Got some hunting in this weekend and came away with a couple kills, but should of been more. The kills were great, but I had some bad luck as well as my AAC SDN-6 suppressor broke for the 2nd time in the eleven months I have owned it. The latch wore out and doesn't lock up on the mount. So now I have to mail it back to AAC again for repairs. Ughh... At least I still have another suppressor to use for the time being
Thursday I arrived at the ranch and did my customary scrambling to gather up game camera cards and place many pounds of corn at my usual hot spots to supplement the corn the feeders already throw out. After looking at the cards the hogs were hitting multiple spots with regularity and pretty early in the evening which is always welcome. So my first spot to place the stalk on started out perfect. I walk up to the top of the hill about 350 yards from a feeder and water trough and what do ya know... HOGS! It was 10 pm exactly the same time the group of seven hogs have been at the feeder in my pictures. I drop my pack and start the walk down the rocky hill to get in close. Using the helmet mounted pvs-14 with a Luna IR mounted to the helmet is a great combination as I could see them great in the dark during my approach. I get with 150 yards and the pigs left for a second. Figuring that perhaps they heard me I stood still for a while and waited for them to come back in the opening before moving again. A few seconds pass and they are back in sight so I am on the move again. In order to get closer I create a blindspot because of the brush in the way. I keep moving and notice some deer right next to the feeder and then all the sudden I hear animals scatter. Well after the slow stalk up to the feeder it appears that the deer scared off my hogs right as I was approaching! Serious bummer as I was going to be ready to shoot in about 15 seconds. No kills unfortunately and the pigs of course were not anywhere else. I swear they have scouts that alert them whenever I arrive.
Saturday night I was at another spot about 500 yards from the feeder using my binoculars in conjunction with my pvs-14 to scan a feeder. This works really well with a unfiltered Luna IR. Anyways I spot a coon at the feeder and nothing else so I get back in the truck and drive towards the feeder to get to another spot. As I approach the feeder at about 20 yards is a critter a little larger than a coon. Turns out it was a lone piglet. Well I jump out of the truck and use the visible laser on my DBAL-D2 to pop him in the face!
Sunday night I decided I was just going to plop my butt down on a chair and sit at my honey hole in hopes that a boar I have been trying to kill for months now would show up. After about an hour a lone hog walks out of the brush. I grab my shooting sticks and get into better position to shoot. I turn the DBAL-D2 on and get ready to shoot. Right as I squeezed the first stage of the trigger my DBAL goes out! I back of the trigger and remove a battery out of my vertical grip. For the life of me I could not get the battery compartment open on the DBAL to replace the battery. So here is this hog waiting to be shot 100yds away and I have no illumination on a moonless night. So I try reaching for the back pack to get my Torch Pro out so I can mount it and the PVS-14 to the gun so I can make a shot. Of course I knock over my water bottle which goes tumbling down some rocks. I scramble for the light and mount the PVS-14 and the pig while alerted to something is still in sight. I put the dot behind his ear and he was done. Such a beating of a kill, but I got it done.
Thursday I arrived at the ranch and did my customary scrambling to gather up game camera cards and place many pounds of corn at my usual hot spots to supplement the corn the feeders already throw out. After looking at the cards the hogs were hitting multiple spots with regularity and pretty early in the evening which is always welcome. So my first spot to place the stalk on started out perfect. I walk up to the top of the hill about 350 yards from a feeder and water trough and what do ya know... HOGS! It was 10 pm exactly the same time the group of seven hogs have been at the feeder in my pictures. I drop my pack and start the walk down the rocky hill to get in close. Using the helmet mounted pvs-14 with a Luna IR mounted to the helmet is a great combination as I could see them great in the dark during my approach. I get with 150 yards and the pigs left for a second. Figuring that perhaps they heard me I stood still for a while and waited for them to come back in the opening before moving again. A few seconds pass and they are back in sight so I am on the move again. In order to get closer I create a blindspot because of the brush in the way. I keep moving and notice some deer right next to the feeder and then all the sudden I hear animals scatter. Well after the slow stalk up to the feeder it appears that the deer scared off my hogs right as I was approaching! Serious bummer as I was going to be ready to shoot in about 15 seconds. No kills unfortunately and the pigs of course were not anywhere else. I swear they have scouts that alert them whenever I arrive.
Saturday night I was at another spot about 500 yards from the feeder using my binoculars in conjunction with my pvs-14 to scan a feeder. This works really well with a unfiltered Luna IR. Anyways I spot a coon at the feeder and nothing else so I get back in the truck and drive towards the feeder to get to another spot. As I approach the feeder at about 20 yards is a critter a little larger than a coon. Turns out it was a lone piglet. Well I jump out of the truck and use the visible laser on my DBAL-D2 to pop him in the face!
Sunday night I decided I was just going to plop my butt down on a chair and sit at my honey hole in hopes that a boar I have been trying to kill for months now would show up. After about an hour a lone hog walks out of the brush. I grab my shooting sticks and get into better position to shoot. I turn the DBAL-D2 on and get ready to shoot. Right as I squeezed the first stage of the trigger my DBAL goes out! I back of the trigger and remove a battery out of my vertical grip. For the life of me I could not get the battery compartment open on the DBAL to replace the battery. So here is this hog waiting to be shot 100yds away and I have no illumination on a moonless night. So I try reaching for the back pack to get my Torch Pro out so I can mount it and the PVS-14 to the gun so I can make a shot. Of course I knock over my water bottle which goes tumbling down some rocks. I scramble for the light and mount the PVS-14 and the pig while alerted to something is still in sight. I put the dot behind his ear and he was done. Such a beating of a kill, but I got it done.
