2023 Pig Hunt Day 6 & 7 - Sea of Pines (and Home)

Morning came with Denis, Claude and I all piling in Rick's truck to feed stands.  Most had been hit hard so there was hope for the final night in South Carolina.

During lodge down time, a couple from North Carolina came in.  They seemed nice enough if a bit unevenly matched as far as hunting.  Hopefully the upcoming shift in wind will allow both of them to get pigs.

Mid afternoon rolled around and I went out for my final hog hunt for the year.  I was in a "young" pine farm on a stand that was a little bent up - if still perfectly serviceable.  

Once I got situated, all the pines to my right were nearly uniform in height giving me the feeling of hunting (fishing?) in a sea of pine trees.  It was almost a little disconcerting.

The afternoon was warm, sunny and breezy.  I did my best to not move as I waited and hoped for pigs.

Around 4:30 something jumped out very briefly into the 2-track.  My mind wanted to say it was finally a bobcat, but I think it was actually a big rabbit of some kind.  Or maybe that is sour grapes since if it was a bobcat, it would have been impossible to get a shot unless I happened to have been pointing my rifle at exactly the right spot when it came out.  Whatever it was, it was there and gone.

I found my mind slipping into thinking about the trip home which is almost acceptable.  I also started thinking about everything which might be waiting for me back at work which I effectively squashed.

As it started to get dark I found myself getting my hopes up.  I saw the briefest flash of a deer down by the corn pile.  About 10 minutes later the deer came back out and fed for less than a minute before it ran huffing and wheezing toward me and diagonally toward my right.  Whatever was going on, the animals were jumpy and I knew that could mean that big pigs were in the area.

But once it got too dark to see I unloaded my gun and packed up my stuff.  Hog hunting was done for the year.

Nobody had seen hogs so it was a quiet night all around.

Back in the lodge I packed up most of my stuff.  I was not able to fit my sow - now fully frozen - in either of my coolers so I had to double-bag it and put it in the bed of my truck.  This was fine with the cool temperatures and may even help so I can finish cutting it up once I am home.

We all talked a bit before eating and saying goodbyes.  With a long day of driving, I turned in early.  Since the NC couple was in camp, Denis and Claude were my bunk mates.  We made room for each other.  I'll be looking forward to seeing them in 2024.

___

I woke up before 3:00AM and decided pretty quickly I was not going to get back to sleep so I got up, quickly got ready and was on the road.  Since I took a slightly new way home, I missed one turn but got back on my route and down the road.

The drive went OK with good road conditions, little traffic and nice weather.  I was surprisingly tired at first so I ended up eating more junk food than I would have liked.

The afternoon brought a bit too much caffeine so it was not my favorite trip I've made.  The trip home is always a little tougher than the trip to South Carolina.  But I was still glad to be headed home to see the dogs (and SO).

I pulled into the driveway almost exactly one week from when I left.  My hog was just starting to thaw so hopefully I'll be able to cut it up Sunday.  Once that is done and things are cleaned up, it is sadly back to the doldrums of work.  So it goes.

2023 Pig Hunt Day 5 - Hunting Stink Bugs

Claude and I went to feed stands with Rick while Denis stayed back at the lodge to work - poor guy.

Feeding stands didn't take too long, and this was followed by getting Rick's tractor from the duck club.  This sounds simple, but nothing ever is.  Between poor directions and my inability to follow them, it took forever to on the road.  We had to go pick up Rick's harrow but once we got there, Rick was concerned about fuel for the tractor.  So Rick headed down to the farm while Claude and I went to get diesel.  We had to go to 3 gas stations until we found diesel and then follow a Google pin Rick dropped to me to the farm location.  When we finally got to where the pin was dropped, I was almost positive of where - exactly - I needed to go.  But it was a little different than described and I couldn't see Rick anywhere.  I was quite apprehensive to appear as a Northerner and a Frenchman, headed back to the wrong farm with a big bin of corn and potentially needing to explain that to the law (or South Carolina's worst).  At one point a car annoying blared its horn at me and I thought, "What a (explative)."  I wasn't even that close to the road.  I found out later it was a friend of Rick's joking with him, not knowing it wasn't Rick in the truck.

Eventually we did figure it out, and I was in the right place, but between the heating afternoon and everything else, it wasn't terribly comfortable.

Then Rick's recently repaired harrow broke...

So by the time we did get back to the lodge, it was a mad scramble to get ready and head out for hunting.

Rick dropped me off at a huge open box blind with high walls.  It took a bit of time to get situated, but once I did it was very comfortable for the afternoon.

