The bastard clan is on our way home from a couple days of hunting with Michael at the Bacon Strip. Ill update everyone later once I get settled in tonight or tomorrow. All I will say is there was a lot of squealing, grunting, huffing and puffing( by pigs and us)
Oh......... A little blood flowing as well:)
:campfire:
Looking forward to the tales Mike!
:campfire: :coffee: :coffee:
:campfire: :coffee: :coffee:
X2
Bisch
Can't wait, I got a text from Michael yesterday with an update!!
:campfire:
Bring it on, I was just thinking of you fellers yesterday.
Mike,
Sounds like ya'll had a good time. I just got down to Aiken for the winter. Have there been anymore trees taken out? tippit
:campfire:
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
Looking forward to this.
Sounds like a great time. Looking forward to the tales.
bretto
Early congrats....looks like I will miss the story...hope to read it when I get back...but will be covered up with stories of our own.....
:campfire:
Be looking for this one!!! :campfire:
QuoteOriginally posted by tippit:
Mike,
Sounds like ya'll had a good time. I just got down to Aiken for the winter. Have there been anymore trees taken out? tippit
Not sure how much you already saw but the loggers were there. Taken lumber out by sunset. Didnt stop the hogs though.
Lets just say we all had a great time and might as well start this off with a funny viedo the little pigs where eating us out of house and home. (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/th_MAH00204_zpsaee248c8.jpg) (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/MAH00204_zpsaee248c8.mp4)
Those little pigs look tasty themselves!!
Fun stalk there I am sure. Interesting how you can get right on them when they are distracted.
That's a cool video. Nice stalk. Hoots be quick to get one of those.
Sounds like it will be good. Looking forward to the hunting stories.
It wasn't a stalk he climbed out of the tree stand and snuck up to them.And here was one of the hogs that wouldn't stand still enough for him to shoot at. (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/th_MAH00202_zpsf73f05ca.jpg) (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/MAH00202_zpsf73f05ca.mp4)
There should be a way to rig up a drop net with a trigger, and catch about a dozen of them and put them in a pen to raise to the right size...lol. Cool video's.
Ben, sorry I missed yall. Next year for sure. Don
:coffee: ............. :coffee:
Sorry guys, been a long day unpacking and visiting family away from home. I promise I'll get some stories rolling tomorrow evening. Ben got some cool videos to hold everyone off.
Don no problem.
:campfire: :coffee:
Looking forward to this. We got a hog hunt coming up in about three weeks!
We arrived on wednesday evening the 26th only to find out that we AGAIN brought the cold weather with us. It was in the high 60's the day before and we brought the 30's! Michael is never going to let us come back if we dont quit doing this. Being from Ohio we are used to it though.
Our party consisted of myself(Captain Bastard),Ben(fat bastard),Hayden(Bens 11 year old son and recently named "stinky bastard")and Steve(old bastard). Those that are not hip to the bastard thing,well,thats for another time. On to the hunt.
We set up camp and had a few cold ones and got ready for the hunt the next morning. For the record,this was Steves 1st hog hunt.
Our plan was to head out at first light and hunt a couple common stands before scouting the rest of them. 0700 couldn't come quick enough. Up at 0600,coffee in us,dressed and ready to head out when.......................
we looked out toward the gate to see several logging trucks coming. Uh oh!!!!!!!!!! Some of the property is being timbered and another area(the swamp) is slated to be done. Nobody knew this was going to happen this particular week. So I stopped one of the trucks to find out where they were going to be logging so we could go the other way. They were actually only loading up logs this week from the area they had already cut. Right by sunset feeder!!!!! So we figured a couple of the baits in this area were pretty much shot so we all went to plan B and headed for the swamp. Ben and Hayden would hunt Robs stand and me and Steve would go to the newly relocated race track stand. Off we went.
The last few years after Christmas we head south to spend a few days hunting with our good friends for hogs.My favorite hunt of the year camping, hunting and cooking out by the fire.Lets just say i got the poop scared out of me one of the nights.I will fill you in later in the story. :biglaugh:
On the way I decided to place a couple cams on the baits by the logging activity just in case. After setting the cams we headed down the killer kilometer to the swamp stands to check things out........
More later I have to get back to work.
