I'm just sayin we got one in da coolah!!!
Who is from Escanaba ?
I hang out there quite often.
ChuckC
Congrats!
:bigsmyl:
I knew it! There will be blood this weekend at Hog Heaven!
Shoot 'em all (well, not really, but ya know what I mean)!
Go gettum Virtuous Ray!! Have you blooded that TD Centaur yet? :goldtooth:
HECK YES. The Michigan boys finaly draw blood. Was it from a VERY HEAVY arrow set up???
Congrats Ray!
Yes it was a heavy arrow from Thom Jorgensons Howard Hill
QuoteOriginally posted by Ray Hammond:
Yes it was a heavy arrow from Thom Jorgensons Howard Hill
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
sweet.........
Awesome!!! Can't wait for the story and pics!
Way to go Thom!! Can't wait for the story and pics!
Escanaba in da Moonlight??? Bet the Aliens came out at Hog heavan.
Looking forward to the story!
Awesome Thom! I'm glad all the work you put into those arrows paid off. :thumbsup:
Congats to Thom! He deserves it!
Should be some updates coming out soon!!
:campfire:
:campfire:
Did they do it " in da moonlight" ?
How many on here are from the UP ? especially the Escanaba area ?
ChuckC
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
Did they do it " in da moonlight" ?
How many on here are from the UP ? especially the Escanaba area ?
ChuckC
My pig was at ten in the morning, our moonlight pig is a whole different story. Will see if I've got a picture or two to go with my pig story when we get back to Michigan. Long trip ahead, you fellers might need a few more logs for those fires....
Thom
Thom, congrats again! Who was all in camp, other than you, Rick and Sean?
QuoteOriginally posted by sticksnstones:
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
Did they do it " in da moonlight" ?
How many on here are from the UP ? especially the Escanaba area ?
ChuckC
My pig was at ten in the morning, our moonlight pig is a whole different story. Will see if I've got a picture or two to go with my pig story when we get back to Michigan. Long trip ahead, you fellers might need a few more logs for those fires....
Thom [/b]
Here's one to keep it going... :campfire:
One southern boy showed up, just to add a little class to the group.
Great meeting you Mike.
Hey Dougie, are you feeling any better ?
Doug, Really enjoyed meeting you folks too. Looking forward to seeing some pics posted.
Just a might taird Mike!
Made it back to Michigan safe and sound. Stories to come.
Alright, I'm home too and will have time to start this story after a trip to my butcher's shop.
Thom
I can't wait for the stories and pictures Thom bring them on
Love huntin with the escanaba crew. They know each wallow and tree in that swamp by name.
Man, my gear is a mess! Been dealing with blood and mud all day. What a wonderful problem to have for a change!
Better introduce the crew:
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/EWC2013px640x528.jpg)
Rick, Pop Soady?
Doug, Jimmers?
Thom, ??? (I just hope I'm not Remnar)
We all have places in the UP, but none of them are actually in Escanaba. I thought it best to remove that bit of confusion right up front. The only thing from Esky is the knife on my hip. BTW it did do a job on a pig in da moonlight this year, but not on the first pig so we'll have to get to that part of the story later.
I'm sorry but I gotta go meet the taxidermist, gonna have to start this story a little later.
Thom
:campfire: :coffee: been waitin to hear this one
Ha ha, man. Get with it! An early congrats, can't wait for this one...
Naw Thom you look more like a Reuben.
what a weekend!!!!
I was thinking the same thing, Ray !!!
Well there were a few guys that couldn't make it this year, so our Michigan cast of characters is a bit short. Also in camp was Ray and the two Mikes: Mike - Squirrel Bait, and Mike - MCNSC.
So the three of us Michiganders arrive and we do our normal drill: slow trip up and down all the roads checking all those easily accessible trees, wallows, and crossing points that Izzy mentioned. Some by memory and some by Doug's trusty GPS.
We quickly realize most of Rick and Doug's favorite spots aren't showing much for signs of movement. We go and look in on some secondary points and they aren't looking too busy either.
A little frustrated we took a trip down to Blue Lake to consult with the Lady of the Swamp.
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/RickAndLady.jpg)
With lots of water everywhere we had less land to hunt and bumper crops of mosquitoes and alligators. We had 3 of them around 10' in Blue Lake swimming around to get a better look at us while we were taking a few pictures.
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/BlueLakeGator1.jpg)
IF there was a low point in the weekend, it was realizing some of the old tricks weren't going to work and we'd need to shake things up a bit.
