Shooting With Jim Hog Hunt Tiger Island Outfitters

I was on a shark trip last month with Jack Hannebaum and his wife Brenda and we were talking about guns and shooting, between Jack doing battle with the big sharks I was putting him on and the subject came up about doing a hog hunt. Now I had been thinking about getting a few buds together and going to a place that offered great hog hunting for a little Fun Shooting.

Jack managed to angle several nice sharks to about 150 pounds this day and he wanted to round out his trip to Florida with some other outdoors fun before heading back to Missouri. Now he already had a trip to go and harvest an alligator but wanted to go on a hog hunt and just so happens so did I.

After this productive shark trip, I went home and thought about the hog hunt idea and having the last few months of Woods and Water magazine laying around, I thought, why not look in there for a hog hunt place. So I headed to my favorite reading room and browsed the magazine and guess what I found? You guessed it, hog hunting places right here in Florida and one that was just a short ride from the house, Tiger Island Outfitters, in Cedar Key. So I did what any internet half way savvy person does, went to Google and typed in Tiger Island Outfitters. But to my dismay, not much came up but what little did, was all good. The next thing was to call Tiger Island and see what they had to say. So I called 352-543-0851 and spoke with the owner, Crichton Allen about his hunts. Crichton and I spoke for a good time as he explained what he offered and the particulars about the hunts. He explained we could hunt from tree stands, ground blinds or stalk the pigs. All of the tree stands and ground blinds were in place and in prime areas located on his property. We talked about prices, cleaning the hogs and the guide he had working with him. After the first few minutes I felt very comfortable with him and what he was offering so I said I WANT TO DO IT. I sent him a deposit and started making calls to a few of my buds that had expressed an interest. After a few calls I had my group together and now it was time to decide which guns to take to harvest some pork.

See, I am not your average shooter. I am a perfectionist when it comes to shooting and I believe you should be able to shoot EXACTLY where your cross hairs are fixed. Not two inches off or a foot off but dead on the spot where the cross hairs are pointing. So, I needed to figure out which guns to bring and spend my time at the range with those guns with several different loads for each to see which was most accurate at a range from 25 to 75 yards, as this was going to be the distance that the shots would be taken.

My first stop was to my local gun store to get as many different makes and styles of 20 gauge shotgun slugs for my new Remington 870 with a rifled barrel. From my years of shooting I new this gun would have maybe two or three rounds that would shoot real accurate and the rest would only be close. See, all guns do not shoot all ammo with the same degree of accuracy. If you get your favorite gun and purchase a bunch of different brands and loads and shoot all of them from a rest (take as much of your gun movement out of this equation as possible), you will see a noticeable difference in the different loads.

Now, I have 12 different 20 gauge slug types, from chunks of lead to sabot bullets, so off to the range I went. After some range time I could see that this gun liked a Winchester Supreme Partition Gold 2 3/4 inch, 260 grain sabot slug, product number SSP20. This round was giving me groups of 1/2 of and inch at 50 yards from a bench and using a lead sled rest. Some of the other loads and brands were shooting groups from 2 to 4 inches at this distance and this was NOT nearly acceptable. Now if I was shooting the side of a barn the others would have been fine but I want the bullet to strike the exact spot I had the cross hairs pointed. The load that shot best in this gun might or might not be the best for your gun and the only way to find out is to shot as many as you can, YOU WILL FIND ONE OR TWO THAT SHOOTS FAR MORE ACCURATE THAN ALL OF THE REST. Now I have my slug load down and would be doing the same with my Marlin 336 in 35 Remington and 444 Marlin. After a few more hours at the range, I had all of my loads down and was ready to send my bullet at the exact spot I was aiming.

Alright it is now the night before we leave to Hunt Piggies and I am to be in bed early but after hours of laying there with eyes wide open, the alarm sounded and what the hey, I didn't need any sleep, I slept yesterday. We all met at my house that early morning and off to Tiger Island Outfitters we went.

This was not a bad ride at all. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there where we were met by Crichton and our guide Brian Pritchard. After some hand shaking and how do you do's and a little about what we were in for, we headed to the cabin to get ready. You know, put on our cammo, boots, spray down for bugs, get our guns out and ready and more talking about the big adventure we were all ready to embark.

My crew was Jack Hannebaum, Mike Morris, Mark Worley and Alex Thomason.

The way it works there is they load you up on a big golf cart and drive to the spot you would like to hunt and Alex and I wanted to hunt together so we were taken to an area that had two tree stands a few feet apart. On the way down the trail to the stand we could have shot several pigs that were crossing the road and one that I thought was going to get in the cart with us. I think this was the crazy one they had talked about earlier that morning.

Alex and I were dropped off in a great looking spot, a 30 yard open area with several shooting lanes and a big feeder in the middle of the area. Both of us proceeded to get in our stands and get ready as daylight was fast coming upon us. It could not have been more than 10 minutes after we had settled in or stands when the woods came alive with birds, squirrels and a bunch of pigs. This was amazing, they just kept coming to the feeder and at one time there were over 30 in plain sight. Now this entire time Alex and I are talking, not loud but still talking and the pigs did not run off. We are both sitting there with total amazement of the numbers and different sizes of the hogs that we had a chance to harvest. I wanted him to shot first and figured I would get mine later. Well, we both sat the for about 15 minutes or more just watching and deciding which one he wanted to take. Finally he made his choice and with a single crack of the Marlin 336 in 35 Remington the 200 grain bullet traveled out of the barrel and into the hog, Alex had his pig. A nice sow in the 75 to 90 pound range. A perfect size for eating.

