Leo and his buddy Joe came to florida's Razor Ranch for a few hunting days away from the city and to to harvest a trophy boar. The two friends had attended school together and had been on numerous Florida hog hunting trips in the 40 years since. When Leo showed up to the shooting bench shooting a 375 H&H we knew he meant business. These wild hogs here in S.W. Florida are like a tank on four legs, and we like to see the big guns. One shot in the black on the range and we were ready for the hog hunt to begin.      Leo chose to hunt a ground blind on the edge of a large open field for his first evening hunt. The movement was good that afternoon and he saw quite a few animals including axis deer, fallow deer, red stags and a few bison at close range. There were a lot of hogs in the field right at dusk but none within range of the big gun he was shooting. He said there were some real monster axis bucks in the heard that crossed the field in front of him on that first sit. Afterward we picked up his friend Joe and his meat hog and headed back to the lodge for a great dinner. Sat around the lodge after dinner and swapped hunting stories and then turned in early in prep for the morning hunt.      Daylight the next morning found Leo sitting in an 8x20 platform stand located across the field from the hog ground blind he had sat the evening before. There had been some big boars sighted close to the stand the day before so Leo decided to give this one a shot. It was a cool Florida morning and the fog rolled in and out. You could see animals appear out of the fog and then vanish before your eyes as the banks drifted in. A hog feeder went off about 100 yards out on the edge of a Florida cypress head and a group of rams ran past the stand headed for breakfast. As the rams raced to pick up the corn Leo noticed two large hogs working their way out of the thick and headed for the feeder. When the hogs got to the feeder they made short work of the rams. Leo said the hogs ran the rams off the feeder and then settled down to feed. Leo picked out the biggest of the two brutes, settled the crosshairs on his shoulder, and slowly squeezed the trigger. At the shot the big hog buckeled in his tracks. The big slug hit the hog square in the shoulder and passed clean through. When Joe and I got to Leo we were both amazed at the size of his hog. It took everything the three of us had to load that hog. He went a little over 300 lbs on the hoof and sported a set of cutters over 3 1/2 inches. A great florida trophy in anyone's book. Congratulations Leo on a great shot and a top shelf trophy boar.  Looking forward to hunting with you and Joe again soon.

Florida Hog Hunting

   It was Joe and Leo's first hog hunt at Razor Ranch, and they were excited at the prospect of killing a florida trophy boar. Joe is a Florida talk radio show host from the Naples area and a life long hunter. After getting settled into the cabin and a quick trip to the shooting range to be sure the guns were zeroed, it was time for the hog hunt to begin. Joe was taken to one of the many hog hunting stands on the ranch overlooking 2 corn feeders, with a hog waterhole in sight. The hunting stand was a large platform nestled in a large live oak that easily will accommodate up to 4 boar hunters.      During the course of Joe's afternoon hunt he saw numerous different wild exotic animals including axis deer, fallow deer, whitetail deer, and of course several different groups of wild hogs. As the sun began to set another group of hogs made their way to the feeder. Among them was a very nice meat hog, about 100 lbs, that Joe took a liking to. One well placed shot just behind the ear and his first hog was on the ground. Great way to start a Florida hog hunting trip! After a few photos the hog was taken back to the hunting lodge to be skinned and quartered. Our hunting camp cook, Ms. P, had enough food cooked to feed a small army, and a great meal was had by all. After dinner we all sat around the lodge and relived the hog hunt and swapped hunting stories.      Day 2 of the hunt started out cool and foggy. Joe saw numerous animals on his morning hunt including several nice boars. Joe decided to pass these hogs in hopes of a monster boar, and it turned out he made the right call. Opting for a spot and stalk hunt that afternoon we made our way through Florida's thick palmetto and oak heads. A large group of hogs were spotted and the stalk was on. We made it to about 80 yards of the hog group before we ran out of cover. After some serious glassing we picked the dominate boar out of the group, set up the shooting sticks, and readied for the shot. After what seemed like forever the big boar finally fed clear of the other hogs and I told Joe to take the shot. At the blast the boar spun and was in the thick palmetto's in a flash. Through the binos I could see the giant boar favoring his left front shoulder as he ran. Joe was excited and said he knew the shot was good. When we got to the place the boar had been standing at the shot we could not find any blood. After searching for a while in Florida's thick hunting land, we picked up just a small smear of blood on a palmetto from where he ran in. 20 yards further we found another smear, but not what you would call good sign. From there it went cold. We wagonwheeled every possible trail the giant boar could have taken but there was no more blood. We backed out to go get Leo and get him to his afternoon hunting stand, and then back to the trail. The Florida palmettos were over your head tall and so thick that the only way to get through them was to crawl on your hands and knees. After about an hour of crawling I spotted a black patch about 10 yards up a small tunnel, and sure enough it was Joe's giant hog. He had died within 20 seconds of the shot and covered about 60 yards. He just happened to go into Florida's thickest cover he could find. Joe's shot had hit the boar perfectly in the shoulder, passed through the chest and stopped in the shield on the opposite side. The hog weighed in at about 250 lbs and had right at 3 inches of teeth. Great hog Joe, and a fantastic hunt. Congrats.