Will was going to spend time with his mom, so Rick and I went to feed hog stands at daylight. Most of the stands were hit, even the stand I shot my hog on was rooted up overnight so the shot and getting the hog didn't bugger things up.
Back at the lodge after baiting, I spent a bit of time reading, watching TV and semi-napping. The day was super clear and it looked like it should be warm outside, but it wasn't.
A little after 2:00, I got ready to go out for the evening. Rick dropped me off on a stand where a bar hog had been seen a few times on game cameras. No idea where it came from, but he was a big one.
The stand was a ground blind with a treestand at the other end of the location. The chair in the ground blind was just a tiny bit too low to shoot comfortably. I set the rear legs on the ledge of the ground blind to give myself another inch. It helped, but it was still a bit lower than I would have liked.
Temperatures were cool, but the sun was at least somewhat warm. After sitting for a little over an hour I saw movement. It turned out to be just a deer. I watched it for around 10 minutes before it sauntered off.
Another half hour later three deer came out from just underneath the other treestand. They stayed for quite a while before working their way out of the area. They came back a couple times and at one point bolted out of the area - this got me hoping that hogs were coming in, but it was just a spindly 4-point buck.
Towards dark things got very, very still. All the wind stopped, making things church-like quiet. I didn't even dare breath. I love those tranquil moments while hunting. People who don't hunt don't know what they are missing.
At one point, a coyote started howling in front of me toward the left which set off a bunch of coyote yipping toward the right. That is a magical sound if there ever was one.
As things started to get dark only one deer remained on the corn pile. About five minutes before 6:00 it bolted off to the left like it had the fear of God in it. I knew this meant hogs were coming in and brought my gun up.
Sadly, as it got darker and darker, no hogs showed up. I survived the five minute period when I could still shoot, but probably shouldn't without seeing anything. Then I carefully and quietly unloaded my gun and made my way out of the area. Rick was waiting for me when I got to the rendezvous point.
Rick had to go get Will, so it was Ramen for me for dinner. Jim was supposed to be coming into camp, but he wasn't in yet. Perhaps he was coming in on the next day and starting his hunt then.
I'll be honest and say I prefer hog hunting to end with a hog on the ground, but the placid evening, coyotes and time spent in the field is time well spent.
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