Georgia Gobbler, Gar and Hog Hunting Weekend(video added)

[ShadeMt]

Hard to believe that my much anticipated trip south to Georgia has come and gone already.  Back in late December I was notified by Jerry Russell, owner of Russell Outdoor Guides that I had been the random winner of his hunt give-a-way drawing here on Tradgang.  The hunt was to be held during the month of April and offered turkey, hog and bowfishing all rolled together in one long action packed weekend.  Jerry promised me there would be no time to sleep on this trip and he certainly held true to his word....from Thurs morning of our departure day until we arrived back home on Monday night we got roughly 14 hours of sleep!

Once I worked out the logistics of the trip, Jerry mentioned that he could handle another stickbow hunter in camp.  Immediately I contacted Allen Felix--"Little Jake" here on tradgang, and he was quick to take the opportunity for this trek south of the mason dixon line.  For those of you that don't know Allen, he is an experienced bowyer and long time(very successful I might add) traditional bowhunter plus it didn't take long to realize that he was one serious bowfisherman.  

Our adventure began last Thursday evening when we started our 12 hour journey south to meet up with Jerry near Forsyth, GA.  We knew that driving straight through the night would make us pretty exhausted right out of the chute but we didn't let that hold us back.  12 hours actually flew by as we compared countless stories of past bowhunting adventures across the country.  Upon arriving in Forsyth, we picked up our licenses, ate breakfast and then met up with Jerry to head to his camp nearby.  We immediately did what any dyed in the wool trad shooters do--break out the bows and start flinging some arrows!  As soon as  we made sure our bows were ready Jerry asked us if we were ready to go hunting for turkeys in the afternoon before our evening hog hunt.  Naturally we jumped at the chance and loaded up gear to head out to set up some pop-up blinds to try and catch some strolling mid-day gobblers......

   

[TURKEYFOOTGIRL]

Good start keep it rolling! I ain't patient enough fr a drawn out story. Lol

[rwbowman]

Yeah buddy! I can smell the campfire burning. Gonna be a good sit around the ring.

[tradhunter]

[Jayrod]

[rbcorbitt]

Really interested in this!  Wanting to check our Jerry's operation myself!

[ShadeMt]

I'll do my best not to draw this out too long but if Jerry hadn't tried to keep us awake for 3 days I might be able to stay up later to wrap this up sooner.  Now where was I....

I have turkey hunted for years but had never used my longbow.  Being from PA, I had rarely ever hunted turkeys in the afternoon because until 2 years ago our state would not permit hunting past noon.  

Jerry set up the blind, the decoys and said that he has his best luck with infrequent calling, maybe once every half an hour.  The blind was positioned on the edge of a food plot surrounded by thick brush and bordered by a small creek.  At both ends of the plot were access roads which provides a great set up for strolling birds.  Throughout the plot there was numerous patches of areas where hogs had been rooting.  If you look closely in the picture below you can see some evidence of their activity to the left of the decoy.  

I settled into position and called lightly with some putts and purrs every half an hour or so.  After about 3 hours, I glanced to the right and caught movement out of the right window of the blind and it was heading my way......

 

[Jerry Russell]

Come on man give us more! Oh yeah, I was there, lol.

[ShadeMt]

I'm not sure where my manners were but I forgot to tell the all important details of my hunting setup.  On this trip I would be using my Dryad Epic ILF with ACS CG longbow limbs.   My carbon arrows are lead by a 175 grain Simmons Tigershark in a 100 grain brass insert for a total weight of 590 grains.  It makes a nice fairly heavyweight set up for my 50# at 26" draw.  

As for the turkey hunt setup we were using pop-up blinds with a jake and hen decoy positioned roughly 5 yards from the blind.  Unfortunately I had also brought along one of those small 3 sided turkey chairs with a back. If you have ever spent more than 2 hours in one of those chairs you will know why I said unfortunately.  The pain in your posterior is roughly equal to that of a riding on one of those narrow bike seats after you have not ridden a bike for a year or more.  On this trip we would spend nearly 20 hours perched on that torture device.

I will get back to the hunt but first I have to get 2 nine year old twin daughters ready for school before I head to work.  Bear with me and I will try to wrap up this hunt on a timely manner but I realize I am only up to the 3 hour mark of a 3 day hunt......

