On March 15-18, I spent my days hanging out and chillin with the MacCarty’s. Dr. Bill MacCarty and his son, Paul, invited me to go Wild Boar hunting with them at Bostick Plantation in South Carolina.
Dr. MacCarty told me to come down Saturday night and eat dinner with them, also to spend the night and to get an early start on the 5 1/2 to 6 hr. drive to S.C. We went to a friends house that night and had a cook out. They had all kinds of food, twice cooked potatoes, scallops, oysters, Quail, a type of spinach salad, and all topped off with an Vanilla ice cream covered in home-made caramel sauce! We all ate and i made sure that i had tried everything on the menu because it all sounded so good!
After eating, we all stood around the outdoor chimney and talked about hunting, football, and other topics. We realized it was getting late and that we all needed some sleep for tomorrow, so we said our good-bye’s and left. When we got to the house, we talked about how good the food was and also on what we were going to do the next day. It was about 10:00p.m, so we all said goodnight and retreated to our rooms.
We woke up at about 4:00a.m in the morning and loaded our gear in the truck. We then left the house to set out on our journey. To kill time, i read my book and listened to my ipod but time beat me on battery life for my ipod.
While going down the road, I saw something in the field that looked like an armadilla. I asked Paul if they had armadilla’s in S.C. and he told me yes. I was amazed, I had never seen an armadilla till now.
We finally arrived at Bostick Plantation and got settled in our “home away from home!” cabin. It was a very nice cabin. Dr. MacCarty and Paul went outside the cabin and shot their bow’s and i just gladly watched.
Our guide, Jeremy, came later and told us that we were going to be placed in stands that evening. So, we gathered our equipement to go hunting. As soon as we were ready, 4:00 came quickly and jeremy came to get us. Paul and i jumped in the back of his truck while Dr. MacCarty sat up front. We went down the road and picked up some other hunters. While driving down the road, Jeremy stopped and pointed at a mud hole and in the mud hole, you could see little eyes looking. Jeremy answered my question before i could even say it. They were aligators! I had never seen an aligator in the wild before but i didnt want to stick around to meet the momma aligator!
We took off driving again and we reached a stand that was about 300yrds from the mud hole. A guy jumped off the back and Jeremy told him what all to do and then we left. We went through this process about 4 times, then it was finally Paul’s turn. Jeremy turned the truck off this time and got out and took Paul to his stand. It was about 100 yrds. off the road and surrounded with green leaves. We wished paul goodluck and then left. We did the same for Dr. MacCarty and then it was finally my time! I was scared to death! It was going to be my first time sitting by myself in a treestand IN THE DARK! I guess it was pretty obvious that i was scared and Jeremy told me that he was going to pick me up first so i wouldn’t have to sit in the dark and hear some pretty creepy sounds!! I sat there till Jeremy came and got me a little bit after dark, we rode and got all the hunters and we were all a little disappointed that nobody saw a hog but we had a great time listening to what each other had seen.
The next day was even more exciting! Instead of going to the morning stand, Jeremy and I did a SPOT and STALK on a group of hogs in a field. He told me that he was GOING to get me a hog since it was my first time hog hunting! Well, Jeremy got us 75 yrds. from a 300+ sow that was rooting in the field. She had not seen us and we quickly got into position to shoot. Then i realized that i had left my shooting sticks in the truck and the grass was so tall that i could not see kneeling. Jeremy got on his hands and knees and i laid the rifle across his back. The sow stepped out and i had her in my sights. I counted to three and then on three…BOOM! I watched and thought i saw her go down but then when we stood up..she was not there! Instead she took off running with the other group we had not seen. We found out that there was another pig about the same size in the other group! They zigzagged and i lost track of her. We quickly went to the spot where she had crossed to go into the woods. We found NO blood. I felt a little embarressed and mad. I HAD MISSED HER! Jeremy told me that we could try again the next day so that made me feel a little bit better that i could have a second opportunity to spot and stalk her.
