No one really plans to spend a morning sitting in a tree in the rain, but I had told my guide I would sit out the rain as long as there wasn't any lightning, and he must have believed me.
I was hunting wild hogs in Florida on the Seminole Indian Reservation's Big Cypress hunting reserve. I had photographed several trophy axis deer, a fallow deer that wondered across the meadow during a lull, and I'd also seen several whitetail. The morning wasn't a total loss, but I wanted a hog.
"We've been working on this for quite some time," Jimmy told us the first night. "We've put together a first-rate resort and hunting reserve."
The Seminole's resort area includes a hunting preserve a few minutes from a main complex designed so a family can enjoy a weekend Florida outdoor adventure. The complex, named the Billie Swamp Safari, includes an excellent restaurant (The Swamp Water Cafe), gift shop, swamp buggy wildlife tours, air boat tours, alligator wrestling outside the restaurant, canoeing, and the Big Cypress Hunting reserve.
Overnight accommodations are in chickees--traditional Seminole thatch structures. They range in size from two-bed chickees to larger group-sized ones. The rustic outdoor atmosphere is maintained with board-shuttered windows, light from kerosene hurricane lanterns inside, and torches that line the paths outside. Each bed has its own mosquito netting, and there are separate private men's and women's showers and a laundry facility.
"Might be a little wet," Gavin said, then added, "but the hunting will be good!"
Because we arrived after dark we couldn't check zero's until morning, but at first light we were at the shooting bench where each hunter fired several check shots before going boar hunting.
Hunting is from stands and by stalking. In the morning we rode to the hunting areas in custom-built "swamp buggies" made from 4x4 pickups and equipped with oversized wheels to get through the swamps.
I was dropped off first. After I climbed into my appointed tree stand, Gavin gave me my rifle, my thermos of coffee, a poncho, and wished me luck, advising me to, "Check the boar's teeth before pulling the trigger."
Gavin took Steve Waters, an outdoor writer from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to another stand. I settled under the poncho, then came the serious rain. Florida gets lots of rain in the winter, and I think most of it was dumped on me that morning.
My rifle, an H&R Handi-Rifle single-shot in .270, with a Weaver 1-3X scope, was wet. Even in the most driving rain the scope never fogged. I had selected the Weaver scope because I wanted a brush gun that could also be used on open-field shots. It satisfied my needs exactly and the Florida hunt was testing the gun and scope to the limits. By noon, however, I was ready to crawl into a pot of coffee at the Billie Swamp Cafe.
After lunch we returned to the hunt. Mornings are good for stands, but for the afternoon and evening swamp hunts we used a buggy to scout for game and then stalked it on the ground. We cruised the swamps, islands, and fire breaks of the 4,000-acre hunting area and passed up several hogs because we wanted trophies. In the afternoon Waters killed a large sow with a slug from his shotgun. It was my turn to hunt.
Gavin, the other two writers, and I were sitting in the swamp buggy glassing the edges of a fire break when a large boar walked across an opening several hundred yards away.
"Want him?" Gavin asked.
"You bet!"
Gavin climbed down, stepped into the mid-calf deep water, and started off, with me following. We walked through mud, water, over firm ground, through palmettos, past cypress trees, then into some sort of thick brush that was growing in about six inches of water. We stepped onto firm ground and Gavin pointed to the boar. It was standing 40 yards away, facing me. I aimed between the boar's eyes and shot. I thumbed the gun open and the brass case was spit out. I chambered a fresh round, and snapped it shut, all in a single motion.
"Don't need a second shot," Gavin said calmly.
We walked over to the boar. I was shaking. The shot had hit exactly where I aimed. The boar was dead before it hit the ground. I had my first wild boar.
While I was off stalking my boar, my hunting companions spotted a group of wild hogs in another direction. One of them stalked them with a bow and killed two hogs with arrows fired from one spot!
My second hog came in a thick palmetto stand and was another one-shot kill. The bullet hit the hog just behind the ear and it too was dead on its feet. My Florida wild hog hunt was over.
The next day I toured the resort and Jimmy arranged for us to fly over the hunting area. We saw dozens of animals, including exotic and domestic deer and I was sold on the Seminole's hunting reserve and tourist resort.
The actual species hunted depends on what part of the country the reservation is in. In the Carolinas and southern states, reservations open for hunting offer whitetail, turkey, boar, wild hog, small game, and some have exotic species. Western state reservations have deer, elk, javelina, turkey, and upland bird hunting. To learn what reservation hunting is available hunters must contact the wildlife office or local guide and outfitter association of the state and reservation they are interested in hunting. Some reservations contract with outside outfitters while others run their own operations.
Before booking a reservation hunt ask for references from past clients. Not all reservation guides or outfitters are subject to the same laws that govern other outfitters. When you find a good reservation hunting reserve or outfitter and book a hunt, prepare yourself for an outstanding hunting experience!
For more information on hunting with the Seminoles write: Jimmy McDaniel, Big Cypress Hunting Adventures, Dept. GLG/AO, Clewiston, FL 33440, or phone 800-689-2378, or contact B&B Safari, P.O.Box 808, Canon City, CO 81215, (fax) 719-269-1733, or by e-mail on CompuServe 73737,2466.
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