A good day in the swamp

[Bigfatts]

My brothers and I hunt on public land (the Green Swamp) that has very high hunting pressure. Deer are few and far between, shooters even less so. Most days hunting equate to a nature hike. The hogs are plentiful and my preferred game. But they're wily and take to the thick cypress bogs during the day.

Yesterday I was skirting a cypress head and heard a lone grunt so I went to investigate. I found an old Primos hog grunt in my pack I bought years ago and decided to see how it worked. Well in the cypress head was a sow and 5 or 6 20lb-ish shoats. Using the grunt to cover my slogging through the cypress I was able to get within 20 feet of them, this thing works! I backed off and exited the cypress head- I knew they wouldn't leave unless I pushed them out. So I ran back and got my brother (he's never shot a hog) and brought him back. I sent him in after the sow and I stayed out. About 10 minutes later I hear a crash and the sow barrels out of the bushes about 10 feet in front of me. She saw me and turned to skirt the bushes. She gave me a clean beoadside as she went to cross the trail I was on and a 150gr Federal Powershock put her on the ground. I figure she was about 100 lbs. nothing spectacular, but the last couple seasons have been kind of dry for me.

 

[hunterjrg]

Perfect eating size. Enjoy!!

 

[kyturkey]

Congrats on the hog, any success on public ground is good.

Green Swamp WMA in Florida? If so I went turkey hunting there several years ago, heard turkeys a couple mornings but never managed to connect on one.

 

[bored2deth]

Good job!! Wild pigs (and coyotes) cause people like myself a hell of alot of trouble. Please, kill some more of them. Bristley-haired pests. :-D

 

[Bigfatts]

Congrats on the hog, any success on public ground is good.

Green Swamp WMA in Florida? If so I went turkey hunting there several years ago, heard turkeys a couple mornings but never managed to connect on one.

Yes sir. I've never gone out for turkey season though I have seen oodles of the critters out there. My main hunting is divided between squirrel and hog, never seen a deer out there worth shooting.

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Too bad you could not nail a couple of the shoats as well........perfect size for whole roasting on a regular sized rotisserie on the bbq.

 

[Bigfatts]

Too bad you could not nail a couple of the shoats as well........perfect size for whole roasting on a regular sized rotisserie on the bbq.

I probably could have. But for those I prefer a .22 , .30-06 would leave a lot of mess and a little meat.

Took these last year with a Marlin 60 and some Stingers. Ran up on the shoats but no mama. Dropped 1 at the first shot and 2 more after about 10 of them scattered. 1 shot each. We were out squirrel hunting. Those Stingers mean business.

 

[fishshooter]

^^^^That's some good eating right there!