack and kept my eyes peeled and feet on the ground in that Smart Seat! No pigs though. I packed up.

Now onto Saturday’s hunt. I find hog heaven, I finally see one of those Yankee killing bugs (the Devil’s Pillar!) and I find some things that are awe inspiring, plus I see more hogs!

[Ray Hammond]

A-HA!!!!!

[Gil Verwey]

Saturday morning.

We got up, Ray made breakfast and we were outa there. While on the deck getting ready I turned on my Thermocell, got my gear and headed out. As soon as I was out of sight of camp, I turned the Thermocell off. I didn’t want Ray or Mike to know I had their number.

My game plan was, I was going down to turkey foot. I would take the right fork again, but this time I would walk it all the way to the end. At the end there was a field with two feeders in it. One feeder was at the end of the field where the road entered. The other feeder was down at the other end of the field where the road exited the field again. I was going to hunt that road all the way around the property. The game plan changed as I got on that trail.

I checked the first feeder. The corn was gone and there was a heavy trail leading to the other feeder. All the tracks seemed to point to the feeder at the other end of the field. This trail was heavy and ran right down the middle of the field. I was a little confused at first since I didn’t see a heavy trail coming into the first feeder.

I walked the trail to the other feeder. All the corn was gone there also. It appears that the hogs come into the field at this end, head to the other feeder and come back on the same trail.  

As I reached the road at the other end of the field it looked great. It was a little over grown. The hogs had fresh rooting going right down the road and along the sides. As I walked down the road there was small sections of river cane on my left and grape vines on my right. I thought this would be a great place in the fall.

The whole area along this road looked great. I came across a nice hog run that intersected the road. I thought heck with the road, I am going to follow the run.

As I followed the run I reached the top of a little side hill. The run went right to the top of a slough with a pond about 25 yards long and 20 yards wide. A little further down was another small pond. Tracks were everywhere and the whole place was freshly rooted up. I followed the slough down and there were more very small pockets of water. These were only a few feet wide and long. I came to where the hogs had freshly wallowed. I continued down the slough until I saw a bridge crossing it. About 60 yards before the bridge the tracks scattered and rooting stopped.

It looked like the pigs filtered out both sides and moved on. I was tempted to follow and try to track them but this spot looked so good. I looked around and thought about it for a while. I thought that the pigs were hitting the field at night right above me from this side of the road. I thought that they may come back to this area to water and wallow during the day or at least while staging to go into field. I made my decision.

In this slough there were some awe inspiring sites. Cypress trees can live for 1700 years. The oldest cypress on the east coast is in Bladen County, North Carolina. That tree is 1,620 years old. While hunting the slough I came across this gorgeous awe inspiring cypress.

The bow in the picture is my 62” Harrison El Lobo. This cypress was huge and a very old living organism. If this tree was one third as old as the one in NC, it would have started to grow in the year 1472. Columbus didn’t discover America until 1492 and a non-native American hadn’t set foot on our shores yet! If the age is right that means that it would have been growing for 304 years before the Declaration of Independence was signed and we became a Nation. If it was one fifth as old as the NC cypress it would still be older than our country.

Now if that isn’t awe inspiring and make you feel insignificant and realize how wonderful nature and this place is, nothing will!

Oh, you should take note of the ground in the pictures. It is in the bottom of slough. You can see how wet and swampy it is in the South Carolina "SWAMP". If you look hard at the pictures you will also see all the bugs flying around like in my earlier pictures. Riiiiiiiight.

 

The following picture is of the same tree from the other side. I was trying to get a picture of the “TUBERS”. I made that name up but it fits. I call the cypress knees, tubers. To me that is the word they look like, not a knee. Ha!

These are extensions of the root system. The ones to the right in the picture are about 6 feet tall. The ones behind the tree are about 8 feet tall.

