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aladatrot
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Yeah, I was clean... I had stuffed my badly blistered foot into a boot for this hunt, and was having "issues". My eyes were watering a little when I was headed to the bay, so I'm thankful Mike and Matt hopped in. I got to babysit items of clothing, keys, phones, wallets, and cameras on the slippery slope while clinging to a tree. I was also a dog holder for a bit. I don't like that helpless feeling, either. I much prefer to be caught on an ear than up on the bank, but I feared getting all that nasty water into my then-busted burn blisters. Sorry for the gory details, but our hunting party along with Krystal and Thomas had to endure the sight of my foot during dinner - so consider yourselves spared by only having to read about it and not see it.
The action was sick, though. Smiley, Lizzie, and Tweety sounded like a trio of church singers when they opened up all at the same moment. That Lizzie dog has a different bark for smaller pigs versus big ones, so when I heard her, I knew we either had a group bayed or a big hog. We start running (hobbling), cut catch dogs loose, and hear what we thought was brush crashing. Turned out to be the whole bay crashing down into the water. Those dogs were swimming in the water, trying to grab ahold when Matt bailed in the water before he could even see the hog (it was holed up under a bank). Matt grabs hog, realizes three things - (1) this is a huge hog, (2) his knife is missing, and (3) he is in deep water. Mike shucks his outer layer of clothes and dives in, trying to stick the hog with that spear he normally carries on his belt. It was pretty neat when the hog finally expired and the guys got to really look at the hog. Mike had to babysit the hog in the water while we took out dogs. I'm pretty sure he was on the lookout for gators during his dark time in the water. Once we got back, the process of getting Mr Hog outta there began. It was slow going. The banks were STEEP and SLICK. Mr Hog was HEAVY and UNCOOPERATIVE. I think we used 50 feet of mule tape to heave him out 6" at a time. It took Chris and Matt pulling up the bank, Mike trying to get a foot hold and pushing from below, and me trying dallied off to a tree trying to snatch up the slack and keep Mr Hog from scampering back down into the creek in between heaves.
Great Times. Maybe I won't be all crippled up for the next trip.
M
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