 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

   

[Brianlocal3]

This  will be a greet story. Looking forward to it

[ShadeMt]

Now back to the hunt--the movement to the my right was a young single hen and she was moving right towards my decoys.  As anxious as I was to peak to see if she was being followed by a gobbler, I fought the urge to look to make certain that I did not spook her.  As most of you know, there is nothing more nervous in the woods than a turkey.  As the hen approached she checked out the decoys before proceeding to feed.  I watched her for 1 hour and 8 minutes before she fed out of sight.  A gobbler never followed her but it was great to have such a close encounter this early in the hunt.  This hen did something interesting as she laid down in some grass roughly 15 yards from my location.   She was perfectly motionless for nearly 5 minutes with only a portion of her head visible.  I wondered if she was hiding from a predator she might have sensed or if she was just resting.  Eventually she started lifting her head like a periscope and surveyed the entire field. Eventually she stood and proceeded to work around the blind before feeding out of sight nearly 80 yards away.  

Her she is keeping a close eye on the decoys.

 

I apologize but it is time to drop the kids off at school and then head to work.  Work has a strict policy against posting on tradgang during work hours so I will continue this journey this evening.  Apparently management does not understand the importance of not stringing along readers.....

[Longbowlogan]

This should be good!

[Keith Zimmerman]

This is gonna be good....

[Jayrod]

Come on!!!! Its torture

[nineworlds9]

Sweet!!.....

[ShadeMt]

Sorry about the delay but hopefully I can get some more of this story underway.  

After the hen left the field I just sat and absorbed the scenery that this central GA creek bottom had to offer.  Jerry and Allen had hunted to together on that set in another area along a gas line about a 1/4 mile from my location.  They had seen a cruising gobbler in the distance but it did not respond to their set up.  They picked me up and we headed back to the camp to restock our gear for the evening hog hunt.  

Pretty much as soon as we loaded our fanny packs we were off again for an evening sit for hogs.  Jerry had shown Allen his spot earlier and then drove me to my stand which was situated along a pine thicket near a feeder stream.  My past experience with hogs has been spot and stalk so stand hunting would be a little change of pace for me. As we walked into my hunting area I could see a lot of rooting and countless tracks along the way.  As we crossed a small gully my stand for the evening came into view.  It didn't take someone with a lot of hog hunting experience to know that this place was being trashed by the resident hogs.  

Here is the picture of my view for the evening.
 

[T-Bowhunter]

[ShadeMt]

Jerry had mentioned that he was sure that I would be amazed at the sheer amount of critters that would visit the feeder in an evening.  No more than 2 minutes after Jerry walked out of sight I catch movement moving towards the feeder.  My first thought was literally "what in the he!! is that thing?" and what looked like a miniature kangaroo hopped into sight.  This thing looked like a cottontail on steroids, easily double the size of our rabbits at home in Pennsylvania. As it fed, I heard another animal approaching and here comes another one of these huge rabbits.  This one easily cleared the small gully and also approached the feeder.   Later as I told this story to Jerry he laughed and said that these over-sized rodents were "cane cutters".  Pictures don't do these things justice but trust me if you have never encountered one you would be amazed at their size.

 

[ShadeMt]

Encountering unusual sights and in this case animals is one of the true bonuses to hunting out of your home territory.  Before climbing down out of the stand that evening I would see countless birds, around 15 hungry coons and an armadillo.  The feeder had been visited by a constant parade of visitors and rarely was there not a 4 legged critter within 5 yards of me.  Time absolutely flew by.  A cold front was passing through the area during my evening hunt and the swirling winds really hurt my chances of encountering a hog. Several times I could hear movement in the thickets behind the stand but then the wind would gust into my face and movement would cease.  What a hog lacks in eyesight in low light condition it more than makes up for with its keen sense of smell.  After hours of watching coons fight with each other over feed plus the occasional barred owl announcing its presence it was time to climb down and head back to camp.  As I slipped along the trail I heard something in the dry leaves and spotted an armadillo that was totally oblivious to me only 2 feet away.  Before I could grab the camera it realized I was sneaking nearby and it took off like a shot to safety.   Those little guys can move!

Back at camp, we compared stories of the evening.   Allen had also seen lots of sign but the winds had  let the hogs know that he was nearby.  He had seen several deer, coons, etc before his evening hunt ended.  

Jerry asked us what we wanted to do on Saturday morning and it was decided we would once again chase turkeys and then plan on heading to a nearby lake for a night of bowfishing.  It had been an action packed day and our 5 am wake up would be there before we knew it.