Congrats!

congrats!
Cant wait to hear how it went.

Dalton is on the road. He will tell the tale when he gets home.

Jim,

I promise     , I'm going sit that stand on the trip down in '15!!

Way to go Dalton!

Thanks for the kind words fellas, and for the patience. We had to come home yesterday as my friend cory had to be at work at 5 on Friday. Had an incredible time though, and hope you enjoy them! I will start with the first night. (monday night)

Jim picked us up at our hotel (Motel 6) about 6pm. We had just arrived, and though tired, were incredibly excited about the week to come. He took us out to the Kelly Rd property and Jim put me in the farthest stand for the first evening sit. If you get the chance, BEG Jim to sit this stand, multiple pigs every sit!

As a beautiful sunset painted the Florida skyline, i couldnt help but grin. I knew what was going to happe as dark arrived. I was not disapointed.

To my south i hear the unmistakable sound of hogs running through water. As my heart beat out of my chest i quickly stood, and got my Omega ready to roll. As the hogs appear to my left, i hit the record button on the camera, shift my feet, and prepare for the coming oppertunity.

As they raced into the corn, i saw that it was 4 small pigs (25lbs), 3 black and 1 smoke-grey and brown. I didnt realize it at the time, but it was getting really dark, the only one i could see well enough to shoot was the smoke one, the black ones i couldnt pick a spot.

They quickly began to vaccum up the corn, and as the grey one finally turned a bit i saw my oppertunity.

I picked a spot, hit full draw, double anchor just like the great Terry Green recommends, and droppped the string.

To my amazement, the lighted nock flew just under its chest. Dangit Bobby!!!! missed him. I coulnt believe it!! They retreated where the came from, (after trying to come back in several times) and i just grinned. I knew this was going to be a great week.

More in a bit!

The next morning we headed over to the Dead Horse. I was really excited, as we have had some good days on this ranch in the past. I sat the Woods stand, but unfortunatly 4 tractors came in to bush hog the feilds, so they pretty well shut me down for the morning. My buddy, Cory saw several but couldnt get a shot.

A storm rolled in midday, and cooled it off quite abit. With the temperature, so to dropped the hog action, and no hogs were spotted that evening. I wasnt too concerned, im a pretty confident guy

 

The next morning was a different story. It heated up for sure!

We went to a farm i had never been on, to the south. Jim dropped me off at a blind in a swamp that morning, the spot was looking great,until Jim discovered that those pesky coons had completely emptied the feeder by spinning the tray. A plan was made to still hunt shortly after daylight, and Jim and his son, Nick, headed to check another spot.

I really enjoyed stalking that swamp, It was beautiful!

I exited the swamp and decided it would be a good time to head back towards the meeting place. Plenty of tracks were seen on the road, and i still had a huge grin on my face. You cant beat hog hunting!

As i headed back towards vehicle, some brown in a feild caught my attention. At first i thought it was hogs, but as i got closer, i realized it was deer. Which really stunk. Mainly because deer season in the Fla southern zone started the next day    

I saw the way they were headed, and headed that way. They came all the way to about 30 yds before feeding the other direction, that was when Jim arrived, and he was on the other side of them so you can guess what happened next.

Yep, they walked by at 15 yds, no clue i was on earth. Heres proof:



Just my luck!!

Jim and I laughed, and found out he was filming the whole thing! (I drew back like 3 times)

On the way out, we drove by an abandoned grove. To my suprise, there was a hoss out rooting in it! Game on!

We scrambled, and before long, Jim, Nick, and I were heading after it with bad intentions.

I never realized how fast a dern hog moved around. It took all i had to get around on it, walking through thigh-high water in the tree rows. FINALLY, its at 20 yards, two ditches away.

At this point, i really thought i had it in the bag. While he was rooting in the ditch with its head down, i was going to pop up, 10 yds away, and rock his world. Yea that was a nice dream.

