I was very lucky. I won the St. Jude's Hog Hunt with Tippit (Jeff Springer) at The Paradise.
When Jeff listed the hunt on the auction page, he also said that if the bid got high enough he would include one of his hand forged knives. Well, I have plenty of knives, but I thought that another custom knife couldn't hurt -- so I put in a big enough bid to trigger the knife offer.
I had no idea how terrific this entire experience would be.
I sent Jeff some dates that I knew I could get away from work this spring, and he replied that if I came down a day early he would let me be part of the making process of my own knife.
I thought that maybe that would be a bit of an imposition on his time, but I learned that he was sincere in his offer, so we set them dates for the knife building and for the hunt.
I left my home in North Carolina early on a Sunday morning and drove to Jeff's place in Aiken, South Carolina. Jeff came out to meet me when I pulled onto his beautiful property. He has about 10 acres with a house, guest cottage, horse stable, and paddocks. He also has a shop where he crafts hand-forged knives.
Jeff and I have much more in common than I knew. We are both trad bow aficionados, of course -- but, we are both also fly fishermen and are interested in fine side-by-side classic shotguns.
Jeff led me to his shop and explained the knife-making process. He then showed me some of his knives. I was like a kid in a candy store. His knives are really wonderful. He has an eye for proportion and configuration that makes the lines of his knives flow into one another with grace and beauty.
He told me we would be making a simple pack knife. After showing me a few examples to gauge my preferences, he fired up the forge and got started.
The knife after heating and hammering into shape.
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Jeff doing some final shaping.
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The final knife, perfectly fitted to my own hand. By the way, Jeff let me do some of the work, and that was lots of fun.
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That evening I had a wonderful dinner with Jeff and his lovely wife Molly. Lots of good conversation and food. Then a good night's sleep. On Monday morning we packed up and headed for The Paradise for a few days of hunting hogs.
:coffee:
Quote from: smokin joe on March 20, 2019, 02:36:37 PM
That evening I had a wonderful dinner with Jeff and his lovely wife Molly. Lots of good conversation and food. Then a good night's sleep. On Monday morning we packed up and headed for The Paradise for a few days of hunting hogs.
Joe
Cool ... absolutely!
I live in Fort Mill SC and can imagine that awesome experience...good stuff!
Cool
Sounds like a wonderful trip, I will be looking at this very hard if its available next year!
They don't come any better than Jeff. One of my favorite people in the world. I'm the proud owner of one of his fine steel creations and they don't come any better either. I envy your hunt buddy. Bring it on.
This is what it's should be and is all about!!
Thanks for sharing.
I got to my little ground blind at about 4:00 PM or a bit before that. I have a little folding tripod chair that I like for ground blinds, so I brought that along.
The section I was in is called The Garden and it is very pretty there. The feeder went off at %:05 PM and again at 5:25 PM. Sunset was going to be at about 6:30. I sat there quietly and at about 6:20 I saw a nice black boar cross the field from west to east about 75 yards to my right. He was moving along at a relaxed trot. Once he got into the woods to my right I could hear him moving along and veering to the south. He was obviously going to get down wind of the feeder to check it, and I wondered why he would even bother to do that. After all, boars there have no enemies other than hunters, and we just got there. So far he was up wind and had no reason to think he was being hunted.
As he worked his way south to get down wind of the feeder he would also get behind me and get my scent -- and that is exactly what happened. I could see him working his way through the woods and then he stopped and froze directly down wind. He took a few more steps and then turned ant trotted away.
I stayed in my blind until dark and no other hogs came by. I headed back to camp for dinner.
:campfire: Absolutely wonderful! Keep it coming :bigsmyl:
Right stuff Joe, its a wonderful place.... So glad you got to experience it sir.
Good stuff Joe, keep it coming.
Oh Joe, I have sat in that spot and reading this took me right back there... Thank you!
Just saw this thread come up. Joe is a true gentleman and now a friend. We certainly have a number of common interests beyond traditional bows and hunting. I'm going to have to be mostly on the side lines as my phone/camera decide to stop working once we arrived at the Paradise. It was a cold week in southern Georgia and the rains had flooded a good part of the lease...but the pigs were out every day.
