At the agreed time, we all piled into Rick's truck to head out for the morning. I was on the Lucy VanPelt stand. It probably wouldn't have been my first choice, but I do know this area has hogs.
As I got situated, my mood started to sour; this was unusual for a morning hunt. On my way in to the stand I couldn't find my flashlight so presumed it is lost in a previous morning's stand. The wind wasn't the best for this stand either. I knew my mood was irrational - the flashlight is at most a $10 flashlight and the wind wasn't terrible. But sometimes it is just best to play things out. It felt much like my bear hunt when I was coming to grips with not getting one. Perspective was needed just like it was back in Manitoba. And it is never over until it is over.
The morning brightened and it was a very nice morning. Cooler temperatures and some wind made it feel like an early fall day. I like hunting overcast days since it gets rid of harsh shadows. The stand was more comfortable than I remember.
Around 7:30 I was looking at my phone and looked up to see some movement. Grabbing my binoculars, I saw a small 6-point buck on the corn pile. He didn't stay long, but after eating for 5-10 minutes he ran off. I was hoping this meant that a more dominant buck was coming in, but that was the only deer I saw all morning.
Rick picked me up a bit later than usual. We had all seen deer, but nobody had seen anything impressive. It was a slow morning all around. Rick suggested it was a combination of acorns and the full moon. No doubt that may play a role. But I suspect animal movements are very, very complicated.
We all had down time before heading out for my final evening in camp. I was back on the Day 3 Evening stand. I was happy about this - I liked the stand. I wasn't in the stand long before a group of seven turkeys came out into the field. They kept me entertained for about 45 minutes while I watched them roaming around, scratching and picking bugs out of the dirt. It is good to have friends.
After that first group of turkeys left, a second group of three came out. They meandered around as well. Then the first group of seven came back and they ran toward the group of three and started chasing them all over. It was like watching a real turkey rumble. Gang warfare! Eventually they split up and went their separate ways. I guess flocks of turkeys don't mix.
A bit later in the evening I caught a glimpse of a couple deer behind the pines to my left. I could only get little pieces of them, but they both appeared to be small bucks sparring. The smaller of the two popped out at the far end of the field a bit later and I got a good look at him. He was a really small four-point. But deer were moving. Near sunset, another deer followed the same path as the four-point. I strongly suspect it was a button buck.
As it started to get dark, the other small buck from earlier made its way to the corn - the first deer to do so in that evening. It only stayed for a few minutes, but it was long enough to see that it was a basket-racked eight-point - definitely not a shooter. Had I been home, that might have been different.
It got darker and I was deciding when I was going to pack it up when I caught more movement near the corn. Looking through the binoculars, I saw a very familiar black shape of a really big hog. My gun was already on the rail, so I brought it up and had enough light to clearly see its head. I hedged my shot back just a bit, steadied myself as good as I could and squeezed the trigger. The muzzle flash blinded me for a second. I could see the grass moving, then heard squealing as it ran away. Then it suddenly got quiet. I could think of two possibilities... 1-Hit, ran and dead. 2-Not hit very well, ran and shut up. Both cases could make recovery difficult. I texted Rick and he said to meet up and we'll decide what to do.
Back at the truck, we talked a bit before heading down to the corn. I asked to borrow a flashlight since I had lost mine in a stand and Will said he found one - it was mine. Given my obsession about the lost cheap flashlight, this was funny. Rick and I looked for a few minutes and found a few pieces of hide with hair on them. There was no blood or bone found. despite looking quite a bit. I was quickly convinced that it was a (probably) low nick only. I suspect I put the great fear into him and he would be just fine - if a little wiser. This is especially the case given what I've seen hogs take before.
Still, I was really bummed. This was not the way I wanted this hunt to end.
Back in camp Carlton (I think?) was there. We all had another great dinner before Rick cut my shirt tail. I packed up most of my stuff, ready to head home in the morning.
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