Got up very early to a wet morning as a light rain had fallen overnight. Showered and packed up the rest of my stuff while drinking a quick cup of coffee. I was out the door by 5:00.
Traffic was predictably light until I got near Columbia when the State Capital rush hour required much more attention. Once headed north, traffic again lightened up. After crossing into North Carolina a while later, signs warned that a rock slide on Interstate 40 west had the road closed. I scrambled to look at the GPS and map to remind myself of the route taken in 2009 when I-40 was also closed from a rock slide. I proceeded through Asheville to US25 through the mountains. This route is pretty, but with lots of long stretches where passing was prevented. There were only a few slow cars and within a reasonable time, I was back on I-40 in Tennessee. Traffic between Knoxville and Lexington was very heavy with trucks and there seemed to be a disconcerting level of aggressive truck drivers as well. Perhaps they were trying to make up lost time from the long route around the I-40 closure. The three-lane interstate after Lexington made the traffic seem more tolerable.
I was home in about 11 hours total drive time which allowed me to unpack and do laundry. The dogs were very happy to see me. I deboned the hog and ground up about half of the meat and had it in the freezer by early afternoon.
Time to sleep, and go to work tomorrow. I need my next adventure already...
Saturday, February 4, 2012
2012 Hog Hunt Day 4
After the mayhem with the truck/tree incident on day three, day four started a little slower. Nobody was hunting in the morning so I was alone when I got up around 5:30. After waking and taking a shower, I surfed the net for a while and quietly watched TV. As it started to get light out, I decided to walk down to the Pee Dee river which is about a mile away. It was another cool clear morning and the sunrise over the river was very pretty. There was the occasional fish jumping in the river as well. After the sun came up, I walked back to camp where life had started to stir. The rest of the morning progressed slowly with a good breakfast of scrapple, biscuits, gravy and eggs. The day warmed quickly and a second walk with Nathan and Rachel to the river ended the morning. There was a boat attempting to net fish in the river this time.
Rick got his truck back and it didn't look that bad. Most of the dent was banged out and the lack of a fog light in the lower facia now matched the other side. We convoyed back to Georgetown for the evening hunt. In the procession was the Plantation Suburban, Rick's truck and Nathan's truck which held the coolers since this was to be the last evening. We all piled in to Rick's truck and fed the south end stands before going to the more northern stands for the evening. I had the choice of being close on the ground at one stand (the wind didn't allow for the normal stand at that location) or the Feed Lot. I chose the Feed Lot and sat there all evening. There were several deer around me from about 15 minutes after I got on the stand until near dark. They kept looking off to the left and acted nervous about something in that direction, but nothing else ever showed. As it got dark, the deer left to the right. I heard something continue to walk around me after dark, but I suspect it was still the deer. I also had a racoon walk underneath me (when I first saw it in the dark, I almost thought it could have been the bobcat I was after).
After dark, Rick came and got me. Judd had shot another hog and we went to look for it. Unlike his hit the first night, this one had a good blood trail. We trailed it a long way until it looked like it was going to go past where Nathan had been sitting. Nathan had seen a hog running by after Judd shot and suggested it wasn't acting right, but moved quickly through the area. Almost assuredly, this was the hog Judd had shot. At some point, we stopped looking as the hog did not appear to be hit bad enough to stop despite the blood trail. Judd was understandably upset.
This ended the hog hunting for 2012. I wish I had seen and/or shot at more animals, but I was happy with the one I got. Since I spent time thinking about what I had shot over the years, I'm including the count below for posterity:
2007: 0 hogs
2008: 245 pound sow
2009: 235 pound boar, 85 pounds sow
2010: 100 pound boar, 245 pound boar and 150 pound boar
2011: 140 pound boar
2012: 120 pound boar
Rick got his truck back and it didn't look that bad. Most of the dent was banged out and the lack of a fog light in the lower facia now matched the other side. We convoyed back to Georgetown for the evening hunt. In the procession was the Plantation Suburban, Rick's truck and Nathan's truck which held the coolers since this was to be the last evening. We all piled in to Rick's truck and fed the south end stands before going to the more northern stands for the evening. I had the choice of being close on the ground at one stand (the wind didn't allow for the normal stand at that location) or the Feed Lot. I chose the Feed Lot and sat there all evening. There were several deer around me from about 15 minutes after I got on the stand until near dark. They kept looking off to the left and acted nervous about something in that direction, but nothing else ever showed. As it got dark, the deer left to the right. I heard something continue to walk around me after dark, but I suspect it was still the deer. I also had a racoon walk underneath me (when I first saw it in the dark, I almost thought it could have been the bobcat I was after).
After dark, Rick came and got me. Judd had shot another hog and we went to look for it. Unlike his hit the first night, this one had a good blood trail. We trailed it a long way until it looked like it was going to go past where Nathan had been sitting. Nathan had seen a hog running by after Judd shot and suggested it wasn't acting right, but moved quickly through the area. Almost assuredly, this was the hog Judd had shot. At some point, we stopped looking as the hog did not appear to be hit bad enough to stop despite the blood trail. Judd was understandably upset.
This ended the hog hunting for 2012. I wish I had seen and/or shot at more animals, but I was happy with the one I got. Since I spent time thinking about what I had shot over the years, I'm including the count below for posterity:
2007: 0 hogs
2008: 245 pound sow
2009: 235 pound boar, 85 pounds sow
2010: 100 pound boar, 245 pound boar and 150 pound boar
2011: 140 pound boar
2012: 120 pound boar
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