My wife grew up around hunters, but was never invited to hunt. She has never wanted to shoot deer, Turkey, etc because they are too pretty. However, once we moved to Texas and I started killing hogs she realized how ugly and nasty they are. She said she thought she could shoot one.
Fast forward 2 years and I took her on her first hog hunt. I was already into night vision hunting at this time so we sat in the truck and watched a couple fields, but nothing came out in the 3 hours we were there. I didn't want to keep her out too long and bore her, thus ruining her first hunting experience so we packed it up.
She went again, in the daylight, a few weeks later. We hadn't even made it completely in the blind and the hogs were there. I handed her the rifle and tried to quitely unzip a window. This blind was setup for bow hunting so the hogs were 30 yards away. They spooked, she rushed the shot, and they got away.
Fast forward a year. She told me she wanted to try again a few weeks aging. So we went out last night. I started out running the normal route. Truck lights out, pvs14s on helemts, the whole 9 yards. We were talking and having a great time just being together doing something. See, my wife is a registered nurse who works night shift 3-5 nights a week and every other weekend so we don't get to spend a lot of time together some weeks. So it was nice to just cruise while scanning fields and chatting. I know, sounds lame coming from a guy, but communication keeps a marriage happy.
We completed our loop of all the properties I have been seeing hogs in lately without any luck. I was getting worried so I decided to try a field I hadn't seen anything in for a while. We start creeping through the small dirt road and I just barely spot the black back of a lone boar moving through some taller brush at roughly 250 yards. Last night was really dark with zero moon and only a little starlight. I pointed out the hog to her and told it was HUGE!!! I had to phsyc her up a little. LOL. We started the stalk and she got on target but couldn't see him because of how dark it was and the IR reflecting back on the brush.
The hog meandered back into the brush, but was heading to another clearing. We gathered her shooting sticks and made our move to reposition and wait for him to come out. It felt like eternity! After about 5 minutes the hog came out of the brush and started to slowly walk right to us. He was at roughly 60 yards. He just kept coming and we kept waiting for him to turn broadside. He never did! He was at 35 yards and I clicked on my dimmer, handheld IR light for her to see easier and shoot.
This IR light puts out a really faint red glow and the hog spotted it. He raised his head up and I could see him sniffing. The wind was right and I knew he couldn't smell us. I told her to shoot him between the eyes. He started to lower his head and BOOM!!!!!! SHE NAILED HIM BETWEEN THE EYES!!!! The 150 pound lone boar dropped like a rock.
She was excited, but scared to approach him because he kept kicking. I went up and put my hand on his head to prove he was dead even though he was kicking. I knew he wasn't going anywhere with the way one eye was popped out. LOL. She eventually saw it was perfectly safe and we celebrated with a high five and a hug.
She said she feels like she redeemed herself because of her previous miss and I'm a proud husband of a new hog slayer.
Now to get her in the Sus Venator Club!
Fast forward 2 years and I took her on her first hog hunt. I was already into night vision hunting at this time so we sat in the truck and watched a couple fields, but nothing came out in the 3 hours we were there. I didn't want to keep her out too long and bore her, thus ruining her first hunting experience so we packed it up.
She went again, in the daylight, a few weeks later. We hadn't even made it completely in the blind and the hogs were there. I handed her the rifle and tried to quitely unzip a window. This blind was setup for bow hunting so the hogs were 30 yards away. They spooked, she rushed the shot, and they got away.
Fast forward a year. She told me she wanted to try again a few weeks aging. So we went out last night. I started out running the normal route. Truck lights out, pvs14s on helemts, the whole 9 yards. We were talking and having a great time just being together doing something. See, my wife is a registered nurse who works night shift 3-5 nights a week and every other weekend so we don't get to spend a lot of time together some weeks. So it was nice to just cruise while scanning fields and chatting. I know, sounds lame coming from a guy, but communication keeps a marriage happy.
We completed our loop of all the properties I have been seeing hogs in lately without any luck. I was getting worried so I decided to try a field I hadn't seen anything in for a while. We start creeping through the small dirt road and I just barely spot the black back of a lone boar moving through some taller brush at roughly 250 yards. Last night was really dark with zero moon and only a little starlight. I pointed out the hog to her and told it was HUGE!!! I had to phsyc her up a little. LOL. We started the stalk and she got on target but couldn't see him because of how dark it was and the IR reflecting back on the brush.
The hog meandered back into the brush, but was heading to another clearing. We gathered her shooting sticks and made our move to reposition and wait for him to come out. It felt like eternity! After about 5 minutes the hog came out of the brush and started to slowly walk right to us. He was at roughly 60 yards. He just kept coming and we kept waiting for him to turn broadside. He never did! He was at 35 yards and I clicked on my dimmer, handheld IR light for her to see easier and shoot.
This IR light puts out a really faint red glow and the hog spotted it. He raised his head up and I could see him sniffing. The wind was right and I knew he couldn't smell us. I told her to shoot him between the eyes. He started to lower his head and BOOM!!!!!! SHE NAILED HIM BETWEEN THE EYES!!!! The 150 pound lone boar dropped like a rock.
She was excited, but scared to approach him because he kept kicking. I went up and put my hand on his head to prove he was dead even though he was kicking. I knew he wasn't going anywhere with the way one eye was popped out. LOL. She eventually saw it was perfectly safe and we celebrated with a high five and a hug.
She said she feels like she redeemed herself because of her previous miss and I'm a proud husband of a new hog slayer.
Now to get her in the Sus Venator Club!
