Other than the TV, the morning routine continued. We dropped Will off at school and headed out to feed stands. Most of the stands looked like they had been hit hard. The stand I was on the previous night had been destroyed by hogs overnight; just looking out the window I could see several very large hog tracks.
Back at the lodge, Rick let me look through the pictures from the game camera. A couple of the stands looked promising, with hogs showing late in the day, but during daylight. However, with the previous day, I wasn't assuming anything.
With a southeast wind forecast, there were only a few choices. Thankfully one of them was one of the stands which showed promise.
After the requisite walk to the river and back, I had down time in the lodge for a while. I ended up watching something on the History Channel about torture. It was probably not the best choice - I didn't want to keep seeing that over and over while on the pig stand.
Soon enough it was time to head out for my final hunt. I was sitting on a stand very close to the road - almost too close. It almost felt like I was road hunting in the road or that at least every car driving past would see me. In reality I was tucked into the woods off the road and it would be nearly impossible to see me. Still, it was hard not to look at every car that went past.
Time passed slowly at first. After 5 days on the stand it was getting a little hard to sit still. About an hour before dark, I saw movement near the corn pile. Hogs started tumbling out of the woods. This was the same group that was seen the previous night on the game camera. None of them were monsters, but they would all be good eating.
These hogs were much calmer than the first group I shot from. I moved the crosshairs around trying to decide what to do. There was one boar hog that was obviously larger, and I thought about it. But there was another way off by itself, and after my previous shooting fiasco, that made it a good option. But in the end the awesome spotted hog was the only right choice.
I waited patiently for it to turn. I hesitated a few times as it quartered away and was rewarded when it turned broadside. I squeezed the trigger.
At the shot the group scattered except the spotted hog, which flopped into the water. After a head shot, most hogs run a quarter mile without moving. This hog swam 100 meters without moving. And I'm sure my shot put the fear of God into the driver of the car that went by.
I kept the gun on it after it quit moving - I've seen zombie hogs before. But it was all over. I texted Rick to let him know.
I sat on the stand for a while. As it started to get dark, three of the hogs came out again. They ran over to their buddy and looked at him, probably wondering why he was taking a nap in the water. I thought about taking another one, but I had a lot of meat and I didn't want to be too greedy. Before I really had a chance to make up my mind, Rick showed up and the hogs ran off. Decision made for me, and the stand will probably be good again in a few days.
Two new hunters, John and Rooster, were in camp with Rick. Back at the lodge Winston was there so there was a lot of BSing. Rick cleaned the hog and it went straight into my cooler. I've always wanted a black and white spotted hog - this one was more red and black, but still a really cool pig. The picture below doesn't do it justice compared to how it looked once it was cleaned up. I was happy.
The other hunters went off to eat. Rick and I talked for a bit before he headed in and I packed up for the night.
I booked again for 2020, because what would winter be without hog hunting.
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