Thom
QuoteOriginally posted by Rick Butler:
Naw Thom you look more like a Reuben.
Whew, thanks for letting me know! I'd hate to be everything you'd expect from a guy named Remnar.
Thom
Now it should be said, I firmly believe there are resident hogs on every section of that property and there isn't a spot where you couldn't hook up with one. After the trip to Blue Lake Doug went deep into a pine thicket that showed ZERO sign on the surrounding roads and kicked up 3 of them at short range. We know it could happen anywhere, but wanting to really get into the thick of them meant we'd have to change our normal plans.
We sat on the porch a few minutes and reflected into some cool refreshing beverages. I thought hard about it, there was one section I knew about...
It's one I'd decided I'd have to give up on hunting because it's so hard to get too...
I spent months planning strategies and backup plans, and none of them included going back into that place again...
I thought about it some more, and finally I blurted it out "Hey Doug, remember that one spot we crossed paths last year way down on the river? How do you feel about taking a LONG walk?"
I saw a wince of pain in his eyes and I knew he knew exactly the place I was talking about.
Doug says "Yeah... I guess we better go look at that." We topped off on water and then grabbed a few more bottles as we hit the trail.
It's really too bad I'm not going to be able to finish this tonight.
Thom
Love these tales. Hog Heaven is a modern day Little Delta except with a whole lot more comforts of home. Ya just gotta get there at the very least once in a trad bowhunters lifetime.
Doh!!!!!!! The spirit of Charlie lamb once again causes gnashing of teeth!! Oh the inhumanity of it all
Ok I'll start..... Saturday evening hunt, Thom and I walking west of the bridge leading over into the Swamp. Just had rained everything real slick, walking real slow headed to Hawg Lake. Watching the road and peering down into the swamp. Almost immediately Thom motions to me, he see's pigs. Thom's on the near side I'm on the pigs side. I creep over to the swamps edge and put a slow stalk on. Stalking was great so quiet from the rain. I stalk closer Thom's carefully guiding me as I can't yet see them. Then I spot 2 coming my way. I'm nestled in good and tight hog # 1 comes around the curve I see it at about 20 yards. Winds not to the best to my advantage but it keeps coming, slowly I raise the bow, Thom has his binocs up and watching it all from maybe 40 yrd if even that. I got my Widow up arrow knocked, hog keeps coming 18, 15, 14, 12 finally I draw it comes to about 8 yrds my hearts ready to pop...... I don't like the angle gonna have to shoot through the front shield as it quarters at me then...... I PASS it winds me and is gone. The look on Thoms' face priceless. :biglaugh:
Thom you want the next one?
Is that spot up near Soadie ridge ? Or down by M-35 ? Youse guys didn't see a sighting. . didja ? Did someone bring da porshapine . . stuff ?
ChuckC
Oh good lord ! Get on with it !!! Heck I drove 900 miles,pampered the wife, killed pig ,dragged two, a skinned 2, before you can tell a story about walking down the road !
ChuckC, We did have a little Sweet Sap Whiskey!
:campfire: One of my favorite places on the planet! This is gonna gonna be great.
I'll do one version of the story just for Squirrel Bait: there it was, I shot it, it died, now I'm gonna eat it.
Doug, did watching you pass on the chip shot look something like this :scared: ??? I'll keep going on the Friday story, I'm thinking you got the Saturday one covered.
Thom
SSSqqquirel Bbbaaiitt don't get me flustered and make me stutter.
It was my first trip to HH. I have hunted hogs a little but it has mostly been finding a good looking area and baiting it with corn for a couple of days and then sitting in a tree stand. So this stalking was mostly new to me. The only pigs I saw I was working my way up a creek into the wind, the creek had split and I saw pigs coming down wind toward me it was a sow with piglets and another sow a little smaller. Had to get the binoculars up to identify which one was mama, didn't want to shoot mama. So, with mama identified I slowly crossed the first creek but the pigs had got ahead of me and were getting down wind. I backed out cut thru the woods and worked my way back toward the creek only to have the pigs beat me there. Again not wanting them to get down wind I back out again and cut thru the woods and head back to the creek. Same situation they got there right before I did. So I look down stream and see that the creek makes a bend thinking if I get around the bend I will be ahead of them I back out again. I stopped to see if I was far enough away from the creek and mama pig was giving me the stare down, then they spooked.
I did learn something from all that, pigs cover more ground than it seems.
