After another early morning, we headed out to drop Will off at school and feed stands. Will had some kind of a reaction to something - not poison ivy, but similar, so we detoured back to the lodge and Rick took will to the Doctor.
Benadryl and Claritin to the rescue, Will was back in fine form in no time.
Rick, Rob, Jim and I headed out to feed stands. Many of the stands had not been hit well overnight, but not as bad as two days previous. As we fed stands, the day began to warm considerably. The early clouds dissipated and the sun baked South Carolina.
After baiting stands, Rick, Jim and I went to a gun store so Rick could drop off a Thompson Center rifle that was having firing pin issues. As we headed back to the lodge, the outside temperature topped 80F - this is crazy hot for January, even for the South! The heat is far from ideal for lots of early hog movement.
We had a little while to rest at the lodge before getting ready to head out.
I was at the newly (and humorously, if incorrectly named) Fish Snatch stand. As I sat down and got situated, I realized that the corn pile being behind the deer fence (used to keep hogs out of the corn during deer season) would mean that I'd have to shoot through the fencing - which was not good. Or I would have to shoot through weeds. Neither of these are the best options.
I texted Rick and we talked it back and forth. Ultimately, I said I would just make it work.
The first hour passed rather quickly. I had just looked down to check to see if any messages had come through on my phone when I saw movement on the corn pile. I got my gun ready, only to see that it was three deer.
The deer milled around eating corn for quite a while. I thought I heard pigs off to the left a few times, but there was a lot of unusual noises and quite a bit of wind which made it hard to hear anything outside the enclosed blind. Some jack-wad on the road kept driving past with the music blaring as well.
After the deer kept me company for a while, they looked off to the left and bolted to the right. I figured this meant hogs were coming in, so I got my gun ready.
Sure enough, after a few more minutes, a good sized black hog walked out. I didn't take long to think about it. I wanted to take him (although I thought he was a sow at first) while he was behind the weeds. Shooting through the fencing would have been a much higher risk.
I put the crosshairs at the base of the head and squeezed the trigger. The gun report in the enclosed blind was deafeningly loud.
Looking through the scope, the hog was on the ground. He kicked a few times and was still. I watched him just in case for several more minutes.
I sent a few text messages, letting Rick and everyone else know. Rick said he was heading in to get me. Before Rick got there, another boar hog came out. He walked over to the dead pig, then past him and starting eating corn. He stayed in the area until Rick came to pick me up, and even stayed until we were nearly down at the corn pile.
Rick and I quickly and quietly got my hog into the truck. Rick placated the rest of them that might be in the area by putting out more corn, and we were off.
Nobody else had seen any; it was actually surprising I had with the extreme heat of the afternoon. Back at the lodge, Rick and Rob cleaned my hog while Jim and I went in to buy ice, other supplies in town at the grocery store. He was a good sized eating boar somewhere in the 175 pound range.
Once back, the very recently deceased pig was put on ice as there was another day of hunting.
Dinner that night was chicken and rice.
With the extreme weather, I knew hunting was going to be tough and I know I was fortunate to be able to take another great hog. The meat will be great once I get back home.
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