Hell hunt

[Austesus]

Had probably one of the worst hunts I’ve had last night as far as stress and misery. Started off running a property that was real thick vines briars and pines. Went about 35 minutes without seeing anything. Then I smelled a rank hog and walked up on some rooting, kept pushing the dogs after they wouldn’t really do anything and about 5 minutes after that my male pup Hopper opened up and lit out. Him and my RCD going step for step. Well baby girl caught up to them around 200yds. They keep rolling and end up crossing the pavement, on to another property about 3/4 mile. I get to them and they’re on the flooded out creek. Hopper is 112yds out on a log, current moving fairly quick. I end up calling him to me and he struggled but managed to swim back.

Baby girl was sitting out in the water 250yds from me, I couldn’t see her but could hear her bark every few minutes, she wouldn’t come out. I tried for about 45 minutes and ended up getting guys on the phone and get them to bring two kayaks. I was really nervous to attempt swimming it, especially if I got there and couldn’t get her to swim back with me. There’s a 20ft deep gut that runs through there and it was flooded both sides for who knows how far. No bank either, it’s a straight drop on the sides and with the water this high I didn’t wanna be walking and suddenly drop. I take Hopper and punk back to the truck, .68 away. Luckily I leashed them, they started going crazy throwing their noses in the air and about dragging me, 300yds later I see a pig slip by us about 150yds to the right. They couldn’t see him but smelled him and were flipping out trying to get over there. I finally get them back to the truck and drive to where we can put the kayaks in. Everyone shows up and me and my buddy Cody get in the water and paddle 1.28 to where baby girl is.

She’s on a log and won’t do anything. I end up getting out the kayak in thigh deep water, put her inside of it, and tie it to my buddy’s and he toes her across the creek to where it’s flooded timber on the other side. We decide it’s gonna be too hard for him to get her to dry land without my garmin to know where to go, and it’s gonna take too long. So I swim over to where he’s at where it’s only about 2ft deep. Well the life jacket I put on saved my life. As soon as I hit the deep water and had to swim I about locked up from the cold. Made it to a branch hanging in the water and held on for a minute then swam the rest of the way. Got to him, the dog had flipped my kayak. Couldn’t get all the water out so it was riding low and not stable. We put her in his since it was bigger and she could get in front of him and lay down. Well throughout this my paddle disappeared. So he had to tow me to the land, took about 20-30 more minutes going through the flooded timber. By the time we hit ground I was shaking real bad and couldn’t hardly talk. I’ve never had that happen before and was starting to have serious worries that i was going in to hypothermic shock.

We leash the kayaks to a tree and walk out 800yds to the road. During that time baby girl rolls out and catches 581yds from us, no way I could get to her. We went to the truck to sit in the heat and I rode my buddy back to his truck. Drove back to where she was and she was running again, showed caught again about 400yds from the road. I start walking in and come in to a field, just happen to look over and there’s a 300lb pig 30ft away just looking at me. Mind you I had been trying to call this dog out the whole time, he wasn’t scared of me at all, which got me nervous if he tried to charge me I had left my gun with my wife in the truck and there were no trees around. I slowly back away from him and keep going, I can hear pigs all around me. Baby girl starts moving again, gets 90yds from me and won’t come, she keeps going so I went back to the truck to wait for her. She shows treed a 3rd time, now 245 yards from the truck. I wait a second to make sure she’s really caught and she starts moving again, so I lay on the horn and this time she starts coming back. I get out and see her coming out the woods slow. Got her on the tail gate and saw she was bleeding, deep puncture. Get her back to the house and bring her in to warm her up and take a look at her.

She had 3 cuts, one on her inner back leg. One on her chest where a tooth got up under the vest through the leg hole. The third is a puncture above the cut collar that was about 3/4” deep. I got blood stop powder in it after spraying it with hydrogen peroxide and vetericyn. Went out to check on her this morning and she looks exhausted but okay. I was worried about it slowly dropping all night, she got a good bit of blood in the dog box before i got her home which was 15ish minutes.

All in all it was not a hunt that I would want to do again lol. Nothing but stress and misery. On the plus side, my male pup from Justin made me real proud striking that pig and staying with it for 3/4 until it smokes them on the water. Even then, his winding on the way out impressed me too.



Right past the trees in the center is the actual creek, where we ended up coming through on the kayak was a lot of flooded timber between the bank and the creek, a few hundred yards down from here. It was neck deep from the ground out to the creek, it all drops off steep there.