When Alex shot, low and behold all of the other hogs ran for cover but we were over the feeder and I figured they would be back shortly. Well, I was wrong, after and hour of sitting with a lot of hog movement all around us, none came back to the feeder. I kicked around getting on the ground and stalking and just about when I was ready to get down, I saw one heading our way as it slowly worked through the thick cover. I was ready with my 20 gauge Remington 870 and 4X scope fixed on the area I thought the hog was coming out to a clear lane about 70 yards from where I was sitting. As the hog made its way to the open spot, I fixed the cross hairs on its head just forward of its ear and slowly squeezed the trigger. With the accuracy of a laser light, the 260 grain Winchester sabot struck the hog exactly where my cross hairs were aimed and with a thud, down it went. Those hours at the range had paid off with a perfect shot and a fast, one shot, clean kill.

I had all of the sitting I could stand and was headed down the tree for some stalking. As I had several more to harvest on this so far great day in a great place, with great people. Not long after I hit the ground, I saw several more hogs moving in the thick brush but none that presented a clear shot. It wasn't long before the guide, Mike Morris and Mark Worley came up on the cart. I told them I wanted to get on foot and see what I could scare up. They had each shot one and wanted to go back to the camp and about then Jack Hannebaum headed out of the woods and said he would walk with me to see what we could get up.

As the rest of the group headed back to the camp, they scared up about a dozen hogs that looked to be going to a low area and both Jack and I headed in after them. It wasn't long before we had a group of a dozen or more hogs rounded up but just could not get a clean shot so we decided to work our way around then an see if we could push them into a little clearing. We both slipped silently around and below them to flush them out to a road and this seemed as it was working as we could see them heading right where we wanted them. I was closest to the road so I eased out to the edge and sort of used a tree for some cover as Jack kept pushing them my way. I saw one step out onto the road about 50 yards away and look right at me with a look of what is that and just as that thought went through my head the hog turned and was heading back into the thicket. I raised my 20 gauge, fixed the cross hairs behind it's ear and squeezed the trigger. Again a thud and another perfect shot. Now I had two. So far I was very happy with my new slug gun. It was easy to shoot, did not kick much, was laser accurate and with the right shot placement had so far put two nice meat hogs on their way to moving into my freezer.

As suddenly as this hog fell to my shot the rest of the bunch we were stalking were running for higher ground and fixin to pass through a nice little clearing that would allow me to take another shot. I slid the pump action back and fed another round into the chamber as I kept track of exactly where Jack was. As the hogs hit the clearing, I fixed the cross hairs on one, followed it to be sure and squeezed off another shot.

By now the morning cool had increased to a late morning getting pretty darn warm and I needed to come out of some clothes and get my Marlin lever action 444 for my next hog. We loaded up the meat and back to camp we went. I unloaded the tested and proven 20 gauge, sprayed it down with oil, put it in a case, came out of some clothes and got my Marlin 444.

Brian took me into the swampy area where we saw several splashing around in the mud but it was too thick to get a clear clean shot. He said he would push them to the left to an open area where I might get a shot. By the time I made it to the open area the mad rush had started. There must have been 30 plus hogs running at a full tilt buggy to cross this open spot. I swung the 444 to my shoulder, picked out one, placed the cross hairs on it's shoulder, swung the gun as I followed it to a clearing and with another drop of the hammer, I had number 4. The 270 grain 44 caliber bullet had hit it's left shoulder and stopped the 180 pound hog with one shot. This hog was about 40 yards away and running from right to left. It came from a thicket, went through some light standing trees and back into a small open area. When I placed the cross hairs on it's shoulder, I continued to follow it with a fluid motion until it came to the clearing, where I pulled the trigger and down it went. All of that skeet shooting practice had paid off with this shot.

Well, I was done. I had all I had room for in my freezer and was ready to watch someone else have fun. By now Jack and Mark had made their way to me and Jack said the big bunch of the hogs were headed that way. Well Brian, our guide new where that way went and Jack was ready for his third, so off we went, Brian, Jack, Mark and Myself on the golf cart to the place Brian said they would be. Brian must know what he is doing because when we got to the spot, they were crossing the road there. Mark and I stayed in the cart as Brian and Jack headed down the fence line in pursuit of Jacks third hog. He had taken two in the early morning while in the tree stand. Mark and I could see both Jack and Brain as they stopped and got on target but could not see the quarry. Jack raised the Marlin lever action in 35 Remington, drew a bead and boom, he had his third. Great shot. One shot one dead piggy.

Returning to the camp, we had accumulated quiet a mess of hogs. Our tally was Alex Thomason with 1, Mike Morris with 1, Jack Hannebaum with 3 and yours truly with 4. They ranged in sizes from 80 to 180 pounds. I really wanted to get a couple more but did not know where I would put the meat. BUT, I will be back. I am eating this as fast as I can so I can make room for a few more in my freezer.

Now we all sat back and watched as Brian and Crichton proceeded to skin, and quarter our quarry. As you can imagine, this took a while, so we all got settled in a comfortable seat and relaxed. I went to my truck and field cleaned my guns before the ride back as I knew when I got home, I would be ready for a shower and a comfortable bed.

After all the hogs were cleaned and stored in the coolers, back to Jacksonville we headed, where I found a warm shower and comfortable bed until the next day. I took the meat to my local butcher, where I was told this was some very nice looking pork, not your normal gamey wild hog. I have since eaten a bunch of this and it is great. I will go back.

Bottom line for Tiger Island Outfitters: Crichton Allen, the owner runs a great operation. Plenty of hogs, you can shoot all you can afford, the price is more than reasonable, both Crichton and his guide Brian Pritchard are very friendly and experienced. The hunts are a blast and he also offers squirrel hunts for kids, deer and turkey hunting with a bow. My recommendation is to call and book a trip. You will remember it for a long time and put some meat in the freezer. His number is 352-543-0851 and his operation is located a few miles northeast of Cedar Key.