An Evening with the Coon Eliminator

9/28/2015

      You can not live in the country without partaking in a coon hunt from time to time and on Friday night, three little boys enjoyed their first one.  We were honored to have local legendary hunters, Clyde Ray Pearson (aka The Coon Eliminator) and Roger "Bobcat" Sheffield take us out to our swamp for an evening of fun.
      The boys were particularly excited to get to shoot at the coons themselves but they quickly learned the difficulty of such when the coons tree high in huge oaks that are still full of leaves.
       The air was a little cooler than the recent humid evenings we have endured but the full moon and dry weather was expected to make the going difficult.  It did, but not immediately.    
       As soon as the two hounds hit the first hardwood bottom they caught the scent of a coon and it did not take long before they treed.  We moved in and Clyde Ray finally saw the coon and was able to get a shot.  Again the dogs were turned loose and again they treed for another successful kill.  We continued to hunt for another few hours and they treed several more times but these were unsuccessful attempts as the oaks were simple too large and offered too many hiding places for the coons to elude us.  Just before midnight, we called it quits.
      We all got a stronger appreciation of just how hard it is to see the coons in the tree and how well they can hide.  Clyde Ray and Roger had much better trained eyes than the rest of us for picking out the coon on the limb, but even they struggled in the large, leaf filled oaks that provide refuge.  However, the boys are looking forward to the next adventure with The Coon Eliminator and it will sure happen as soon as the temperatures begin to fall.  

The Edge of Autumn

Youpon Plantation - Canton Bend, Alabama

9/22/2015

      Dove shoots, pig roasts, football games, and hog hunting are all signs of autumn on the horizon in my corner of the world.  I checked a few of those off the list in the past week.
      Friday afternoon I was invited on my first dove shoot of the season and it left nothing to be desired.  We entered the field of sunflowers around 2pm and endured a warm few hours before the birds poured in around 4pm.  I missed, very cleanly, the first six I shot at.  I finally got in my groove and I mourned the fifteenth that fell as I was just starting to really have some fun!
      Saturday evening my wife and I attended a pig roast party at a beautifully restored antebellum home right outside of Camden.  The pleasant weather was a great setting for food, music, and fellowship through the evening hours.  The event has become an annual affair is is yet another enjoyable event to mark the turning of summer into autumn.
       My hog stalks were unsuccessful on both Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I saw very few hogs and none within range of an arrow.  The acorns are beginning to fall and those hunts will improve in the coming weeks.
       

One for Andrew

9/17/2015

      As late summer and early fall arrives in the swamp the potholes and ponds are drying quickly.  The hogs are becoming more easy to pattern and find near the existing sources of water.  One Sunday afternoon recently I found a group of a dozen feeding in one of our favorite locations to shoot hogs in dry times---our Duck Pond.  Knowing they would likely return each evening for the near future, I knew exactly who I wanted to get the first crack at them.   

       During the next week my 7-year old son, Andrew, and I planned our hunt  It would be a relatively short walk from where we would park in the pines of the property, walk through a stretch of hardwoods, and into the willow bushes surrounding the pond.  There he would take aim at the group and hopefully get his first of the season.  The stage was set and all week we discussed our hunt.

      Friday arrived and as I headed home from work I called ahead and found out Andrew's friend Harrison also wanted to join us.  So the three of us headed out to the swamp in time to reach the pond about thirty minutes before dark.

       It can be difficult to sit in one spot for long as the wind swirls and alerts the hogs to human presence.  For this reason our plan was to let the hogs reach the pond first, before we stalked close. 

       As soon as we got close, I saw them.  The hogs were there in a force of at least a dozen.  We crept to within 50 yards and I steadied our .243 on the shooting sticks and handed it over to Andrew for the shot.  When I told him it was time to shoot, he reached for his chest to feel his heart that I knew was racing.

       He settled down, took aim and fired.  The hog stumbled but did not fall.  It ran in the opposite direction, into the grass and the willow bushes on the opposite side of the pond, heavily favoring its left front leg.  After a few minutes of discussing the events that just took place, our team of three charged ahead to search for blood and we quickly picked up a good trail.
        I was proud of the boys as they followed the blood with just a little help from me.  Within ten minutes they had successfully followed the trail to the downed hog.  There was much excitement in the woods that evening.  Andrew was mighty proud of his hog.  His daddy was too. 
     

Hogs by bow

9/17/2015

     I've started off the fall hunting season having a lot of fun with what I enjoy the most---hunting hogs.  On my first venture in mid August in search of hogs I took along my .270 and got three on a morning hunt.  Since then I switched to my Mathews ChillR bow and have killed 6 on three hunts.  

      I've been fortunate to take two good sized boars including the one shown in this picture.  On this hunt I was slipping along through the hardwoods when I spotted him feeding under an oak that was beginning to shed a few acorns.  He circled and circled around the tree, feeding, as I crept closer and closer.  Several times I cracked sticks with my steps and he froze and looked my way, only to settle down and return to feeding.

     I crouched behind an oak and hoped he would circle a little closer to me so that I could make a 30 yard shot but he seemed to be gradually moving in the opposite direction.  The light wind held steady in my favor but one shift in its direction would blow my stalk.  I knew time was short.

      As he made a circle in the other direction I crept closer until he began to move from right to left.  I drew and he stopped and I let the arrow loose.  

       The Wasp Jak-Hammer tipped projectile struck the hog, piercing both lungs.  He whirled and ran toward me at an angle and stopped 15 yards away, paused, and fell over.  

        Returning to the truck I ran across another group of hogs that included a sow in heat and a very big boar.  I nearly got a shot at him before the big group got wary and ran.  They didn't go far but I had no time to pursue. I'll save them for another day and that big boar is tops on my wish list.  

        Stay tuned for more tales from the Swamp as we move into my two favorite months of the year---October and November!