 

I have been lucky to be awe inspired by many natural occurrences while hunting. I was awed by the Rockies hunting elk, the Canadian Rockies in North West British Columbia hunting Mt. Goat, moose and grizzly, the Maine Big Woods and many other places. This place is no less awe inspiring if you not only look, but see and think about it.

If you take your time and enjoy the whole experience and not have tunnel vision on your goal, it is much more rewarding. It took me a long time to learn that and now my hunting partner and I enjoy the journey and adventure as much if not more than the destination.

I decided I would post here until it was nearly dark, then still hunt to the field and hunt the field since I would have more light and better shooting as it got dark. I found Hog heaven and I decided to stay put.

[Squirrel Bait]

So your sorry butt was ASLEEP ! I can't shoot them for you!! Good lord, sleeping !  

[Gil Verwey]

Only for a little while!

Back and forth , back and forth zzzzzz zzzzzz.

[Dogboy900]

Man I am enjoying this story! Very entertaining just keep it coming!

[Joeabowhunter]

So far all I got out of it was that Ray missed a big one..........

Ray have you noticed everyone likes to bust your chops?

[Gil Verwey]

Saturday’s hunt continued. I finally get to see a swamp bug (the Devil’s Pillar) while at Hog Heaven and more hogs.

It was now 8:20 AM when I decided I would I post here for the remainder of the day. Then I would still hunt to the field and hunt it right before dark.

We weren’t on a time schedule, but I thought I should send Ray a text message to tell him I wouldn’t be back until after dark. I sent the following.

“I may not be back until after dark. Found hog heaven. Don’t worry if I am not back.”

Since reception isn’t too good at the property, Ray didn’t get the message until later that morning. When he did he responded with the following text.

“Good we will bring a cooler with water and a sandwich to parking spot.” Too bad I didn’t get the message until I was in Estill on the way home. When I left camp I did take two waters a lemon seltzer but no food. That wound up being good enough for me.

You see if the truth be known (you can’t tell from my writings!) Ray and Mike are great guys and fun to hunt with. They are very considerate. They packed a cooler with ice, a nice big sandwich, apple, orange, malomar, water and seltzer. They dropped it off at my car and left it in the shade. I didn’t know it was there but I took it for the ride home and enjoyed it then. They would make great mothers or wives. I even asked Ray at dinner this night (as I ate this delicious stuffed pork with home made coleslaw and buttered mash potatoes – mmmmm mmm) if he was really married. He said yes and asked why. I told him I was thinking of asking him to come home with me. Ha! My wife may not appreciate that but the food is worth the fight!  
 
I found a nice spot along the slough for my Hunter Smart Seat. I set it up so I could shoot in any directions but still had some cover. I set the backrest a little loose again and sat down. I started to rock back and forth, back and forth and I thought - oh no I won’t do that again (zzzzz zzzzz). I reset the back rest so I had to keep my feet on the ground and used the chair configuration this time. There will be no zzzz zzzz at hog heaven (well maybe a few minutes here and there).

This is the view across the slough. The picture is deceiving since the trees in the background are huge! The light colored tree in the background on the right is an oak with a diameter at the base of about four feet.

   


I sat there for a few hours when I heard something behind me again. Another armadillo, only this one didn’t wake me up, I was already awake and I finally got a picture of one. The pictures are blurry but it is an armadillo.

   
   

I sat there for several more hours. My Thermocell was packed in my fanny pack. I had turned it off as soon as I was out of sight of camp and when it cooled down I put in my pack. Well finally around 3 PM one of the Yankee killing South Carolina “Swamp” bugs reared it’s ugly head. The dreaded Devil’s Pillar (or should I say Pilar) appeared out of no where. By the time I saw it was at the level of my throat!

Here it is. It had these devilish red/orange horns, fangs that could tear mans flesh from his body, you can’t see them because I was camoed thank God and didn’t want to move until it was facing away from me! These Southern boys are right to be afraid of the bugs in a South Carolina “Swamp” (big sissies)!

