Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Corn Eaters of Florida (w/apologies to Corbett)

Danged old yellow flies were out too. They'll drive you insane. Thermacell work on them?

As they say, that's why it's hunting and not killing.

Thermacells work. May not keep off chiggers and ticks, but work for everything else IMHO.

GWB

Yes! Give the Thermacell about 15 mins and you can sit in the swamp pretty much unmolested.....at least from the flying, biting insects.

You can count on that because even the DEET isn't enough - and I'm using 98%!

Sure do!

Rev,

You guys seeing many Rattlers on your place? We've definitely been seeing more big ones the last few years.

The east side is a piney sand ridge, and they really like that, so yeah, we see a few.

When I come across one I might as well go home since I'll be hunting snakes for the rest of the day.

That's a big'un.


I've hunted the Texas hill country for 15 years now. Seen only two rattlers on the four leases I've been on
.
However we had a place in east Texas between 1961 and 2007 Four acre lake and a mile of frontage on Peach Creek. Moccasins, rattlers, coral snakes, and copperheads were the poisonous varieties. Tons of cotton-mouth moccasins. One thing about them (moccasins) is that many times, especially on the water, when you got near them you could smell a rotten-egg/putrifaction smell. You knew then you were getting too close.
Over the years it seemed I developed almost a sixth sense when it came to snakes. I'd be walking along a path hunting squirrels. Don't know whether ya'll still hunt or not. My grandfather taught me to walk a few steps, then stop for five minutes or so, then walk a few more steps then stop again for an interval. Slip along quiet and slow, especially under white oaks with a canopy. Many times you would see them moving before they would see you, or you'd hear them cutting acorns or pine cones. I'd use my grandfather's Winchester 63. Nailed many a squirrel. Any how back to snakes. I'd be slipping along looking up and the next thing I'd know I'd get a feeling and either jump back or take a leap forward. Almost always would be a snake that I'd have stepped on in the pathway. Can't tell ya' how many times that happened.

Best,

GWB

This is great news...

How are you keeping the pigs out of those plots? And glad to know there's another .260 in Indian River County!

That be a Boone in Ok

As for coons, don't you guys just get some coon cuff traps and anchor them to a big log? That way when ya catch a coon, the hogs come by and kill the coon and eat it? Two bird with one stone it seems. (1) Kill the coon, (2) get rid of the coon without even touching it, (3) might make good hog bait! No? Some here shoot coons over a bear bait and in a few days those coons are eaten.

sounds like a plan.

I'd invest in some.

Been planning to buy some foot hold traps and get started trying to trap coyotes while I'm there. All of a sudden we have three packs.

Any particular brand of coon cuffs you recommend.


GWB

We can't....free range for hogs, deer, cattle, or whatever else. The plots survive pretty well, despite.

Yeah, I really like my 260 and 6.5x55's. I also have a Win 70 FWT but in a different metric than yours, swede that likes 140gr NPT's.

Very interesting. We use coon cuff traps but I've never seen a hog eat a coon. I was telling Rev that one of the land owners has a friend who likes trapping. He was running coon cuff traps daily for several weeks. He was just focusing on a 1000 acre area of the ranch and trapped 90 coons in a 2 week period. I don't know what brand he uses or if he makes his own....I'll ask next time I see him.

Sweet!!!

Thermo cell is awesome. The best $20 you'll ever spend.
Here in Florida it is a necessity.
Permetherin works well for ticks.
Wearing boots, or gaiters, is the only thing that works for chiggers.

I'll definitely be firing it up the next time I'm in the stand.

Another nice pig Revmike ..

I too love the 260 -have a model seven stainless -great little cartridge.

At first glance I thought that plot was a golf coarse -laf.

A few of us went to the camp yesterday to do some work around the cabin. We cleared palmetto off the lakeshore, built a new generator shed, and put a new floor in the outdoor shower. It was mid-afternoon by the time we finished, and rest of the guys decided to get cleaned up and settle in for the evening. I decide on a late afternoon hunt.

About 4:00 the skies opened up and we had one of our usual summer afternoon thunderstorms, but by 5:30 it had slacked off enough to drive to the stands. I headed north to check out one of the feeders on a gas line right-of-way, and when I got there three hen turkeys were already there. They didn't hang around long and there was plenty of corn on the ground, so I decided to stay.

Since there wasn't any movement around the feeder, I decided to head north to check out another stand. I parked on the main road leading to the feeder, headed east across the right-of-way, and eased my way south of the oak from which the feeder hangs. I have killed pigs under that feeder before even making it to the stand.

This time, however, the feeder never fired. The raccoons had jimmied the latches on the feeder lid, knocked it off, and had helped themselves to some of the corn. As they did they also disconnected the wires from the battery, so the feeder hadn't fired. I'm going to put snaps on the latches this week!

I reconnected the battery, reset the timer, put everything back together and headed for the truck. As I was crossing the gas line, I noticed something under the first feeder I'd stopped at so I decide I would give it another try. As I turned the truck around and headed back out the access road, I spotted for 4 or 5 pigs standing together in the road. Evidently they were on their way to the feeder when they saw me, and froze when they saw my truck heading their way.

I stopped the truck and began to wonder how this was going to play itself out. If I waited too long, they would all be gone. If I opened the door with the truck running, the "dinging" of the key alarm would undoubtedly spook them. So I put the truck in park, took the key out of the ignition (so the key alarm wouldn't sound), and opened the door just enough to slip the rifle barrel between the door frame and the cab since we were facing one another head-on. All but one of the pigs slipped away. This sow stayed put. I had to take the shot left handed, but the old M94 once again did what it has done for the past 52 years: put meat in the pot.




I don't know if you can see the entry wound, but the bullet entered the side of her face between her eye and her snout, and traveled up into her brain. It was evidently lodged there as there was no exit wound anywhere.




At my shot, she hit the ground, rolled onto her side, pumped her legs a few times, and was still. She'll cook up just fine.