Going Hog Wild

[Cuda]

We went to Debbie's parent's place Friday morning. We rode four wheelers, and Friday evening I was hog hunting. Her nephew shot this giant sow a couple mile from where I was hunting.

[Cuda]

I was sitting on this fence line that Debbie's daddy had just built. It's the only place for about two miles that the hogs can cross from the swamp to the highland that we are allowed to hunt on. We can actually hunt about fifty yard in past the fence, then you see yellow signs of the Suwannee River Water Management District, which is state land, that we aren't supposed to hunt on.
In the first picture, there is a yearling deer that walked through the gate, and I thought it was going to step right on me. It never saw me until the flash of the camera spooked it. Even then it only ran a few yards, then wandered off in the swamp.

In the second picture, you can't really tell, but there is the tail of a gobbler walking right behind the fence post on the right. I mistimed my picture. I was so intent on getting a second picture of the gobbler, that I didn't see the three other bigger gobblers behind that one. They saw me though. :)

[Cuda]

The next morning I rode down the road along that fence line, and saw all these hog tracks. I figured they must have come out later, and fed on that big moon Friday night.

[Cuda]

Saturday evening, I went to that same gate, but I walked in a few yard towards the swamp. I foung a nice tree with a flat side that I could sit by, and lean against the flat spot. I got comfortable about a half hour before dark. I promplty fell asleep for about twenty minutes. I woke up, and was about half groggy, but I was facing the swamp where I figured the hogs were coming in. Just after I woke up, a big azz hog walked right up beside me, coming from the wrong direction. He was coming off the high ground, and headed towards the swamp. He wasn't ten yards from me at the most. In my groggy state, I pointed the pistol at him, and gently squeezed the trigger. It didn't fire right off, because it's a very light pull when I have the hammer back in single action. I don't pull the hammer back until I see what I'm shooting. The hog saw me at exactly the same time I saw him. He jumped, and was moving before I finally got a shot off. He kept moving, but he was moving directly to my left, instead of towards the swamp. He was moving in a zig zag movement, and I got off two more broadside shots. I never saw him stumble, so I didn't know if I hit him or not. It was almost dark, so I got up immediately and went towards where I last saw him. I didn't know if he was down or not, it gets dark quickly in the swamp. I walked and looked, hoping to hear him down flopping or something. Nothing.
Debbie was hunting about a half mile away, and in a few minutes, I could hear her coming on the four wheeler. She was riding along that fence, so I whistled so she'd stop, and I told her to go back through the Boneyard Gate, until she saw my coke can sitting next to the tree I was against, then point the headlights at me, just to give me a better perspective on where the hog might be. She came out to where I was, and both of us seaching with flashlights couldn't find any blood. I can't believe I missed with all three shots, the farthest shot was about thirty yards, but I made the last two shots in double action too. I'm not used to having to take a second shot with that pistol, before this eveing I had the sniper rating with that pistol; ONE SHOT, ONE KILL. I guess that's down the tubes now.

The hog I missed was every bit, or bigger than the one her nephew shot the evening before, and that one was just south of 300#. It would have been the hog of my life so far. :(

[Cuda]

I saw a bunch of deer rubs while walking through the thickets tryin to kick up a hog earlier in the day.

Debbie said Saturday evening while I was hunting that she saw several big deer. One she swears had a bigger rack than the one her brother shot several years ago, that is still the number four all time typical buck in the state.

[Cuda]

The deer and hogs both were hitting this feeder hard. Debbie is showing how high hogs were rubbing mud off them on this sapling. It takes a pretty damn big hog to rub that high on a tree.

Btw, it is legal to have feeders in Florida, as long as you feed them all year long, and not just during hunting season.

This is where Debbie was sitting when she saw the big racked buck. We told Deb's dad that we would only shoot hogs, especially since she had a centerfire rifle, instead of black powder. It would have been legal to shoot the deer with a BP rifle. I already warned her that if she shot a deer with her rifle, she'd have to wait for her dad to come help her haul it home. I don't break any game laws, and want nothing to do with people who do break them. There are a ton of poachers up there.

[Cuda]

Debbie and her daughter, Erica, on the Suwannee River. It was Erica's 21st birthday.

The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. Erica got a new shotgun, and a new rifle for her birthday. :)

[Cuda]

The river was way down. Erica said where I'm standing in that picture was under water last week.

The river was crystal clear, and anybody that's ever been on the Suwannee, knows it usually looks like tea.

[Cuda]

Some other pictures.

[gcarter]

Joe, why do you think the river is clear?

[Cuda]

Joe, why do you think the river is clear?
No rain up in the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia, which is the headwaters of the Suwannee. The water flowing out that swamp is tanin stained from all the cypress roots, decaying leaves etc. Now, most of the water in the river is coming out of the numerous springs that feed the river.

[mrfixxall]

Cuda, up here in chi town this is as close as we get to hoggs...:hyper:

[Magicallbill]

Cuda, are those wild hogs dangerous? I mean,will they come at you? I've read stories about farm hogs turning on people in close quarters.
I've read they have tusks,instead of teeth.
I used to cross over the Suwannee at Fanning Springs?Old Town (on U.S#19) How far inland is it navigable?

[hardcrab]

[QUOTE=Magicallbill;393584]Cuda, are those wild hogs dangerous? I mean,will they come at you? I've read stories about farm hogs turning on people in close quarters.
I've read they have tusks,instead of teeth."


I'd like to ask mrfixall the same question, :eek!: :eek!:

[mrfixxall]

[QUOTE=Magicallbill;393584]Cuda, are those wild hogs dangerous? I mean,will they come at you? I've read stories about farm hogs turning on people in close quarters.
I've read they have tusks,instead of teeth."
I'd like to ask mrfixall the same question, :eek!: :eek!:

NOT SURE I HAVNT GOT THAT CLOSE TO A CHI TOWN HOGG...:yes:

[Cuda]

Cuda, are those wild hogs dangerous? I mean,will they come at you? I've read stories about farm hogs turning on people in close quarters.
I've read they have tusks,instead of teeth.
I used to cross over the Suwannee at Fanning Springs?Old Town (on U.S#19) How far inland is it navigable?
A wild hog is a foul tempered sob. They have cutters and teeth. They will generally try to avoid you, but if you crowd them, they'll take a run at you. At the first light north of Fanning is 349, turn right there, and about eight miles down the highway is where we hunt. I'm not sure how much farther inland the river is navigable, but it's a good ways. The farthest upstream I've been is to the Santa Fe River, up to the Itchnatuckee (sp?) Springs.

Check out the cutters on this hog Debbie's brother got.

[Magicallbill]

That's unbelieveable..
That thing could kill somebody..

Be careful out there Cuda..

[Cuda]

That's unbelieveable..
That thing could kill somebody..
Be careful out there Cuda..
You would think my 44 magnum could kill something too. :(