South Carolina Hogs

Went to a plantation northwest of Hilton Head along the Savannah River that had about 5,000 leased acres. It was a deer/hog hunt for five days. I saw some small bucks and does (minimum buck has to be an eight or better) and a bunch of hogs.
I never hunted hogs before so the first day when two nice hogs came in I just watched them and observed their feeding habits and movements. The guide said to shoot them in the head because otherwise they just run off into the swamps and they are hard to find. And the swamps had gators and snakes.
I was using a Remington 700 .308 but after the instructions and observations I switched to a Sako 7mm mag. with 160gr Federal Trophy Bonded bullets.
The next evening once it was past legal shooting for deer I focused on hogs but nothing came in. I was unloaded and waiting for the guide to pick me up and finally a bunch of hogs came in to the feeder. I could see them but not pick out the individuals too well. Then I put up my binos and everything came in much clearer. With that I put in one round and put up the rifle and scoped the group. I found three large hogs, picked out the closest at about 70 yds and when it stopped bouncing around and feeding and stood straight with a steady head I put a shot right through its ear dropping it dead in place. A few minutes later the guide showed up and a couple of the hunters put the hog on a deer carrier. He said it went about 150 pounds.
The next day we focused on deer but did not get any. The fourth day I was in a good stand for hogs and I shot the first hog about an hour before dark. It came in all by itself kind of spooked. When it calmed down I hit it in the head at about 50 yards. At dusk about 30 hogs came in to a feeder and I sorted out a nice hog and dropped it with another head shot at about 70 yards. These two were in the 170 pound range, again according to the guide. On Saturday I only hunted the morning for deer and saw a huge buck more than 200 yards away walking along a cotton field but I could not get the gun up fast enough to get on target. I shot a moose at 290 yards in Newfoundland square in the front shoulder with this 7mag so I would have poked at this buck no doubt if it would have stood for me but my grunts were never acknowledged and he just kept on going past my view which was down a woods road so it was a very narrow field of view for me and the buck was there and gone in a fraction of a few seconds. Anyway it was action.
I spent the afternoon and evening cutting up the hogs and grinding meat, packaging the back straps and roasts, etc. I brought with me electric saws, vacuum sealers, sealing bags, knives and a 2hp Cabela's meat grinder to do all of the butchering with. The guide did the gutting, skinning and quartering though I did not want them quartered since I cut a whole animal differently.
Very nice week but a long trip from Ct. My two friends had it easier coming from Norfolk, Va. and Melbourne Beach.
As a side note, the flooded bottom land was loaded with wood duck which would fly in big flocks into the corn feeders to eat. No duck hunting allowed though due to the baiting of the hogs. But leases dedicated to duck hunting would be a great destination for a waterfowl gunner.
Nice lodge, meals were ok but could have been better and the rooms very clean and comfortable. The name of the lodge was Cypress Creek.

 

I was in the upper CNS near the Eldora complex and there was hog activity sign all over with torn up turf. The police officer said they use a hired shooter who has a corn spreader back in a remote spot. He comes at dusk and stays for the night and is trying to reduce the hog population.

 

Going again to the same place, Cypress Creek in S.C. Leave next Friday, the 28th for five days again. This time I am more excited for the hog hunting. We have plenty of big deer in Ct. and eastern NY. I have full hunting and fishing licenses in both states. But there are some real big wall hangers on these leased hunting lodge lands in S.C. so maybe I will get lucky.

 

Sorry for the late report. This time it was not good. Bad drought in that area of SC along the Savannah River. The back areas had no water in them and the hogs moved out to other properties. I did see deer but the three bucks were all too small from spikes to four pointers. I saw no hogs or turkeys. But I had a good time with guys I grew up with and hunted with my entire life. At my old age a trip is worthwhile just for getting together with old friends.