# Chattahoochee NF hog (Rabun County) 9-17-13



## Killer Kyle (Sep 19, 2013)

I took this entire week off for vacation specifically so I could hunt the archery opener.  Bear has been my primary target, but I would never, ever turn my nose up at a deer or hog!  I'm out of freezer meat, and so although I am really looking for a bear, any big game that swings my way will be promptly made into food.  
I decided to hunt a new spot in Rabun County in the NF.  I hadn't scouted there since turkey season, so I didn't really know if there would be bear sign there, but it was a likely spot worth investigating.  It was about a 1.5 mile hike to the spot from the main road.  I got there sweaty, and I just knew I was stinking up the place.  This particular spot is like a daggum jungle for the most part.  Very, very thick and with only a few slightly open areas to shoot.  As soon as I checked a pretty open area, I immediately struck both bear and hog sign.  Trails, droppings.  The droppings were fresh.  I know because I used a super effective old-school method of determining how old scat is.....I poked it.  My index finger indicated that yes, it was indeed fresh.  
I stopped to check the wind, and then proceeded to scout.
I was moving over to a hill side to check another shootable area, and BAM....here comes something big and black at <20 yards.  I walked straight into this thing.  I thought it was a bear at first.  I've killed hogs up to 180-200 lbs, and believe me, this was no 200 lb hog.  It was utterly MASSIVE.  I still thought it was a black bear because it was obscurred by the foliage.  Then I saw more black movement behind it.  I though....dang....sow with cubs. 
I was crouched under a laurel tree, so I dropped to my left knee and nocked an arrow just in case.  I saw then that this thing was a giant hog.  I believe it was a sow.  It stopped dead in its tracks, lifted its nose to the wind, and kept glancing over straight at me.  Luckily, I was dead down-wind.  This hog was not going to take another step forward.  Another black pig came down the hillside.  It stood directly in front of me right across a tributary.  I drew back, leaned as far to the right as I possibly could, and let it rip.  I thought the shot was a little far back, I wasn't very confident in the placement.  The pack ran underneath a laurel grove growing dense along the tributary and created a rukus there grunting and squealing.  
They came back out again, and back to the same exact spot they had been in before.  Another pig the same size as the first one, but which was blonde with black/brown spots, stood in nearly the same place as the first I had shot.  I couldn't resist.  I let 'er rip again.  BAM.  Shot right in the boiler room.  Low and tight in the pocket.  Looked like a perfect heart shot.  I was thinking "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  No tracking job on that one!"
The others stayed right in front of me, but I resisted the urge to shoot more because I was alone, and with no one to call for help.  One of my best friends lives in Cumming, and one lives in Lawrenceville, both my dad's knees are shot, and my brother-in-law is in the police academy in Forsyth.  I called my dad to let him know of my success, and decided to get to work.  
*Side Note:* how do you make a bad shot on a hog standing still, shooting from ground level, and at 15 yards?  I don't know...but some how I managed to!
As it turns out, the hog I thought I hit poorly ran and died not 20 yards away in the tributary/creek.  I guess it was quartering more than I realized.  Lucky for me.  You can tell from the blood bubbles in the picture I got at least one lung.  Lady luck swung my way I guess!...... And that hog I swear I shot through the heart?.......nowhere to be found.  Not a drop of blood.  Nothing.  Nowhere.   I swept a large circumference around the site of the kill and just couldn't find a thing.  I was frustrated because I didn't even have the opportunity to employ my tracking skills.  I couldn't even find the first drop to begin with.  Anyway, after reasonable time and effort expended on the search for the blondie, I decided to get to work.
Right as dark approached, I skinned and quartered the hog into shoulders, hams, ribs, loins, and belly meat, and began the pack out. 
Now the meat is at the processor's being smoked into BBQ.  
There are a ton of guys that I can and should thank on this forum.  I often do.  But I want to particularly thank northgeorgiasportsman on this one.  I draw from the wisdom of more seasoned mountain men than I.  It is the best way to learn.  I've read of his adventures and advice in the past, and applying the knowledge there helped bring me success on this particular hunt.  I encourage all members to both share their wisdom with others and to also learn from the wisdom of others.  This forum is a limitless bounty of hunting and fishing wisdom, and the knowledge found herewithin has greatly enriched my life and experiences as an outdoorsman.  Share what you are learning and have learned, and then pass it along to the next fellow.  I find great joy in that.
Lastly, I would like to thank Phil Roberts, the duck commander, for his super duper cool-guy awesome facepaint techniques.  My rambo facepaint played the most vital role in the harvesting of this animal.
(*And in case you're slow on picking up sarcasm....here's your sign*)
 
