Merry Christmas, my very good friends! It’s been a long year with quite a bit of craziness; I hope that it didn’t cause any of you to act out. It’d be a real shame if Santa finds your name on his naughty list. Of course, I seem to stay there…. Been asking for a flame thrower for forty years and still, that fat guy in the red coat has yet to come through. Not that I really need a flame thrower; I just thought it’d be fun to light up the barbecue pit when we cook a hog.
And, I love barbecuing hogs. Mostly because that means I first, have to hunt the hog. Seems lots of you are planning the same thing as my inbox has had several queries about hog hunting. It’s been mighty difficult hunting them lately due to the cold, wet weather. But even with the deck stacked against us, success isn’t impossible. We just need to adapt to the conditions while unraveling their patterns of travel.
One big question, I’m most often asked, is where can we hunt them. If you don’t have access to private land to conduct your hunt, there are still quite a few public parcels of land in our state’s system of Wildlife Management Areas. Chasahowitzka and Homosassa WMA’s are two favorites of mine for hogs and you can get all of the information about hunting those two tracts of land on the Florida Wildlife Commission’s website at www.MyFWC.com. Since hogs move for two reasons this time of year, food and procreation, find the food source they’re actively feeding on (acorns) and begin your scouting there.
Now, I know that there are a lot of you unfamiliar with hog hunting on WMA’s. It’s alright because just north of our county line is one of the greatest assets, for those hunters new to perforating pork; the Ross Hammock Ranch. Not only is it one of the most beautiful destinations anywhere to be found in Florida, but they offer the best hog hunting anywhere. But it’s the educational opportunities to be found there for the hunter who’s willing to pay attention and ask lots of questions. Even old-timers like me can benefit from the opportunities found at the ranch and to be sure, I visit every chance I get. In fact, if you’d like to join me there sometime, reach out to the ranch owner HR Ross at www.RossHammockRanch.com, and let’s invite some of his hogs home for supper!
I have to tell you, a wild hog in the barbecue pit will bring friends and family together for sure and I always look forward to an opportunity to share the fruits of my labor with family and friends. That’s why I encourage you all to stick with it, find yourself in the right place, and put a fat porkzilla in the back of your truck. I will surely be out there doing the same.
If you have any questions or a story to share, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. God Bless, Good Hunting and may you all enjoy a very Merry Christmas!
