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.
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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.
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