Ever since that first miserable boar hunt, we've talked about doing it again, but this time with a classier outfit.  So Ted turned again to the classified ads, this time looking for a "no kill, no pay" type of hunt, where at least we wouldn't end up wasting our money.  He chose Chestnut Hunting Lodge in the mountains of North Carolina just outside of the town of Taylorsville.  Chestnut is run by a fellow by the name of Jerry Rushing.  If you've never heard of him, Jerry is a moonshiner-turned-actor.  The 1970's movie Moonrunners was based on his life.  If you've never heard of that, maybe you've heard of The Dukes of Hazzard, which itself was based on Moonrunners.  We figured that if this guy was staking his name on the place, it had to be better than Buckhaven.

So it was that early Sunday afternoon I packed up my Jeep and headed up to Ted's house in Charlotte.  From there we'd drive to Taylorsville, get some supper, then find the lodge and hopefully catch the Panthers game before bed.  In Taylorsville, we saw Harry Gant's restaurant, and being a fan of the old NASCAR driver from years ago, I suggested that we eat there.  Ted was agreeable, so we sat down to a quick supper before getting back on the road.

We didn't have too much trouble finding the lodge after we left the restaurant, and I felt a surge of excitement as we turned into the gravel driveway that led past the main gate.  It was still light out, and as we drove up to the lodge Jerry Rushing himself waved at us from the front porch.  We parked and walked over to the wooden deck to say hello to Jerry and the two fellows sitting with him.  As we introduced ourselves, I did a double-take as I noticed several deer feeding peacefully in the pasture below the house.  I nudged Ted, and we both stared in amazement as several bucks walked into the field and began to spar.  Jerry ignored them as if it were something that he saw every day.  Which of course it was.

After the introductions between ourselves and the two other hunters, we all walked into the house, where Jerry regaled us with some stories from the 25 years that he has run Chestnut.  As he talked about different dogs and hunters that had been "cut" by boars, I started to get a little nervous.  Although Ted and I know full well the dangers of hunting wild boar, it got a little bit more real as we heard about some of the wounds that they have inflicted to people over the years.  We wrapped up by signing the waivers that said that the outfit was not responsible for death or injury that might occur during our hunt.  A great way to top off that discussion!

        
These pictures show the den of the lodge with many of the trophies taken at Chestnut over the years.

Seriously, wild boars are very dangerous animals, and you need to be prepared to handle any trouble that may arise.  Be ready to jump up into a tree if one comes toward you, or, if you're near a hunting blind or tree stand, get into it at the first sign of trouble. 

We finally headed into the den to watch the Carolina Panthers wrap up the NFC championship, then watched the instructional video that discussed the rules of hunting at Chestnut.  The rules were really pretty simple... no alcohol, period.  Stay in your stand, period.  If you shoot the wrong animal, you have to pay the full cost for that animal.  If the guide points out the wrong animal for you to shoot, you pay your original price.  Just before bed, Chuck, our guide, showed up, introduced himself and talked a little bit about how the hunt would be conducted. 

Monday, Jan. 19, 2004
Ted and I were both awake long before the alarm clock went off.  When the other hunters started to stir, we got up and ate some venison steak biscuits that I had packaged, then got ready for our hunt.  Chuck said that he would be putting me in a stand called the "clay banks", while Ted would be hunting from the "blue box".  We would be within about 150 yards of each other, and were to stay in our blinds even if we shot a hog.  The other two hunters, Kevin and Charlie, would both be hunting Texas Dall Sheep high on the ridges above us.

We all piled into the back of an old Ford pickup just as the sky started to brighten, and Chuck drove us up onto the property.  He dropped Kevin off first, pointing his stand out to him from the window of the truck.  We drove on until we came to a fork in the mountain road  where an ATV was parked.  There actually were several of these parked at handy intervals along the trail... a great idea if you have private property and aren't worried about people messing with them. 

At the fork, Chuck told Ted and I to climb out and wait for him to drive Charlie to his stand.  He'd come back for us shortly and take us to our blinds.  As the truck drove away, I heard my first hog squeal high on the hill above us.  I glanced at Ted.  "Was that a pig?"  I asked him.  "I think so," he replied.  We both inched a little closer to the four wheeler.

"You nervous?"  I was the first to ask the question.  "Oh yeah," he said. 

"What did you think about all that talk last night?  Scare you a little?"  Me again. 

"I'm not going to lie.  Yeah, this is a little scary."  Ted.

"I'm glad it's not just me feeling that way," I finished.  We got a little closer to the bike, trying to make room to jump up on it if a boar headed our way.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before Chuck showed up again.  We piled into the front of the truck and went on up the road.  When we got to my stand, Chuck pointed out the most likely direction that the pigs would come in from, then showed me about where Ted would be so that I would avoid shooting in that direction.

My stand was a box blind that sat just off of the road, and it had a great view of the side of the mountain as well as a long stretch of dirt road.  It overlooked a small pond that was right behind Ted's stand.  I settled in and watched through the trees as Chuck dropped Ted off then drove away.  I hadn't sat there for five minutes when I heard something walking through the woods in front of me.  As I strained my eyes to see in the dim light, a doe appeared not ten yards in front of me.  She was grunting quietly, the first time in my life that I've ever gotten a good chance to listen to a whitetail vocalize.  It sounded nothing like any of the deer calls that we have.  I tried to get a few pictures of her as she walked by my stand, but it was still a little too dark.

