A Hog Wild Hunt Plus Snow

As soon as we pulled up in our truck there was a 170 pound hog hanging on the pole already. Tyler has shot the first hog at the very "First Annual Hog Hunt". It seems that Hershel, Rex's dad, and Tyler were riding in the gator around by the lake area and saw the hog and was a good thing he had brought his gun along with him. Tyler said he managed to drag the big hog out by himself. It was the beginning of a fun weekend which ended with snow on the grounds at the Christmas Place Sunday morning.

Tyler and Rex getting ready to gut the hog.

Sitting around the table talking about the hog hunt Friday evening. Left to right, Bob, Denise, Kyle, Kim, Chris, Rena (Chris's Mom), Hershel and Trigger.

Saturday morning Paul took us to the Game Warden's stand and as you look far out in front of the stand you are looking onto a wildlife refuge beyond the brush/tree area. Paul said that you need a permit to hunt it. Bob and I saw 20 deer walk out that morning and three more walked out where we were hunting to the right of the stand.

It was unreal. Did not see a hog. On the afternoon hunt we wanted to go back to the same stand and saw 20 more deer on the game refuge. There was a dozen in one pack...they were running and jumping all over the place. No deer came out in our field. Then about 3:40 shots started going off and around 4:00 I saw this big fat black hog to the right running in front of our stand in and out between the brush/tree line. I tried so hard to get the hog in my scope. Bob had his gun up and shot at it before it veered off to the left and went into the woods. At least we saw one hog and it was running so fast. This hog must have weighed at least 200 lbs. When Rex and two other hunters came to pick us up they checked out the area but found nothing in the woods. It was fun to see one hog in the wild. Had seen one before while riding on the 4-wheelers last year by the corn field. When we got back to the camp their were 5 hogs hanging on the pole. It was awesome. I was so happy for all the hunters and for Kim who harvested her first hog. Burney cooked up some smoked hog with baked beans and we had Hershel's delicious Idaho salad. It was Spencer's birthday and we had two cakes to celebrate. The hogs were gutted and left to hang overnight since it was so cold and when we got up the next morning snow was everywhere even on the hogs! We had one last hog hunt which was a drive and Bob and I hunted out of our truck near an opened field down from the camp and saw no hogs but five more deer. Little Katie and Zoey hunted with us and was on lookout using our binoculars. So altogether we saw 48 deer in all. A great weekend to meet new folks and to enjoy being with the Howell family/friends again in the great wild outdoors at the famous Christmas Place Plantation and Hunting Club. Charming, Just Charming!

(I will post more pictures tomorrow of the hog hunt, deer and pictures taken at the camp)