2025 Hog Hunt Day 7 - Home

I was up and on the road early.  I knew there was going to be rain and while I didn't see any snow forecasts, there is always a chance of the unexpected in the mountains.  

I made my way north and west while listening to Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational by Michael Shermer.  It was far better than the book I listened to on the trip down.  The first part of the book is more academic and I did find my brain wandering a bit.  The second part of the book was more conversational and fun to listen to.  Although the section on how to talk to conspiracy theorists was just off.  Just about everyone I've ever heard who holds nut-job conspiracy theories believe it as dogma, and it is not rational.  Maybe just my personality, but I'll continue to nod my head and quietly judge (while enjoying the ride).

I missed not one, but two turns on my route.  I have no idea how I missed the first one - just a total brain fart I guess.  But Tennessee - why the snot do you have I-26 labeled as "Future I-26"??????  Maybe we are now in the future...

I was trying to figure out if the Cherokee Reservoir was low because of dam issues (Helene?) or if it was just a really dry year.  But the lake was basically a mud pit.  If I lived in the area, I'd wait for it to freeze in the coming weeks and go find all my lures I'd ever lost!

US25 through the mountains was tolerable, if a bit frustrating once I finally did get behind the conga line created by a single slow driver.  I just used it as a reason to practice my patience.  But overall, the US25 route was far preferrable over the West Virginia tolls.

As I got closer to home I started to see snow again.

Once at home, SO had left for family issues so I had the house to myself.  The dogs were thrilled to see me.  This also left taking care of the hog as a solo job.  I didn't even bother unpacking the truck, but spent most of the rest of the day cutting and grinding and freezing.  I had to remind myself that if I could get the entire pig taken care of, that would leave me two blessed days to recover.  While part of me was a bit disappointed I could not shoot one of the hogs in the two wads of them - my freezer is thanking me.

As always, the pig hunt was a great way to start the year.  I still have some things to mentally process about this year's hunt.  I'll have time to do that in the coming days and weeks.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 6 - Rinse and Repeat

Overnight I came to terms with my hog.  I still may not be happy about the situation, but all I can do is try to be better.  Without the benefit of hindsight, I'm not sure I would do anything differently.

After another blessedly slow morning, Paul and I ran some errands with Rick, followed by feeding stands.  The winds were shifting out of the east, opening up new stands for the afternoon.

After another walk down to the river, it was time to get ready for the final afternoon of hunting.

I was dropped off at the Trash Pile stand.  It was a box blind that was a little small, but it was really easy to get comfortable in it (although really glad I had my own cushion).

When I first got to the stand, there was a deer on the corn, but I was able to get everything situated without spooking it at all.  It stayed around for about a half an hour before it sauntered off.

Then I had a long sit alone with my thoughts.  It was a really pleasant afternoon with just a bit of breeze and temperatures in the upper 50's.  Forecasts were for extreme cold the following week at home, so I knew I had to take advantage of the nice weather while I could.

Around 4:00 I had two deer come in.  The first was probably a button buck followed by a small spike.  They stayed in around for about a half an hour before they made their way out.  

There was another lull in any action and it started to get dark.  I started to get into go-home mode.  There was still tons of light, but I started to organize things to make an exit.  I looked up and hogs were pouring out of the pines.  I brought my gun up and waited for the pigs to settle down.  There were 5-6 good eater size pigs and a wad of little ones.  Unfortunately, it was a repeat of Day 3 as the hogs insisted on sticking in one huge group.  It was 100% impossible to pick out one and only one hog.  I was not willing to take one nearer the blind and let the bullet likely impact collateral pigs.

(It was a lot darker than this picture looks since it was taken with my phone's "Night Sight" - which is also why it looks a little like an impressionist's painting)

I waited, and waited, and waited.  It was getting darker and darker.

A second group of pigs came in which consisted of a huge sow, 2-3 good eater sows and another wad of smaller ones.  I had a brief window as the pigs scattered and I started to line up on the larger sow when all the pigs came rushing back in; they were now in an even BIGGER group.

I waited, and waited.  I got darker and too dark.

I packed up quietly and left.  

As I was waiting to get picked up, I was wondering if I was a bit gun-shy after my less-than-stellar performance on the first hunt.  Thinking back, I was not.  There was just no ethical shot opportunity, and certainly not a clean head shot.  I can still be disappointed, but I did the right thing.

Back at the lodge Denis, Claude and I made plans to hunt again next year, hopefully with everyone in good health.  Paul decided to head home, giving me the lodge to myself.  I packed up most of myself before turning in; there was a long drive ahead.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 5 - Recovery and Redemption

I was up early and read the entire internet.  It was a good morning, and the down time was nice.