I sat in my stand, shaking with excitement.  In the woods for less than ten minutes, and I had already seen a deer.  After the doe passed by, things settled down for about twenty minutes.  Then, as I looked down at the pond, I saw several more deer walking through the woods.  Man, I thought.  Those deer are walking right past Ted's stand.  I bet he's shaking right now!  I watched the herd of deer for over a half an hour.  There were several bucks in the group, including a ten pointer. 

As I watched the deer search for food, I heard something moving on the mountainside high above me.  I raised my binoculars and got my first look at a wild boar.  It was an ugly one:  pink and black.  I sure don't want that ugly thing on my wall.  If I have to pay the "sightseeing fee" and pass that one up, I'll do it, I decided.  There's a $150 price tag on seeing a shootable animal but passing it up at Chestnut.  This boar was a couple of hundred yards up the mountain from me, but he was headed my way.  I caught a glimpse of two more hogs, then lost them in the underbrush.

The deer also got wind of the boars, and they all scattered.  I moved into position to try to get a shot in case the hogs showed up in shooting range.  As I sat watching for them, to my surprise the entire herd of deer showed up right outside my stand.  I couldn't resist putting down my rifle and scrambling for my camera.  I managed to take the best pictures of a deer that I've ever gotten.

As I continued to marvel at the deer, I almost jumped out of my stand at the crack of Ted's rifle from the valley below me.  I whipped my binoculars around, expecting to see the surviving pigs bolt from Ted's area, but nothing appeared.  Listening for Ted to give a "yee haw", I turned my attention back to the deer, but all I saw was their white tails bobbing up and down as they left the area.

How many deer can you count in the full-sized picture?   Click to find out!

Just when I started to settle down again, I heard something else walking through the woods near me, and, raising my rifle, I was shocked to see an entire group of boar standing 20 yards away.  I centered my scope on a good looking animal, then saw an even bigger one move apart from the rest of the crowd.  Oh man, I thought.  What a monster.  I shifted my rifle over to the big one, waited a brief second for a clear shot opportunity, then squeezed the trigger.

I watched the dust fly from the hair on my hog's back and knew I had scored a hit.  I was amazed that the boar didn't even flinch.  It turned toward me, started to charge, then reversed direction and went over the hill as the rest of the pigs headed for parts unknown.  I followed my animal with my scope, debated on taking a second shot, then decided it was a solid, well-centered hit, and lowered my gun.  Within seconds, I heard a crash like the sound of a tree falling, followed by another one.  That one's dead on the ground, I thought to myself. 

Now comes the hardest part, the long wait for the guide to show up.  For what seemed like hours I paced back and forth in my little stand, listening for the sound of a four wheeler, watching the hills intently with my binoculars trying to get a glimpse of the truck rounding the bend in the road.  Several times I looked down a Ted's stand, hoping to give him a photos-up signal.  During this time, I saw at least 15 more hogs, some of which I managed to get some good pictures of.

Here are four of the hogs that were in the group that I shot mine out of.  The big one in the center is about the same size as mine.

It had to be one of the most agonizing waits of my life.  I knew I had a pig on the ground, and everything in me wanted to rush over to look for it.  But I kept remembering the lodge rule that hunters must remain in their stands until the guide arrives.  So I kept waiting, pacing, standing, sitting.  After an eternity passed, I heard something making a chuffing noise high up on the hill.  With my binoculars, I easily found the orange hat of Chuck, the guide, as he made his way down the hill.  He was throwing rocks at a group of hogs and making barking sounds at them trying to move them off of the mountain.

He finally got down to the road and walked over to my stand.  "Did you shoot?" he asked.  I told him that I had, and that I was sure I had a hog down.  I told him that I believed that Ted had shot also, just a few minutes before I did.  I told him where my pig had been, and we walked over to the spot where it had been standing when I fired.  We didn't find any blood at the point of impact, so we began following the trail that the animal had taken when it ran off.  I found a drop of blood about 30 yards away from our starting point, and was about to mention it to Chuck when he yelled that he had found my pig.

It was an absolute monster.  We guessed later that it weighed over 420 pounds.  It was a Russian strain sow, and it looked like a bear laying there on the ground.  We knew immediately that it was going to take all three of us to move it, so Chuck and I decided to go over and see what Ted had shot, then come back for my animal. 

Ted popped out of his stand smiling from ear to ear when he heard us approach.  "I've got one on the ground right over there," he said.  We headed in the direction that he was pointing and found a beautiful 250 pound black boar laying on the ground.  Ted had dropped it in its tracks at 80 yards.  Working together, we dragged it down to a creek bed for some pictures.  Chuck did a quick field dressing job on it, then we headed over to do the same on mine.

Here's me with my HOGGG!!!!

We dragged mine down to the road after the dirty work was finished, then Chuck told us to stay put while he went to check on the other two guys.  They were after Texas Dall rams, and neither had gotten a shot yet.  Ted and I had to endure a good long wait while Chuck went back and forth with the other two hunters, trying to get them their animals.  At one point, we were sitting there talking quietly when I heard something walking in the woods above us.  Looking up, I saw three more huge pigs, so we quickly grabbed our gear and ran for my blind, where we waited out the rest of the morning.  Several times we saw pigs, and once a group of rams. 

Finally, when Charlie and Kevin had collected their animals, we all piled in the truck and headed back to camp for a quick lunch, after which Chuck skinned and quartered all of the animals.  Jerry Rushing stopped by for pictures, then Ted and I decided that we didn't have enough cooler space to pack our skins back in, so we had to head in to Taylorsville to pick up some plastic tubs.  We followed that up with a steak dinner at Sagebrush in Lenoir, then headed back to camp, then on to bed.