Hog Hunt 2014 Day 4

Woke up to a much colder morning.  Claude and Dennis left before light.  Jerry and Jack went for breakfast.  Jack and Jerry were scheduled to leave in the morning but decided to hunt the afternoon and then leave.
Rick and I grabbed fast food breakfast before heading out to feed stands around the lodge.

The weather forecast was deteriorating for the afternoon, but the hog sign still looked good. While pulling up to the stand where I shot the very large boar a few years previous, there were several smallish hogs as well as one large one - likely the same group we saw previously, but the very large sow wasn't seen with them.

We met back up at the lodge where Kevin (who I hunted with briefly last year) had arrived with his brother Chris and friend Mike.  We talked around the lodge for a while before heading out for the night.  The forecast for the evening was for the temperature to drop, rain to move in and turn to freezing rain and sleet.

I played junior guide and drove Jerry and myself to our stands.
I was on the stand where we saw the hogs while feeding.  It started raining shortly after getting into the stand and rained intermittently most of the evening.  The rain turned to freezing rain and sleet.  I was wearing a Frog Togg to help stay dry and once it got wet and frozen it was a bit noisy.  Rain built up to a considerable level over the evening.  Between the rain, wind it was a fairly miserable night.

No animals showed during the evening.  It was the first time I had sat on that stand where I didn't even see deer.  Off and on for the evening there were a couple groups of hogs squealing and fighting to the left of where I was sitting.  They must have been self-involved and not very hungry.  It was a bit both amusing and frustrating to hear them through the evening.

At dark I was ready to be off the stand, dry out and warm up.  I picked up Jerry and we waited to meet Rick to drive back to the lodge.  Jerry had missed a hog.  Chris had connected on a nice size pig.  Nobody else had seen hogs that might.

We drove back to the lodge.  Jerry had his shirt tail cut before he and Jack left to head north on potentially frozen roads.  Hopefully this was to clear up before too long in the morning.
Rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow where expected to continue for the night.  This is definitely not typical coastal South Carolina.

Hog Hunt 2014 Day 3

Another day in South Carolina.  Woke up to a warmish day.  Went with Rick to drop off Will at school and then breakfast.  After breakfast, fed stands around the lodge.

As the morning progressed, the day quickly got warmer and sunnier.  Hot and sunny isn't the best hog weather, and it was the proverbial calm before the storm as the weather was expected to deteriorate in the next 24 hours to where the counties in the area are already cancelling school for Tuesday.

After a couple hours back at the lodge, we all loaded up and headed out to Georgetown to hunt for the evening.  I ended up being dropped off early behind the "big house."  The stand I was on wasn't a very large one and with the slight forward pitch it wasn't the most comfortable.  The position put pressure on my sciatic nerve which would prove painful over the next few hours.

After being on the stand for a little over an hour, workers in the vicinity behind me started using leaf blowers or some kind of loud electric trimmers.  The noise continued for a large portion of the evening.  Between that incessant whine and the stand position, this was not the most blessed hunt of my life.
The noise stopped around 4:45 PM (probably quitting time) and Rick said the noise was very common so likely little effect on the hunting (my sanity not withstanding).
However, as it got dark no pigs showed their burly heads.  I spent the last half hour with my gun on the shooting sticks hoping to catch one in the waning light.

I was picked up first after dark.  I did hear one shot while on the stand which was Jerry who had shot a sow in an act of redemption from the previous night's miss.  Claude had seen a couple small pigs, but didn't get to shoot.  A far cry from Sunday night where most of us saw multiple hogs.  What a difference 24 hours can make.

Jerry's hog was cleaned and quartered since Jerry and Jack were to head out on Tuesday.  They did decide to stay for the next evening to get a bit more time in the stand.  Jerry's 120 pound sow would be a good eater - and she was very lean for a sow.

We stopped by fast food before heading back to the lodge for the evening.  Everyone in camp booked for the next year.  Rick runs a good camp and many first timers decide to come back.  I booked for a little earlier in 2015 which will put me in camp at the same time as friend's of Nathan and Rachel's - 2015 will be 9 consecutive years for me...

Hog Hunt 2014 Day 2

Woke up early and BSd around the lodge for a while before heading out for breakfast.  With the unusual travel schedule this was the first "real" meal I had in well over 36 hours.  I'm not exactly wasting away however.

After breakfast Rick, Claude, Dennis and fed some of the stands near the lodge.  While driving up to the stand where Claude was the previous night we saw a very large sow with some too-old piglets in tow.  She was a near monster and probably at least in the 250 pound range.  After she crossed the 2-track a second sow came across - not as large but still a very respectable pig.  It is a little unusual to see them running around near the middle of the day.

After feeding stands and heading back to the lodge for a few minutes to rest, we all loaded up gear and put on camo for the night's hunt.  I ended up driving out to the plantation with Will while all the rest of the crew went in Rick's truck.

We fed a few stands near the Georgetown plantation before Rick dropped us off.  I ended up sitting near the south point in a ladder stand.  It was close enough to the road that there was a constant din of traffic and I could occasionally catch a glimpse of cars through the trees.
Between myself and the corn pile were the remnants of an old wooden tree stand.  Even when it was new I don't think it looked very safe.  It serves as a lesson why homemade tree stands are not always the best option.  Or, at least how they need to be vigilantly checked, and constantly fixed or abandoned at some point.