:coffee:
nice videos Ben. Wonder what he would have done if he could have caught one. ha ha.
Got some pics to download and need to finish this but, flu bug or something has got me down tonight so it's going to have to wait. Been in bed since work and now I'm heading back. See you tomorrow.
:campfire:
get some rest bro, looking forward to the pics!!
:campfire:
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
Must be a form of the swine flu! :coffee:
(http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo1-Copy_zpsab43e681.jpg)
Is that a decoy?
Ok this is the stand that everyone calls sunset stand we call it jurassic park stand.And the reason why is the tall weeds shake as the hogs are coming and all you hear are grunting and growling from the weeds. (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo6_zps1c0b6cce-1_zps846a17a9.jpg)
Yes it is Terry left it at the camp. :laughing:
And this is the blind that eagleeye put in a nice 12 yard shot. (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo52_zps3c849ac7-1_zpsb8fe0531.jpg)
:campfire:
Hey bud, gotta re-size those pic please.
Man I can't believe how different Sunset looks!!
That's very true about the weeds shaking like Jurassic Park....really cool!!
And this is Robs stand and this is where spooky things happen.Eagleeye was having 2 large hogs coming to the bait all females with lots of piglets.One night it was getting dark and all the sudden the woods erupted with big grunts and squeals and behind us was two monster boars and the little pigs took of and that was the most hoard thing i have ever heard the boars attacked the piglets for about 10 minutes in the brush behind us in the dark eagleeye was scared to death and said how are we getting out of here .I said walk.The look on his face was (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo7_zps2d4002d7.jpg)
Photo bucket is killing me.
Going to need help resizing cant figure it out.
Ok i think i have them resized.
And back at camp cooking Steve,Mike,Hayden (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo2_zps9637c060-1_zps9980a742.jpg)
And what was for dinner (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo3_zpsfbbcd707-1_zpsf706fee5.jpg)
Now that Ben got everyone hungry.....But dont tell the wife how good we eat we tell them we survive on PB&J on our trips.
I'm going to let Ben add in his and Haydens adventures and I'll keep going with me and Steve. Ben hunted with Hayden and I was hunting with Steve. I decided to film for him and enjoy the company for a few days instead of hunt myself. I must say it was well worth it. But I will get a chance later.
So we check our stand site (rae track) and it is torn up! Time to hang stands. Check the wind,hang stands, and get out until evening.
This trip was different cause we decided to all hunt well into dark. It is legal to hunt hogs in the dark in S.C. for all those who are concerned.
We got on stand at 1500 and the feeder goes off at 1600. At least it was supposed to. Well at 1615 no corn on the ground. So I decide to go check it. I open the box and all seemed good but no action. I hit the test button and still no action. Hmmmmm........ This is very odd and has never happened. So I close the box and decide to spin the wheel by hand to at least get some corn on the ground for the night. I would let Michael know whats up. So I spin the wheel about two times then.....vrooooooooom!!!!!!! The feeder kids off and fills my face full of corn!!!!
A freak occurrence was a piece of corn had the wheel stuck. I look up at Steve and he has that "old bastard" smirk on his face.
With corn on the ground we waiting for old porky to show up.
Well daylight went to dark but the full moon was nice. One could almost shoot without a light due to the bright moon.
At about 1830 I hear a lot of leaves rustling about 80 yards behind us. I tell Steve to grab his bow the pigs are coming. Pigs usually make a ton of racket when they come in. They are making their way to the feeder but one problem..... they are coming from the wrong direction. Instead of coming from the thicket they are skirting it and straight down wind from us. Pigs may not see too well but they have a pretty darn good nose. And that nose would save them again tonight. At about 30 yards behind us the racket stopped. I wispered to Steve that the gig was up. I no sooner got the words out of my mouth when the pigs headed back the other way. Thats hunting!!!!!
And old Steve still hasnt seen his first pig yet.
So me and Steve headed back to the truck while Ben and Hayden stayed to hunt a while longer. We had to pass Sunset stand on our way so a stalk in the dark would be in order. I only got about 60 yards from the stand until i heard some sweeeeeet music to my ears. Pigs eating corn!!!
