My first hog hunt was truly a day I will never forget. It was Saturday January
17, 2009 and, according to The Weather Channel, the coldest it’s been in our
area in three years. We were camping on the Altamaha River with a group of
friends. I was wearing several layers of clothing, but it was still very cold.
My husband and I walked for a couple of hours in the morning and only saw one
raccoon although we saw lots of sign that hogs were in the area. So we returned
to camp to grab a bite to eat and gather firewood for the night before returning
for the afternoon hunt.
Later
that afternoon our friend Matt took us back to the hill we were hunting and we
started walking again. The mud was pretty deep and it was quite a workout.
Thankfully I had bought a new pair of Muck boots especially for this trip. After
about an hour and a half we decided we would rest on a fallen tree and wait for
a while. You could tell hogs had definitely been there.
We turned to the left to walk to the fallen tree and heard something coming from
behind us. I turned to look and there he was. I told Jason, “Oh wow! He’s huge!”
I got into position by propping up against a tree and said “Tell me when.” He
said “Shoot him!” BANG!!! I had him! My first hog! I was so excited as I watched
him fall in his tracks. We went over to take a look and the hog got up, ran into
a tree, then turned and ran straight for Jason. He fired off several shots from
his handgun before he finally hit him dropping him again.
My excitement overwhelmed me! We estimated that he weighed around 200 pounds and
he had an awesome set of cutters. I couldn’t wait to get back to camp to tell
all the guys about my hunt! It was around 5:00 pm when I shot and Matt was not
supposed to return until dark to pick us up. So we walked back to the bank of
the river and waited. At around 6:15 pm we could hear the boat coming down the
river. It seemed like we were waiting on the bank forever!
Matt didn’t believe me when I first told him my story. But Jason was there as my
witness and the three of us went back to where my hog was to bring him to the
boat. It was almost a mile through the woods. We were exhausted when we finally
got him out of there but it was well worth it. The guys at the camp were all
impressed by the only girl on the hill. I guess I had to show them how to bring
home the bacon!!!
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