"there it was, I shot it, it died, now I'm gonna eat it"
This made me spew coffee! The yin to Charlie Lamb's yang...ok, that sounds weird.
Pigs cover ground like turkeys it seems.....weird.
Ok, so Mike not only sent one of my arrows through a hog, but he killed it too? I'm smiling......
Friday continued:
The very first entrance point to get back into the spot I had in mind was completely underwater. I grabbed Rick and I showed him an alternate route through some rooting areas and funnels. It was really tore up, first really promising fresh sign we'd seen as of yet. We worked up what was always a dry creek in the past but now it was a sloppy muddy run about 80 yards long. Every square foot of it was torn up all the way to an old feeder field.
Coming up to the top of the run I caught a whiff of something and turned to Rick and pointed at my nose. He sniffed the wind and nodded in agreement, we were in pig country! We compared notes and agreed to try to sneak back out of there without disturbing any that might be very close by. I'd say it was about 3 steps later I crunched a branch under my foot and two shot out from under a bush about 10 yards from us :banghead: We moved back down to the logging road and took a few mental notes along the way of different rooting sites and active trails.
Rick had picked this as his first spot to start hunting, I planned to go all the way to the far end of the section, and Doug planned to hunt the section in between us as he'd covered the territory a few times in years past and was comfortable with the lay of the land. This might sound like we were kind of tight to each other, but the hogs seemed thick so the idea of hunting slowly and purposefully in a small area seemed to make sense to us.
With a new plan in hand and pigs sighted we headed back to camp to make preparations and let the place settle back down.
I hate to say this, I'll need to get some pictures together before I continue any further.
Thom
Congrats to you fellas! I couldn't think of more deserving individuals to take home the bacon from the SC swamp.
I'm surprised my wife didn't strangle me. Over the weekend she heard my ramblings:
"This is the weekend I was going to be hog hunting at Ray's."
"I'll bet there in the pigs thick now"
"I wonder how the weather is down there"
"I think they stuck one!"
Congrats again. Wish I could have made it. :(
-Dan
We missed you Dan. Hope all goes well with the new additions to the family !
Doug, I sent you a PM. I am thinking about making some of your frozen desert to take fishing this weekend. :thumbsup:
Thanks..
:thumbsup:
Mike, I sent you a pm on the slush.
MCNSC - when I read earlier that a Southern boy came and added some class, I was confused :confused: . I thought they were talkin' 'bout Squirrel Bait. Mike (Squirrelie) is full of somethin' but I don't think class is it :bigsmyl: !!
Sounds like a blast!! These trips will stick in your chest of memories forever! Where else, but Hog Heaven, can one find a sign stating "Do not sit on stove - HOT"
rbcorbitt- You hit it on the head about Squirrel Bait, that's for sure!
Hey Hey....he resembles that remark!!
Friday story continues:
It was actually on Thursday while Ray was unpacking his car that he reached in and pulled out a really long package and carried it over and handed it to me. Yep, it's one of those magical moments that sometimes happens when some trad guys get together. It's my new-to-me Howard Hill Crocodile! 68" 73@28 and all honey colored osage. Man, what a beauty!
I had first seen it about 15 months ago at Hog Heaven being shot by Steve Angell. I shot this Croc and he shot my Northern Mist for a while and I uttered those words, you know the ones "If you ever decide to part with this bow you have to give me first chance at it!" Apparently that time had come and Ray offered to deliver it to me for Steve.
I strung it up and grabbed a couple Heritage 350 arrows and I started off shooting it as good as any other bow I own (or maybe even better.) I said something like "Geez I guess I'll just hunt with this one." Since Ray posted that I shot a pig with the HHA longbow he apparently overheard that comment. In fact I did stick with the BW PLV in the pictures for Friday's hunting excitement.
Since the pictures and previous posts won't match up, I thought it would be best to clear that up before continuing on with the good stuff!
Thom
Friday continued (for real this time)
I busted into the nastiest part of the swamp I thought I could navigate heading towards the river. I worked around the standing water the best I could and used the wind to my advantage as possible. Very slowly I crept through the swamp trying to spend more time glassing than walking.
I tried to get as far away from all the roads as I could. I kept coming across fresh beds and fresh rooting, but it took almost a full hour before I about stepped on one little pig and watched it blow out of a brush while I fumbled with my arrows and quiver. A little frustrated and a lot excited I continued on.
My heart was still beating pretty good from a very close encounter when I looked down right next to my foot and noticed this little guy
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/Copperhead640.jpg)
By "little guy" I mean not little at all. My hands were shaking so hard I couldn't take a better picture than this (and I wasn't about to use anything but the strongest zoom I had.)
