Hunted there every year from 93 - 03. Killed my first hog,buck and turkey there. We used to mainly hunt off the river and rarely saw another hunter. Haven't gone up nearly as much since they started limiting gun season to 1 or 2 weekends.
I went up last year for the first time on the 2nd weekend of the muzzle hunt. I had done some ariel research. We showed up a little late. It was a farther drive from St.pete than I thought. Probably got there a 1/2 hour after sun up. We hussled down the road heading for a hammock that I cyber scouted. Where we needed to turn into the woods was really thick, but after busting some brush we popped out in a really nice hammock. We were a little winded, and decided to sit on a log to catch our breath. With in 2 mins. I saw some movement it was a group of hogs running right at us. When they stopped they were so close the largest 1 totally filled my scope. Tough shot but dropped him in his tracks. I was pretty impressed. Saw some good deer sign, and only 4 people all day after doing a lot of driving around. If I do not get any quality hunts I definately will return.
We went years back and did some drives on the small islands out in the marsh. Thats where we walked up on a sow gator guarding a nest. Tons of sign in that place. I need to go back some time
I went a few time by boat but my buddy's always did. Seen some giant bucks come out of there and lots of hogs. MAke sure you bring a gps and a back up gps. There's still some wild country in there. Also some old rails out there still.
Real easy to get turned around in that river slough and not easy to walk in knee deep gumbo. Be careful of how you tie your boat also when the tide goes out it can leave you high and dry. But it's some of the prettiest woods i've hunted lots of old logging trams that can take you to some awesome hammocks.Like Skunk Ape said bring a gps and watch where you put your feet i've stepped in holes that had no bottom. One more thing when running the river in the dark be real careful theres alot of deadfall and floating trees that can ruin your day in a hurry we even hit a dam sturgeon that stalled out our motor.
