Post by hornharvester on Mar 27, 2006 10:37:45 GMT -5
Hey Guys,
This weekend here in South Florida was very cold, lows 38, highs 70 but the hog hunting was great. I shot three hogs with my Mathews bow from Friday evening to Sunday morning.
Saturday morning i was up at 4:45am and after a breakfast of pop tarts it was off to the stand. This morning i choose a stand called Squirrel Hammock which was only 1/2 mile ride from camp on the ATV.
After parking the ATV a hundred yards or so from the stand i slipped in as quiet as possible so not to spook any hogs that might be laying at the feeder. Climbing into the stand i got my stuff ready, waiting on the feeder to fire which was 6:15AM.
About 5 minutes later i heard a few grunts coming from my left out of the cypress knee swamp. It was just breaking daylight but i could see three or four hogs and several piglets coming into the stand. One of them was considerably bigger than the others.
They rooted around the feeder which has a huge mud hole full of water right under the feeder. The wind was perfect so i sat back and waited until it got good light. When the feeder fired the hogs came running in from every direction. All you could hear was the crunching noise the corn made as they gobbled it up. Now I know where the term "eat like a hog" came from.
I waited another five minutes or so for a little better light and stood up. There was a big fat red sow that had no pigs as her teets were dry. She was standing in the mud hole eating corn under the water. I waited until she was just slightly quartering away and put the sight pin on her right shoulder. I let the arrow fly and she squealed and took off heading out across the grassy pond which was directly behind the feeder. I could see about half of my Beman arrow sticking out of her right shoulder as she ran. I could see her running in the tall grass and then she disappeared behind a clump of trees and i didn't see her anymore.
All the big hogs ran at the shot but the six piglets just kept on eating like nothing happened. A few minutes later the other red sow came back in. She was so skinny from nursing pigs her ribs were sticking out. She grunted a few times and piglets took off with her.
After an hour or so I got down and looked for some blood to trail. I looked where i thought she ran but couldn't find any so I went back to camp to have a cup of coffee and get my friend who owns the lease. He said he knows exactly where they go when the run across the shallow pond. I really thought she would be laying where i last saw her run.
We went out on the bikes and started at the feeder looking for blood. As my friend looked i climbed threw the blow downs and went out into the tall grass growing in the pond. I was looking around for blood and looked up and saw the white fletching of my arrow sticking straight up, just over the grass about 20 yards away. I yelled at my friend that i found my arrow and started walking toward it. About 10 yds from the arrow i saw the hog with the arrow still in her.
It took three of us to load her on the back of the four wheeler for the ride back to camp. She weighed 197 lbs and was fat as a hog! Everyone at camp says I couldn't have killed a better eating pig. When we skinned her the 4 blade Muzzy went dead center threw her heart.
I'm flying home tomorrow and have some pictures and more stories that i will post then. The picture is me and my red sow from South Hackletrap. h.h.
This weekend here in South Florida was very cold, lows 38, highs 70 but the hog hunting was great. I shot three hogs with my Mathews bow from Friday evening to Sunday morning.
Saturday morning i was up at 4:45am and after a breakfast of pop tarts it was off to the stand. This morning i choose a stand called Squirrel Hammock which was only 1/2 mile ride from camp on the ATV.
After parking the ATV a hundred yards or so from the stand i slipped in as quiet as possible so not to spook any hogs that might be laying at the feeder. Climbing into the stand i got my stuff ready, waiting on the feeder to fire which was 6:15AM.
About 5 minutes later i heard a few grunts coming from my left out of the cypress knee swamp. It was just breaking daylight but i could see three or four hogs and several piglets coming into the stand. One of them was considerably bigger than the others.
They rooted around the feeder which has a huge mud hole full of water right under the feeder. The wind was perfect so i sat back and waited until it got good light. When the feeder fired the hogs came running in from every direction. All you could hear was the crunching noise the corn made as they gobbled it up. Now I know where the term "eat like a hog" came from.
I waited another five minutes or so for a little better light and stood up. There was a big fat red sow that had no pigs as her teets were dry. She was standing in the mud hole eating corn under the water. I waited until she was just slightly quartering away and put the sight pin on her right shoulder. I let the arrow fly and she squealed and took off heading out across the grassy pond which was directly behind the feeder. I could see about half of my Beman arrow sticking out of her right shoulder as she ran. I could see her running in the tall grass and then she disappeared behind a clump of trees and i didn't see her anymore.
All the big hogs ran at the shot but the six piglets just kept on eating like nothing happened. A few minutes later the other red sow came back in. She was so skinny from nursing pigs her ribs were sticking out. She grunted a few times and piglets took off with her.
After an hour or so I got down and looked for some blood to trail. I looked where i thought she ran but couldn't find any so I went back to camp to have a cup of coffee and get my friend who owns the lease. He said he knows exactly where they go when the run across the shallow pond. I really thought she would be laying where i last saw her run.
We went out on the bikes and started at the feeder looking for blood. As my friend looked i climbed threw the blow downs and went out into the tall grass growing in the pond. I was looking around for blood and looked up and saw the white fletching of my arrow sticking straight up, just over the grass about 20 yards away. I yelled at my friend that i found my arrow and started walking toward it. About 10 yds from the arrow i saw the hog with the arrow still in her.
It took three of us to load her on the back of the four wheeler for the ride back to camp. She weighed 197 lbs and was fat as a hog! Everyone at camp says I couldn't have killed a better eating pig. When we skinned her the 4 blade Muzzy went dead center threw her heart.
I'm flying home tomorrow and have some pictures and more stories that i will post then. The picture is me and my red sow from South Hackletrap. h.h.
