A South Florida Hog Hunt

Two friends and I recently headed down to the swamps that surround Lake Okeechobee for a hog hunt. One of these friends and I had done this same hunt about 6 months before using bow and arrow. For this trip we decided to use our semi-automatic pistols, since we are able to get so close to the hogs. The choice to use pistols would prove to be an exciting on to say the least.

For this hunt everyone plus a guide rides out to the swamp in a large swamp buggy, where we are sitting about ten feet above the ground. Once we arrive in the swamp the guide lets out two hound dogs to search for the hogs. These dogs are bred for hog hunting and its what they love to do. There are two types of hog hunting dogs commonly used, a catch dog, and a bay dog. A catch dog is typically a pit bull that will run in and bite a hog to hold until the hunter can get there. We used bay dogs on our hunt, these are commonly hounds that will find a hog, but rather than catching it, they will circle it while barking, to keep the hog in one place until the hunters can arrive.

We met the guide a little before eight o’clock in the morning, quickly loaded up the buggy, and headed to the swamp. Once out there we let the dogs out, and within ten minutes they were on a hog. I was the first one up since the trip was part of my bachelor party, so I jumped off the buggy with the guide to find the dogs. The dogs had bayed up the hog in a palmetto thicket, where the hog laid down, knowing the dogs wouldn’t come through the brush for him. The only shot I could get on him was head on from about ten yards, so the guide told me to shoot him in the head.

I took a deep breath, lined up my sights and aimed at the hog with my Glock 9mm pistol. The 9mm was not powerful enough to kill this huge hog in one shot. The hog immediately jumped up and charged at me. I quickly jumped back and fire one shot at the charging hogs head, and kill the magnificent creature. The hog fell in the exact spot I was standing just seconds before. After that shot I admired the creature, and thanked God for the animal’s meat. While I was looking at the hog, I noticed this two hundred pound hog had two to three inch tusks, the long teeth that stick out and are used strictly for cutting other animals. Had that second shot missed him, I would have been riding on a helicopter to the nearest hospital with severe leg wounds from those tusks.

Luckily, the rest of our day’s hunt was safe and successful. We took three hogs, weighing 200, 150, and 90 pounds. My heart rate finally slowed down the next day after being charged, and we were able to feast the fresh meat we hunted. Although this hunt had a very close call, it was good to be outdoors, and living off the land. I can’t wait to do it again, just not so close the next trip.