Ray took me to his spot in SC this weekend to hunt hogs. Inspired by Flint River and his awesome pics during his hunt with Ray, I tried to pay him back a bit with these. I'll try to stretch this out a lil in true Charlie fashion:

I met Ray at his house Friday afternoon around 3pm. After loading all the gear and 5 coolers in his truck (we had high hopes), we spent the next 6 hours fighting traffic to get to Augusta. A stop for a hot meal, licenses, and some vittles and we were on our way deep into the SC lowland to Ray's camp. We talked of our past and the coming adventure well into the night, crawling into the racks later than we really should have.

Up early Sat morning, we ate a quick snack and began prepping our gear for the hunt. It was already sweltering hot and we both sweat freely as we touched up broaheads and made sure our thermacells were working.

As we slipped down the trail to the areas Ray suggested we check first, we came across the most unusual insect I've seen in some time:

   

This thing was a good 3"'s long and bigger around than a nickel, with colors more at home at a greatful dead concert than in the woods. Funny, we weren't very far from the Savannah River Site, where all of the U.S. Plutonium is refined     :eek:        :cool:    

We slipped down the road with Ray giving me a history lesson on the place, pointing in a whisper one to particularly productive place after another. I saw hog sign just about everywhere and we hadn't even gotten into the swamp area yet.....

JC,  I just ran across a very similar type of insect, same shape and colours...wow, I noticed it in my wood pile as I was moving firewood in my back yard, I was wondering the same thing too  

Daniel

I like it already!  

a baby grasshopper...  

Ray took me deeper into the swamp, the air got slightly cooler as we traveled further beneath the canopy. Now it was only 85 degrees at 8am instead of 90 in the more open clear cut area we had just come through.

It was mixture of oaks and cypress with little undergrowth...we had not gotten into the swamp deep enough to see the famous palmetto forest I had heard so much about.

 

All Bandanna is gonna break loose any minute now, I kin just feel it!

Excellent, a hunting story...

*sits back and waits on more*

They place was simply gorgeous. I was overwhelmed by the amount of both flora and fauna. Along the old logging roads that lead deeper into the hunting area were flowers of every kind and color imaginable.

 

The heat and humidity were obscenely opressive....to everyone who wasn't hunting that is   :D  . The thermacells did their job well and treked deeper into the woods looking for fresher sign and hopeful for hearing hogs in a feeding frenzy.

 

I know what that is JC....that's peach cobbler! Ray  will understand cause I found some pecan pie.    :D  

 

BTW, I aint heard from either one of them, so I'm really looking forward to reading the story as it unfolds right here.    

We was burning the candle bro....and cell coverage ain't that great 100 miles from the nearest red light.

Yes!   :D   Keep it coming...

-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com

QuoteOriginally posted by JC:
and cell coverage ain't that great 100 miles from the nearest red light.

Yep,....that's why you didn't get any calls from me cause I knew better.  Thought about you two a lot this weekend.  Wore myself out at Cohutta let me tell ya.

Is that a Cicada? More story now please.    

I believe it is. And I agree  

Boys, its actually one of three varieties of MONSTER grasshoppers we have. They are so big they can't fly...just sort of "flop" around when you go near 'em!

The other two are shiny jet black, one has vivid yellow markings on it, and the other has vermillion red markings.

Quite striking. The females are the big bold colored ones...the males are smaller and well, its real obvious when they get together who is the boss!

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. I was way off with the Cicada.

Can't wait to read the rest of this one.

Ray...now just how do you decide which are the females?????