The Citrus Opener Hog

I've hunted Chassahowitzka and Richloam during their archery seasons this year without much anticipation. But what I have really been excited about is the archery season of Citrus WMA. A few years ago I found a little honey hole at Citrus that is teeming with game and nearly void of other hunters. This year I went up early and put up trail cams and began tracking the game in the area. I have a few different bucks on camera and a bunch of big hogs. Many of these pictures are during daylight hours as well. That got me really excited!

Jonny's Citrus Archery Buck

Well the opening day for Citrus' archery season came Nov. 3rd and I was laid up in bed with a nasty virus: Fever, chills, sweats, swollen glands and extreme fatigue; I felt like garbage. Later in the morning I received a text from my brother Jonny that he had shot a buck that morning. That got me out of bed. I got my gear together, assured my wife that I would take it easy and hit the road. I thought Jonny was staying the whole day but as I was half-way there he called and said he was heading home. I would be in the woods sick and solo. I asked him if there was a crowd and he told me that there were just two guys at that area with longbows stalking around, not much competition. 

I arrived and decided to take my game cart with me to the stand just in case because I was too weak to make an extra trip back to the truck if I was to shoot something. I slowly made my way to one of my two stands and carefully climbed in. I made sure to bring along plenty of Tylenol and Ibuprofen because a steady cycle of these was the only thing keeping my fever under control. I attached my safety strap to the tree, put my bow on the bow hanger, hung up my pack and sat down.

In Life

No sooner had I settled into the stand when I heard something running through the woods behind me. I peaked over my left shoulder to see a large hog running zig-zags through the woods behind me. He would run about 20 yards, stop, and then run a little further before stopping again. I stood up and grabbed my bow. His next sprint brought him directly behind me. I had to do a spin around to the right side of the tree and then he stopped in an opening at about 30 yards. I drew my bow, lined him up between my 20 and 30 yard pins and released the arrow. I could see that I drilled him with a perfect quartering away shot that got plenty of penetration. I couldn't believe I shot a nice hog at 2:45 p.m. on Public Land. I wondered if one of those guys wandering around with longbows had jumped him out of his bed. 

In Death

I waited an hour and got down to look for him. It didn't take long to find a steady blood trail thanks to my T3 broadheads. He ran maybe 80 yards and piled up under a large palmetto. I retrieved my game cart and began gutting him where he lay to get rid of some weight for the long cart back to the truck. As I was field dressing him, three small pigs came walking right by me. I put my release on and knocked an arrow. I had a shot but decided to pass since I was feeling horrible and I already had my work cut out for me for the evening. 

I was sure relieved to finally see my 4Runner. There was only one other vehicle there, a young guy in a mini van who was just arriving for the evening hunt. He helped me lift the hog onto my hitch & hall and after stopping to fill the hog's cavity with ice I was back on the highway heading to St. Pete. I love driving through St. Pete with a large dead animal on my hitch & haul. You would think I just murdered someone and paraded their body through town judging by some of the looks I get. I called my wife and had her bring my kids to my parent's house where I hoisted the hog on my gambrel. After showing him off a bit I butchered him and put him on ice. After a hot shower I was back in bed with a fever. I continued to be sick for over a week. There's still another week and a half left for the archery season but I'm having a real tough time finding a day to get back. The last week of season I have my anniversary, Thanksgiving, my baby's birthday and my wife's birthday, all in one week! Even If I do find a morning to slip away I don't think I will have money left for the tolls.

Muzzle Loader Double

I haven't posted anything in a while but it hasn't been for lack of outdoor adventures. True, I haven't been hunting much lately, mostly just killing. This season has actually been ridiculously good so far. In this post I'm going to go back to the opening weekend of general gun season in Georgia.

Carey's 2010 Opener Buck

I brought a friend of mine, Carey, with me for the opener. The last time I brought him as a guest he killed a monster buck from my stand on opening morning; so his expectations were real high. We arrived to camp about Noon on Friday and since it was still muzzle loader season we sighted in our muzzle loaders for the evening hunt. I have an old in-line muzzle loader that was given me by a friend. The spring in the hammer is kind of worn out and usually the cap doesn't pop until the second try. I just haven't done enough muzzle loader hunting to justify buying a new one, yet.

Muzzle Loader Double

We headed to my lease and after dropping Carey off at my "five acre stand" I headed back to my "swamp stand" where I shot a doe the opening morning of archery. About 5 p.m. I heard a deer coming out of the thicket in front of me. It was a button buck that proceeded to pick up acorns right in front of my stand. I was sitting there watching him expecting his mommy to come out at any moment. After a few minutes it became obvious that he was by himself. The more I watched him the tastier he looked. At this property the land owner specifically told us he doesn't want us trophy hunting but to shoot as many deer as legally possible. Also, I had never shot anything with my muzzle loader. It didn't take too long to convince myself that I was going to put some tasty, tender meat in the freezer for the family. I lined him up, pulled the trigger and click; the cap didn't go off. I quickly pulled the hammer back again and gave it another try, "Kaboom!" He was down for the count.

Since it was so early I reloaded and remained in the stand. About 15 minutes later a nice fat doe came feeding her way in front of me. Once again I lined her up and click. She was smart enough to know that that sound wasn't normal. She retreated behind a tree and curiously stuck her neck out trying to see what was going on. Second try did the trick again and I made a perfect neck shot, dropping her in her tracks. I decided I better get down and start dragging before I was tempted to make the deer pile any higher.

As I began dragging them out along the creek I spooked another deer. It's a good little spot back there. I cleaned the button buck in the woods and put the doe on my hitch & haul. I'm not ashamed of shooting a small deer because my family eats venison instead of beef when I have it. We can easily eat six deer a year; but there are a lot of guys at our hunt club who don't even eat deer. When a small yearling is brought to the cleaning station it is sometimes met with curses muttered under their breath. They're hunting a different property with different rules. I'm hunting a small property that historically has had a much higher buck ratio to doe. There is very little hunting pressure on the surrounding properties and the reason the farmer leased us the property in the first place was to keep the deer population down. He's even got on us in years past because we didn't kill enough deer. Put all these factors together and I slept just fine after shooting that button buck. I slept even better after I experienced his back-straps on the grille. After all, on my Ga deer harvest record he's just another one of ten antlerless deer I'm allowed for the season.

Jacob's 2nd Seven Point Buck

After that first evening I didn't see another deer and Carey didn't see a thing the entire weekend. My brother Jacob however was hunting his big lease and put down two seven pointers and a doe. I was very happy for him because until that point he was just having to watch me haul deer back to camp. I've yet to kill a deer with my rifle this season but I have four in the freezer thanks to my bow and muzzle loader... stupid old muzzle loader, I think I might get a new one.