Excited now I tell Steve we got pigs on the bait. Stealth mode kicked in and we made our way. As we got closer we could see a bunch of hogs eating away with a few big ones in the group. We could only get to about 20 yards then the cover ran out. Steve got his bow ready as I readdied the light. When he gave me the signal I hit the light. Steve came to draw but did not shoot. He let down and then the pigs took off. The problem was all the pigs got in one big group under the feeder and it looked like one big black blob. No clean shot on one of the big ones. Thats hunting!!!!!
But Steve saw his first pig and was pumped!
With no other action this evening we headed back to camp for some PB&J. ;)
After looking at the winds for the next several days the race track was going to be unhuntable. So we had to make a game plan. Loggers or not, we had to hunt the stands by the bedroom.
So we headed out to check the cams I had placed in the night before. This is what we found:
(http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd312/sargeyriley/PC270042.jpg)
(http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd312/sargeyriley/PC270064.jpg)
Yep,HOGS!!!!!! They could care less about those loggers.
We decided to set up a blind at "Woods bait" due to the wind being wrong for the stand. Ready for night #2
god I miss the Bacon Strip...keep er commming... :campfire: :coffee:
:campfire:
:coffee:
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
We got to the bait at around 3:30 and settled in for the evening. It was kinda weird to sit there when the blind is only about 10 yards off the logging road and logging trucks were cruising by. But,we knew that around 5:30 they would go home for the night and the pigs would come out and play. So we hoped.
Around 6:30 pm we still had no action. The loggers had quit for the night and all was quiet. Maybe my hunch was wrong and the pigs were not coming out. Maybe the pics were a fluke. They were taken at 5:38 just the night before. But then I heard the leaves start to crunch. I told Steve that I heard something but wasn't sure if it was a deer or not. I knew for a fact that it wasn't a group of pigs. Then at the bait I see black and tap Steve on the shoulder. I whisper,hog. Very,very big hog!
There was no wonder that he was alone. He was a beast! He came in very slow and cautious. Mature was an understatement. He always would face the blind and never turn broadside. The couple times he did he his vitals were behind the feeder posts. In he background I hear other hogs trying to come in but he would lift his head and grunt at them. They would run every time he grunted. I'm waiting For Steves signal to hit the light but it would never come. One last attempt by the other hogs to get to the bait really upset this beast. He finally chased them all off grunting and growling as he ran after them. We never did see him again.
The next day we decided to revise our blind a touch and move it back. After adjusting our set-up we felt confident that we had everything covered should old blacky come back. Back to camp for some PB&J.
We arrive at the blind at our usual 3:30 and settle in for the evening. It finally hit me that last night we were on the ground sitting 12 yards from a very mad 200# plus hog. It just doesnt get any better than that! So with hopes still high we sat and waited.
Now the loggers were gone for the weekend so we were sitting peacefully with no noise. I looked at Steve at 5:30 and reminded him that the pics I got were at 5:38. The hogs sense of time would not disappoint us.
My buddy Steve just turned 59 yrs. old but is fit as a 30 yr. old. But one thing he has no control over is his hearing. It's not as good as it once was. But thats what I was there for.
Very shortly after 5:30 I hear leaves in the distance. I tell Steve,We got hogs. He said I dont hear a thing. I said get up and get ready. He stood in the blind and readied his bow. Me, I got the camera up and was ready myself. They must have anticipated old blacky coming back at 6:30 casue they came in with a vengence. One second no hogs,next about 25!!!!!
The bait was full of pigs!!!!!! Five of which were shooter pigs the others were piglets. Although all are good eating we were shooting the bigger ones.
I watched Steve draw back several times only to let down each time. He whispered,"they wont stand still". I chuckled to myself taking in this whole situation. There was nowhere else that I wanted to be at this time.
You see,Steve is a correction officer who also runs the family farm. He's a hard worker and rarely gets time for himself with 3 kids and a wife. Not to mention he's been a good friend to me over the years. Thats why I elected to hunt with him instead of splitting up. I wanted Steve to shoot a hog on this trip and I wanted to be there beside him. As they say,"it's not all about getting a kill". Now back to the hogs.
Finally the humor left us and seriousness kicked in. Steve picked one out and concentrated. Out of the corner of my eye I see the arrow go back just as it had done before. This time he held. I knew the shot was coming and I was looking at the broadside pig.
