Spring Bowhunting Means Quality Time with Family and Friends

Ryan Soloman and I met while guiding together in Southern Colorado, and his thick Southern accent made it obvious he was far from his Georgia home. Listening to him talk, I assumed he would be out of his element pursuing western species such as elk, mule deer and antelope. I was wrong.

I quickly realized Ryan was one of those rare individuals who seems to transcend the mere title of hunter. It would be more accurate to call him an assassin. He was basically raised as a hunting guide on Southern Georgia’s Gopher Plantation, an operation his grandfather has been cultivating since the early 1960s and today offers some of Georgia’s finest hog, deer, turkey, quail and duck hunting. Evidently, starting young on ultra-cautious whitetails, notoriously call-shy Southern toms and literally racking up thousands of successful hog kills can hone a hunter just like a stone hones steel.

While guides are often a bit competitive with their peers, I didn’t want any part of competing with Ryan. He was stealthy, keen-eyed, great at reading body language and field judging, a master with any call and, regardless of the species, had a knack for knowing when to be patient and when to be aggressive. What might have impressed me most about him though was a byproduct of processing all those hogs over the years. The speed and efficiency with which he could handle a knife after an animal was down was nothing short of amazing. When something was on the skinning pole, your best bet was simply to get out of Ryan’s way!

Although 10 years my junior, I looked up to Ryan, and he became a lifelong friend. So, when he invited Bowhunter Editor-at-Large Curt Wells and I to come out for a spring hog, turkey and bass-fishing trip to his beloved Gopher Plantation, I was excited to see where this prodigy had been created.

We arrived to typically warm spring weather and immediately set out after hogs. The Gopher — named for the protected gopher tortoise that inhabits the area — is a 10,000-plus acre pine plantation that sits right in the middle of Southern Georgia’s vast rural farmlands. Just as Ryan was explaining how much his neighbors appreciate him drawing hogs off their farms with his year-round feeding program, we spotted our first pig. With both Ryan and Curt in tow, I put a stalk on a perfect, eater-sized swine. When my arrow found the vitals on a 40-yard shot, we had our first hog down less than 15 minutes into the hunt!

After a rough fall filled with nothing but bad luck, Curt was looking to rebuild some confidence, and man, were we in the right place. His first hog was taken with a nice, 50-yard, spot-and-stalk shot as I ranged from behind him. Wells doesn’t often get animated after a shot, but with the bad luck bug off his back and me right there to egg him on a bit, he turned and excitedly proclaimed, “I’m back, baby!” It was an awesome moment with Curt that I’ll always remember.

Bowhunters don’t always get the chance to turn around and high-five their buddy after making a nice shot. Bowhunting is often a game played on your own. In fact, it can be difficult to plan a bowhunt where you really get to spend quality time in the field with family and friends. Take fall whitetail hunts, for example. Plan a whitetail hunt with a friend or family member and you might be able to plan on eating lunch together every day, but most of your time will be spent separated in different stands.

When planning spring bowhunts, I like to focus on species that allow me to spend time with family and friends. Hogs and turkeys are two great examples, especially if you can find a good place to spot-and-stalk your hogs. This Gopher Plantation hunt was one of the best I’ve ever experienced for actually spending quality time in the field with your hunting buddy. Curt and I stalked hogs together every morning, fished for bass in the middle of the day (I caught a personal best 8-pounder on this trip, by the way) and then either continued to spot-and-stalk in the evenings, or sit a ground blind just to change things up a bit. There was no shortage of action, or time spent together in the field, and that’s exactly what I value most in a spring bowhunt.

The chance I had to hunt an Eastern turkey with Ryan was icing on my bowhunting cake. He and I had hunted Merriam’s together in Colorado plenty of times, but the Easterns he cut his teeth on in Southern Georgia are considered by many to be a bit more challenging than our western birds. As Ryan puts it, “They’re just more cautious and cagy down here, where everyone and their uncle is trying to kill ‘em!”

After spotting a couple toms in a field of deep grass, I donned a bow-mounted decoy and slipped to the edge of the cover. Ryan positioned himself behind me and began a calling sequence. The lead tom’s head went from blood red to pale white when he poked his head out of the grass and spotted my Stalker Decoy. Seconds later, he and four other longbeards charged into my lap like miniature velociraptors. Luckily, they slowed at about five yards, giving me time to calm down and bury my pins on the biggest longbeard just before watching him flop over and take an upside-down bicycle ride to nowhere!

Like I said, the spring bowhunts I value most are those that allow me to spend the most quality time afield with family and friends. Little did I know, this special place that produced one of the best hunters I’ve ever met also turned out to be one of the best places I’ve ever seen to spend time bowhunting during the spring.

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