He hung a left at the worse possible time, right when i was crossing the little ridge, and wide out in the open. He locked on me, and at about 22 yds i thought its now or never. I drew and shot, and once again, right under its chest. Strike 2!

Going out to glass some feilds for deer this evening. More tonight when i get back!

I couldnt believe it. But we had a ball, and when it comes down to it, thats what we were after anyway.


At this point, Cory and i decided that our best chance was to put all of our eggs in 2 baskets. I would pick a stand, and he would pick one, we would load the both down with corn and sit the next 3 sits.

That was the ticket.

After a nice nap, and a trip to tractor supply for a couple bags of corn, i found myself sitting one again in the far stand at Kelly Rd.

I was extremely excited, as the corn i had put out monday evening was wiped out, and the feeder was obviously working because there was a little on the ground below it. I sat back, enjoyed the view and may or may not have engraved my initials in the bark while waiting. (I plead the 5th)

 

As it got dark i couldnt help but have butterflies in my belly. I knew what was going to be hearing shortly. Sure enough, shortly there after, i heard a pig sloshing its way through the water headed for the corn.

I stood up, got ready,, i was sure a shot was imminate.

Thought, being the key word there. That pig circled the feeder about 3 times. He never came on my side of it, or i would have stuck him however. He eventually started working toward the feeder heading under the fence.

Just as i thought the fat lady was warming up on this ol pig, a group full of teenagers in a convertable it sounded like, decided it would be a good time to ride up Kelly Rd screamig and laughing. Yea, just my luck. Well in FLA, it is so flat, and sound carries forever. That jumpy pig couldnt handle it, and headed back for cover. Dangit Bobby!

Keep this story in mind however, When you hunt down here, remember that your noise carries just as much. Slamming doors, gates and talking while walking in will lead to the same result-Tag sammich.

So there i sat, dejected, thinking those dummies had ruined it for me. And just like that, out of the blue, i saw a good sized black thing heading into the feeder from my left.

GAME ON.

You know those dream situations? like where the deer or pig does exactly what you need it to do? Like its just fate. Well this was it.

When i got in, i had thrown a bag of corn at like 7 yds, hopin that one would work that way, never dreaming it would work-it worked.

He went right to it, and slightly quartering away, he began to hammer my corn.

As he ground corn, i took a deep breath, gathered my self and picked a spot. I hit my double anchor, and let the string slip.

I drilled him. That new Omega buried that lighed nock deep in his chest, and i watched as he ran west for his attempted escape.

As i was shaking, i watched that nock run, pause, run pause, then the magic happened. Suddenly the nock stopped, swayed and disappeared, only to re-appear. Then down again for good. I was extremely excited, and immediatly thanked the good Lord for the oppertunity he had given me. My pig was down!

I was so excited. This was my 3rd trip to True South, and i had finally got a pig! Whoop!

I called cory and devised a plan. I forgot to bring a bag to pack out my pig so first thing i headed out (after excitedly calling Jim) and went to the flying J for ice and trash bags. I picked up cory on the way back, and we headed to find it.

It took a few passes to find him, because that grass was high, but before long i was looking at my first True South pig.

Next came the obligitory pics:

A few minutes later, i had him broken down and was packing out the meat, all the while fighting turkey sized skeeters! (no lie haha)

What a great night! Still grin when i look at that picture.

 

The next morning i elected not to hunt. Mostly because i thought my chances would be way better in the evening, and because i was pooped. (Not going to run from it lol) We had hunted hard so far, with no plans to let up.

That nap during the day on thursday was awesome. No pressure, no worries. Before i knew it i was pulling in at Kelly Rd again.

That walk in was made so much better when i got a call from cory, he had scored walking in!! No skunks! I wont post a pic of it, it was taken with a more sophisticated weapon with wheels and such, but none the less, we were pumped.

BTW, cory is taking extreme interest in trad, he shoots my bows more than his, and i cant pull them out of his hands. He is getting really good, and i plan on  trying to find him a starter bow on here pretty soon for him. Hopefully, next year when we return to TS, i can post he success pics on here!