We went and picked up the other hunters and again NO hogs. The guys saw some but did not get shots at them. We were at the cabin in no time and we decided to go get lunch. so i quickly changed into some blue jeans and my favorite t-shirt that said, “Dont you wish your girlfriend could hunt like me!” and we went and got lunch.
After we got back from lunch, Paul and i went to watch tv and Dr. MacCarty took a nap. while watching tv, Jeremy pulled up on his truck and jumped out running! He ran into the cabin and nearly gave Paul and I a heart attack! He yelled for me to grab my gun and to get my butt in the truck because we were gonna go kill a hog! He grabbed my Tikka .308 that i had sitting in the room and he took off to his truck! Well all i could do was grab my camo jacket and leave. I didnt even think that i was getting ready to shoot a hog in BLUE jeans! While going to the field , he told me that he was checking the field and found this hog by itself.
When we reached the field and walked down there, the hog was gone! He told me that there was another little field down the short road and that we should check that one also. We started walking and i was looking in the woods at my side. I was looking so hard that i didnt even notice that Jeremy had stopped dead into his tracks. I ran into him and i froze when i saw what he was looking at. The hog was walking up the road straight to us! When the hog turned, i got into position and ready to shoot. It kept on walking and then quartered. I pulled the trigger and flinched, thinking i had shot. Jeremy looked at me and laughed, he told me to concentrate and not be nervous. I looked back through the scope and pulled the trigger. The hog went down and i took off running! We reached the hog and Jeremy told me that i had shot a nice 70+ lb. sow. We got back to the cabin and everybody congratulated me on my hog and we took plenty of picture’s.
Dr. MacCarty, Paul and I went to the stands that evening. We had no luck, but Paul saw four or more hogs that were too far away. That evening while i was waiting in my stand for Jeremy to pick me up, I had 4 coyotes come right under my treestand! I was terrified to death! They started growling and howling, i sure was glad to see Jeremy’s headlights coming. The coyotes ran off when he came and i quickly gathered my gear to leave. When he got out of the truck, i yelled ” Dont ever put me in this stand again!!” He laughed.
On wednesday morning, our last day of hunting, Jeremy took me out to the field that i had missed the huge sow on Monday. This time the game plans were different. Dr. macCarty and Paul went and hid in the trees while Jeremy and i circled the field, searching for the hogs. Jeremy spotted a little pig and then he saw the sow. We quickly walked to set up to shoot and then he told me to shoot a different hog. I quickly got the hog in my scope and waited for it to turn broadside. It gave me the opportunity and i took it. It dropped in its tracks and Jeremy took off running. When we got 10yrds. from him, he was snapping his teeth and was starting to get up. Jeremy told me to finish him off and boy are those hogs tuff! It was a 175+lb. Russian boar with almost an inch long tusks. Dr.MacCarty and Paul were hoping that my shot would send the group of hogs their way but they didn’t get a shot.
Later that day, Jeremy went and loaded up his Bay dogs to locate a hog for Dr. MacCarty. When we reached the place we were going to release the dogs, Paul asked him “How long does it take to Bay a hog?” Jeremy let the dogs out and was getting ready to answer when he noticed his dogs stop right in their tracks. He quickly turned to paul and said ” 2 seconds!” He laughed and we headed after the dogs.
When the dogs got the hog bayed up, Dr. MacCarty got ready to shoot his recurve bow. When he got the shot, he got a good shot in the shoulder. The hog ran about ten yards and fell. Jeremy ran in after the dog and he also grabbed the hog. He drug the hog out of the bushes and we took pictures. I was very excited that i had gotten all the action on my video camera! Dr. MacCarty had shot a 125lb. russian boar.
Our hunt had come to an end and unfortunately it was time to go home. Bostick Plantation is very beautiful and i enjoyed the time that i had spent there. The staff and my guide, Jeremy, were very friendly and made sure all our needs were met and also that we had a good hunt. Bostick plantation has lots of wildlife from armadillo’s and fox squirrels to deer, turkey and of course hogs. Can’t wait to go back! I would especially like to thank Jeremy for going out of his way to make sure that i got a shot at a hog and also Dr. MacCarty and Paul for taking me with them.
