My first hog hunt was truly a day I will never forget. It was Saturday January 17, 2009 and, according to The Weather Channel, the coldest it’s been in our area in three years. We were camping on the Altamaha River with a group of friends. I was wearing several layers of clothing, but it was still very cold. My husband and I walked for a couple of hours in the morning and only saw one raccoon although we saw lots of sign that hogs were in the area. So we returned to camp to grab a bite to eat and gather firewood for the night before returning for the afternoon hunt.

Later that afternoon our friend Matt took us back to the hill we were hunting and we started walking again. The mud was pretty deep and it was quite a workout. Thankfully I had bought a new pair of Muck boots especially for this trip. After about an hour and a half we decided we would rest on a fallen tree and wait for a while. You could tell hogs had definitely been there.

We turned to the left to walk to the fallen tree and heard something coming from behind us. I turned to look and there he was. I told Jason, “Oh wow! He’s huge!” I got into position by propping up against a tree and said “Tell me when.” He said “Shoot him!” BANG!!! I had him! My first hog! I was so excited as I watched him fall in his tracks. We went over to take a look and the hog got up, ran into a tree, then turned and ran straight for Jason. He fired off several shots from his handgun before he finally hit him dropping him again.

My excitement overwhelmed me! We estimated that he weighed around 200 pounds and he had an awesome set of cutters. I couldn’t wait to get back to camp to tell all the guys about my hunt! It was around 5:00 pm when I shot and Matt was not supposed to return until dark to pick us up. So we walked back to the bank of the river and waited. At around 6:15 pm we could hear the boat coming down the river. It seemed like we were waiting on the bank forever!

Matt didn’t believe me when I first told him my story. But Jason was there as my witness and the three of us went back to where my hog was to bring him to the boat. It was almost a mile through the woods. We were exhausted when we finally got him out of there but it was well worth it. The guys at the camp were all impressed by the only girl on the hill. I guess I had to show them how to bring home the bacon!!!