I just walked in the door from a weekend long Hog Hunt in South/central Florida with a pretty reputable outfit. My friend Dax, his son Aidan and I decided to do a last minute winter hunt and called up some places. I told them we were primitive hunters and liked to do things on our own, camp, spot and stalk, etc. We finally settled on a hunt that seemed to best fit our needs. Free ranging pigs were a top priority. Non of us wanted to hunt hungry,penned in pigs. Dax's son was out after his first bow kill and I was out to get a decent pig with a stone point (as usual). Nothing huge, just wanted a meat hog. I am not really much of a feeder type hunter, but this place was primarily run off feeders. We were however given the opportunity to get down at our own free will to spot and stalk if we so chose, so that was my main plan. Upon arriving we found out that there were a large group of bowhunters and we were assigned one stand location for the whole weekend. Although I don't do much feeder hunting, I do know enough that once your stand has been scented by humans, the chances of getting one past the first day gets significantly slimmer. I decided that I should play it safe and hunt the given tree stand and feeder for the first evening and then Spot and stalk the rest of the weekend. (turns out my feeder didn't actually go off all weekend, but it didn't really hurt my feelings since I didn't really want to baby sit a feeder anyhow.) After settling in, 4 hogs meandered through the palmettos and came in under me snooping around. There was no corn on the ground and they scooted off. It ended up giving me more reasons that I just don't care for hunting feeders! Eventually they started hanging around closer and closer. A Boar made the mistake of stepping out of the palmettos at 12 or 13 yards, just long enough for me to ID it as a boar and send a stone point through the lungs. 40 yards later down the blood trail I found my Boar. roughly 125 pounds. He was good and stocky, a little bigger than the pictures really even represent since I was snuggled up close to him. I didn't want to be accused of sitting 5 yards behind him!..lol I shot him quartering away with my Grey Dogwood Bow and a Keokuk Chert stone point. The point cut through the 3/4 - 1 inch thick shield and through both lungs. The point lodged tight in the opposite shoulder cutting tendons and doing some bone damage. The point (compared with a similar un-used point)didn't fair to well against the bone. It broke off both "ears" of the point and sheared off all the serrations from one side. Not a problem however, since it did all the vital damage before finding the opposite shoulder. Despite having only one hole, I had lots of great blood to follow until the blood started to run out, but only 15 yards ahead he laid still. I wasn't crazy about shooting one under a feeder. I like to do it on the pigs terms most of the time. I was however very relieved by the end of the trip that I sat in the stand the first evening since my worry about scent contaminating the area kept anymore Boars from visiting my assigned area during daylight hours. Although I still hunted the remainder of the weekend, I kept and eye under the feeder, but no one showed up except for a nursing sow who I became friends with after saving her and her piglets from a pair of dogs a poacher turned loose Saturday morning. Other than the hunt itself, Dax, Aidan and I had a great weekend, camping and cutting up pigs. When Dax get's home I will leave his side of the story up to him. I am typically not a fan of paid hunts or guided hunts, but sometimes you just have to get away with some good friends for a weekend. Despite the slightly "canned hunt" feel, it was otherwise an exceptionally fun trip. After talking to the owner a while and him getting a feel for the type of people we are, he offered to work us out a deal for only a few hunters instead of a full house of 16. This way we could have the run of the whole property and be able to hunt different pigs every day, increasing our odds against pigs on the ground without running them all out....Now we are talking my speed!