Joe showed me some new twists to hog hunting. I have sat in the dark many a night over a feeder with my red sniper hog light on my bow. It seemed to work better on a lease I had on the Savanah River in SC but at the Paradise it was spooking hogs as I think it was too bright. Joe showed me The Kill Light from Elusive Wildlife that attaches to the bottom of a metal feeder with magnets. This is the simple model that will come on by itself as the light fades. Most importantly it comes on very gradually so not to spook any hogs already at the feeder. It is also green. So I tried it the first night. Just before total darkness, I saw a very large hog coming into the feeder. It stopped 20 yards out when it noticed the light under the feeder. Wheezing and grunting, I thought another spooked hog...but it slowly approached the feeder and started to feed as if nothing was wrong. From the hogs size well over 150# and a pot belly, I was pretty sure she was a pregnant sow. We try Not to shoot pregnant or nursing sows so I just watched her for about a 1/2 hour. With just the Kill Light under the feeder and total darkness, I had enough light to shoot her. Pretty impressive especially with a Big hog that are usually very weary.
On Tuesday we walked around a bit to see if we could spot any hogs to stalk. We came upon a large food plot that had 18 hogs out in it grazing like cattle. About half of the hogs were young piglets, and the other half were a mix of boars and sows. I saw that some of them were working in my general direction and I took up a spot that offered a pine sapling to block my outline. Two medium-sized boars worked their way to about 35 yards before calmly turning to graze in the other direction. Since the field was large and open, there was no way to stalk up on any of the hogs. The only option was the one I took, that is to take up a position and see if any of them walked close enough for a shot. The wind was in my favor the whole time, but with so much young, tender foliage in the food plot the hogs wandered aimlessly while grazing, and they never got close to me.
We took a look at a couple of feeders and saw that the hogs had hit them overnight.
:campfire:
Sounds like a great time, but I'm sure there's more to come.
Tuesday evening I went back to the garden ground blind. I added a little more brush to the blind. The set up was just off of the food plot, near a corn feeder. There was a natural opening so that i could step into the opening and take one step to my left and sit down on my chair. That way I could get set up very quietly.
I brought a Kill Light for that evening's hunt. The light has magnets built in so that it can stick to the bottom of a corn feeder. But this feeder was made of plastic. I looked around for a tear to tie the light to, but decided to use the magnets and stick it to one of the legs of the feeder. I positioned the light so that it would not light me up and expose the movement of drawing my bow. I thought this would work out OK.
Hogs came out at the fr end of the food plot, about 125 yards away at about 4:15. There were 4 adults and 3 juveniles. Like the group we saw earlier in the day, the hogs were just grazing like cows.
At 5:05 PM the feeder went off and the hogs didn't even seem to hear it. They just kept grazing.
The feeder went off again at 5:25 with the same result. The hogs didn't seem to care.
So...the little herd of hogs slowly worked its way down the field toward me -- grazing the entire way. About half way down the field, maybe 50 yards from me, they stopped. They stood and stared at the feeder for a minute or so and the veered off of the food plot into the woods at the same location that the boar the previous night had done.
They were following the same pattern. I could hear, and then see them circling around behind me to get downwind of the feeder. When they got down wind of me they turned and walked away. No panic, no running -- just a turn and walking away.
A little while later they reappeared at the far end of the field where they had first entered the field earlier. Again they started grazing in my direction, and I wondered if they would get into range before dark. I looked over at the feeder and I could see a little green glow, so I knew the light was working.
They worked toward me slowly, and then they stopped fully alert. They stared at the feeder again, and this time they started woofing and making aggressive noises. After doing that for a few minutes, they moved a little closer, and then repeated the aggressive woofing. This behavior repeated itself over and over until it was almost completely dark. Then I saw them exit the field at the same spot they had used before.
A half hour later it was pitch dark. I heard them woofing and making noise in the field again, but it seemed farther away. The noise got closer. then it stopped and everything got quiet and stayed quiet. Had they used that same exit from the field for a third time?
