I hunted the PI hunt this past weekend. It is a tough hunt to say the least. You get one day to scout 6300 acres and find a spot. Then you get 3 days to kill a 9 point or better with archery gear. That's a tall order, and there isn't a giant buck hiding behind every tree as internet lore describes. Everyone seemed to have the same opinion. These deer are extremely difficult to figure out. Everything looks the same and there are deer trails everywhere. There are no oaks on the island. None. There are virtually no trees to climb. Every tree is crooked, has too many limbs, is covered in poison ivy, or has 100 grapevines wrapped around it. I'm not allergic to poison ivy, so I eventually found a good tree I wanted to climb and stripped all the poison ivy off. To add more difficulty, the beans were cut pretty close to our hunt. So all the trails going to the beans were probably obsolete. If you've never experienced MS River mosquitoes, they are relentless. Absolutely savage. And immune to most mosquito repellant. I grew up in Shelby Forest. I've been hunting MS River bottoms all my life, so I know all about the mosquitoes, and I'm still amazed at how brutal they are. Chris Park and the other TWRA guys run an excellent hunt and do a wonderful job. They gave us all the information they could and really wanted to see some bucks on the ground. They were ready to assist with tracking (one of the game wardens even brought his tracking dog). I can't say enough good things about them and the way they conduct the hunt. When I left Sunday no bucks had been killed. I didn't even see a buck. My son had a nice 8 point at 15 yards, and had to watch him walk away. I had a good time, but it's probably not worth waiting 10+ years if there are other hunts you like. I don't have any interest in any other hunts so I'll keep putting in, and Lord willing, will hunt it again someday.
