As the title denotes this a two part story. In part one I hunt in the Famous Palmetto Patch and in the second part I get taken to the swamp, literally!
A couple of years ago I was introduced to Bow Hunting by Glen, who over the years has become a very close friend. Glen had permission to hunt a small patch of land near Fort Myers. The owners grew Hay and the pigs were a problem. He hunted in the adjoining woods and their was quite a bit of game for an area that was bordered by development on three sides.
He had a feeder set up and was seeing a fair amount of action. We patterned the pigs that were coming just before dark almost every day. So one Saturday evening I climbed into the downwind stand, Glen was on the ground nearby and we waited. Like clockwork a half hour before sunset a group of pigs popped out of the palmettos upwind and started heading for the corn.
The biggest in the group was a sow we both new well. She was way to cautious and had busted us several times. About twenty yards from the feeder see stopped dead in her tracks and stuck her nose in the air. Busted! She saw Glen on the ground but couldn't figure out what he was. She paced back and forth and sniffed and snorted but would not take single step closer. Frozen in place we waited and waited. Finally she grunted and headed off into the Palmettos with the heard in tow.
From my birds eye view I could see the branches shaking as they left. Only they didn't leave. They were flanking the clearing and heading towards me on the downwind side. I stood silently for ten minutes watching their progression through Palmettos getting closer and closer to my stand. After what seemed like an eternity she stepped into a tiny clearing around the base of a big pine. She stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. This pig was hungry but smart. The little clearing was twenty feet from the feeder on the downwind side. She was trying to get behind what she saw but slightly misjudged.
The little clearing was ten feet from the base of my stand! I had a clear broadside shot and let the arrow fly. At that second she moved! I hit her solid from almost directly above her backbone but further back than I would have liked. She let out a scream and pigs went in every direction. I did my best to watch where she went but with pigs and palmetto fronds flying in every direction and I lost her pretty quick. I got out of the stand and told Glen what happened, from the ground he couldn't see any of it. So now we have to track this pig. Did I mention I shot her just before dark? And did I mention it was summer?
So after a short wait we started tracking. Blood trailing in the Palmettos is by far the hardest tracking you will ever do. Little trails run in every direction and it quickly had us running in circles. We regrouped and got back on the right trail which took us into the "old growth" palmettos. Old growth are palmettos that have not burned in decades. They have large interlocking trunks that form trails perfect for pigs, not humans. Actually they are tunnels, you can't stand up so you have to track on your hands and knees. Crawling inch by inch through decades of rotting vegetation pig crap and natures creepiest bugs.
It's like some bad horror movie, you know that one where you just know the creature is going to get them if they go in. But in they go anyway, never to be heard from again. Well in we went. Glen and myself crawling in the dark, can't stand, can't turn around. Armed with a flashlight and a pocket knife. I don't know which is worse. The creepy crawlers that never see the light of day or knowing that at any minute that hog could charge you from the darkness and there is nothing on earth you can do to protect yourself. Not to mention that rattlesnakes love to hide in areas like this and you are equally helpless to a snake attack.
For a solid hour and a half we crawled through endless tunnels in the dark following spots of blood. Dodging spiders and mosquitoes and a hundred different insects I cant even identify. You begin to ask yourself is it worth it? Am I going to die in here? Will we ever find our way out again? How far have we gone and in which direction? All this to retrieve a pig.
We crawled for what seemed like a mile but in reality it was less than a hundred yards, much less. After what seemed like an eternity we emerged from the tunnels and could actually stand. The blood trail went through some open areas and then turned onto what appeared to be a well worn trail. We lost the blood but were able to find drag marks on the ground and broken spider webs to determine direction. And suddenly the trail ended and a big dead hog was laying right in front of us!
It was a wonderful feeling to find her. You would think we just found some giant Elk or something the way I cheered, more from relief that our hard work had been rewarded than finding an old dead sow! But I was so proud, she was my first kill with a bow and I will never forget it.
Now you think that would be the end wouldn't you? Remember we crawled on our hands and knees and sometimes on our bellies for an hour and a half. We now have to get out of the woods, only we have no idea where we are. We changed direction so many times you couldn't keep track so which way is out?
I mentioned we appeared to be on a trail. So I walked about twenty feet past the pig and there was a fence. The trail went under it. I thought for a minute, and realized what had happened and where we actually were. You know that feeling you get when you know you've been taken for a ride. Well I had it bad, I had to laugh to keep from crying. I grabbed a leg and Glen grabbed the other. We turned around drug the pig twenty yards up the trail, turned right drug her another twenty yards and there we were, standing at the feeder. Thirty freakin' seconds from were we started!
This old sow ran in circles and took us through the worst possible place on earth just to die in the middle of a trail less than a minutes walk from where I stuck an arrow in her!
But in the end, I got the pig!