:campfire:
This is great! Sounds like a really good time!
I've seen a couple of guys on here mention that they don't shoot pregnant sows. Since hogs are such an invasive species, wouldn't it make sense to shoot a pregnant sow and prevent her from increasing the population more? Not trying to insult or anything, just genuinely curious.
Trenton G.
As to your question on shooting pregnant or nursing sows...
The Paradise lease is an old traditional bowhunting lease. Besides deer and turkey, the hog population is one of the great reasons to be a member. I know hogs can/are a problem to farmers but we enjoy seeing them on the property. On top of that I personally have a problem shooting any game that I believe to be near term pregnant or nursing. Finally that Big Hog that was under the feeder, I wouldn't have shot even if it was a boar. I no longer shoot big "Picture" hogs. I don't like the taste of the meat from a big old boar. I now only shoot 50 to 150# hogs for the table. I guess it is like fishing...you start trying to catch as many as possible, then the biggest, and now that I'm 73 years old I enjoy watching game and occasionally harvesting something for the table...tippit
Thanks for the explanation. I kind of figured it was something along those lines. :thumbsup:
After spending Wednesday morning watching hogs in an open field where I could not stalk them, I left that location and went to check out another food plot. Bingo. There were two "grillers" working up the edge of a food plot eating the fresh spring growth. I drove a bit past the food plot on the dirt road and then pulled over and parked, got my bow, and went after them.
I got near the edge of the field and looked through the trees. There they were on the other side of the field. I backed out and circles around to their side of the field.
They were the pig size I call "grillers" -- you know, the 50 pounders that are the perfect eating size for grilling. I could almost taste the barbecued pork.
I headed up the side of the field. they were straight ahead and slightly blocked by the brush. The wind was coming from my left. A pretty good set up.
I had them at about 30 yards and unaware of me. Then I felt the breeze on the back of my neck. Oh no, not now.
I froze. They froze. Their heads and noses went up in the air and they vanished into the brush.
Dang.
Wow, what an opportunity. :goldtooth:
Yes, a perfect opportunity. But the wind shift took my scent to them.
The last afternoon and evening of hunting, Wednesday, turned out to be an experience I will never forget.
AND :dunno:
Details. :bigsmyl:
:campfire:
Trenton.... I was a member of the paradise for 6 years before my life changed.. I was on other leases as well...
When you pay that much for a lease, And you can Hunt hogs year round.... Then you want to be able to hunt hogs.
Make sense?.... :campfire:
My plan for the last afternoon and evening was to have two ground blinds set up for a west wind.
I had investigated the trail that the hogs used to exit the field at the halfway point and it was a well-used trail. I decided to get out there early and set up a ground blind 10 yards down wind off of that trail. I also set up a place to sit at the edge of the field so I could see when the hogs left the far end to work their way toward their exit.
The plan was to sit at the edge and wait for the hogs to enter the field. Then once they started working their way down I would sneak into the exit trail ground blind and ambush them. If they didn't show up before the feeder went off I would sneak down to the original ground blind and wait for them to visit the area around the feeder.
I watched the field from the edge.............and watched........and then the feeder went off. I creeped down to the ground blind near the feeder.
I got comfortable in the ground blind. It was about 12 yards from the feeder and pretty well brushed in. I had a shooting lane that covered about three quarters of the area under and to the south of the feeder. There, working to the right, I had a bunch of brush and Spanish moss covering me up and then another shooting window looking directly west. Then I had a bunch of branches that I could see through, but not shoot through, from there to to the north looking at the far end of the field.
A pregnant doe came out and started browsing right in front of me. Her head snapped up and I followed her gaze to the far end of the field and saw 8 hogs at about 150 yards away. There were 2 sows, 2 boars and 4 piglets.
What a treat hunt with Tippit and then the cooks tour of him heatin & beatin a knife !!!!!!!
The hogs are grazing again, still more than 100 yards away, but I am prepared to wait them out. I have the kill light stuck to one of the legs of the feeder and a bow light on my Bear TD -- I am ready no matter how long it takes them to work their way down the field.
