Ok fellas.  The weekend is over and the story time clock is ticking...  

Good luck...Can't wait to see the pics, and hear the story

Come on.  Inquiring minds want to know.

Give them a few days; they are probably going through car-lag!   8^).

I bet they had trouble on the roads...they were closing the interstate directly behind me on the way back to Atlanta yesterday afternoon!

I'll let the guys tell the stories...there was definitely some "girly-man" screaming, some gnashing of teeth, and some poopy britches in the darkness!

Not to mention the worst weather in the last year!

What a great bunch of guys!

What an excellant weekend we had!

Friday started out in the 70's and sunny! Ray pointed across the road to the 15' high pine patch and said "Go get 'em". We waded right in and quickly found sign, lots of sign. It looked like a thousand rototillers were played tag in there! We had trouble being quiet with crunchy footing and lots of briars. We each eventually worked our way out without seeing any hogs. Toward evening some of the guys had a group come out between them and things got pretty exciting! No shots taken but we were figuring them out.

Then it started raining, then it started pouring, then it REALLY opened up! We dodged thunderstorms all day Saturday. We would get soaked, go back for dry clothes and head back out. During one of the storms Ray took us out for a tour of the property. Some of the areas had a "Jurasic" feel with big cypris trees, swamps, and spanish moss. What a neat place! And there were turkeys everywhere! You turkey hunters are going to have a blast! Saturday evening I had a pretty good thrill as I walked back in the dark. A hog left out a blood curdling squeal just ahead of me! I was sure I was about to be eaten alive! I about soiled my tights! LOL

We had one of Ray's famous steak dinners out on the deck with the rain pattering off the tin roof. We laughed so hard it was hard to eat! Ray's stories mixed with some of our own lame jokes had us holding our sides! What a meal! If he wasn't so ugly, Ray would make someone a great wife!

Sunday morning brought more rain. Some went in search of arrow heads brought up by the rain. Another enjoyed the rain and sipped coffee. I still had not seen a hog so I layered what little dry clothes I had left and went out. Ray took me in to a likely looking spot but no fresh sign. More turkey sightings around every bend and then back to the camp.

I was determined to at least see a hog so I went back out for one last try. I just got around the first corner of the pine patch and here comes a small meat hog right at me! Of course I had the bow in the wrong hand and no arrow nocked. The pig was long gone 'til I loaded up. Crap! I didn't go 40yd further and I heard a grunt and a splash not more than 20yd from me in the briars. After a 5min. standoff I took one very slow step and a large hog blew out from behind the cover. Wow! So that's what they look like! I was impressed!

The formerly dry path now had 6-8" of water on it. Everything was flooded, really had an eerie feel to the place. Cool!

In the end, we went home without a firing shot, but what we gained was unmeasurable. We bonded our friendships, learned something about southern hospitality, got quite an education on everything from hogs to politics, and we made a new friend.

The trip home was pretty bad in places. We were in the snow storm until we hit WV. Driving in snow is routine for us but dozens of wrecks on all sides made the trip kinda hairy. We all made it back to PA in one piece. I stepped up on the porch and saw it was only 10 degees, Home Sweet Home!

We are already planning our next trip.

We will never forget our weekend at Ray's!

Great isn't it?     I love those swamps. Just one of those places you've got to get back to.  Did you guys get any pics?

We're not really into photography. I took a camera but didn't want to get it wet. I never took it out. Maybe I can get someone here at work to help me post a group photo. I'm pretty disfunctional on a computer.  

I know it's important but I hate lugging camera's when I'm hunting. I carry too much "stuff" already.

Beastmaster pretty well summed it up a couple of post ago. Not much more to say except an heartfelt thank you to Ray.

Thank you sir! See you in the fall.

Bob "Still dryin' out in Pa" Hildenbrand

The GANGSTA'S, sho you right!

Thanks for posting the pic Ray.

From left to right it's: Me, Bob, Tim, and Greg. We are Team Hawg Hauling!

We're smiling because we survived two nights in the swamp without incident and we just finished making plans for the return trip!