Temperatures were almost hot - in the upper 70's.  Winds were blustery and the branches around the blind rubbing and banging into it were noisy to the point that I felt like I could have done jumping jacks without affecting my hunting (I didn't).

What I didn't know was that the stand was already occupied.  Not long after getting settled, the largest stink bug I have ever seen came walking by.  We had a short conversation before it continued on its way - intent on doing whatever stink bugs like to to.

And I was glad I was comfortable since for most of the afternoon, the most interesting things I could see were squirrels.  I let my mind wander and with the high sides of the blind I poked around on my phone some.  Right as dark was approaching, three does came out and fed on the corn pile which was all I saw (except the stink bug which was almost as big as the deer).

Back in the truck nobody saw any pigs so it was a bust all around.

Denis and Claude were most gracious in sharing their roast for dinner as we told lies for a while before the night ended.

2023 Pig Hunt Day 4 - Ducks 'n Pigs 'n Deer

I finished reading BJ Hollars' From the Mouths of Dogs in the morning.  It was good - not Midwestern Strange good - but good.  I was glad I was alone towards the end of the book when he talks about dogs' death, since I'm still not sure if I'm fully recovered from last year's dogtastrophe.  Right towards the end SO texted me a picture of our new dog being brave and getting off the safety of her couch.  This made me feel a bit better.

"But the God I know rarely speaks with such booming-voice clarity, and never to tell me I’m right.  Rather, he seems to like to keep me guessing, forcing me to mull over my choices in the hope that free will might guide me." - BJ Hollars

Denis and Rick had gone duck hunting in the morning.  I knew Rick didn't eat much in the way of ducks, so I had (half joking) asked him the previous evening if he was going to bring me any ducks.  He and Denis delivered with six nice woody ducks.  Of course that also means I had to clean six ducks, and cleaning ducks is not something I'm terribly adept at.  Claude stepped in to help, making much quicker work of them than I did.  I ended up with 4 of them breasted out and 2 whole ducks.  I've never cleaned wood ducks before - I was surprised both how much smaller they were than mallards as well as how little fat they had in comparison.  I'll be especially looking forward to trying to smoke the whole ducks on some future date.

After cleaning up from the duck-gut smell, there was still time for a walk down to the river.  I think this pretty Spanish moss covered tree with a sandy agricultural field in the background says "Low Country" as much as anything.  After Ohio's cold spell, it felt nice to be out in a warm sunny afternoon.

Rick dropped me off at a stand that I had remarked was an odd setup since the stand set in a group of baby pines, but the corn was in the middle of much larger pines.  This made for weird lighting which affected how things looked from the stand.

Temperatures were warm (around 70F) and sunny.  I had to shed a few layers of clothes since the box blind felt a little like I was in an EasyBake over - if it had been built by George Utley.  The chair was also a bit low for the shooting window.  Thankfully I had borrowed a cushion from Denis after the previous evening's cheese grater and this made the height just about perfect for me.

Once settled in, it was very quiet - almost too quiet.  But this was also quite enjoyable.

Around 4:00 I looked up only to see something on the pile.  I've tried to start wearing my glasses more while hunting and I wish I had done this sooner.  There were definitely two pigs on the pile, but they looked really small.  It was a bit hard to tell in the unusual lighting so after a few minutes I texted Rick a picture of them through the scope to confirm they were ~35 pounders.  There was a similar incident several years ago when I passed on a group I thought was small, but Rick later said they were all around 85 pounds; I didn't want to repeat that.  Rick confirmed my size suspicion. 

(And in the picture the pig in front has just the remnants of baby-stripes still.)

The pigs hung around for about an hour.  At first I was sure more had to come out since these toddlers rarely travel alone, but after around 15 minutes I put my gun down since I can't wait on red-alert indefinitely.  Nothing else showed up.

Around 5:00 two deer popped out right in front of me.  They peered down toward the pile and cautiously at first, walked toward the pigs.  The small pigs wanted nothing to do with the deer and the pigs took off.

I actually think this picture is pretty funny with the deer staring down towards the pigs which can just barely be seen.

Around 5:30 the deer bolted away and I was almost 100% sure that meant bigger pig(s) were headed in.  But the pile stayed empty for 10 minutes or so until the deer came back out and stayed until dark.  

I had to pack up with quite a bit of light since the pile was so much darker than the area the stand was in.  I was actually a little bit grateful to be done since the mosquitoes had gotten violently arrogant in the warm late afternoon.  Waiting in the pitch black to be picked up it felt almost like an early summer evening - warm, little wind and noticeable humidity.

