For the next phase of camera placement I wanted Andrew's help. The three of us piled in his truck since the rain was starting again and we headed out to pick some spots to leave them. We placed the first two up near the mile of pines. Lots of activity at feeders, but very little tracks in between the areas of activity. Seems like they are holding in pods and not traveling far. This makes me guess that they have sufficient cover and food to not have to move for it. Should be good for hunting some without disturbing others, and it could be good for hunting in buddy systems moving them towards each other.
We decided to put the 3rd camera in the swamp on part of the stand-hunting-only area. Right near the turkey foot my wife looks out the side window of the truck and sees 5 nice meat hogs about 10 yards from the bumper! It was awesome! They were all 100-150 pound pigs, all jet black and slick with rain. Just gorgeous hogs. We rolled on like nothing was happening and then I jumped out and strung up my bow.
I got parallel to them pretty quickly but they were moving steady. I was keeping 30-40 yards from them and down wind, but not closing the difference. I knew there was a feeder in their direction of travel so I broke up the hill to where I could try to move faster/quieter in an attempt to cut them off. As I dropped back down towards the feeder in my mind I could hear a heck of a commotion! The 5 little pigs had gone straight into the feeder while it was being hit by 3 much bigger pigs. Seeing what was happening between the palmettos and hearing them carrying on I figured it was my chance to close that last 10 yards to a good shot location. Apparently not all of them were committed to the bedlam and one blew the whistle on my hasty movement. Thom 0, hogs 1.
I gotta say, I feel more alive after the worst stalk than after the best day doing anything else. I was still shaking thinking about those bigger hogs when I got back to the truck. I don't know for sure if the really big one under the tripod was a rust colored pig or if it was just coated in mud at twilight, but there is a big one down around there!
Bud, there are a few short ladder stands nearby. I'd try a different one each night as the hogs appear to be running between them in this area. Andrew and Charlie have a plan and will get you going if you want to sit instead of stalk. Oh here is picture I downloaded on the last day. This was taken the day after our encounter at the next closest feeder.
I really should have put a bigger stick in as a wedge behind that camera. I wish I could have gotten a better look at that red one.
Thom
Topic: Wild Things preview for Bud and Todd (Read 672 times)