After being on the stand for a couple hours, several pigs came out.  Rick had said there were a couple 50 pounders showing up regularly, but larger ones as well.  I pondered taking one of the pigs as they looked to be closer to 75 pounds (great eating size), possibly a bit more.  I've always wanted a black and white spotted pig, and while there was one in the group, it was by far the smallest.

After some time, the pigs left and all was quiet again for some time.  I was started to second-guess the decision to not shoot and decided if they came back I would.

After 15 minutes to ponder this, I heard crashing and stomping to the right.  This was followed shortly by a bigger group of much bigger pigs along with some smaller ones.
The pigs were in constant motion and with the large group of them it was hard to single one out for a good head shot without having other pigs very nearby and/or behind.  This was probably the longest I've had shooters in front of me without being able to actually shoot.  It was a little nerve-wracking.
Finally, as it was getting darker, one of the larger pigs was off to the right by itself.  Settling the crosshairs on his head, the gunshot overshadowed the noise from the road for a brief instant.  Pigs scattered but my pig dropped at the shot.
I kept the scope on the pig for several minutes to ensure it was over.  After several minutes without any motion, I knew the day's hunt was successful.  Even with the shot, only several minutes later a few more pigs came out.

I waited in the darkness to be picked up.  While waiting, I could hear more scurrying in the bush.  Sitting quietly, it was evident that there were still pigs running around the area.  After a while on the stand, I was the last person Rick picked up.  We got my pig on the truck but somehow I lost my flashlight - probably while getting out of the tree stand.

Both Dennis and Claude had connected on very respectable porkers.  Jerry and Jack had both shot but failed to hit.  It happens, so do cut shirt tails.  Claude had shot the largest - a sow nearing 200 pounds.  My pig ended up being about 150 pound boar.  He will be tasty.

Rick skinning and cleaning a hog is a work of art and all three were in the hanger cooler before long.  Having three clean head shots helps.  If the other two had been killed, it would have been quite a night's operation.

Will had school the next day so after hanging, we high-tailed it back to the lodge, then Claude, Dennis and I headed to Subway for dinner.  This followed very shortly by turning in for the night; a good night.

Hog Hunt 2014 Day -1 and 1

I was determined not to leave early this year for hog hunting.
But, as the day got closer, the weather forecast deteriorated to the point that I decided it was more prudent to leave early.  The combination of the NWS Winter Weather Advisory, the several inches of snow and predicted wind causing drifting made me change my mind.  Two other factors played in as well, the direction of the storm would have meant that I would be in the snow for at least half of the day's drive, plus the ability to reserve an inexpensive hotel room.

After a full day of work on Friday, I headed south.  I was tired but made it to near Knoxville in good time with little traffic.  I was listening to the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko which is about how many people who are wealthy do no live like they are wealthy, which is why they are wealthy.  And, many people who do live like they are wealthy, are not.
It was a good book - full of lots of numbers.  I love it!
The basis to becoming rich for most of us mere mortals?

• Own your own business
• Be frugal
• Invest money wisely
• Have a spouse who is even cheaper and don't get divorced.

I did feel a little guilty listening to this sage advice while going on a guided (expensive) hunt and knowing there may be a new motorcycle in my future.  After finishing the book, I did wonder if the goal really is to almost never spend.  I'm a pretty cheap guy overall, but I wouldn't want to be rich if it meant sitting in a cold dark house all the time.  Being boring is much worse than not being rich.  Food for thought either way.

In contrast to the coming weather, the sunset was very nice in mid-Kentucky.  The Knoxville Econolodge was surprisingly nice for the price, probably one of the better niceness:price ratio hotels I've ever stayed at.

I woke up early on Saturday and checked the radar on my phone.  Snow was covering the area from north of home to south of the Tennessee/Kentucky border.  Time to hit the road after a to-go coffee from IHOP (the only place open when I left).
Going through the mountains on the Tennessee North Carolina border wasn't much fun or very pretty in the dark, but traffic was minimal.  The payoff from this was no bad weather and a beautiful sunrise shortly after entering South Carolina.

I don't know if leaving early was the right decision, but it wasn't the wrong one in that there were roads completely drifted over near home.

The Millionaire Next Door ended with a vignette about a rich guy, his investment condos, and his dog.  I really am not sure why the book ended on such a weak note, but only after reflecting could I see a tangential tie to the focus of the book.

I got to the lodge before noon and played junior plumber for a bit.  Rick was out feeding stands and with the very unusual (by SC standards) cold, several pipes had frozen, burst and caused the water pump to lose its prime.  Rick called a neighbor who after a few rounds of work had water resupplied to the lodge.

Already in camp was Dennis and Claude from Quebec who I hunted with last year and later that evening, Jerry and Jack from Maryland.

Since I was in camp early I hunted that night.  I was in a ground blind made from a scaffolding section on the "club land."  It wasn't cold but very windy.  After sitting on the stand for around a half hour, a group of very small piglets, still with stripes came out followed by mom.  It would have been an easy shot, but the piglets were very small and through the scope I could see it was likely that mom was still nursing.  No shot.

Several deer came out later but that was it for the night.  Sitting in the pitch black waiting to be picked up, a few deer came within a couple feet of the stand before snorting and taking off.

Back at the lodge that night, we all talked for a bit but as the talk got to politics (Canadian and US), I was very tired from the drive and turned in early.