Once the truck showed up Denis had shot a big, stinky and wooly boar that was covered in mud.  Claude had seen only deer and turkeys.

Denis treated us all to Ribeye steaks which was most awesome.  It ended up being a bit of a later night as we talked before calling it for the day.

2023 Pig Hunt Day 3 - Hunting with Lucy

After getting up in the morning, I finished reading Brothers - which was good, a few essays were shocking.  But it wasn't great.  I read the first half in Canada while hunting black bear.  I may go back and reread a few at some point.

There was lots of lollygagging until Rick and I went out to feed stands.  It went pretty fast since we got a late start but still got back to the lodge with enough time for a lunch nap.

Forecast was for a bit of rain, so I wore my rain gear.  Rick dropped me off at the L-field.  I think this is the same field where I almost shot really-really late at some pigs that came out to my right, but I may be confusing that with another stand.

Weather was warm and a bit breezy.  Weather was quite comfortable and I was hoping I was going to dodge the rain.

At one point a buzzard flew down onto the corn pile and almost looked like it was eating corn.  But I suspect it was just eating grit.

Time passed slowly at first.  The stand wasn't very comfortable with no back and a waffle-slatted seat which made it at time feel like I was sitting on a cheese grater.  The stand also had a large wooden board above it - I can only assume this was some kind of sun shade.

All I could think though was that with the board, it felt like I was sitting in Lucy VanPelt's psychiatry stand.  Maybe Lucy was a pig hunter too?

Quite obviously, if I'm taking pictures of buzzards and thinking about Peanuts characters, my mind was wandering at a frantic pace.  This doesn't always help the time pass.

There were a few sprinkles through the afternoon, but not much more than that.  About an hour before it got dark, I saw movement at the far end of the field.  Light was fading so it took a bit before I saw it was from a deer.  She made her way to the corn pile along with a second deer.  These two deer were absolutely tiny.  Combined I doubt they weighed 100 pounds.  

They hung around for a little over a half an hour before they bolted.  Another deer wheezed at them and it made its way to the corn.

As it got dark, the rain started a little harder.  It wasn't a downpour, but more than sprinkles.  

Back in the truck nobody had seen any pigs, so it was quiet all around.

Denis and Claude were gracious and let me join them in their chicken and rice - which was a good way to end another day of pig hunting.

2023 Pig Hunt Day 2 - Quiet

Denis had gotten the coffee maker ready, so when I got up I had to figure out a way to make coffee without the coffee maker.  Luckily the filter basket from a retired coffee maker was in the cabinet and I was able to make the work by heating water on the stove.  The coffee was fantastic.

I spent the morning online and subsequently reading.  The downtime may be forced, but it is nice (for at least the first couple mornings).

As it got light Rick quartered up my hog and I dropped it in the freezer.  I thought about taking it to the processor, but since I'll probably smoke the shoulders whole as well as the ribs, it seemed like an unnecessary expense.

We loaded up Rick's new-fangled corn spreader and headed out to feed stands.  Denis and Claude went with will to put out turkey feeders.  Most of the pig stands were hit well.  My stand from the previous evening was cleaned out which is a good sign.  While leaving one area there was a dead hog in the middle of the road.  It was hard to tell why since it wasn't shot anywhere and it seems a car impact would have done more visible damage than what the boar showed.

Back at the lodge there was a bit of time for lunch before heading out for the afternoon.  I was on a stand that had bobcat tracks since I've always wanted to get a bobcat.  I quietly made my way down the road to the box blind - actually a section of scaffolding which was a neat idea.  There were two deer on the corn pile when I got there.  I tried to sneak into the stand, but it was surrounded by the worlds crunchiest leaves.

Once inside it was very comfortable with two padded chairs.  I got everything situated for the long sit.  When I first got settled it was almost too hot for what I was wearing, but the evening clouded up quickly as it cooled down.

Not much was moving other than birds until about 4:40 when five deer came out.  They hung around for most of the rest of the evening.  At least they gave me something to watch.

As an aside, I like my Pixel phone, but the "NightSight" dark pictures take on an unnatural stylized look when used with any amount of zoom. 

As it got dark it got unbelievably still and quiet.  I was glad the chairs in the blind were comfortable since every movement sounded loud in comparison to the stillness.

A little after 6:00 it got too dark so I slowly packed up my stuff and made my way to the road.  Again at the road it was breathlessly still.  I enjoyed standing in the dark (although it also tells me how bad my tinnitus is getting).

Eventually Rick came by to pick me up.  Claude had missed one hog very early followed by connecting on a meat boar only a little later.  Denis had seen only deer.