The doe was pretty calm. Every once in a while she looked up at the hogs, but she seemed comfortable with the fact that they were still pretty far away.
Then the hogs started making a ruckus. I figured they were bellowing at the doe, trying to get her to leave before they get any closer. So, I decide to help things along by slowly moving one of the pieces of brush in the front of my ground blind to make a little noise. The doe noticed it but didn't spook. She slowly turned and walked away toward the dirt road. Perfect.
It took the hogs another 20 minutes or so to close the 100 yards down to 50 yards then 30 yards in another 5 minutes. Then from over my left shoulder I heard the bellow of what sounded like a monster boar. The hogs in the field turned tail and ran off. I think the Boss Hog of the area just told them to get out of his field.
Another 20 minutes of silence and stillness went by. Then I heard hogs snorting out in the field and saw some dark shadow shapes scurrying around in the dark beyond the area that was lit by the kill light.
I saw two pretty good boars at the head of the group and I figured that they must be the leaders -- boy was I wrong.
Then he emerged. He was enormous.
He was twice the size of the other hogs. He was gray, or maybe covered in mud -- it was hard to tell in the glow from the kill light. He was built like a tank. He was slab-sided with a huge head and a long snout. His shoulder-pad slabs stood out from his body by a couple of inches.
He let out a blood curdling bellow and charged at the feeder. Then he slammed on the brakes, backed up again and charged again. He did that over and over again like he was trying to get the feeder to fight with him. The other boars were bluff charging too, but they were nothing compared to The Tank.
Another blood-curdling roar and the whole lot of them ran full speed into the brush directly across the field from me.
What just happened? The hogs were suspicious of the kill light. Usually a kill light gets stuck to the bottom of the feeder barrel with its magnets. But since this feeder is plastic I had it stuck to one of the legs. Instead of just seeing the glow, the hogs saw the face of the light and they did not like that.
I had a bunch of thoughts racing through my mind. Sneak out and remove the light? Call it a night and go back to camp? Wait and see what the hogs do, and maybe learn something about their behavior? I chose the latter.
A few minutes later I heard the hogs in the field again. They started working their way down the field again the same way they did before.
The bellowing and the bluff charges started happening again, and I could see how Tank's bluff charges would intimidate every animal within ear shot. Heck, he was starting to scare the devil out of me. I looked down at my bow. How foolish of me to think I could take on a swamp monster like this with a pointy stick.
The bluff charges got closer. The other boars were helping out with their version of charging the kill light. Juvenal hogs were scarring around in all directions. It was pandemonium and chaos. What a mess.
My brain is screaming "Just relax and stay still." both to me and to the hogs.
Now they are in range, less than ten yards away and all of the boars, led by Tank, are in a rage. They were moving like crazy.
My draw hand is on the string.......
At first it seemed like slow motion. The gray mountain of a hog was at 10 yards and he finally stopped broadside and looked down at the corn on the ground. The scurrying of the other hogs seemed to slow down to a snail's pace. I was in "deer killer" mode and I picked a spot.
Then, as they say, "all hell broke loose."
Tank looked up at the kill light and seeing the face of the light at close range was all it took for Tank and the hogs to start an explosion of running in every direction -- and TANK WAS HEADED RIGHT AT ME AT A FULL RUN.
Everything slowed down again, and at the last split second he veered to avoid the brush in front of me and passed me with only a foot between him and my left shoulder. YIKES! I am certain that he would have trampled me and made a mess of my poor carcass.
It took me a few seconds to remember to take a breath.
How could a hunting experience get any more interesting than that close call? I don't think I want to find out.
I decided to end the hunt, get my gear and head for camp. Getting a shot at a game animal is always great, but an animal almost trampling me into a pulp is a rare and memorable experience.
Good Stuff joe
That sounds like one of my hunts Joe.... Where one dwarfed two others and he was the one that looked out of focus.
:campfire:
:campfire:
You are absolutely correct. The TANK absolutely dwarfed the other hogs -- and the other boars were in the 150-200 range. And Tank was clearly in charge. No wonder the group of 8 hogs earlier in the evening skedaddled when Tank sounded off. They obviously knew that he was Boss Hog.
