To:All the members of the Fire

We have a new place to hunt and at a different time of the year.

The new hunting spot is Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Tennessee, just off of I-40. See www.wildernesshuntinglodge.com for more details.

Wilderness was recommended by four members of the Fire, cal74,maddog,bea175 and Mike762.

Hunting Experience:

Based on their recommendations, I went to Wilderness this past Spring to try it out, and was very impressed. The hunting is very real with the choice of spot and stalk, using a stand(ladder or elevated boxes) or following dogs. I'm a spot and stalk guy and really liked what they provided.I also like to hunt alone, all of which I did for just about three days. The hunting area is large, though fenced in, and the hills and valleys made for an excellent hunting experience. Hogs seem to be oblivious to fences and they were clearly wild and spooky.

I have no interest in hunting exotics, which they have, but I sure liked seeing them in the woods with me. That surprised me somewhat and I started looking for them just to enjoy the experience.

I got a large boar(250 lb) late in the afternoon of the third day with a single shot from my new to me Ruger#3 30-40. Because the hunting area mostly has mature trees, 100+ yard shots are not unusual. My shot was about 35 yards. And binocs are very helpful.

Lodging

If we have 15 or more hunters, we will have a lodge all to ourselves. The log building is pretty new, perfectly clean, has a kitchen and a large meeting area.You can see a picture of it on the website. We will also have a new outside stone grill because I told them that Pat would demand it and it was not a good idea to annoy him.

Guides:

Each guide I dealt with was superb, and willing to do whatever it took to make my hunt rewarding and successful.They took me into the woods on a 4-wheeler and dropped me off wherever I wanted to go.

Food

The food, served buffet style, and Southern , is wholesome, though not necessarily healthy. The main meal is served at noon and is good, but probably not equal to Carryonah. I figure we can take care of ourselves for supper on the grill.

Meat Processing

They have a separate building with a very large cold locker for the meat processing. The butchers are really skilled and very cleanly. The differences from Carryonah will be stark. And strangely enough, everyone seemed to get all the parts of the animal they wanted. They don't have any three or five legged boars there.

Length of Stay

Much different from Carryonah, we get three days of hunting and four days of lodging. We'll arrive on the afternoon of Day 1, hunt on days 2,3 and 4, and leave on the morning of Day 5.

The tentative schedule will be for us to arrive on Wednesday, 14 March, hunt Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and leave Sunday morning, 18 March.

The reason for the change of dates from December to March is that we all seemed to have multiple options to hunt in December, but we were all struck with cabin fever in March. So this is the suggested antidote.

Cost:

For 10-19 hunters, the cost is $695 per hunter. It drops to $675 if we have 20 or more.

My special thanks to maddog,cal74,mike762 and bea175 for their advice and recommendations. If they have a chance, I would appreciate their adding their experiences to mine so that you do not just get a single data point(mine).

Please let us know if you have any questions. The co-conspirators for this venture are isaac and Pugs. And I do hope that isaac does not guarantee that the hunt will be a lot of fun.

Regards,

Steve

Steve,

I am herby dedicating next week's OT to cover the 2012 hunt. I'm still pizzed that I had to miss last year and Pat's.

I'll be standing by to see if I'm gonna have a copilot from NY or not.....

George

sounds like heaven, but this old retired guy can't spring for that kind of fun.

what about using knifes when hunting with dogs.

Who provides the morning breakfast? Does $695 include evening meal? Do you need cash upfront?

Ed,
A $250 deposit is required. I paid the remainder of my bill at the end of the hunt.

Wilderness provides all the food. However, we have had a grill of different meats, plus other stuff, at the end of each day that we provided. Pat is the chef in charge at the grill and the food has been incredible.

Need to warn you though that we all stand around a campfire in the evening and sometimes some of our group had too much brandy and almost fell in the fire.

Hope you can join us.

Steve

What are the limits? One hog for the 3 days?

257,

Yes, the limit is for one hog. If you want more, I can find out what the cost is.

Steve

When do you need to know? My wife was laid off three weeks ago so we can't spend much until she goes back to work.

Ernie

Ernie,

Sorry to hear about your wife.

Probably do not need to know until sometime after the first of the year.

And even then, there is probably a lot of flexibility.

If you want to go, we'll do everything to make it work for you.

Hope to meet you at the Wilderness. It will be a great time.

Steve