2023 Pig Hunt Day 1 - Pigs Rockets & Ducks

Despite walls that let more noise through than I may have liked, I slept reasonably well.  I think my neighbor was on a Zoom call all night; she had a very unpleasant voice.  I still woke with plenty of time to get up and putz around before packing up and hitting the road on an early Sunday.  I was out the door right at 5:00 with the road to myself.

I made my way South and East toward the interstate, then it was mindless driving the rest of the day.  This is my first long trip in the Maverick and it is quite comfortable.  I keep a small pillow in the truck and as the day goes on I start moving it around to hotspots.  This has been the case with every vehicle I've owned - more so as I've gotten older.  Indicated mileage was high 20's to low 30's (actual calculated has been just barely under 30MPG) which is fantastic.

I made it to Rick's at about noon.  I had the friendliest welcoming committee ever.

Lisa was still cleaning the lodge so I tried to stay out of the way for a bit until she was gone.  I tried to get a nap, but wasn't able to so I let my mind wander to all the other trips I've had pig hunting over the years.  There have been a lot of (mis)adventures.

Since my previous year's trip was bamboozled, I was going to hunt on my first day.  Mid afternoon came soon enough and after talking for a bit, Rick and I headed out to drop me off at the church.

The church stand is now farther back from where it was and it a short tripod stand with a roof.  But it is a super easy stand to stay comfortable and quiet in.  I got settled in soon enough.  Temperatures were cool and breezy with some gusts, but with bright sunshine, it was a beautiful afternoon.

Not much was happening until a little before 5:00 a few deer came out - the first being a basket-racked 6-point followed by an extremely long-tined 3-point.  The corn pile wasn't where I thought it was so I'm glad they let me know where it was.  They milled around for a while before bolting out of the area.

Shortly after the deer left it get deathly still.  The wind totally stopped while the sun sank behind the trees.  Movement to my right caught my eye as a mess of little pigs came in followed by at least one bigger sow.  My heart beat bumped up two notches.

With where the corn pile was, there were clumps of grass intermittently in front of the pigs.  Most of the time I could barely see the little ones.  I put the crosshairs on the bigger one a few times, but wasn't sure about shooting through the tufts of grass.  Finally she went into and openish area and I squeezed the trigger.  She dropped and did the 100-yard dash on the ground while the little guys scattered, then immediately came back.  I could barely see my hog with the grass so I watched what I could for a bit before texting Rick.  He came to get me almost immediately and we went to get my pig to minimize impact to the area.  She was a real nice sow, probably a bit under 150 pound.  Head shots through the grass at 100 yards...?  Usually I don't get picked up so quickly, but it was a bit weird still having adrenaline flowing as we left.

Rather than head to the lodge, we went to watch ducks fly in to Rick's duck hunting club.  He settled me in on the corner of an impoundment.  Immediately on sitting, I saw the oddest contrail off in the distance.  It was pretty clear that it was not from a plane.  Two things jettisoned off of it as the plume greatly changed.  I tried to think if it was from the nearby air force base?  A quick internet search later told me it was actually the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket being launched from Florida 400 miles away.  Incredible.

The ducks were quite the event as well.  Suffice to say South Carolina ducks are slightly more numerous than I've seen on my few Ohio duck hunting adventures.

Back at the lodge Denis and Claude were there.  While cleaning my hog it was quite obvious she was pregnant.  So it goes...

We all talked a bit while we ate.  Denis had bought land nearby and was building a winter home there.  Rick graciously shared a steak with me to supplement my noodle bowl which was a great way to end the day.

2023 Pig Hunt Day 0 - Unintended Consequences

I spent some time estimating my direct "carbon footprint" last year.  Regardless whether one believes in global climate change or not, extracting from the earth what it is trying to hold on to is rather nasty business.  And while I like to live in a warm house and would find life intolerable if I had to live within walking distance from the building I work in, I'd rather there was less pollution, less litter, better air, cleaner water, the list goes on...

I drove my 4-wheeled vehicles 7942 miles last year, burning 327 gallons of fuel.

I only rode my motorcycles 4260 miles last year.  I think this only included five states; this is a little sad.  I don't track my motorcycle fuel, but I suspect this is about a 25% increase in petroleum over my car miles.

I used 8641KWH of grid electricity - about 4.8 tons of coal.  Sorry world.  I used 414KWH of solar electricity, which I guess helps…  Geothermal allowed a year without buying any propane.

I rode my bicycle 1820 miles and walked my dogs 1609 miles.  This did absolutely nothing to help the earth since I wasn't "going anywhere."  It did help my mental health which is worth something to me, but likely not to the earth.  The universe doesn't care about me. At all.  The earth may be better without most of us.

