Doubling Up Down South - Florida
Matt's first hog!!
Hoppy and Matt with Matt's gator.
Hunter: Matt Snyder
Camerapersons: Vicki Cianciarulo & Joe Rush
The hours of daylight were winding down and not only was it the end to another great day in Florida at Osceola Outfitters, it was the end of my stay altogether, my last night in camp before flying to Colorado early the next morning. After an awesome Italian dinner cooked by the one and only Godmother (Ralph’s mom) it was time to get out in the ground blinds for the evening hunt. It was my turn to hunt and Vicki was behind the camera. As we packed up our gear I noticed the grin she had on her face. “We’re gonna kill a pig tonight” sounds good to me I said, but how are you so sure? “We’re going to—the kids blind!” To fill you in, the kids blind is a freakish spot where hogs come in by the dozens all night long, because of this they usually reserve the spot for kids, hence the name.
We weren’t in the blind twenty minutes before the first few hogs started to pile in, and before we knew it, there were about twenty of them feeding out in front of us. It was very interesting to see that of the twenty hogs in front of us, no two looked the same. It was neat to see all the different color patterns on each one. Finally I picked out the one I wanted to take and made sure I was on the same page as Vicki with the camera. Literally twenty minutes and five draws later, the pigs headed off without offering a single safe and ethical shot. I was bummed! Was this it? Was it all over? Nope. Ten minutes later there were a few dark objects running towards us from about 600 yards away. As the hogs got closer one hog stood out among the others, it looked like a big sow coming in with a bunch of little ones. To our surprise the little ones were actually 70 pound, year old hogs, and the big sow was no sow at all. “Look at the snow globes on that big boy!” It took them another 20 seconds, which seemed like 20 minutes, to feed over in front of us and unlike the first group of hogs this time it wouldn’t take long for a good shot opportunity. I drew my Hoyt on the big boy at twenty yards, heard Vicki say she was on him, and let the arrow fly. Big Boy Down! My first hog! I highly recommend trying this hog hunting stuff!
We pulled back into camp about a half hour after dark and everyone came outside to see my trophy. After a few handshakes, stories, and pictures, it was time to get cleaned up and head out on the boat with Ralph, Hoppy, and Joe. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to try to shoot an alligator with my bow before I had to leave for Colorado in a few hours. Could it be done?
It was 2:00 a.m. as we trolled slowly through the dark, eerie, smooth as glass-like water. Things were starting to look worse and worse with every lap we took around the lake. The problem was that although we could spot lots of gators in the water because of their eyes reflecting off of our light, we couldn’t get close enough to the gators to get a shot off before they would spin and go under. We must have tried and failed twenty times with the closest opportunity being twenty yards (a long shot with a bow fishing setup).
Then it happened! On the last lap around the lake at 2:20 a.m., we were closing the distance on a nice gator. I knew this would be my last chance at a shot so I drew at about fifteen yards out and held as we coasted in closer. It was over in a flash, the gator spun to go under when we were about fifteen feet away and I released the arrow just in the nick of time. When I said earlier that it was over in a flash, what I really meant was, the shot was over in a flash. Now the work started. We still had to reel the gator back to the boat and get it inside without anyone getting hurt in the process. It was ten minutes that I will never forget! Two words: Bang Stick. Awesome!
It was 2:40 a.m. before it was all said and done. After a few frustrating hours on the lake I finally had my gator and with little time to spare. It was a mad dash back to camp to get my gear packed, get the animals taken care of, and hit the road to the airport in Orlando. I caught my flight with minutes to spare and as I crashed down into my seat it hit me...I just had one awesome night! My first hog—my first gator—on the last night of the hunt. Let’s just say it was a good flight as I sat there with a smile on my face finally getting a chance to let it all soak in!