Well, we all had a great time as far as I could tell. Great to see friends from last year and meet new ones.
As stated before, Pochop7 got us going with a hog Friday evening. Nobody got anything from the stands Saturday AM, then Rusty and his daughter went out late morning and got their hog with the help of the dogs. I'll let Rusty tell his story, it's good one!
Then fishindad, his son and his nephew went out with the dogs and got another nice hog, so 3 good hogs in the coolers, and me with nothing yet. Had seen plenty, as there's a good group of hogs out there, but no shot available. So Saturday about 4:30pm I headed to a ground blind where Pochop7 and his wife had got their hog the night before. About 6:15 trapper dan texted me that they had bayed a good meat hog if I wanted it, then he came out an picked me up in the truck and got me as close to where they were as possible. My knee had been bothering me, and I didn't want to walk too far and risk re-injuring it, so I hadn't planned to try and bay one with the dogs, hoping they would come to me. But when it's an hour to dark, rain is threatening, and a hog is already bayed up, might as well do what yoy gotta do!
I had my Beretta A5 Lite 12 with slugs, so I got around to where the hog was bayed up, and was about 30 feet from it. I'd never shot anything while dogs were running around it, but these were good dogs and when I got up to shoot they stayed out of my line of fire. There was a small pine tree right in the way of where I could take a shot at the vitals, and I figured I'd just shoot in the neck. How could I miss from 30 feet, right? Well, I managed! That hog took off like a top fuel dragster, dogs hot on it's tail, and here we go, trying to get to it again. I did my best to keep up, and they got it bayed up again about 300 yards away, so when I got over there the hog was out in the open a bit and I had a good broadside shot from about 20 yards. Put it right through his right shoulder and he went down, kicked and spun, tried to get up but couldn't. Trapper dan pulled the truck around and we threw the hog up on the back, and across the hog's neck, just behind the ears, was a furrow a bit bigger than a 12 gauge slug would make! I had hit it with the first shot, but was about an inch high from hitting spine. The hog wasn't a trophy (no teeth to speak of), but I think they guessed him about 130 lbs. with a heavy shield. It was like knocking on plywood. By the time we got back to camp a few minutes later and unloaded him, it started raining pretty good so they got him hung up and then waited a few minutes for it to clear. By that time my adrenaline rush was gone, and my knee reminded me why I hadn't wanted to chase hogs with the dogs! Trapper dan was good enough
to skin and quarter my hog for me, since it would have taken me 5 time longer and I couldn't have stood that long. It was a nice fat hog, good size straps and loins, ought to make few good meals!
And davedirt, we didn't have the type of pot needed to make the HBS this time, but we had plenty to eat otherwise. Even had some grilled tree rat, compliments of fishindad, his son and his nephew. They were really good.
Thanks to all who made it, I had a great weekend, and I look forward to the next get-together!
Here's some pics of my hog:
Trapper dan showing the fat:
Good job Gary. Great story. It was nice to meet you. Already looking forward to next years trip and staying the whole weekend. I'm kickin myself for missing out on the squirrel!
My Daughters first kill, and I'm proud and kind of scared to say she did it with a knife :no . Yes, one of the guys sat on the hog and she took a knife right to its heart. Proud Papa!!!
Guys it was a great weekend. It was really good to see you all again and meet new faces. The grilling on the campfire was tops. Mike of course was a great host and we will be back next year. Maybe next year, I might practice some and being out the guitar. That was fun last year. Mike treated us all as usual this year to some tunes!
I still am distraught about loosing that first hog. 🙁 BUT it ended up being GREAT. Both kids got to experience blood trailing... (Thanks Mike) And then the biggest thing was using the dogs. When the chase started, BAM... my son goes into overdrive running through the bushes and leaves my nephew and I in the dust. It was all we could do to catch up with him! My nephew knifed the one we got and then my son wanted to help skin it! Wow. I did not see that coming. Those 2 kids had a great time and knocked out alot of firsts for both of them. VERY good stuff.
I got to make it a point to make the next get to gather. :toast