I wish for y'all a memorable, enjoyable, and safe remainder of the season. Take care fellas!
-Kyle


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Sep 19, 2013)

Love seeing that bubbly lung blood, always a good sign!  Congrats on some freezer meat and good luck finding that bear.


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## Fuzzy D Fellers (Sep 19, 2013)

Great story.


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## Paymaster (Sep 19, 2013)

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Jason Huckaby (Sep 19, 2013)

Cheers.   Mmmmmmmm looks good.


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## FMBear (Sep 19, 2013)

AWESOME stuff there good buddy!  Looking forward to chasing bears and pigs with you this weekend!


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## T-N-T (Sep 19, 2013)

Great job Kyle!!  

As for the bear, I know its coming soon.  They cant hide forever, right? 
 And for the blonde pig...  If you have never missed an animal, or lost an animal, you aint been hunting too long.  If you have never lost one, hang in there.  All we can do is do the best we can.


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## deerhunter79 (Sep 19, 2013)

nice pig! my biggest one ive ever killed was a 626 pounder. how heavy was yours? i shot mine with a 300 tho, a bowkill on a hog that size is pretty good if you ask me!


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## Bkeepr (Sep 19, 2013)

That is going to be yummy!  Congratulations!


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## kno3mike (Sep 19, 2013)

Congrats..............Nice piggy....When is the Bar B Q going to be ready?


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## spaz1 (Sep 19, 2013)

Congrats on nice piggy!! and if ya ever need any help dragging just ask !!!


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 19, 2013)

Thanks guys!   BBQ is ready, come 'n get it!!!


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 19, 2013)

FMBear said:


> AWESOME stuff there good buddy!  Looking forward to chasing bears and pigs with you this weekend!



Fred, I've got a good feeling about this weekend.  I think something is gonna die!  Whether it is a bear or hog with an arrow, or us from the climbing....something is gonna die!  Haha


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 19, 2013)

TopherAndTick said:


> Great job Kyle!!
> 
> As for the bear, I know its coming soon.  They cant hide forever, right?
> And for the blonde pig...  If you have never missed an animal, or lost an animal, you aint been hunting too long.  If you have never lost one, hang in there.  All we can do is do the best we can.



That's right.  Some of those things just can't  be explained.  It is unfortunate though.  I hate losing.  Gives me a knot in the pit of my stomach.  I feel like there are a lot of starving people in this world.  I see animals as food, and when I lose food like that, I think about the people who have none.  I always ask myself...."did I look hard enough?  Should I have spent more time".  After I lose an animal, I always get that feeling like.....maybe I should just have searched a little more.  Its an insatiable thought.  But....its not the first animal Ive lost, and if the Lord blesses me with many more years to hunt, it unfortunately probably won't be my last.  Like you said....all we can do is the best we can do.


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 19, 2013)

deerhunter79 said:


> nice pig! my biggest one ive ever killed was a 626 pounder. how heavy was yours? i shot mine with a 300 tho, a bowkill on a hog that size is pretty good if you ask me!



I'm not sure of the weight on this one.  I guessed around half my body weight or so.  This one probably went what, 80 lbs?  It was a difficult drag (drug it into a more open area to skin and quarter it), but nowhere near as difficult as an average doe, maybe 120 lbs.  I guews 70-80 lbs is a decent roundabout guess.  And a bow is plenty to kill a hog anywhere up to 350 pounds or better.  Its mostly shot placement.  Right in the armpit gets the heart every time.  
And where on EARTH did you kill a 626 lb hog?!