If my heart was pounding before I was working double time after this. I hate being inside strike distance with snakes, doubly true about copperheads.
I really needed to calm down, sit down, and relax for a few minutes to regain my composure but my skin was crawling and I wanted to get far away from that snake.
I SLOWLY continued forward to a bluff that would look out over the river. This little section was a nice high spot with some low grass and large diameter trees that was more akin to a park than the swamp I just saw the snake in. I thought it might do some good to clear my head and calm down a little. Little did I know it was just about to get far more tense...
Thom
I think I know the "Park" your referring to. I believe I came across the same one and wished it was squirrel season, as there were squirrels EVERYWHERE.
I know Mike, way to sunny and nice to find a stinky wild pig there right??? :saywhat:
I'm glad to know that:
- Andrew got his arabica nasal cleanse.
- Dan might be driving his wife crazy enough she might MAKE him come with us next time.
- Mike from SC will have a nice refreshing beverage to relax with on the lake next weekend.
- Everyone else has quirky and awesome HH memories like I do.
I've gotta have a phone call for work here, and then you gotta hear about this tree I saw with a little black tail sticking out of it.
Thom
Friday continued:
So I'm almost done with the spasms and twitching every few steps as I think back about that copperhead, just enjoying the first glimpses of the Savannah River between the trees when I realize that one tree about 40 yards away has a little black tail wagging out the left side of it. I stopped dead in my tracks, lifted my 6x binos and sure enough it was a little pig tail and there was clumps of dirt being thrown out past the right side of the tree's trunk. I had just checked the wind a few steps ago and it had me dead down wind from it, no better place to be but a couple steps to my right where I had the tiniest bit of light brush to break up my outline.
While I'm a novice at killing pigs, I do consider myself an expert at failing hog stalks. I started running through my checklist of all the ways I've blown situations like this in the past:
- is the wind good? Yes.
- do I have cover to break up my outline? Yes.
- did I put an arrow on my string? Whoops, ok good.
- now that I've found the pig I want to shoot, have I found the one that is going to bust me out? Nope. Time to start looking.
I only have 40 yards to the pig and I'd like to cover about half of that or even a little more if possible. Knowing it's the one you don't see that ends your stalk prematurely I start glassing hard and that's when I see her eyes. I know she was at 6x magnification, but that just makes her look 6 times bigger. I'm not sure why she looked 6 times meaner than any pig I've ever seen before.
She broke free and started running straight at me. As she crossed behind a big tree at about 30 yards I dropped my binos and grabbed my string and raised my bow up to meet her. She crossed behind a bush at about 20 yards and I started pulling back on the string a little. Not sure what the next few seconds would bring I was either going to blow the shoot by making too much movement, or I would be unprepared if I needed to shoot in self defense! Either way, it was a really uneasy feeling in my gut.
As she came into the bush I was using for cover at about 10 yards I pulled my 64# widow to full draw and prayed for a usable shot to present itself. My movement brought her to a dead stop at 8 yards staring straight back into my eyes. We both stood there staring directly at each other, neither of us moving. All I could see was her head facing straight at me. All I could do was try to hold my anchor and wait for something to change for the better. I had a few seconds to question if I'd need to take a shot I didn't want to take if she kept coming at me. One of those questions you don't want to ask yourself, but when you see those little tusks sticking out and you know you are standing right on the trail the critter is probably going to go down. Well, you get the picture. About the time my muscles just started to shake she must have figured I was just a big goofy looking tree wearing glasses. She casually tossed her head back and began to turn and trot back toward the way from which she came.
I heard a voice in my head and it said one word loudly and clearly: "shoot"
I don't remember releasing the string, and I can't recall seeing the arrow in flight. I do remember the next sound not being a voice in my head but rather a loud whack followed by an enormous squeal!!! 775 grains of arrow had hit her with authority! I saw my lime fletchings barely sticking out of her side, I believed the tip of my TuffHead to be pointing directly towards her opposite front shoulder. I watched those feathers disappear though the brush and down into the thicket below.
Time to go back to camp and get a little help...
Thom
I got back to camp, messed with Ray and Squirrel Bait for a while then let them know I was going to need some help finding a lost arrow. Apparently I'm not nearly as funny as I thought I was, and they clicked into get-the-pig mode. In a flash there was a frenzy of knife grabbing, boots flying, and the Gator getting loaded up with all different sorts of ropes, etc. It felt like 30 seconds later those two were in the Gator looking at me like "are you coming or what?"
