Twanger
Well-Known Member
[FONT="]This trip report is on a wild boar hunt on March 8-10 with Buffalo Creek Outfitters of North Carolina. The operation is run by Johnnie Dale and his wife Debbi. Johnnie, DJ and Temo provided guide services, and Jake the wonder-beagle lead the tracking efforts.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The short story is that 5 of us had a great two-day hunt and everybody scored at least one hog. It's $400/day which includes room and board. Hunter success rate is over 95%. We stayed in their Samson lodge which can accommodate 9 hunters in 3 rooms. The food is all southern style home cooking, and excellent. Bring your appetite! [/FONT]
[FONT="]See: Welcome to Buffalo Creek Guide Service[/FONT]
[FONT="]Just to be clear about what you're hunting: its male hogs, or boars. BCO is managing a population of hogs on the property, and don't want you to shoot a female hog, or sow. BCO also offers combo hunts with boar/deer, boar/bobcat, and turkey. You can take a coyote anytime.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Samson Lodge is a Carolina style farm home that is decorated with local game and African game mounts. There's a shooting range behind the lodge with a sturdy bench and targets at 50 and 90 yards. It's a good idea to make sure you gun or bow arrived in the same accurate condition it left home in by spending a few minutes at the range after you arrive.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Johnnie Dale and Jake the wonder-beagle tracking dog. Jake also kept us in stitches with his antics in the lodge.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]DJ and hunter from our group in the swamp buggy used to ferry you right to your shooting stand. The shooting bench is on the left.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]View from "long-shot" stand to hog feeder at 147 yards. Two huge sows are under the feeder – 400 and 500lb. A brood of piglets can be seen on far left at the woodline. They are incredibly entertaining and run all around chasing each other. This was one of the longer shots you might take on the property. Typical shots are in the 50-100 yard range.[/FONT]
[FONT="]I took my first hog (below) from long-shot stand, a 12-foot high box blind located 87 yards from a pile of carrots and feed, and 147 yards from a corn feeder. It was a small boar that I hit poorly which precipitated a mile-long chase through the swamp that was lead by Jake the wonder beagle, followed by Temo who was packing a 45-cal Judge on his hip, DJ who was packing a 45-cal Glock 19, and me with the Encore 308. Eventually Jake was let loose and he harassed the hog until Temo arrived and slowed it down with buckshot from the Judge. DJ caught up and slung a few more pistol rounds to slow down the hog some more. I arrived on the scene to find Temo standing on the hog. I offered to finish it off with the .308, but DJ handed me his Glock. Temo jumped off the hog and I finished it off with a well-placed shot to the spine forward of the shoulder. After we caught our breath DJ looked at Temo and grinned "That was fun!" I found out later that DJ's "real job" was butchering deer, and that he considered guiding hog hunts something of a vacation. That said, DJ skinned and butchered 6 hogs the next day after our hunt and before his dinner, and he was dragging before it was all over. Nobody else scored that first evening, but several boars were seen.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Small hog that led us a merry chase in the swamp.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The next morning was fruitless – all the hogs had lockjaw. The next afternoon we all went to a new spot at about 2pm. I was put in a ground blind 50 yards from a feeder. This was well inside my lethal range with the Encore and I was a lot happier for it. Five minutes after arrival I was still settling in and I looked up to see 8 hogs at the feeder! I picked out the largest boar and let the Encore roar. Hogs scattered everywhere. I sent a text to DJ. He and Johnnie showed up 15 minutes later. I pointed in the general direction that it went and Johnnie jumped on the trail. It was soon evident that the hit was good. There was a massive blood trail starting 5 yards into the woods that ended 20 yards later in a very dead 60lb boar. Whoo-hooo. I was tagged out. We loaded it in the buggie and headed for the barn where DJ immediately skinned it.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]View from the ground blind where hog number two came from. This is actually from the second morning hunt when I was playing camera-man for my friend. He brought a vintage Swiss SK 7.5X55 army rifle[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Hog number 2 - a medium sized 60 pounder.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Back at the ranch we soon heard shots ringing out everywhere and DJ & Johnnie were constantly on the move, picking up hogs and hunters. Jake got a work-out. By dark we had 5 more in the bag.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Five of six hogs we took the second day.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Joe's big boar – the largest boar took on the trip, estimated at over 100 pounds.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Hunter from the other lodge getting a lesson from DJ on hog butchering.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The last morning we went back to the ground blind. I was gonna play camera man for my buddy Scott. Unfortunately, the hogs again had lock-jaw and we only caught a fleeting glimpse of two at 7:55am, with not nearly enough time to see if one was a boar. The rest of the morning passed quietly and soon we heard the sound of DJ's 4-wheeler coming to pick us up. No more hunters scored that morning, and we quickly packed our things and hogs and bid everyone goodbye at the lodge. On the drive back to Maryland we started planning our return for next year![/FONT]