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## Unicoidawg (Sep 19, 2013)

Atta boy Kyle, now go kill 20 more......


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 19, 2013)

Unicoi.....if you promise you'll help me drag, quarter, pack...whatever, any time anywhere (within the White, Towns, Union, Rabun, Lumpkin area) I will let arrows loose like freaking Robin Hood.  I will empty the quiver, then pull out the knife and just go rambo.  Slicing and dicing.  Stabbing and jabbing.  I just need some backup!  You can keep the meat too!  All I need is a phone number and a promise!     If I could have gotten all that pork out myself the other night, I would have shot until that quiver was just plain empty!!!


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## Coon Dog (Sep 19, 2013)

*Congrats*

Great job now you have bait in the woods to go kill that bear from where you skined your hog and the other hog that got away is maybe dead for more bait in the area go getem!!!


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## triton196 (Sep 20, 2013)

good job shoot me pm well do some hunting


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## rdhood (Sep 20, 2013)

> After I lose an animal, I always get that feeling like.....maybe I should just have searched a little more.



Don't fret it. Worms, maggots and buzzards got to eat same as hunters.


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## pnome (Sep 20, 2013)

> I poked it. My index finger indicated that yes, it was indeed fresh



You know, I just use a stick. 

Awesome story and big congrats!


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## DMCox (Sep 20, 2013)

I'm not to far from you Kyle, let me know if you ever need someone to go to the woods with you. I'll help you pack out whatever.


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## T-N-T (Sep 20, 2013)

Looks like you have help now from people are saying.  Plenty of "drag out" help here!  So, sounds like you need to go to the arrow shop and stock up!

And, the poking with the finger thing.......Dude, sticks are free.


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 20, 2013)

TopherAndTick said:


> Looks like you have help now from people are saying.  Plenty of "drag out" help here!  So, sounds like you need to go to the arrow shop and stock up!
> 
> And, the poking with the finger thing.......Dude, sticks are free.



A few days ago I took it to a whole new level.  I hand picked whole berries out of some droppings and squeezed and smelled them to see if i could figure out what kind of berries they were because they looked like none I have ever seen.  I am becoming a savage!   Hahaha.  I picked up that whole pile of poop, put it in a zip lock bag, and brought it back to camp to further inspect the berries.  Ask JWilson, I texted him a picture of the poop all spread out on a napkin on the picnic table.  I am losing my doggone mind man!   Hahahaha


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## Unicoidawg (Sep 21, 2013)

Killer Kyle said:


> A few days ago I took it to a whole new level.  I hand picked whole berries out of some droppings and squeezed and smelled them to see if i could figure out what kind of berries they were because they looked like none I have ever seen.  I am becoming a savage!   Hahaha.  I picked up that whole pile of poop, put it in a zip lock bag, and brought it back to camp to further inspect the berries.  Ask JWilson, I texted him a picture of the poop all spread out on a napkin on the picnic table.  I am losing my doggone mind man!   Hahahaha



Those "berries" didn't happen to be seeds off the head of a sorghum plant were they? Also I can help ya get a bear out if your in the Helen/Cleveland area, but just a notice, I have 2 jobs and my schedule is crazy.


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 21, 2013)

Unicoidawg said:


> Those "berries" didn't happen to be seeds off the head of a sorghum plant were they? Also I can help ya get a bear out if your in the Helen/Cleveland area, but just a notice, I have 2 jobs and my schedule is crazy.



No sir!  These were actual berries.  There is no sorghum anywhere within a few miles of this place.  I text messaged a picture of the berries to JWilson.  I still have the berries and will take another picture to post on here.  The berries are round, 1cm or less in diameter, have the flesh of a white muscadine variety, have seeds that look like muscadine seeds, and when squeezed, the juice and meat of the fruit smell like  muscadines.  Its like they are mini muscadines.  Most berries around this time of year are either red, or nearly black. These are light berries, sort of like a light olive.  I did a ton of research, and cant come up with any berry like this one.  I know some unripe berries are olive or green, but thats not the case with these.  They were totally ripe.  Juicy, soft, musky sweet in smell.  Another thing is that I googled "miny or tiny or dwarf muscadines" and similar keywords, and found nothing even remotely close to these berries.  I also heard someone on here mention fox grapes.   I googled that, and mostly muscadines showed up, although some wine varieties showed up.  I wonder if these berries may have been red, and the digestive process turned them olive?  But even so, I couldn't find berries online that looked like these.  I kept the whole pile of them, and I am going to plant them all at home in the spring to see what they are.


