People tell me I have a great job, but I already know it. I get to spend my days taking people out on the tropical waters of Key West, Florida. But even fishing gets to be a “job” if you do it often enough for long enough. So charter captains need a place to get away to for a “change of pace”. When I’m taking a break from fishing, my “getaway” is my hunting camp up in Glades County, Fl.
Sunset in a tee stand
Lots of Charter Captains and guides like to hunt and a few have been up to my camp with me. This trip, Capt. Mike Cyr came along. Mike used to own the Rampage sportfishing boat that docks next to the Southbound. Now, he’s a Flats Guide and a Bow Hunter. Mike used to be on the hunting lease I am on. He invited me up about 6 yrs ago and I was hooked. I joined the next year and have had the camp ever since.
Most people don’t have any idea where Glades County is. When they ask were my hunting camp is, I usually tell them you go up to no place, make a left to nowhere and go out to nothing and you’re there! Basically, We are west of Lake Okeechobee. It is a very rural area and the wildlife is amazing. On this trip, we saw an alligator, a very large Coyote, plenty of deer and some hogs. Both Mike and I shot hogs with a bow, but they are tough and we never found them. Unfortunately, that’s the way it goes sometimes.
I hate to kill an animal and hot harvest it, but that’s the good thing about Hog hunting. Hogs are an invasive species. They do close to a half-billion dollars worth of agricultural damage every year in this country. People think Hogs are Herbivores, but they are not herbivores, they are omnivores. They will eat carrion, snakes or anything they can including other dead hogs, so they can hurt populations of native animals too. Even if you cannot find a hog after shooting it, it’s ok. A dead hog is good for the environment even if you don’t find it.
When you do find it, and most of the time, we do, even one hog equals a whole bunch of pork to take home for the freezer. Wild pork is leaner than domestic pork. More importantly, in my opinion, Wild pork does not have any growth hormones. It tastes like……pork cause it is. Hunting is just grocery shopping the old fashion way.
I saw 3 hogs but only got one shot. I hit the hog, but to be honest, it wasn’t a great shot. Conditions were good for tracking, very dry, but I never found it. I sat with a rifle on the last night, but never saw a hog. Fortunately, this is not subsistence hunting. if it was, I would probably starve.