# Be careful at Bond Swamp



## matthewsman (Sep 20, 2006)

I went in today down by the fishin' hole on the check station rd...Iwent up Stone creek 969 yds by gps,with the intention of wading it at some point...

I had read anarcticle that mentioned wading it with hip waders I finally removed everything from my pockets and put all my 'lectronics(cameras, phone, gps)in my backpack,stapped my deer cart to my back and entered the creek....I lost my footing at neck deep and started swimming.I can tell you how hard that is now,first hand...I finally put my bow and backpack in my left and swam with my right,while kicking with my loosely lacedsnakebooted feet....The water was about 8' as I could see the light coming down at me as I pushed off the bottom before switching everything to one hand...I owe whoever wrote that arcticle a dunking 

I walked a million miles...over to the private,over to Bondsview rd area,back up to the train tracks and zigzagged thru area two with the help of my gps....
Lot's of pigs sign,but it looks as if they are holing up on private 'til dark....

I saw 3 different otters,a first for me in the wild,but here's the kicker..

I got back to where I had swam accross and that's where the third otter was..i was nervous about swimming accross with him in the water in front of me,so i went about 75yds down...I swam back accross and had only taken a couple of steps when something large went off the bank into the water...I thought it was a pig as I had the sensation of it being large and dark.......

Imagine my surprise when an alligator popped up!!

I ain't real familiarwith sizin' them up but he was bbbiiiggbbprolly in the 8' range...bigger than I want to swim with again...

I talked to a local,he owns the private land,and he said they were common in there and they had a newscrew take footage of a 13 footer in there....Here's some pics,sorry for the quality....


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## matthewsman (Sep 20, 2006)

*and another*

he's hard to see,but he's centered in the pic


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## matthewsman (Sep 20, 2006)

*tryin' again*

maybe better


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## Flintlock1776 (Sep 20, 2006)

scary!


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## Hogguide (Sep 21, 2006)

Here are a couple of Aligator Pictures to go with your story.
This one is located about 3/4 mile south of Bond Swamp on some private land just outside of the Refuge. I feed him though. He likes live quail and day old bread. No way I would go swimming with him.

There is no way I would wade in Stone creek anywhere.
You are lucky that a water moccasin did not swallow you whole.


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## matthewsman (Sep 21, 2006)

*I saw a few snakes*

I'm not scared of them as long as I see them first.......I've waded sloughs in the old Wilkinson tract of Beaverdam and seen them slide off in the water where I was.....They don't bother me much,I'm careful when I approach the bank to climb out though where I put my hands....The alligator thing was scary...I met a guy that had the land at the end of the road on the right,he does some pay hog hunts,I have his name in the truck..Are you familiar with him?He also mentioned another guy named Jake that does some guiding down the road........


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## Hogguide (Sep 21, 2006)

matthewsman said:


> I'm not scared of them as long as I see them first.......I've waded sloughs in the old Wilkinson tract of Beaverdam and seen them slide off in the water where I was.....They don't bother me much,I'm careful when I approach the bank to climb out though where I put my hands....The alligator thing was scary...I met a guy that had the land at the end of the road on the right,he does some pay hog hunts,I have his name in the truck..Are you familiar with him?He also mentioned another guy named Jake that does some guiding down the road........






Here is a Nice Bond Swamp Piggy. That is an AR15 in .50 Cal Beowolf in the pic also.

That was either LC or his son Travis. LC is a bit older, his son is probably in his 30's.
I do some guiding for Jake, down the road a bit from where you were. 
Give me an email and I will tell you where you can go on the refuge to score a pig. We have some private land within the refuge and kill a bunch of hogs there each year.
You can hunt on the refuge near there. 
It is ALOT easier than what you were doing and you only will need a pair of rubber knee boots.
Hogguide


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## Jasper (Sep 21, 2006)

Donnie,

That's a heckuva hunt you went on. Not many people would be brave enough to go through what you did. Sounds like a real adventure. Glad you made it back in one piece!


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## kcausey (Sep 23, 2006)

Donnie, I'm telling you man.....there's a P & Y for every 10 acres on that alfred bond dr side.....butting against I-16.....


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