What a great trip. I have a few pics but will have to post them later. We stayed at Indian Pass on the west side. It's only a 2 minute boat ride from the ramp. Water is extremely shallow at the dock on the island but at low tide you can't get within 10' of it. We had about 65 people on our side of the island and from what was said there was about 50 people on the other side. I never did get a count of what was taken but I saw a few nice racks come out.
We got to the island mid morning on Tuesday to scout a bit. Got on the bikes and in no time I realized I ain't 20 yrs. old any more. The roads on the Indian Pass side are much easier to ride from what I remember from last year on the other side. Put about 10 miles on the bikes the first day and got 4 spots picked out for us to set up on. It had rained the day before and we saw a ton of fresh tracks, rubs and just worked scrapes. Got to see a nice Sambar stag crossing a trail also. We got back to the dock right at dark and headed to the hotel to shower up and get dinner and a few cocktails.
Wednesday morning is the first day to get on and set up camp and stands. We got to the island about 5:30am and the work started. It was back breaking work to get all our stuff off the boat and onto shore then through the sand to the camp area we had picked out. Word to the wise....If you get to the island before everyone else and get a good camp site picked out then someone is gonna complain that you got there too early, even though they were there by 6am, and took their spot. We got our stuff to the camp site by 8 am and they didn't have any flags they hand out to mark your spot so we headed out on the bikes anyways to put out our stands. It had rained all night so there weren't too many fresh tracks but we already knew where we wanted to be. One buddy was about 1 1/2 miles out. 2 of them were 2 1/2 miles out and I set up 3 1/2 miles out. Got back to camp about lunch time and set up the site. Had a great steak dinner on the grill in front of a great fire and got a good nights sleep.
Thursday came and at 5:30am I got on my bike for the long ride out to my stand. Got in the stand early and relaxed and waited for the sun to pop up. While waiting I realized how cool it was to hear the waves crashing on the white sand beach while I was waiting for something to come by. About 8:30 I look back and see a doe coming in. I took a shot at 50 yds and when the smoke clears I see where she ran into the swamp I'm sitting on and hear a crash in the brush. I kicked back for a while and figured I'm on the pigs the rest of the trip. About 45 min. later I climb down and go to find her. I get over to the swamp and can't find any blood. Now I realize I have to wade into the swamp and how cold the water is gonna be. I start to walk in and realize it's way to deep for my boots. Get back out and strip down to my undies and orange and wade in cohonies deep. Find the palmettos she crashed through and still no blood. I spent about an hour looking for any sign but nothing. Now is about the time I regretted not going to the range after getting my scope put on and bore sighted at BPS. I still can't believe I probably missed. I figured I'd use iron sights the rest of the trip. Sat for the rest of the day and didn't see anything else. In total I heard about 25 shots in my area. My buddy had a real nice 8 come in from behind him but it spooked when he turned around and he couldn't get a shot. Got back to camp and had a great dinner around the fire.
Friday came and now I'm dreading the ride out to the stand but know I have to. As I get to my parking spot for my bike I catch 2 hogs running down the road in front of me. Too dark to shoot so they get a pass. I get in the stand about 20 min. before sun up. Didn't see anything till noon. About then some guy comes walking down my trail and is following some tracks and at 30 yds veers off through the brush. He pops back out on the game trail I'm sitting on and gets about 125 yds. out and that is when I catch him eyeing different trees. I whistled a few times to get his attention and nothing. By now he's getting his climber ready so I decide to yell. After about 6 yells I decide I better get over there cause he's getting in his climber and still hasn't heard me. Deaf Bastich! I get down and finally get his attention when I'm 20 yds from him and he's already 20' up. I told him I'm set up 125 yds away and he should move down a ways. He stares at me for a few and I told him I wasn't f#*$%&@g around and he needed to move. He starts to climb down and I go back to my climber. I see him walk off and figure it's public land and I should have expected it. About 30 min later I catch 2 deer coming in from my left, right under the tree he was on. They were coming right down the trail I was sitting on. They split off at about 75 yds. out but 1 is coming to me. I put the sight on a doe and as she gets 10 yds out I realize she's only about 50 lbs. so she's gonna get a pass and I'm gonna focus on the other. About then she sees the camo wrap I put around my climber flapping in the wind and looks up. Needless to say after a few seconds of staring at me she runs off flagging one direction and the other doe runs off the other way. Didn't see anything till about 15 min. before dark. Just then a huge Sambar stag comes in at 75 yds. It's standing there broadside staring at me. I pull the gun up and put the scope on it and whisper boom. Can't shoot it on this trip so I decide to get some pics. Took one with my phone but it didn't look good so I decide to pull up my bag and get my cam. All the while this stag is staring at me and could care less like he knows he's good. Get the cam up and get a couple pics as he walks off. Made the whole day worth it. Another good dinner and fire.
Saturday was the last day of the hunt. We decided we were only gonna hunt till about 10 and then pack up and head out. Last ride and I really didn't want to but had to get my stand anyways so I headed out. It was below freezing this morning but with the ride I was fine with only sweats and a tee shirt. Got to my spot and put on all my stuff and walked through the 3 different water holes to get to my stand. Didn't get in the stand until about 10 min. before legal light. By 8am my shoes and bottom of my coveralls are completely frozen over and my feet are getting cold. I'm thinking about heading out and decide not to ruin anyone elses hunt and tough it out. About 8:30 I catch a nice nanny doe coming from my right. Problem is she's coming right at me and I'm not gonna get a decent shot. About 25 yds. out she turns broadside to munch on some berries and I decide nows the time. I get her in the scope and remember the last shot so drop it down to the iron sight and line it up. Pull the trigger and I hear pop. She looks around and goes back to feeding. I hold it waiting for a delayed fire and after about 10 seconds I realize it ain't going off. We had gotten rained on and I had changed out my pellets but not my primer. Now I have to get in my pack and change primers while she is feeding her way right underneath me. I finally get my pack up and open as she's walking away. By the time I get a new primer in she is 100 yds away and I can't get a clean shot. Needless to say I learned a good lesson to make sure I have another set up in my pocket at all times. I sat till 10 and packed everything up for the long ride back to camp. We loaded up and got off the island about 4. Stopped at Allens Seafood on the way out and picked up a bushel of Appalachicola's finest oysters for the games on Sunday.
Overall it was a great trip. We're gonna do it again this next year and I'm putting in for the Sambar hunt for sure. There is a campground across from the island at Indian Pass that we will stay on next year instead of lugging everything onto the island. That way we can bring the campers instead of the tents and have power for the heaters. Anchoring up the boats is a pain on the island. The water goes from calm to rough and back to calm all the time. They have lost quite a few boats over the years from what I was told and I believe it. Anything over a john boat will not get up to shore and you'll have to anchor out and wade in. Bringing the gheenoe for the next trip so we can just pull it up on the beach. One piece of knowledge if anyone is thinking about going. They give out the doe tags to every other person in alphabetical order. If you go with a family member one of you will get a doe tag for sure. There was some wood on the island but we brought a ton and it turned out we burned every bit of it along with some we found. This is a good trip to take with some buds and I recommend this as a forum hunt if anyone is interested. $25 tags that are first come so it's cheap and everyone can get in. From Indian Pass ramp it's only a 1/4 mile to the island. Any boat can make it across even a kayak in a few minutes.
That's about all I got for now and will post pics later. Only took a few but I'll get them up.
Doug
Man, Sounds like fun. Get the pic's up that you got. I can't wait to see them. :toast
had to be fun!