Yet one of the biggest misses in all the talk about climate change is the lack of focus on population control.  In the doldrums around Christmas I read quite a bit and tried to be convinced by skeptics that say it doesn't need to be part of the solution.  But no one came close to convincing me; they are all wrong.  No problem of consumption gets easier in a world with 10 billion and every solution is more attainable in a planet with 6 billion.  So I guess I have that no-kids thing going for me ... when I die, my footprint dies with me.

As an aside, when I think about any problem in the world right now, I never say, "You know what would make this better?  More people..."

Population reduction is also not a solution to helping the earth.  Newton's Third Law states every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  This is false.  Every action has significant unintended consequences.  There is no economic model that does not include an ever increasing population.  This unintended consequence is no greater than what we will see with the unintended consequences of any other climate action.  In other words, yes, we are doomed.

But what if we are wrong about everything?

Like many people, I've been reading a lot about Bryan Kohberger - the presumed murderer behind the killing of four college students in Idaho.  I actually did read the affidavit - painful as it was - and it's pretty convincing, even if this as a document is meant to be one-sided.  As smart as some police can be and as talented as forensic scientists are, in 1994 they framed a guilty man, resulting in O.J. Simpson's eventual acquittal.  Maybe this acquittal was justified, even if unjust.  Unintended consequences.

If the evidence against Bryan Kohberger really is just a series of radically bonkers coincidences, his life is over just the same.

With 700 miles of driving ahead of me to get to South Carolina, Kohberger's immediate crime may have been getting pulled over not once, but twice for tailgating in Indiana.  I've never been pulled over for tailgating, but if I were, I would almost certainly leave ample room in front of me for at least the remainder of the state I'm in; Indiana is only a little over 150 miles across.

Late in 2022 I ditched my ridgeline and bought a Ford Maverick.  Although not the sole reason, mileage was part of the rationale why I made this switch.  The Maverick is about 20% more fuel efficient.

There is currently much love for electric cars, "For most Americans, this many miles will work most of the time," is included in just about every article written about electric cars after the range of the vehicle is stated.  The word "most" is the word that gets glossed over here - what happens when it isn't.  My trip to South Carolina is 700 miles ... in the winter.  Only an exceedingly expensive electric car under ideal conditions could make this trip without recharging.  And recharging would add significantly to the time the trip takes, potentially turning it into an impossible trip unless my boss magically gives me extra days off.  So while an electric vehicle may make sense for "most" of my life, there are no solutions for the part that isn't "most." (I can buy a lot of gas for what the cost of a rental car would be and I'm not sure rental car companies will look kindly on me using their cars for hog hunting.)

Unintended consequences.

It does seem like we as a global community are looking at climate change much like a dieter looks at the cookie dough in the fridge, "I must eat it all today so that I can start fresh tomorrow."  The next day the grocery store is still only a few miles away and cookie dough is on sale.

But I think there is a critical need ignored in all of the messaging about climate change: Travel.  It is difficult to get out of our cocoons.  And whether it is across town, across the country or across the globe, the only solution is travel.  Seeing Valdosta, Georgia is not the same as reading about it.  Walking into a Las Vegas casino is not the same as reading about it on reddit.  Social media is a solution to nothing and probably is a bigger part of the problem.  No conflict has ever been resolved on Twitter.

I'm not saying I'm going to save the earth by driving to South Carolina to kill pigs, but not going is doing nothing - which is worse in the long term.

Unintended consequences.

These were my thoughts used to try to not worry about leaving.  Last year, my hog hunting trip ended early and I'm really hoping something like that does not happen again (I'm sure SO is hoping so too).  Additionally, the new beagle has made amazing progress, but it won't take much of a slip and she could be a sad feral beast again.  In all fairness, SO is probably more careful than I am.

So after a final walk of the dog, I was on the road.

Leaving in the afternoon meant there was more traffic compared to my usual early morning departure, but it wasn't too bad and I was in no hurry.  I made my way down to the interstate and headed south.

After listening to Hidden Brain on the radio (I have several HB podcasts on a thumb drive, so this one felt free), I listened to older Radio Lab podcasts the rest of the trip.

Traffic was moderate until after Lexington when the road opened up.  Eventually I got off on 25E and headed SouthEast making it to Middlesboro just as it was getting dark.  I found my hotel and made myself at home as best as I could.  The walls were a bit thin and the room was directly across from the lobby so headlights kept hitting my window, but it was a nice hotel at the right place and right price.

My day ended with a noodle bowl and some junk food.  The adventure has started.