Well, went out with my buddy Sam for an afternoon scout in my favorite WMA that's only 15 minutes from my house. Only open to hunting on weekends so today was a no-weapon pure snoop and poop outing to look for new things and get the lay of the land. The WMA is right on a river so there is plenty of swampland and we have suspected it is hog rich, as we've found plenty of hog tilled ground and tracks spread out throughout the WMA. Well...we were right!!! As Carol Ann said in Poltergeist, "They're here!" About an hour into our hike we had just come up on the river and were heading back inland when we discovered a swamp area full of cypress and swamp oaks, with acorns on the ground all over. I'm pleased to say we found HOG HEAVEN. Just a perfect low lying area for a hog hang out. For well over an acre, probably two, the ground all around the cypress/oak stands was just roto-tilled to perfection by our porcine friends. Tracks by the dozens and dozens. Adult and piglet. Half chewed acorns, and some nice fresh hog wallers just filled by the recent rain. Well we checked it out and moved on, not 20 minutes past our new found "Hog Heaven" location we walked up on a solitary boar not 20 yards from us. He didn't even start, just gave us a look, kept walking along munching and rooting...we got within 12 yards or so and then he decided we were too close and scurried ahead a bit..but not out of range. An ornery bugger he didn't seem to phased by our presence. I can say that I am 100% confident had it been a legal hunting day and had I had my bow I would have taken the shot and taken that boar. He was about 75-100# I'd say, no monster but a nice all black feral. We kept moving forward and then finally he had enough and scurried off into the bush. What a day!! I'm thrilled and can't wait to get back to my new spot with a bow in hand!
Fresh wallow!
Adult hog track- about 3 inches long
Piglets! These were only an 1 1/2 inch long
Gnarly swamp tree, these were all over, pretty neat!
Boar! Can you spot em? Ornery critter. This was when he was almost outta sight, bout 30 yards. Only pic I got of him, I was so happy to have run up on him that I didn't think to take a pic til he was almost out of range.