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## T-N-T (Sep 21, 2013)

Killer Kyle said:


> A few days ago I took it to a whole new level.  I hand picked whole berries out of some droppings and squeezed and smelled them to see if i could figure out what kind of berries they were because they looked like none I have ever seen.  I am becoming a savage!   Hahaha.  I picked up that whole pile of poop, put it in a zip lock bag, and brought it back to camp to further inspect the berries.  Ask JWilson, I texted him a picture of the poop all spread out on a napkin on the picnic table.  I am losing my doggone mind man!   Hahahaha



No Noo not eat a PB&J after that Sir.


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 22, 2013)

Topher, the jelly was made from the berries in the poop!!


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## deerhunter79 (Sep 22, 2013)

Killer Kyle said:


> I'm not sure of the weight on this one.  I guessed around half my body weight or so.  This one probably went what, 80 lbs?  It was a difficult drag (drug it into a more open area to skin and quarter it), but nowhere near as difficult as an average doe, maybe 120 lbs.  I guews 70-80 lbs is a decent roundabout guess.  And a bow is plenty to kill a hog anywhere up to 350 pounds or better.  Its mostly shot placement.  Right in the armpit gets the heart every time.
> And where on EARTH did you kill a 626 lb hog?!



i gotem in southwest georgia in a peanut field. i think somebody was feeding him... i had to get 5 other guys to help me get him in the back of the truck. i wear a size 13 shoe and his ear was bigger than my foot!


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## T-N-T (Sep 23, 2013)

deerhunter79 said:


> i gotem in southwest georgia in a peanut field. i think somebody was feeding him... i had to get 5 other guys to help me get him in the back of the truck. i wear a size 13 shoe and his ear was bigger than my foot!



Hogzilla!  Thats a buncha pork right there.


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## weekender (Sep 23, 2013)

congrats on the pork, great read


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## hoochman2 (Sep 24, 2013)

good job klye. Ive been finding some sign up high, here in towns county. (bear&hog).


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## AliBubba (Sep 24, 2013)

Way to go man, congrats!


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## Killer Kyle (Sep 25, 2013)

Thanks gentlemen!


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## HossBog (Sep 25, 2013)

Loved your story, Kyle! Gives me hope for y'all young'uns! We're gonna make it now, with boys like y'all here! I was waiting for you to tell us what those partly digested berries tasted like! I thought you were about to eat them nasty things! Heheheheheheeee, you're doing it right though, but I would've probably used a stick too on hog mess. Deer, rabbit, etc., okay, but I just couldn't do it on hog.

Hey man, if you don't mind a geezer tagging along too, maybe someday I'll have enough time. I absolutely LOVE just being out. And, you'll never find a better hunter than me! Man, ain't nary one any better! I just ain't so good at finding and killing. Love the hunt though!

Yep, that hog that escaped your arrow just might now be a good place for a bear. Oh me. Loving it! Keep them photos a coming!


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## nockemstiff (Sep 30, 2013)

Congrats and thanks for the write-up. Just do what you can and don't drive yourself crazy on that one - best cure I would say is to get out there and bust another arrow and get your harvest on.


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## TheHunter18 (Sep 30, 2013)

Awesome!!!!!!!


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## bowbuck (Oct 2, 2013)

Congrats on the hog Kyle.  Are the mystery berries, black gum or autumn olives?


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 2, 2013)

No sir, they are neither!  I'll get around to posting a picture of them soon so everybody can collaborate about what they might be.


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## Curtis (Oct 2, 2013)

great story, well written, thanks for sharing. congrats on the pork.


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