Around 8:00 I said goodbye to Gary and went with Rick to feed stands.  We chatted as we went along.  At one point I commented that I had lots of pictures of hogs down on January 16 in previous years so I was sure someone was going to get one.  Then we came to the Carol Astor stand.  Something in the road just didn't look quite right.  Rick came to a standstill, "Is that your hog?"

"It has to be!"

It was.  I had a sinking feeling.  The hog was still quite alive, but not moving well.  

Rick backed the truck up.  Unfortunately, Rick's pistol was not in the truck since Will had used it to go to school.  "We have to do something..."  We talked a bit about what to do.  Rick dropped me off and was going to "haul ass" back to the lodge.  I was to keep tabs on the wounded hog.

I hated seeing the hog.  The last thing I wanted to do - the last thing any sportsman wants to do - is cause any animal to suffer.  My heart was in my stomach.

Rick left and I carefully moved to just where I could see it.  It got up a few times, but was in no mood to move far.  It was quite pissed off.  After what seemed like forever, Rick was back and texted me to come get the rifle.  I would have preferred to just walk down the road to sneak up on it, but Rick said to go through the pines.  I had a hard time seeing the hog but finally got into the right spot.  I fired.  Rick was on the road and walked toward the hog.  The hog was still moving.  There were a few moments that were a bit more exciting than they should have been and the hog was down for good.

With the morning's excitement done, we loaded the hog and headed back to the lodge.  We dropped it off to go get Will's truck and some Hardee's.  I don't eat much fast food, but it was good.

Back at the lodge, Rick cleaned the hog; it was a nice eater of about 125 pounds.  The larger hog I saw on the first night must have been another hog (my memory also sees it as blacker).  There were still stands to finish up on, but Rick was going to do those while we were hunting.

Paul had come into camp and we only had a bit of time to get ready to head out for the afternoon.

I was dropped off on the weird lighting stand.  I liked the blind, even if it did lose light quickly.  

I had some time to think after getting into my stand.  I felt bad for the hog, even if I was glad that I got one and also glad that we were successfully able to end it.  I thought back to my deer hunt were I was a bit judgey of Mike's neighbor.  I reserved the harshest judgement for myself.

I distracted myself with my phone and saw on Reddit that David Lynch had died.  This brought me back to 2017 when I recreated the route from the movie The Straight Story on my motorcycle.  David Lynch's movies, even when I didn't understand them (I'm looking at you Mulholland Drive), were visual poetry.  His Netflix movie What Did Jack Do? was hilarious.  Twin Peaks was an amazing TV show when I was in high school (at least the first season was) - I had to clandestinely watch it since my high school friends made fun of the "weirdos" who watched it.

It was a nice afternoon with warm temperatures but very windy.  I was glad I was in an enclosed blind.  The first two hours passed slowly until several does started coming and going from the corn pile.  They were around for about an hour until they bolted away.  

I was wondering if this meant that pigs were coming in, but I guess it was the bucks turn as 6-7 of them wandered in and out of the lane.  One was a decent shooter and at least one other should be really nice by fall.  

Darkness came early with deer still hanging around.  I carefully and quietly worked my way out.

Paul had seen only deer.  Claude had shot a big stinky boar and a sow.  Denis hadn't seen anything.  Rick cleaned the sow and let it hang overnight.

I went to sleep, still a little conflicted.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 4 - Pandora's Hunt

I was putzing around online after getting up and saw something on Reddit about Pandora and it got me thinking that "hope" in the context of Pandora's Jar is not something positive; it is just as evil as everything else that escapes when she opens the jar.  It keeps people going when there is no realistic chance of success.  It promotes inaction by people who assume everything will work out.  It forces people to hold out for a better future that may never arrive.  Hope is hunting.  

But hunting is what I was in South Carolina for.

Gary was going to meet some cousins for breakfast, so Rick and I went to get Will after he dropped his truck off for repair.  After a stop at Hardee's, we all fed stands.  A few weren't hit, but as usual, most where.

I had some down time at the lodge so I took another walk down to the river.  Soon enough it was time to head out.  We stopped by Denis' house; Denis and Claude drove their own vehicle in case they were still contagious.

I was dropped off at the Sea of Pines stand.  The trees had grown up a phenomenal amount over the previous two years.  It was still pretty and a comfortable stand.

Temperatures were cooler than the previous day, but it was still very sunny with only light breeze.  It was a nice afternoon which was good since there was not much moving other than deer.  I kept hoping something more interesting would pop out, but it was an uneventful afternoon.

No one had seen any pigs, it was deer all around.  I went to bed hoping one of my final nights might turn things around.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 3 - Chicken Hunt

I beat myself up pretty much all night about the previous evening's mistake.  I slept some, but it wasn't a good sleep.  It can be painfully hard being an overthinker.