I have never seen a hog that was so large and with such prominent, bulging shields. He is a true monster.
You can bet I am planning to place a healthy bid on the St. Jude's hunt next time around. I want another crack at that big boy -- or at least another look at him.
When I got back to camp I learned that Jeff had shot a hog that evening. We decided it would be best to blood trail him in the morning. Once we got out to where Jeff shot the hog we started looking around for a blood trail. We spent some time at it, but we found nothing -- no blood, no arrow, nothing. It must have been a non-lethal hit.
We went back to camp and cleaned up everything, and packed our vehicles.
I headed home without having taken a shot. That's not important -- it had been one of the most memorable hunts I have ever had, and the close call of nearly becoming a doormat for Tank was a big part of that.
I have to say that The Paradise lives up to its name. It is a wild and beautiful land.
Something along the lines of these 'Saddlebags' Joe?
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Yes big shoulder shields. Really sticking out like that. Maybe covering a bit more of the side farther back, but thick like that for sure.
Sounds like a great time. All of us that have done this for any length of time know it is not all about the kill!!!! Some of my fondest hunt memories happened on hunts where no critters were harmed!
Bisch
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Yeah Joe.....this hog showed the same...back of the rib cage....this pic doesn't show that part well... But it does in the hog shield thread featured at the top in the video clip..... Same Hog...
Smoking Joe - enjoyed your story - from what you describe as to location - numbers of hogs - and then boar hog description I think there is a good chance this is "Tank"
Aside from the large size he had an overall gray hue - the head throat jowels and neck were absolutely beautiful one of the most handsome boars I have ever seen and he did look like hogs I've seen in Italy. His shield extended back almost to the hip.
Matt Quick got out for an afternoon hog stalk - hope he can add details.
All the pics were taken in the dark so they don't do him the justice he deserved. Most of his coat was a dark gray and he had lite gray long fur on his neck. The lower legs were a mahogoney brown. This boar was much larger than he appears in the second pic. I've killed bigger but none more handsome than this one. I located this one and about seven others in the " Spar lake" area. Which is about a 1/4 mile from the "garden". Once I found them I knew things had to happen fast. There was a moderate wind, which is good, but it was very fickle that day. I was planning out my stalk when the pigs literally ran toward me and veered to my right and began to root around in some heavy brush. I moved about 30 yards to my right which put me about 18 yds away from the gray boar. The gray boar worked his way into an opening and I took a quartering shot. The shot was good and he ran maybe forty yards. Centaur shortmag did the job. Penetration was adequate but barley pocked out the opposite side due to the heavy shield.
Wow, Matt. That is an excellent hog. He looks too dark to be Tank. Of course, I was comparing Tank to hogs that were all black, and next to them he looked like a gray ghost -- a really huge gray ghost with gigantic shields. The teeth on your hog certainly remind me of the Tank. He had those curled lips with big teeth sticking out.
Could be Joe. The flash of the camera makes him look darker than he is.
I'm sitting on stand right now hunting with Joe Lasch and Jim Domaskin. Hog seem to be in sloughs out by the river. Jim and I hunted there last night...walked up on a few. Having a great time. Really nice hog Matt...tippit
Great Stuff!!!
Thanks Jeff! Good luck. Weather was absolutely perfect last week. Hopefully it holds up for you.
Of course, the only way I can know if that is or is not Tank is if I get back there, hunt for Tank, and see for myself. I think I am on a mission to make that happen.
:bigsmyl:
Joe, fortunately for us there are many Tanks on that property. That same day I killed the gray boar the wind foiled a stalk I put on jet black boar that was every bit of 300 pounds.
Matt: I am sure you are correct. The gene pool there looks to be incredibly good. I saw a large group of hogs that had a bunch of light gray piglets -- probably Tank's bloodline. It is really a remarkable place.
Entertainment yesterday on stand at the Paradise. This is the pregnant sow that I passed on at the St Judes Hunt the first of March. She now has nine piglets plus two slightly older piglets hanging with her...tippit
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Great photo, Jeff.