[FONT="]The short story is that 5 of us had a great two-day hunt and everybody scored at least one hog. It's $400/day which includes room and board. Hunter success rate is over 95%. We stayed in their Samson lodge which can accommodate 9 hunters in 3 rooms. The food is all southern style home cooking, and excellent. Bring your appetite! [/FONT]
[FONT="]See: Welcome to Buffalo Creek Guide Service[/FONT]
[FONT="]Just to be clear about what you're hunting: its male hogs, or boars. BCO is managing a population of hogs on the property, and don't want you to shoot a female hog, or sow. BCO also offers combo hunts with boar/deer, boar/bobcat, and turkey. You can take a coyote anytime.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Samson Lodge is a Carolina style farm home that is decorated with local game and African game mounts. There's a shooting range behind the lodge with a sturdy bench and targets at 50 and 90 yards. It's a good idea to make sure you gun or bow arrived in the same accurate condition it left home in by spending a few minutes at the range after you arrive.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Johnnie Dale and Jake the wonder-beagle tracking dog. Jake also kept us in stitches with his antics in the lodge.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]DJ and hunter from our group in the swamp buggy used to ferry you right to your shooting stand. The shooting bench is on the left.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]View from "long-shot" stand to hog feeder at 147 yards. Two huge sows are under the feeder – 400 and 500lb. A brood of piglets can be seen on far left at the woodline. They are incredibly entertaining and run all around chasing each other. This was one of the longer shots you might take on the property. Typical shots are in the 50-100 yard range.[/FONT]
[FONT="]I took my first hog (below) from long-shot stand, a 12-foot high box blind located 87 yards from a pile of carrots and feed, and 147 yards from a corn feeder. It was a small boar that I hit poorly which precipitated a mile-long chase through the swamp that was lead by Jake the wonder beagle, followed by Temo who was packing a 45-cal Judge on his hip, DJ who was packing a 45-cal Glock 19, and me with the Encore 308. Eventually Jake was let loose and he harassed the hog until Temo arrived and slowed it down with buckshot from the Judge. DJ caught up and slung a few more pistol rounds to slow down the hog some more. I arrived on the scene to find Temo standing on the hog. I offered to finish it off with the .308, but DJ handed me his Glock. Temo jumped off the hog and I finished it off with a well-placed shot to the spine forward of the shoulder. After we caught our breath DJ looked at Temo and grinned "That was fun!" I found out later that DJ's "real job" was butchering deer, and that he considered guiding hog hunts something of a vacation. That said, DJ skinned and butchered 6 hogs the next day after our hunt and before his dinner, and he was dragging before it was all over. Nobody else scored that first evening, but several boars were seen.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Small hog that led us a merry chase in the swamp.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The next morning was fruitless – all the hogs had lockjaw. The next afternoon we all went to a new spot at about 2pm. I was put in a ground blind 50 yards from a feeder. This was well inside my lethal range with the Encore and I was a lot happier for it. Five minutes after arrival I was still settling in and I looked up to see 8 hogs at the feeder! I picked out the largest boar and let the Encore roar. Hogs scattered everywhere. I sent a text to DJ. He and Johnnie showed up 15 minutes later. I pointed in the general direction that it went and Johnnie jumped on the trail. It was soon evident that the hit was good. There was a massive blood trail starting 5 yards into the woods that ended 20 yards later in a very dead 60lb boar. Whoo-hooo. I was tagged out. We loaded it in the buggie and headed for the barn where DJ immediately skinned it.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]View from the ground blind where hog number two came from. This is actually from the second morning hunt when I was playing camera-man for my friend. He brought a vintage Swiss SK 7.5X55 army rifle[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Hog number 2 - a medium sized 60 pounder.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Back at the ranch we soon heard shots ringing out everywhere and DJ & Johnnie were constantly on the move, picking up hogs and hunters. Jake got a work-out. By dark we had 5 more in the bag.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Five of six hogs we took the second day.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Joe's big boar – the largest boar took on the trip, estimated at over 100 pounds.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Hunter from the other lodge getting a lesson from DJ on hog butchering.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The last morning we went back to the ground blind. I was gonna play camera man for my buddy Scott. Unfortunately, the hogs again had lock-jaw and we only caught a fleeting glimpse of two at 7:55am, with not nearly enough time to see if one was a boar. The rest of the morning passed quietly and soon we heard the sound of DJ's 4-wheeler coming to pick us up. No more hunters scored that morning, and we quickly packed our things and hogs and bid everyone goodbye at the lodge. On the drive back to Maryland we started planning our return for next year![/FONT]