We got back to the scene of the crime and I showed them my markers for my shot location and where I saw the pig when I hit it. Those guys started searching hard for blood... and not finding any. They started going out in bigger and bigger circles and asking questions like "are you sure you hit a pig?" OK maybe not quite that bad, but it felt pretty disappointing to not have a good blood trail for all that I thought I hit it with.
About this time Doug walks up and starts to look too. He'd heard the Gator and walked in to find us and help, talk about a top notch fella.
Finally after opening up the search circle about 20 yards Squirrel Bait found this:
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/FirstDrop640.jpg)
At first a little drop, a little smear, a few drops over there, and eventually a red highway that lead up to a dead pig. Squirrel Bait was so kind as to say "even you could have followed that blood trail once it got started." Coming from Mike that brought a tear to my eye :laughing:
Without further ado, here is my first pig
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/sticksnstones640x640.jpg)
Thom
Awesome Thom. The smile says it all.
Very cool Thom!! That hog is as jet black as any I've ever seen! Did you ever find your arrow?
QuoteOriginally posted by Flingblade:
Very cool Thom!! That hog is as jet black as any I've ever seen! Did you ever find your arrow?
Yep, it was easy to find buried half way through the body (from the last rib on the left side up into the right shoulder) :bigsmyl:
On the far right
(http://thomjorgensen.com/bows/EWC2013/EWC2013arrows640.jpg)
Thom
Congrats on your pig Thom :thumbsup: looks like you were impressed with the TuffHeads I showed you at the HH hunt.... :campfire:
Great story Thom, exciting to read even knowing the story.
Doug. For some reason I haven't got your PM.
Mike PM sent.
So yesterday was my tease, here is my kill story.
Thom and I had hunted the edge of the swamp by following the road back into Hog Lake. After we crossed the Bridge we started into hogs. We ran into a number of hogs.. no luck. Once at Hog Lake it started to pour rain again. We started a quick walk back toward camp. I told Thom I thought the storm might pass. As we walked further we stopped under some trees and took shelter. Slowly the rain subsided.
At that point we figured the hogs might be coming back out onto the road.As we neared the bridge again, here they came, Thom was on the north side I was on the south. We both stepped into the brush
3 hogs came into view. Two were closing in at a quick pace, my side, I waited when the one got to about 14 yrd I took my shot. Hit him a little high, he squealed, spun buckled a bit then took of running straight towards Thom. Thom took a quick shot and just missed, it ran into the woods and went down about 40 yrds into the woods. We waited a bit, not wanting him to get up and take off as it was getting dark. With our lamps on we went in he was still no movement for about 15 minutes from the pig. As we approached he stood up, we both got a shot into him and I got my first pig.
Mine was the smallest of the weekend, but it was still my first pig, my second kill with a bow and the first time hunting with someone right there to
watch the whole thing unfold. I think Thom was just as excited as I was.
Fellows. You are truly blessed to celebrate the big finale of Ray Hammond's Hog Heaven! You all went out with a bang!
Here's to future stories from Wild Things under Andrew's guidance :thumbsup: !!
Thanks, Big Ray, for all the memories - looking forward to hearing of more of your escapades!
Excellent job guy's and congrats on the great hunt. :campfire:
:clapper:
Great Story Telling guys. Congrats!
Awesome hunt. felt likei was there too!
Thanks
Thanks for posting the Squirrel Bait version Doug, but how about the rest of the story??? :readit:
Thom
:clapper: Good hunting!
Congrats Doug! Thanks for sharing the exciting story and pics guys! Enjoy the BBQ!!
Thom, I told my wife about you forgetting my GPS for me, and that I smacked you upside the head for allowing me to forget it after telling you specifically not to let me forget it. :bigsmyl:
Congrats! Great stories and pics! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
This was just an incredible weekend! Well done Doug and Thom! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Cool place to chase pigs. I will never forget my hunt. Congrat's on your pigs.
Thom, why is there 3 muddy arrow???
Some great stories here. I love it!
QuoteOriginally posted by South MS Bowhunter:
Thom, why is there 3 muddy arrow???
Two bloody, only one muddy... And let's not talk about that muddy one :banghead:
Blaine, sorry I missed your comment. Yes I'm VERY happy with the TuffHeads! I had two bows setup with 225s and one set for another bow in the new 190s. All of them are top notch!
Thom