   


I stayed until the sun was nearly gone and started to still hunt up to the field. I was a little creeped out after the Devil’s Pilar experience and kept watching my back trail.

As I still hunted back to the field I reached the river cane and grape vines I mentioned earlier. This time the river cane was to my right and the grape vines on my left. Right before the grape vines a nice hog jumped out of the river cane in front of me, ran about 4 yards down the road straight away from me and jumped into the grape vines. There was no time for a shot. I listened but didn’t hear anything. I glassed and crept forward hoping the pig was still there. Nothing! These things are escape artists.

I continued to still hunt and put up three more pigs as I got nearer to the field. No shot.

I got to the field and the wind was perfect. It was getting dark so I still hunted along the edge to get to a finger of trees and brush that jutted out into the field. This put me at about 15 yards from the trail the pigs used. As I got close to the trees and brush I looked down and found a shed. I thought this is a good luck sign.

As I got to the finger of brush the wind changed 180 degrees, so much for good luck deer antler sheds. I would get busted with the wind and it was getting pretty dark. I still hunted to the road heading back the way I came in, in the morning.

Once on the road I had to turn on my red light. It was dark this night. I went about 50 yards further down the road and with the red light a hog let me walk right up to it. It was in the brush just to the right of the road. It waited until I was right next to it to explode out of the palmettos and scared the, “you know what" outa me. I nearly came unglued, especially since my earlier encounter with the Devil’s Pilar!

I continued to still hunt back to my car. By the time I got to the car it was 9:20 PM. I headed back to the cabin for that great stuffed pork dinner and some Stoli (if Ray hadn’t drank it all).

Back at the cabin, Mike and Ray said you didn’t see the cooler! Didn’t you get my message? They passed by and picked it up at night, when they saw I didn’t eat any of the lunch they made. I said, I am glad you got that message, I didn’t want you guys to worry and head out to look for me, thinking I may have gotten lost or had some other problem. Naturally Mike joined in and said, “What makes you think we would worry about your sorry butt or go looking for you? Heck man you are on your down here”!

Now I know that is a lie and if you guys come on down, they are very protective of you and look out for you. Me, now that’s a different story!

Ray made the best stuffed pork, home made coleslaw and mashed potatoes. The pork had some kind of cheese in it and the slaw had some small pieces of granny smith apples. The apples were just enough to give a slight apple taste but not overpowering.

There was a lot of pork. After my third helping, I noticed that Mike wasn’t eating the fat on his pork. Now everyone up north knows that the most flavorful part of meat or fowl is the fat. But it is also unhealthy for you. From my years of eating the fat I have become immune (plus with the help of modern colesteral medicine), I figure I can now eat all the fat I want.

Now I like Mike a lot so I don’t want anything to happen to him. At the window by the table there was this funnel web spider den with a spider by it. I warned Mike about the spider and told him to keep an eye on it. Mike did keep an eye on it and out of further concern for him I cleared his plate of that nasty fat! Another good deed by me. Always thinking about you and your well being Mike.

After dinner Ray had made an apple pie. Mike cut up the pie (which was still warm) and put some of that great ice cream on it. After this hunt there will be a few extra days in the gym for me to get ready for Colorado.

Now we broke out the Woodford Reserve and Stoli. By now you probably guessed what happened next. Ray and I drank a few Stolis while Mike had the Woodford Reserve. Sure enough, “Man this Stoli is KICKING MY BUTT, I am going to bed”. Guess who did the dishes – AGAIN.

We were going to get up real early so I could get to that slough and field I hunted today as early as possible. The next day was it until next year so I wanted to make the most out of it. It didn't go exactly as planned but it winds up being the day I saw the most hogs of the trip.

[Izzy]

"They Would Make Good Wives Or Mothers." Dang what an ugly mother or wife that would be. Very funny though. This has been a very entertaining read. Look forward to the rest.