A picture of my first dog came up on my Google Photos when I grabbed my phone.  This sent me into a bit of a tailspin as I remembered her and remembered what things were like then.  It is easy to look at the past with rose-colored glasses or think that things were simpler then (the most definitely were not).  But it often seems like we spend the first part of our lives filling up an existential bank account, only to have to start taking from it later.  When that happens isn't obvious at the time; looking back it is possible, in the right frame of mind, to see where that wave may have crested and started to roll away.

Morning blessedly came with lodge coffee.  Then it was off to feed stands.  Most had been picked clean - including the stand from my miss.  So the hogs weren't totally scared off (right?).

Back at the lodge I took a quick walk down to the river.  It felt good to be moving again and get the blood flowing again.  The day was brilliantly clear and the walk in warmed me - body and soul.  The river is way down from where it was in the fall during deer season.

After a quick bite to eat, we headed out for pigs again.  Rick dropped me off at the Hunting With Lucy stand.  Although the stand has seen better days and the part that reminded me of Lucy Van Pelt's psychiatry office is essentially gone at this point.

I had noticed a black blob on the pile when I was getting to the stand, but I assumed it was a small tree branch or something.  Taking a closer look once I was comfortable, I saw it was a small racoon eating corn.  It seems a little surprising that I don't see these guys more; although they are mostly nocturnal.

The early part of the sit passed slowly.  When the sun was out, I was cursing it as it was shining directly on me - this kept me warm, but also made it hard to see anything.  Once it went behind the pines, I cursed the cold.  Some days I guess I just can't be happy.

A few deer came and went throughout the afternoon.  

At one point the deer were tearing around like crazy to my left.  With all the noise, I was hoping it was pigs; small deer usually don't make that much noise.  I knew it was deer for sure when one of them came out with really grubby feet - she had been making a ruckus in the swamp.

As it started to get dark I heard noise to my left.  This really didn't sound like deer.  And I saw the unmistakable outline of pigs.  I still had a few minutes to shoot as the pigs started to pile out onto the corn.  There were a LOT of them.  There were two really big ones, 5-7 good eaters, and then more small ones than I could count.  

When pigs come out they generally run around and fight for a bit.  It is really risky to shoot during this time since they do move very fast.  Once the pigs settled down, I spent quite some time trying to pick out one and only one head to shoot.  Staring into shadows created by the setting sun didn't help; the remaining light behind the pines created blurring lens flair.  By the time the pigs had fully settled down, it was in the evil 5-minute period when I could probably still shoot, but should not...  Had I not screwed up the previous night, I might have tried.  But I didn't want to duff a shot two nights in a row.  It was too dark.  It was very painful.  It might have been the correct decision.

I texted Rick and asked if he wanted me to slip out (affirmative).  I did the best I could, but some deer were near the field cut-off and they may have spooked the pigs when they ran.  Rick picked me up shortly after I got to the rendezvous point.  

Gary had shot a nice eater 125 pound sow.  Back at the lodge, Rick cleaned and quartered his pig.

I was already second-guessing not shooting.  I certainly have connected on pigs under darker conditions before.  So maybe I was just a bit too timid.  As I went to sleep, I had this to rethink and overthink.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 2 - All Is Lost

After some typical futzing around, Gary and I went with Rick to feed stands.  There were some I'd seen many times before and (as always) a few I either had never seen or forgot about.  Most were hit quite well.

Then it was back to the lodge for some down time and lunch.  Sadly, it seems my cookies had gone AWOL.  Subsequent conversations with SO revealed some miscommunication and the cookies were in the cupboard at home.  Cookies probably count as ultra-processed, toxic food anyway...

Early afternoon came and we headed out.  Denis and Claude were under the weather so it was just Gary and I.  Temperatures were reasonable in the mid-40s with heavy cloud cover.  But I had been freezing all day, so I was grossly overdressed in my snow suit.  I was dropped off at the Carol Astor stand; after walking to it, it seemed like the first time all day I wasn't cold.

The afternoon started slowly.  The stand is a ground blind made of scaffolding which is a really good idea.  I played around with my zoom lens that fits over my cell phone.  I really can't decide how well it works vs. just zooming in all the way with the phone.  It isn't terrible, but getting a good picture takes a lot of messing around with it.  It might work a little better if I took my phone case off, but that is too much hassle to try to do while hunting.  Besides, the last time I tried to do so, I cracked my phone case.

I had a hard time getting settled; something just felt off as I was sitting there - something I just couldn't put my finger on.  Maybe this was prescient?

Mid-afternoon three deer came out.  They milled around for a couple hours.  I was glad to have something to watch.  A few times they nervously stared into the bush and I was hopeful something more interesting would appear, but that didn't happen.