Steve released and all he** broke loose!!!!! The pig squeeled and turned to flee. It ran about 60 yards out of sight and then we heard it.
If you've ever heard a bear do the death growl then you know where I'm coming from. This pig squeeled so loud I believe it was it's death growl. It actually sent a chill down my spine. I looked over to Steve and saw a smile from ear to ear. He said do you think I got him? I said no bud, you smoked him!!!!!
The track was an easy by one by Steve,Ben,and Hayden and the pig only went 60 yards. Being color blind this is one part of retrieving game that I am ineffective at. The 63# longbow sent the GrizzlyStik clean through the top of both lungs. Heres a pic of Steves 1st hog on his 1st hog hunt.
(http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd312/sargeyriley/pig_zps2f814df1.jpg)
Congrats to Steve!! This is fun bud :thumbsup:
carry on :campfire:
Congrats guys!
I got to hunt the last evening and almost got an opportunity at another one from this same group. But at the last minute when they were 20 yards from the bait the wind would be our downfall again. Once it switched and went straight at them it was all over. But, thats hunting!!!!
I'll tell you ,I didnt hunt much on this trip myself but had a complete blast! I've had the luxury of being near my nephew on his 1st trad deer kill this year and now one of my best buds first hog kill. I cant thank Michael enough for having us down there. It's a pure pleasure being in the company of the likes of Michael and friends.
Thanks for coming along with us but dont go away. Eagleeye has some stories to tell as well.
One flaw in the whole mix was I didnt account for the mesh on the blind for filming. It was folded over where I was filming from and you cant see squat. Live and learn I guess.
As eagleeye waited in the blind he wanted a photo of his new bow (http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj10/longbowben/photo4_zps781729df.jpg)
At 424pm the feeder went off and within minutes we herd hogs coming full boar at us.3 big hogs and lots of little pigs rushed out eagleeye picked the close one and started to draw but the hog turned eagleeye let down this happened a few more times.And then the big hog turned perfectly for him eagleeye drew his bow and held for a few seconds and then zap the arrow went right into the shoulder of the hog the arrow was hanging out of the hogs opposite front shoulder as the pig ran off the arrow fell to the ground.
We jumped up and hi fived we walked over and found the arrow covered in blood and blood splattered on the trees and brush.Eagleeye said its your turn dad.While nothing else came in we waited for everyone to come help.Blood was hard to find in all that brush and Steve said here is the blood trail.I walked over to Steve and wow the blood was pouring out of the hog.
:thumbsup: :campfire:
After following a great blood trail for about 100 yards the hog went into the swamp, water about 6-10 inches deep blood was all in the water but then it got ugly after walking around in water for quite a while we couldn't find anything else.I felt like crap i know he killed that hog and there was nothing i could do to find him.I felt like i let him down, i pride myself on my tracking skills and it was hard to swallow.Eagleeye said dad you tryed hard thank you.So im going to give everyone a tip if your going hog hunting and thier is lots of water bring a string tracker we wont go without one again.Im still kicking myself for not having one.
Not every story works out the way you want. But nothing beats being with your true friends enjoying the outdoors.Michael Thanks for having us down.Congrats Steve on your first hog.
Awesome fellas, thats what its all about. :notworthy:
I have to tell you all. Young Eagleeye has become one heck of a shot. For only 10 years old he is money with his new Hoots bow. I'm proud of his accomplishments. :clapper:
Cant wait to get back to the strip!!!!!
Sounds like a fun trip! Eagleeye sorry you couldn't claim your trophy...we've all been there one time or another. Just remember nothing goes to waste in the wilds especially at the Bacon Strip...tippit
Awesome hunt guys, congrats to all! :thumbsup:
Tippit there are so many coyotes down thier its insane.All night and threw out the day we heard them.
It's actually strange. We hear the yotes all the time down there. Hunting,sleeping,etc. But I have never seen one. More so, I've never got a cam pic of one either. They are ghost yotes! :scared:
:campfire: Sounds like you guys had a great time regardless of the outcome. Thanks for the stories and pics.
sounds like an absolute blast.
Eagle eye, sounds like you made a great shot! Congrats, bummer about the recovery.
The other hanging hog is nice, congrats steve.