I had one of my hunting goals met this past weekend. I was fortunate enough to hunt the swamps at Ocmulgee WMA in Georgia with none other than Robert Carter(RC). It was great to finally meet and hunt with RC. I really appreciate him taking his time to show me and my friend Cam around the swamps when I am certain that he would have had more success on his own. We saw lots of fresh hog sign and beautiful country on the hunt, but I was unable to seal the deal. RC was nice enough to give me the only two opportunities available.
The first stalk on a nice group of mature 150 pound hogs wednesday morning ended a few moments after it began when they saw my motion, most likely from reflected sunlight in the early morning light. The best opportunity happened just before dark on thursday evening in a really nice looking bottom. We had been sitting on a log for awhile, waiting for conditions to get a little better for hog movement. We had been hearing some noise which we assumed were trees in the wind for a half hour or so before we set out for a slow hunt back toward the truck when we heard a squeal. Guess it wasn't the trees, huh. We quickly crossed the bottom to close the distance and RC spotted an 80-100 pound black hog and let me put a stalk on. It was real good stalking conditions, with wet ground, big cypress trees, and knee-to-thigh high leafy vegetation interspersed. I moved forward and circled around a tree slowly and the hog disappeared. I heard a light cluck behind me and RC pointed to the side and I made out the hog, maybe 35 yards away. I crouched low and started closing the gap, with swirling winds closing in. I got a large cypress tree between the hog and me and closed to maybe 18 yards away and waited a few seconds until the hog came into a clearing and sent the arrow on it's way. The shot felt good, but I lost the fletching in the vegetation and there was a pretty good crack on impact. The hog squealed like crazy and took off on a semicircle limping so bad that I thought it would go down at any second. I had another arrow knocked and when the hog was around 15 yards aways I was going to put another arrow into it, but I got distraced by a couple of hogs busting out to my right, and when I looked back the wounded hog was gone. I went to where I last saw the hog, and with all of the fresh hog tracks and lack of light, no blood could be found. We backed out until the morning and eagle eye RC found some blood. It was really sparse, low to the ground and fizzled out quickly. The warren of trails made it difficult and cirling about the area yielded no dead hog. I must have broken the upper arm or shoulder. I was kicking myself pretty good. Shot a few inches low, and that was the result. No excuses, it is a shot that I normally make and would certainly take again.
No other opportunities presented themselves for shots, but I had a great time, nonetheless. Just as a side note, I had plenty of time for stumpshooting with RC during this trip. When he says that he is a poor shot in other threads, I think you can certainly chalk that up to modesty. I hope to have the chance to hunt with him again in the future. Here is the only pic that really came out from the hunt, but hopefully RC and Cam will post some that they took and add some stories. I was planning on using my cellphone for pics, but the batteries were drained for most of the hunt.
Here is a pic of Robert and myself, Swamp People.
(http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd102/pdk25/IMAG0014-1.jpg)
sweet. quite the experience putting a stalk on a hog I imagine. It is a shame that you didn't recover the animal but life is such. Still an awesome experience.
Good stuff Pat ... would be great to spend a day with the both of you and pick up some tips ... and given the amount of critters Robert has taken , I kinda gathered he was just being modest about his shooting .
Is that a Hill or a Toelke Super D your toting ?
I enjoyed the company with Pat and Cam in camp. We had near perfect weather and plenty of Country to get lost in. We walked in fresh pig sign the whole time just could not line up a whole lot of shots. Pat was nice and did`nt tell about my miss so I`ll go ahead and own up to it. I`m sure my shot was deflected by a big skeeter.....
I`ll throw a few random pics out . Ocmulgee WMA is a beautiful place and has a good many pigs and TONS of Turkeys. My Honey Hole Horsecreek WMA is in poor shape right now so we had to take plan B which really was`nt that bad.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0020.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0031.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0030.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0023.jpg)
Thanks for sharing!!
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0025.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0022.jpg)
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0052.jpg)
On one evening hunt Pat and I got out of the truck and headed down a dead end walk-in road when a Turkey jumped up almost under us acting like a Bantum Rooster. She was about to put some Kung Fu on us then things settled down a bit and we saw why she was mad. We slipped on by so as not to disturb her anymore....
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0027.jpg)
We saw a few Bear tracks and found a tree a Bear had clawed a bit...
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0035.jpg)
Kinda funny...You can walk in on a dead end access road for a mile and be feeling kinda"apart" from civilazation then walk up to the river bank and there is this "shack" across the River..lol
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0033-1.jpg)
Great pics, Robert. Don't forget the one of your night-time visitor.
Ben, that is my super D. It is a great bow that I didn't do justice to on this hunt. RC was toting his trusty mohawk. It probably has the nicest red elm veneers that I have ever seen.
One night after supper and an evening of world problem solving I headed to the tent for some shut eye and found a very old model black widow again`t my tent...
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0029.jpg)
Only saw a couple of these critters and none with fangs.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0015.jpg)
Here Pat is showing off his snake handling skills on this feller...
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0041.jpg)
The bottom where Pat and I both had shots on pork..
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w39/rcswampbucket/IMG_0046.jpg)
Thanks for sharin' this great outin' with the Trad Gang!
There are many on here who would relish a similar opportunity to spend time with RC in the swamp!
Lookin' forward to future adventures!
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
I don't know of anyone more knowledgeable to be polking around in the swamps with than Robert. Had to be a real good time.
Yikes...black widows and snakes! I'm glad you guys had fun and thanks for taking me along with some fine pics.
Good stuff guys!
Looks like a wonderful time. The chase is the hunt, and the memories made last longer than the shots. Good job yall
Great story and pics,thanks for sharing.
Man that looks like fun! Love the pics guys.
Great story pdk25, thanks for the pics RC, you guys are getting me excited to get down south to do some hog huntin', J :thumbsup:
Great times w/great friends! Thanks for the pix & story.
Looks like a lot of fun. Robert that had to be a heck of a skeeter :)
Glad you guys had fun. Great pics Pat and RC. If that spider was in my tent it would of been a sleeples night. Dont tell me Pat didnt show you how he kills squirrels in th swamp RC. If he didnt you'll have to get him back down there to show you his technique. Real traditional. :goldtooth: .
Looks like a great time. A few too many creepy things around there. Better luck next time.
SUPER reading :thumbsup: Thanks for sharing :campfire:
Great story and pics!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
very nice! reminds me of better days :)
Great pics, looks like it was a lot of fun...
Looks like a lot of fun PDK. I'm brand new to archery. Can't wait til I'm good enough to start taking game. Small world, My brother went camping in Ocmulgee last year. We were just talking about going out there yesterday. RC, I was born in Baxley (raised in Brunswick). Your folks might have known my Aunt and Uncle, Jewell Dene and Joe Davis, or their youngons Corky, Randy and Vicki. They left Baxley quite a few years ago.
Mike, I forgot to share that story with RC, but I should have. Dang soft ground!
Looks like a great time.