They left for good later in the afternoon, leaving me alone with my thoughts.  Usually this is good - a blessing.  But not always.  I was still quite unsettled.

About an hour before dark, four deer popped out between me and the corn.  I was watching them when I saw a dark hog at the far end of the lane run right to left.  Usually this means they are working their way toward the corn.  The deer stayed put which also suggested they were nervous.

A short time later the hog popped out at the corn.  Both the hog and the deer were really nervous.  I had my gun up shortly after seeing the hog the first time.  I waited until he was clear of the deer and tried to decide what to do.  Nervous hogs flee quickly.  He was quartering toward me and I put my crosshairs on the crease of his neck.

The hog dropped and flopped a couple times at the shot.  Then he was up and out on three legs; I knew this was a bad sign.  I heard rustling in bush to the left.  I texted Rick with an update.  Then it was time to second-guess ... painfully so.  I should have waited; I should have head shot; I should have gone target shooting one more time; I should have...

This quickly morphed into guilt.  My 2024 deer hunt ended with a bad shot from the neighbor, now I was that guy.

Rick came with some daylight left.  We could easily see where the hog had bolted and we tracked him to the edge of heavy trees and brush.  We found several bone fragments, but not enough blood to keep going.  Hogs are very tough beasts.

Rick verbally beat me up while we picked up Gary.  He had seen hogs as well, but they were well beyond the pile and he chose not to shoot (probably wisely).

We closed out the day back at the lodge.  I had stuck the largest bone fragments in my pocket.  I think I'll keep it as a reminder that life's lessons are unrelenting.  And that every lesson I'm supposed to learn needs to be taught 1000 times and even then, I may be forever a neophyte.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 1 - Snow Fever

The last few winters at home have been a bit boring but boring in a good way.  The few heavy snows that I can recall were mostly weekends or near holidays.  That changed the previous Monday when about a foot of snow fell near home; the drifting made it worse.

A second round of snow, if slightly less significant, fell Friday.  This created some anxiety about the drive south, but at least I was leaving on Sunday.

Yet being a chronic worrier, I still left early in the morning worried about road conditions, worried about the route (I-40 remains closed), worried about home, worried about the dogs and SO, worried about work.  But I was also leaving anticipating another week of wild hog hunting.

Sunday morning came and after taking care of the dogs and a quick shower, I was on the road.  Early morning felt like even less traffic than usual - maybe a lingering hangover from the roads.  I made my way south.

I listened to The Knew by Sarah Kendzior for the entire trip.  I thought it was going to be a book about conspiracies that were/are real and it was ... sort of.  The book was really repetitive and rambled all over at times.  It seemed to often confuse and equate that which is illegal, unethical and just distasteful - which greatly distracted from her main thesis.  It also came across as though once someone has done something that fits into one of these categories, everything they ever do will be criminal.  I can't say I disagree with some of what she said, and there were some good nuggets.  But it was all doom and gloom.  I suspect if you gave Kendzior a delicious tuna sandwich, she would look at it and assume that four sea turtles were killed in its preparation.

She ended up in a circular firing squad by insinuating that everything bad could have been predicted by listening to prognosticators of conspiracies, but didn't seem to acknowledge that for every conspiracy theory that ended up being mostly correct, there are probably 80 of them that are mostly wrong.  The book was a solid 1.9 stars; while some books make the drive very short, I think The Knew made it longer.  I ended up finishing the drive with a podcast about coffee and caffeine - which was far more enjoyable.

But overall the drive went well - I can't complain and no sea turtles were killed.  There was lots of snow near home and significant ice remaining around central Kentucky.  I was able to see a glorious sunrise near the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

Instead of stopping at my "usual" place for gas and coffee, I went a little further.  I was glad I did since the gas was a bit cheaper and the coffee was not terrible.  I'll take both as wins for the trip.

Precipitation decreased once out of the mountains until it was gone as I descended into South Carolina's low country.

I was ready to be out of the vehicle by the time I got to Rick's.  Weather was a balmy mid-40's and very sunny! 

As I was unpacking, I realized I forgot my soft gun case for while going to and from the stand.  I always forget something, and I guess this year it is the case.  Overall not a big issue - most guys don't even use one.  But I guess it will be something for me to worry about.

Rick had vaporized shortly after I got to the lodge, so I had the place to myself as Gary (hunted with him a couple times before) was already out.  This gave me a chance to recover as much as possible from the drive.  I probably should have walked down to the river, but just didn't feel like it.

I had a noodle bowl for dinner and shortly after dark Gary was back.  He had seen one deer but no pigs.  Claude and Denis are staying at Denis's house, leaving more room in the lodge!

The adventure was just beginning.