HuntingStories11SCHogHunt20053

After leaving the Great Pee Dee Heritage Preserve, we decided to go ahead and pick up our licenses. We would simply need a 3 day nonresident general hunting license for $40 and a non-resident wildlife management area permit to hunt on the public ground we had just scouted for $75. We decided to go to Wal-Mart to pick them up. We walked back to the sporting goods counter and the clerk there apparently didn't know shit about hunting or fishing and simply said, "I'm covering for my buddy and he should be back in about 45 minutes or so after he gets his dinner." Friggin great! Well, we decided we would do the same and went to the McDonalds at the front of the store and killed some time. After about 40 minutes, we decided to make our way back there to get our licenses and sure enough there was the "official" clerk there. We told him we needed the two aforementioned licenses and though he had the $40 license he didn't know what we were talking about in regards to the Willife Management Area Permit. He asked, "how much is it?" I replied that it cost $75 as apparently his organization system for permits was based on price. He pulled out a 7 day non-resident hunting license and tried to sell that to us. "That's not it." I replied. "Well, we must be out of them then or else they don't make them." Frustrated, I didn't argue with the idiot and settled for the one license for now. We asked who else might sell permits and he mentioned a few stores but had absolutely no idea on how to get there as for directions! Lots of help! Anyhow, I went down the road a bit and stopped at a gas station thinking they might sell licenses as many act as both license agents and check-in stations. They didn't sell any but they gave me directions to another Wal-Mart and with some hesitation I agreed that it would probably be our only bet. Luckily, we found the Wal-Mart without any problems and they had the WMA permits we needed. This clerk actually knew what the hell he was doing! It's a hell of a note that a guy like myself knows more about the license system than an employee of a major chain store like that who sells them year round in their own home state! Oh well, we got them!

We then headed back to the cabin to discuss our game plan. As I mentioned before, I had arbitrarily marked some X's on the map of areas that I thought might prove to be good.

Area 1 I thought would be good because of the creek drainage. Area 2 and 3 I thought might be good because of their remote location. Area 4 I thought might be good because of it's funnelling structure between the creek to the south and river to the west. Area 5 I thought may be good because of both its remote nature and its funnelling effect as in area 4. Our plan was to drop Bill off at area 1 and I check out area 2 hunting in a "hook" pattern to try and push hogs to the other. Then we'd meet somewhere at the jeep where it would be parked along the main road below area 2. So, with the plan laid out and good weather promised in the morning, we went to sleep.

First Day of Hunting:

The alarm clock went off at around 6:00 AM and after a quick breakfast of pastries and drinks, we headed out. I dropped Bill off at the eastern side of the creek at area 1 while I drove off down the road about 1 mile and parked below area 2. The map is misleading as you can only drive from the far western entry point gate to about area 4 where the road meets the river. You cannot drive up to area 2, 3, or down to 5 as they are rutted, blocked off with fallen trees and signs prohibiting anything but foot travel. This indeed was the case. I headed up to area 2 stillhunting. It was a beautiful morning to do so. The light drizzle from the day before made it quiet to hunt up to the river. I was amazed at the amount of flagging that had been placed out by hunters but quickly found out why. There were no reference points and without keeping a pace count you couldn't get an idea of how far you had gone! Made me very reminiscent of my army land navigation courses where you were supposed to find some damn paper punch hanging off a metal fence post in the middle of nowhere! I kept chugging along at it though but was quickly getting discouraged. I found absolutely NO sign after nearly walking for about a half hour - not a track, rooting, wallow, nothing! Another hour of hunt-scouting proved to make the difference though. As the signs of hunters petered out, the signs of game, all game, seemed to come forth. I started seeing turkey tracks, deer tracks, rubs, scrapes, but nothing of hogs. When I literally went as far as I could and stood on the edge of the river's bend at point 2 (or actually a little northeast of it) I finally found hog tracks - apparently a sow and piglets. But with no limit, no size limitations or sex limitations EVERYTHING was fair game and I got excited about my finds. I followed the sign into a swamp and started seeing several rootings. Looked to be a good spot and one I'd venture to say might produce some results. As the rendezvous time was fast approaching and I had a lot of walking to do to meet up with Bill, I stopped gawking around and moved out to meet up with him.