I just got back from another awesome hunt with Triple M Outfitters Unlimited in Palm Bay FL. I went with one of my hunting buddies from BYBP (Adam) and a work buddy who has never hunted anything (Rob). We started out early Saturday AM in a giant 4 wheel drive swamp buggy and headed to the property. It wasn't long before we were on hogs. We saw 2 big groups to our left and stopped and waited. Rob was up first and we all advised him to wait for a good pig to come out and stop. Several went by but didn't stop, but then a nice red hog stepped out of the palmettos and stopped in the clearing. Adam and I looked at each other and went "Ooooo....shoot that one". It was a nice pig. Rob took aim and dropped it with 1 shot from his AR to the head. 50 grain Hornady Full Boar" . All good.
We loaded it up and kept on going. We quickly saw more hogs up and to our right. I wanted to take 2 pigs with my crossbow and Adam wanted 1 with his AR and 1 with his 1911 f possible, so we dumped me off near a little rise and Adam and the guide, Brandon went left. If they could get a shot with the pistol, great. If not they might bump them by me. They didn't get a shot but the pigs came towards me as expected. But they were at 40 yards and all in a group so no shot. I quickly adjusted past the group of trees they went into and as I hoped they came busting through. One small one about ran me over, but most headed out past me and just kept trotting. So again no shot. Then a group of 3 black ones popped out and stopped at about 30 yards. One was by itself and about 150 lbs so I went for him. I was offhand and rushed it and shot over his back....clean miss....verified with a clean arrow. I was disappointed to say the least, but glad it was a clean miss and we weren't looking for a wounded hog. Back in the buggy and we keep moving. This thing is awesome. You are about 6 feet off the ground and can drive it about anywhere. Really helps you find them. We go a little ways and a few more are coming by. Rob only wanted the 1 hog so Adam is up. He told me on the drive down that he would love to get a colored hog...well out of the palmettos walks a nice 150ish pound hog with a white band around it. BANG! DRT. 64gr .223 Hog Hammer to the head. Done deal. So we load him up and keep going. We see some hogs again moving off ahead of us. They are heading to an area where two fences cross. Again I jump off and Rob comes with me for backup just in case. Remember, he is a novice hunter...but he's carrying the AR and my 1911 is in a holster on my hip. I move ahead near one fence and setup. Rob is lagging behind a bit so I get him to hurry up and hide behind me near a small pine. I'm about 12-14 yds from the fence. I figure this is perfect. If they come my way they should hug the fence and give me a perfect broadside shot. We see some hogs coming...black ones....so I quickly turn on the lighted reticle on my scope so it will stand out really well against the black hide. Woah. NICE PIG!! BIG PIG!! Here he comes....at my 2 o clock he looks right at me. Not sure if Rob moved or if he just smelled us but he's coming right at me. I have him in the scope and he's coming. Walking in but grunting. He does not seem happy. I'm waiting for him to turn and give me the shot.....c'mon turn....turn...there a little bit...no back to head on .... still coming.....still coming.........OK not going to turn... THWACK!!! Right between the eyes. He drops on the spot. I'm shooting a 16" Zombie with a 110 gr brass insert and a 150gr Slick Trick with 2" feathers and a NuFletch. 450ish grains. It's buried 4" deep in his skull. He's 6 paces from me. He weighs about 250lbs. I'm jacked up . Rob is kind of quivering. I kept saying stay down!! He kept saying F-That!!.

After about 5 or 10 minutes...more hogs. I wouldn't mind taking one with my 1911 either so I move up the way a bit and setup about 5 yards from the fence in some high weeds. Adam is 25 yards to my right. Pigs are coming down the fence row. This is going to be great! Then they stop. The wind switched and I think they winded us. But the buggy is back the other way, so they bust out behind us. Running pigs and me with a pistol is no Bueno so I say to Adam this is all you. He takes aim and shoots 3 times and hits the pig on his third shot, but it's not down. The chase is on! He's off, Rob is following and I'm trailing back. A few more shots later and Adam is doing his happy dance tickled to death that he got a cool colored hog AND one with his pistol. His hunt could not have gone better. We can't convince Rob to shoot another one, so it's down to just me. But now it's hot and the hogs are laid up. We drive around some trying to jump some up but everything we see (probably 20 or more hogs) are running and nothing will pause so I can shoot with my crossbow. But some are close so I suggest my pistol. We hit a few spots but no luck. Then we see 2 big hogs hitting some corn we dumped on our way in. They are about 120 yards away. Brandon and I are going to put on a stalk. Now what I didn't mention was that my boar died near a ditch with about 3 feet of water in it. As Brandon was driving the buggy up to pick up this hog, I stepped out of the way, but the "clump of grass" I stepped on gave way and I ended up wading through that ditch. It's all good....I take off my water filled knee high boots and wring out my socks and we're good to go. Until Brandon and I start sneaking in on these pigs. Every step is squish squish squish squish.....He and I are both thinking there is no way they will not hear my squishing. We are laughing but give it a try. Well, we sneak real slow up the edge of the path. The pigs are in plain sight but we just move when their heads are down. Finally at about 85 yards, we can cut left into some cover. I slow down so I don't squish so much and we sneak up to about 30 yards away and peer over the small mound. YES! they are still there and clueless. Now it's my turn to crawl. I crawl up to within about 20 yards. The sow is about 150lbs but the boar is much bigger. But there are 2 bushes between me and him making it impossible to get him. I decide on the other one. I move left a little bit and switch to a sitting position. And luckily have a tree to lean back against. I wait and after a few minutes the sow gives me a nice broadside shot. I aim at the pocket behind the front leg and THWACK! She takes off like a bat outta hell, and I can see my arrow stuck in her. Hmm. Not exactly as planned, but it looked good. Brandon and I get up and all we hear is Rob and Adam hooting and hollering because they watched the whole deal go down with Binos. We go look and I have good blood right from the POI so we are confident. Let's give it a few minutes and we'll go tracking. We go get the buggy and high five and laugh then drive on up to where she was. We had blood all the way and she only went 50 yards or so. I hit her a little too tight to the leg, but it was broken and so was at least 1 rib. Arrow went in 8" or so. Heart shot. I pulled it out and a 2"piece of bone came with it. Slick Trick is still perfect. As you maybe can tell...it was an absolute blast. Tons of fun and lots of action. And all at a very reasonable price. I highly recommend. I'm getting a skull mount done of the boar. He's got nice cutters and my arrow is still stuck in there. You can zoom in on the pic of the skinned out skull and see it and the 4 cuts from the BH. I think it will look awesome in my man cave.
