Good Pig Hunting

So we (Jingles, Yours Truly) have been trying to go hog hunting for a good while now and the stars were finally in alignment for a Friday morning hunt.
I was just back from Minneapolis and we had the day off so Jingles set us up at a local hunt club that was having a problem with sus scorfa.

When I got back from an NHL Draft meeting Thursday we headed out to the property to have a look in the daylight, since going in blind to a 10,000 acre hunting ground was probably not the best idea.

One of the locals who handle the maintenance on the property showed us some good locations... A few feeder plots, some game trails and a couple wallows where he thought the pigs would be during the day. Armed with this info and the GPS coordinates we arranged to meet the next day at 5:30 out near the property.

So, Jingles, Mitch (Head Code Monkey and Outdoorsy Guy) and Yours Truly hooked up at a little after 5, then headed into the wilderness...

Jingles headed into the wallow where the Local Guy had spread some corn the night before.
Hitch headed to a spot with a tree stand and an auto feeder and I headed to a to a stand at a crossroads in the southern part of the property.

Jingles said that as he arrived at his location he could hear the pigs down in the wallow but it was too dark to see anything, so he settled in to until the light got good enough to take a shot. He said there was a regular piggy party going on down in the mud.
Mitch got set up in his perch and waited for sunup and hopefully, for some hogs to wander into his area of influence.
I got to my location at a little after 6:00. I got setup and stashed my car 200 yards up the trail.

Just before sunrise (7:24am) the temp had dropped down to about 30 degrees and we were freezing our cojones off...

I got an SMS from Jim- just before the sky got light enough to see, the pigs had had enough fun and had all left the wallow.
Mitch got a visit from 7 wild turkeys that came to feed around the autofeeder...

I had a couple visitors too...

The first was a wild turkey...



Then a small doe came out to visit...
A larger one also came out to check out the area, but I couldn't get a good shot (photograph, heh) at it.

The doe decided to show why Odocoileus virginianus is commonly referred to as a White-Tailed Deer as she departed my environs.

She wasn't very big... maybe 3' high at the shoulder.

After the deer left (about 7:50) I didn't see anything else at my location...
At about 10:30 I went walkabout for a bit, making my way back to the game trail that Local Guy had said the pigs used as they moved about the property.
No love there either.

Jingles and Mitch had no luck with the pigs, so we all gathered back at the main camp for a bite of lunch and a strategy session...

Mitch decided to hit another stand with an autofeeder. Jingles was going to set up a ground blind in a crossroad, and I was going to hang out down at the wallow where Jim had spent the morning...

The rest of the day was quiet for Jingles and I...
I did have something scare the crap out of me- it sounded like a heard of pigs or elephants coming in, and as I waited in my blind watching for the creatures to make their appearance, it turned out to be 2 armadillos.

At 5pm I did hear a rifle shot up to the north... It was either Jingles or Mitch-

It was Mitch...

Yeah baby... about 60 or 70 pounds

We field dressed her there at the camp...

Mitch, Miss Piggy & Jingles

It took us about an hour to skin and gut her- sundown was at 5:30, and by the time we got her up on the gambrel it was dark and we were using our car's headlights to illuminate our work.
I'll spare you the pics of the actual skinning and gutting.
She was down to about 40 lbs when we put her in the cooler.

But the saga doesn't end here...

Oh no...

At 8:30 this AM I was at Jingle's house.
I had a large Captain and Coke in hand and we were rigging the Caja China for roasting our little friend.

9:00 -

Rigged and ready for the heat!


Ready to flip her over...

Mitch showed up around 11 or so with 3 of his young'uns in tow. We sat around the Caja China telling stories and harassing his kids until the temp probe hit 190, whereupon we fell upon the carcass with the gusto of a hound dog...

Mmmm. Tasty.

Part of the exercise was research... how long it would take to cook a skinned pig, see how gamey the pork would taste, and besides, it's always nice to have a little cook-out with friends.

I did get to take home a small doggie bag; Mitch got a great take-home package with one of the back legs and one of the tenderloins to share with his better half and the rest of his brood.

We're ready to go again soon...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE