Finding Bedded Boars: In Unlikely Places

Chad with his first hog

I did another hog hunt at Cracker Heritage Hunting Preserve and it turned out to be a really fun hunt. I have a friend, Chad, who is a Pinellas County sheriff's deputy and also a S.W.A.T. team member who had never been hunting in Florida. After talking about taking him hunting for a while I finally pulled the trigger and scheduled a private land hog hunt. My goal was to put him on a hog and make sure he had a great time. We arrived at the ranch at 5:45 a.m. and Dennis took us to a spot he calls the Heifer Pasture and put us in stands overlooking corn feeders. It was cold and windy and I wasn't sure if the hogs would be moving. The plan was to sit for first light and if nothing happened, get down and stalk around together.

He brought his AR 15 and I brought my bow and my 30-06. After sitting for a little bit after 1st light I decided to get down and meet up with Chad to try to find the hogs. I have hunted this area many times and knew some spots where I had found bedded hogs before. The plan was to sneak through the swamps and try to either come on some bedded hogs unawares or spook them up and get them on their feet. After meeting up and stalking through the front swamp with no luck we headed to a thick ditch line in the back of the pasture. There was fresh hog sign everywhere so I was surprised we had not jumped a single hog. As we were stalking the ditch line I noticed a well used hog trail going out into the open pasture towards the corner of the field where there was no cover except for an old set of tractor discs overgrown with weeds. I wondered out loud, "Why would that trail be going out there?"

fat bar hog

I decided to investigate. As we neared the set of discs about 7 big hogs stood up and began running along the fence line. I felt like Troy from Swamp People as I shouted to Chad, "Shoot em!" After letting Chad shoot twice I picked out a big boar and dropped him in his tracks. "Which one did you shoot?" I asked. "The one that dropped." He replied. Oops, I shot the same one. I quickly picked out another big boar that was running full speed and led him with my scope. As I pulled the trigger he rolled to a halt. It was exciting! It was also the first thing I had taken this season with my rifle.

After congratulating Chad on his first hog, we took some pictures and called the rancher to pick us up. It was 8:30 a.m. and we had gotten the job done. They were both about 225 lbs. and had nice cutters. The only difference was that mine was a bar hog which usually means better eating. Lucky me!

This place gets a lot of pressure and the big boars don't get that way from coming to the feeders. These guys had survived other hunters by bedding in a spot that wasn't a usual suspect. If their trail hadn't given them away I would have never expected them to bed in the middle of a grass field under old farm equipment. I'm going to keep that spot in mind for next time though. Mature hogs get smart and the challenge of outsmarting one is what makes hunting them so much fun.

This was a great way to cap of my season and also my freezer. He was a big clean bar hog and I've have never seen so much fat on a wild hog. With four deer and two big hogs for the season I should be able to feed my family all year. I did make sure I left room on top of my freezer for a turkey or two though.

The Stolen Trail Camera

Citrus 5 point

My deer season started on the highest note possible; a doe and a buck opening week of archery in Ga, then two more antlerless deer during muzzleloader, not to mention a nice hog and a bobcat with my bow while deer hunting. But when I climbed a tree with a modern rifle, my luck fizzled out. I did three hunts in Ga without getting to fire my Savage 30-06 and decided to give it one last chance in Florida for the last day of general gun at Citrus WMA.

I brought my brother Buka who was in town from college for Christmas Break. We arrived at our spot nice and early and after taking Buka to a tree and leaving him with my climber stand I headed to my lock-on stand. I had a trail camera up near this stand during archery season and there was a nice 5 point buck that was frequenting the area. My nephew Noah had even missed him once from this stand during archery season. My hope was to finally catch him with a rifle and put one last deer in the freezer.

It was a beautiful cold morning as light began to dawn. Then through the trees I saw a flashlight shining. It soon disappeared and I thought maybe the guy would pass without disturbing me too much. About 7:30 a.m. the guy reappeared shining his flashlight in full morning light and came tromping through the brush right towards me. I began to whistle and it took him a while to figure out I wasn't a bird. He tromped off leaving me a bit aggravated.

I little while later a deer began blowing up wind from me. My morning was shot, thanks to a hunter that preferred to tromp through the woods at first light rather than get to his spot and sit tight. The joys of public land, but wait, they get better.

Dead headless buck

I climbed down and put up a trail camera with new batteries where I had it earlier during archery season. I wanted to see what bucks survived the season. Hopefully that 5 point had made it and would be on the hit list for next archery season. I then walked out to the trail to meet up with Buka for some lunch. On the trail I found a dead buck with only his head cut off. I was pretty sure it was the 5 point that lived in that area and that ticked me off to see it dead and wasted.

I met up with Buka and after eating lunch together I headed back to my stand. When I arrived I found my spot had been disturbed. Two scent pads that were hanging off branches were on the ground at the base of my stand and my trail camera was gone. I left it for a half an hour and it got swiped! I hurried back to the parking area to find a single green Ford pick-up truck. Near the truck was a towering man with broad shoulders and arms that stretched nearly down to the ground. He was wearing an army jacket and a camo hat that seemed to barely contain the crazy curly brown hair that protruded from beneath it. Wild blue eyes pierced out from his face that was smeared in camo paint. He looked like a bad guy off an A-Team episode, a worthy opponent for Mr. T.

I confronted him about the camera and of course he denied it, quickly citing the possibility of someone parking miles away on the other side of the property and coming to the front to steal my camera. There wasn't much I could do so I began walking back to the woods. On the way I met another hunter coming out. Trying to be more tactful I struck up a conversation with him. I learned that he had come with the guy in the green truck and I was even able to learn where they were hunting. Sure enough, the other guy was hunting down the trail I was at. He must have been the guy who walked up on me and then came back later to check out my set-up, finding my trail camera and helping himself to it.

That pretty much ruined my day. I went back and moved my stand before he came back and swiped that too. The ironic thing is that I recognized the guy from my neighborhood back here in St. Pete. He's a regular at Biff Burger. I've had thoughts of showing up at his house with my iphone's map app and telling him that I have GPS chips in my trail cameras and I traced it back to his place. "Give me the camera or I'll call the cops." He looked like the kind of guy who would believe such a story. He also looks like the kind of guy who might just shoot me and throw my body behind Biff Burger.

Oh well, it's just about $90.00 in camera, batteries and SD card. I have two more cameras anyways. Hopefully he'll figure the camera out and get some enjoyment from it. Before I see him at Citrus again and follow him to his spot and ... well it would be a fun topic to think about while I'm passing time in the tree stand. Forgive and forget, that's the right thing to do, Lord help me.

Hunting can be such a fun, challenging and natural experience until some bonehead comes by and you find yourself facing the problems you went to the woods to escape, namely stupid people. But hey, now I'm just whining. All in all I had a great deer season and I am already looking forward to next Fall. For now I must turn my attention to hog and small game, then comes turkey season, "Gobble, gobble, gobble!"