Saturday morning was the start of the South Cherokee hog/deer hunt. I have had a good hunt there in the past, as well as several not-so-good hunts. I woke Saturday morning at 4:30, had a cup of coffee, threw my bow, pack, and a fly rod in the Jeep. I figured if I didn't feel like hunting, there's some excellent fly fishing in the area. Well, the fly rod never got strung up, although it should have.
No to many people hunt this early season. Snakes, Yellow Jackets, and low game populations keep them away. Right at first light, I showed up at the trailhead where I had located some hogs the week before. There were already several trucks parked there, including one guy who was walking along the sides of the road, looking into the thickets with an arrow knocked. Time for plan B.
I headed back down the road to another trailhead that I have hunted in the past. I didn't really want to hunt this trail, because I 've never been into hogs on it until I've climbed 1.7 miles straight up a mountain. The trail starts at 1,800 feet and tops out at 3,800 feet. A huge elevation gain.
Up I go,
At times the trail was narrow and overgrown, but, up it went.
Have I mentioned that the trail goes straight up. Of course, the pictures don't show it, but you'll have to take my word for it that this is steep.
As I got to the 1.7 mile mark, I just knew I'd top over the ridge and the whole area would look like it'd just been plowed with hog sign. Well, I rounded the ridge and I saw hog sign sure enough.
Only enough to fit in your bath tub.
On I march. Several times I came across remnants of the past. I imagine this cable was left here from when they logged the area in the 30's-50's.
I got to a rhododemdrum (sp,) thicket that is always full of hog wallows.
Well, this one hasn't been touched in weeks, if not months.
With such lack of sign, I knew it was time to turn around and head down, but since I was close to the gap and junction with another trail. I figured I'd head up and eat lunch under a huge red oak. The red oak is an old-growth tree that was never harvested for one reason or another. There is a back-country campsite underneith it and it make a perfect place to sit and eat. As I approached the old tree, I had a hard time finding it. However, I noticed alot of light coming through the canopy. Well, the old monarch has seen the last of its days.
Here's my 64" longbow laying across its base.
Tim Homan writes about this tree in his book "Hiking-Trails of the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock & Citico Creek Wildernesses".. He mentions that in 1988 it had a circumference of 17.5 feet. The largest of any trail side tree in the wilderness.
Well, I haul arse back down and move on to another spot.
More..........
No to many people hunt this early season. Snakes, Yellow Jackets, and low game populations keep them away. Right at first light, I showed up at the trailhead where I had located some hogs the week before. There were already several trucks parked there, including one guy who was walking along the sides of the road, looking into the thickets with an arrow knocked. Time for plan B.
I headed back down the road to another trailhead that I have hunted in the past. I didn't really want to hunt this trail, because I 've never been into hogs on it until I've climbed 1.7 miles straight up a mountain. The trail starts at 1,800 feet and tops out at 3,800 feet. A huge elevation gain.
Up I go,
At times the trail was narrow and overgrown, but, up it went.
Have I mentioned that the trail goes straight up. Of course, the pictures don't show it, but you'll have to take my word for it that this is steep.
As I got to the 1.7 mile mark, I just knew I'd top over the ridge and the whole area would look like it'd just been plowed with hog sign. Well, I rounded the ridge and I saw hog sign sure enough.
Only enough to fit in your bath tub.
On I march. Several times I came across remnants of the past. I imagine this cable was left here from when they logged the area in the 30's-50's.
I got to a rhododemdrum (sp,) thicket that is always full of hog wallows.
Well, this one hasn't been touched in weeks, if not months.
With such lack of sign, I knew it was time to turn around and head down, but since I was close to the gap and junction with another trail. I figured I'd head up and eat lunch under a huge red oak. The red oak is an old-growth tree that was never harvested for one reason or another. There is a back-country campsite underneith it and it make a perfect place to sit and eat. As I approached the old tree, I had a hard time finding it. However, I noticed alot of light coming through the canopy. Well, the old monarch has seen the last of its days.
Here's my 64" longbow laying across its base.
Tim Homan writes about this tree in his book "Hiking-Trails of the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock & Citico Creek Wildernesses".. He mentions that in 1988 it had a circumference of 17.5 feet. The largest of any trail side tree in the wilderness.
Well, I haul arse back down and move on to another spot.
More..........
