Florida Trip
 

Pretty slow on here right now, so figured I would share a couple pics from a trip to Florida last week. Headed down to Ormond Beach to see the inlaws at their winter home there, and me and the boy decided to sneak out for a gator and hog hunt. Was a blast, saw and shot a pile of hogs, and the highlight for my son was that he got to smack a couple with a revolver which made his day. That place really is overran with them.....we saw pigs everywhere we went throughout the trip. We kept a couple for meat, and one for a euro for my son as this was his first hog hunting experience in the US. We both got decent gators as well (kids was missing a foot which was neat), and enjoyed cooking it a different way every evening. The gators were hunted spot and stalk catching them up on the banks sunning themselves.

Didnt get out fishing, as the day we had a boat booked there were wave warnings, so couldnt get out of the harbor. On a non hunting note though, we did go to the Kennedy Space Center and I have to say that is likely one of the most awesome places I have ever been. And the timing couldnt have been better, as the SpaceX Crew 8 launch was scheduled to send 4 astronauts to the ISS. We bought launch tickets, and while the first attempt last Saturday was scrubbed, we went back again on Sunday and saw our first rocket launch. Worth every penny and making the drive a couple times, actually was the highlight of the entire trip for me.....everything about the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral was too cool, could spend days there and not get bored lol.

Anyway, sure was timed well, missed the majority of the cold snap here....already looking forward to heading back next year.

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This is a picture of the rocket launch.....it launched at 10:53PM, looks like a rising sun, but thats just the rocket and it lighting up the pitch black sky. Truly, if your ever down that way and have the opportunity to view a luanch, cant recommend it enough lol.

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Memories For A Lifetime
 

Awesome trip, memories for a life time, congrats to you and the boy on your hunt

One of the few states I think would be neat to even just explore

I have to ask did you get a discount on the 3 legged gator :sHa_sarcasticlol:

I would have been teasing the guide for merely entertainment purposes that there should be a discount for an incomplete gator

Looks like mor fun then staying here in the cold

Outstanding trip. Sure beats shovelling snow. Congrats on the memories.

Cool story.

The pond at Kennedy as you drove in had gators and large bass in it.

I found it very cool that driving to Banff we see coyotes, deer and magpies.

Down there we saw possums, armadillos and egrets.

Oh yeah, there were gators everywhere enroute to and on KSC. Must have seen 50 on the bus tour to the Apollo building alone. We never saw an armadillo, I actually really wanted to but no dice on that one. Lots of dead possums, and one ran out in front of me by Tomoko State Park just outside Ormond late at night when we coming home. Tried to add it to the list of species hunted with a Goodyear caliber weapon, but was too quick for me lol.

Hahaha, i said exactly that actually!! All in good fun of course....response was it was non-typical, should be worth more lol!

Sounds like you were set up with a guide that was a good sport lol

A very cool experience! You shooting gators & hogs with the 223? Awesome to see so much wildlife native to the area. Thanks!

For the gators we used a 223, the rifle shot hogs we actually used a 350 legend.....and then a few with a 44 magnum revolver lol. I didnt shoot any with the revolver, but my son got 3 with it over the course of the day. 2 from a feeder we were sitting on, and one spot and stalk.

The wildlife there is super cool to see.....even most of the shorebirds were different. Very neat place, I had been wanting to go for a while, but things just never lined up right. Now that ive been, i think I will make every effort to have it be an annual occurrence!

Wow, now that’s a trip.

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the gator/hog hunt?

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Gator was $1500 per person, hogs $500 each for as many as we could shoot in a day. So total was $4k USD plus tips.

Should mention that while there are a ton of hogs everywhere, it’s particularly good right now where we went……this guy has 6,000ac of good hog/gator country with lots of food that borders a large public hunting area. The public hunting area is closed except for small game hunting right now (can hunt hogs there but not with center fires so essentially zero tangible pressure on them). Usually when center fire is open there he said guys will hunt the border pretty hard catching hogs coming in and out of the private, but right now it’s been closed for a couple months so the majority of hogs in the public are coming into the private to feed and pushes numbers through the roof (like I’m talking in say a 1km walk through the scrub where it bordered some cucumber fields, we easily saw 40+ pigs in 3 groups alone……nevermind everywhere else and sitting over the feeders). And it was like that in all the private around the public, on the drive to the outfitter every field was packed with pigs, pigs running across the road lol. So if you’re thinking about doing it and want major pig numbers, supposedly in this area anyway spring is a prime time for them.

Cool trip!

What did you do with all the hog meat? Did you bring any home?

Brought the hog and gator meat back to the inlaws....ate it while we were there, and then whatever is left when they come home in a couple months they have plenty of neighbors who've already claimed it.

Shame the gator cant be brought in without a CITES permit, because that i would have paid to fly home. Told likely over a year just for the permit to get the gator skin/mounts up at a minimum. USFWS isnt making things easy for anyone these days, whether its gators or Auodad or whatever.