Well...
I survived the trip.
The hog hunting was TERRIBLE, worst I've seen it ever. There were 13 guys at the lodge and we only shot four (4) hogs and one fella missed due to a rifle problem (?).
It was the First Annual Hog Open Championship and the rules are "There are no rules!"
My partner and I open the first evening with two smaller hogs, 125lb and a 135lb, score 260lbs, not a bad start. We hunted the next two days and last evening one fella shot two (2) hogs 245lbs and 300lbs, score 545lbs. That's all the hogs shot. The fella that shot the two big hogs called the weight on his hogs before the hunting started at 305lbs and 315lbs, said it'd be all he'd need to win. The overall success rate (13 folks @ two (2) hogs per day limit (total 78 hogs available for the group) was 5.1%, pitiful. Don't know the cause of the poor kill rate but it wasn't from lack of trying.
We suspect the winner had his ringer hogs delivered (they were "cut" hogs to-boot) but the rules state "No rules" so we're just ribbing him badly.
Here's the hog I shot, 135lbs live (fresh dead) weight.
P. S.
I had some grits (tried Mayonaise on them this trip, made a note to skip the Mayo next time), no Hoe-Cake this time, cook was grumpy. Had some catfish stew (?), interesting. Temps were in the high 80's, sunny, gentle breeze.
I'd tell you all the name of the place but this hunt was none too flattering for the lodge so I'll wait (probably a non-representative sample). I hae hunted there before and killed a pile of hogs, just bad luck maybe, real bad luck.
[ 03-21-2004: Message edited by: Dave King ]