My wife Jeanne and I are staying in an RV park near Naples,FL which is on the west coast. It is approximately 165 miles to Fort Pierce on the east coast where Jims hunt is. In order to hunt on Friday morning I had to get up at 1:30AM. Now I never go to bed before 11 so it was a short night.
After meeting for breakfast, Jim took Dan and Gerry to the south side of the property. Irv showed me to the "Pines" stand on the north side. After scattering a small sack of corn on the ground, Irv slipped out of the area.
Trying to stay awake was a chore itself but I quickly came alive when the dang feeder went off. I have hunted feeders before but still get surprised when they make that racket. After a short time two small 30 or 40 pound pigs came running in.
Expecting some larger ones to show up I watched as they flitted here and there scarfing up the corn. After some time I could see they were going to eat all the corn, I hissed at them to scare them off. They didn't want to leave but finally did. That was all I saw Friday morning.
We all met for lunch and discussed the mornings events and planned the afternoon hunt. I wanted to go back to the Pines stand as it was a two person stand and was very comfortable. The first couple hours were uneventful but about 4:30, a sow with 2 pigs and a small boar came in from the north. The sow was black and white spotted with 1 black and 1 white pig. She was pretty skinny as sows with pigs usually are. The spotted boar looked to be fat with bright hair. I decided to shoot him in spite of his size. After feeding a while he turned broadside and the arrow gone. He broke the top 6 inches of the arrow off immediately as he ran by some small trees.
They all ran back the way they came and I knew the hit was good.
After 20 minutes or so I climbed down and followed their direction only to find no blood at all. It mattered not though as he only went a hundred yards or so.
I had notified Irv by text that I had one down and we had decided to wait a while for him to come and help retrieve it. The sun was getting low when I received a text from him asking if it was alright to come in now and I replied yes. Just as I saw the vehicle coming, 6 hogs came running in to the corn. There were 2 about the same size as the one I had down and 4 smaller. Irv was within 1/8 mile and closing. I needed to hurry and quickly drew. Forgetting to take the arrow holder off caused it to be pulled off the string. It hit every rung on the ladder stand on the way to the ground.
The hogs were startled, ran a few yards and came back. By this time Irv was within 1 hundred and fifty yards with the truck. They were not at the corn and skittish. I drew another arrow and shot but the boar had swapped ends and was gone about the time the arrow sliced through the hair on his back. They all escaped without any damage to themselves. We carried the dead pig out as I wanted to keep the skin.
I sat the same stand Saturday morning and it was uneventful with no hogs seen. On the way out as I was about to open he gate, there was an exceptionally large alligator lying on the bank of the small pond that was just inside the gate. It quickly disappeared under the water hyacinth that covered it. After relating this to Jim and Irv, they said they had seen him but did not realize just how big he was.
I sat a different stand Saturday evening without incident. Sunday morning I was back in the Pines stand and again no hogs were spotted. When I reached my truck which was about a hundred yards from the gate, I quietly stored my bow and equipment. After digging out my camera, I slipped up to the pond that held the alligator.
There he was, out on the bank sunning himself. I slowly eased closer to get some photographs before he spooked again.
He eventually spooked and dived back under the hyacinth. I went an retrieved my truck and he had surfaced again.
This was a very nice gator, we estimated it to be between 8 and 10 feet long. This ended my hunt. Jim and Irv are good people and I call them my friends. They are traditional hunters themselves and have a multitude of stories to tell around the evening table. I will be back hunting with them again.
Topic: Midwestern Trad Guys// Gnarly Boar Pics ADDED (Read 1120 times)