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[HIGHWATER KENNELS]

We all have run into those kind of hunts,,, miserable to say the least..  atleast you didn't loose any of the dogs and most importantly ,, your life,,,

it don't take but just the wrong decision at the wrong time and its too late..  I tell my son that all the time,,  This thing we do is for fun but can turn on you quick with the wrong decisions..   

[Austesus]

Sure enough. I’m glad I made the choice to call the guys to bring kayaks. If I would’ve tried to swim the whole stretch out to her and tried to get her back across I probably wouldn’t have made it. Been getting in the low 30’s here at night, not sure what the water temperature was. If I hadn’t put on the life jacket I might not have made it. I can swim decent, I’m just slow. And I’ve actually swam the gut before in spring when the water was still a little chilly but it was 60 degrees and sunny. I’ve never locked up like a did last night. I was having trouble standing when I got to land. Cody was having trouble walking just from the wading in thigh deep water he did. I was in water for about 45 minutes. We ended up leaving the kayaks tied off and are gonna try to get them today, it’s supposed to rain for the next 3 days. I’m hoping it’s not bad, we’re gonna drag them the 800yds to the truck. It’s my father in laws kayak I used and of course he’s pretty much a professional kayaker and goes on long trips every weekend. So if something happens to it he ain’t gonna be happy. I told my wife to let him know the situation and that I’ll buy him a new one if something happens to it. Nobody is gonna find it back there, I just don’t want the water to come up and it somehow get loose from the tree. The water level out there fluctuates by 10-15 feet with a little bit of rain


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[warrent423]

Surely, there is no need to be showing cut or poked dogs each time it happens.

[Austesus]

Surely, there is no need to be showing cut or poked dogs each time it happens.

Didn’t think it was too graphic for here, since picture was after it was cleaned up too


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[Austesus]

It’s not showing up now, I guess Mr. Mike deleted it.


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[t-dog]

Glad y'all came out alright. Y'all are right though, it's all for fun but it can get real in a hurrying you aren't very careful.

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[warrent423]

Good call Mike. I could give a rat's a$$ what anyone who dislikes our way of life thinks, but I do believe it is disrespectful to show dogs cut up, on a forum for everyone to see. Disrespectful to the dogs

[Reuben]

Austin...no dog is worth your life...just be sure you make sound decisions and stay safe for your family and yourself...

That Go-devil with a gator tail motor on it would have been nice...

[Austesus]

Thanks everyone, was one to remember for a long time, that’s for sure.

Reuben, this creek is designates as no motors, although I wouldn’t have cared being late at night like that. A boat would not have been able to fit through the timber though, kayaks were a tight fit through some of it. Last night i found a kayak called “wavewalk S4” that you can put up to a 6hp outboard on and it’s extremely stable for multiple people. I’d love to get one for emergencies like this or just exploring, at almost $3k without a motor though it’s a bit pricey for a kayak, even though it is really cool. Once I get to work and get some paperwork done and make my rounds I’ll give you a call back


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[Cajun]

Glad you got your dog and yourself out ok.

[Austesus]

Thanks Cajun, definitely don’t wanna do it again lol


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[Austesus]

Went back yesterday afternoon and dragged the kayaks up to the road to take home. Was a little worried they’d be floating since we’ve had more rain come in. Water levels in this spot fluctuate by huge amounts and we’re experiencing major flooding in SC right now. Water levels are higher than our famous flood in 2015, almost as high as they were during Hugo. Had a good laugh when we got there and saw that the pigs had rooted up all around and underneath the kayaks after we left lol


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[cajunl]

You ain't lying. I was up there working and hunting last week and could not believe how much the water was up. And it was raining more!

[Austesus]

You ain't lying. I was up there working and hunting last week and could not believe how much the water was up. And it was raining more!

What area were you in? I’ve been hunting around the Congaree. Everywhere is insane right now. I have a family friend that lives on wateree and they’re front yard is currently 25ft underwater, thankfully they’re house is up on stilts. They had to board they’re dog because they can’t even get him to dry ground to use the bathroom


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[cajunl]

Little Pee Dee.

[Austesus]

Y’all have any luck? I know there’s pigs that way, I’m not familiar with the area though. I primarily hunt the middle of the state


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[cajunl]

Not bad. Caught 2 in a 1/2 day hunt. The water up makes it a little easier. Went to Tennessee the week before and the aero shot the place. Hard hunting for 3 days and one small hog. Glad they dont helicopter shoot in Fl!