Shooter was supposed to stay and hunt tonight also, but he headed home to see some family. Well....let me say he missed out again! Since I didn't have any paying clients I took an old friend along who patiently waits months until I can take him hunting. The last time I took him we saw a ton of hogs in the same field we whacked 6 of these in.
We started out the night a little different than we have in the past. I haven't been seeing much prior to 0100 so we didn't even leave the house until 2330. We arrived at the first field around midnight and spotted a big boar alone in a field. We stalked in but he was on the move and we couldn't get close enough soon enough. He was about to slip under the fence to the next property and we didn't want to shoot across property lines so my friend took a knee and I laid prone. It was about a 150 yard shot and it was DARK. I lit the boar up with the Luna laser and did the count down. We both fired at the exact same time. The hog let out a huge SQUEAL and started to trot off. He wasn't moving to fast, but was on the next property over. We watched him go down, but didn't go after him because we don't have permission to cross the fence and it was 0045 in the morning. I wasn't about to knock on a strange farmer's door at this time on a Sunday morning. We just left him lay. Its kind of a shame though because he looked pretty big.
We moved along on our hunting journey and drove through the big orchard. The owner had burned a lot of brush yesterday in the front of the orchard so we didn't even bother patrolling the entire thing. We got to the back half and then blacked out the truck and scanned as we drove. We didn't see anything so we parked and did the pig pipe stroll. As we crossed the land bridge we could see one lone hog pushing the pipe around. We stalked to the ancient pecan tree that is about 40 yards from the pipe. I love to stand under this tree and shoot. It blocks the moon when it is up, creating a great shadow to stand in and it is a perfect 40 yards from the pipe. We didn't have to worry about t he moon this time as it was pitch black. We were just about in place to shoot and I spotted another boar moving to the pipe. He started to circle the boar that was already on the pipe as if he was scent checking him and trying to figure out if it was ok to go to the pipe. Well, he didn't get to fulfill his wishes of pushing the pig pipe around for his nightly snack. The first pig was quartering away at a sharp angle and the second pig was head on to us. I started the count down and BOOM, WHACK, FLOP! They both dropped and rolled with legs stiff in the air. Perfect shots! The first boar had an entrance behind the shoulder and an exit out of his face. The second took it under one eyeball and out the opposite ear. Good shooting.
The boar on the right was 180 pounds and the left 140 pounds by girth measurement.
We moved on and went to the young orchard. This is the spot that my friend had shot a bunch before and the landowner recently told me the hogs were coming into it again. I drove to about 300 yards from the property line and stopped the truck. I climbed up in the bed and used the magnifier to scan the young orchard . I could see around 10 hogs in the field. So I pulled the truck to the ditch and we started to walk. As we got closer I could see more and more hogs. When we got to about 80 yards from the main group I counted as many as I could see clearly and that was 40. I could see a second group on the other end of the field , but they were too far to clearly count. I'm guessing it was between 30-40 pigs in the second group too. They were EVERYWHERE!!!
We stalked to 40 yards from a large hog. It was so dark I couldn't see them at all without the night vision. There was a slight south breeze in our face and the hogs were crunching away on pecans that were placed around the base of the trees as mulch. They were completely clueless to the danger looming over them in the dark. I started the count down as I lined up my shot on the largest hog I could pick out. My friend picked out the largest one in his field of fire to the right. 3, 2, 1, BOOM. I blasted the big sow and the chaos began. Pigs running everywhere! This big sow wasn't stopping. I shot her 4 times when she finally stopped about 12 yards from me! Then I picked the next few runners I could. I ended up hitting two other hogs.
120 sst exit after multiple shots on her while running. I could fit a fist in this hole!
My friend ended up hitting three hogs also. All were well placed shots except one. He was still trying to go as I flipped my helmet mounted pvs14 down again. I tagged him with my IR laser and MISS. He started to move a little faster, but he still couldn't run. I squeezed the trigger again and WHACK. He went down. Turns out one round had just grazed his back and took off a 1/2" deep chunk of meat and didn't break his spine. The second shot hit him forward on the shoulder.
The black and white sow measured at 45" of girth for 250 pounds of angry sow. The larger boar was 190 pounds, measured 39"
So in total we got a single, a double, and six more on the run. One hell of a night!!!
We started out the night a little different than we have in the past. I haven't been seeing much prior to 0100 so we didn't even leave the house until 2330. We arrived at the first field around midnight and spotted a big boar alone in a field. We stalked in but he was on the move and we couldn't get close enough soon enough. He was about to slip under the fence to the next property and we didn't want to shoot across property lines so my friend took a knee and I laid prone. It was about a 150 yard shot and it was DARK. I lit the boar up with the Luna laser and did the count down. We both fired at the exact same time. The hog let out a huge SQUEAL and started to trot off. He wasn't moving to fast, but was on the next property over. We watched him go down, but didn't go after him because we don't have permission to cross the fence and it was 0045 in the morning. I wasn't about to knock on a strange farmer's door at this time on a Sunday morning. We just left him lay. Its kind of a shame though because he looked pretty big.
We moved along on our hunting journey and drove through the big orchard. The owner had burned a lot of brush yesterday in the front of the orchard so we didn't even bother patrolling the entire thing. We got to the back half and then blacked out the truck and scanned as we drove. We didn't see anything so we parked and did the pig pipe stroll. As we crossed the land bridge we could see one lone hog pushing the pipe around. We stalked to the ancient pecan tree that is about 40 yards from the pipe. I love to stand under this tree and shoot. It blocks the moon when it is up, creating a great shadow to stand in and it is a perfect 40 yards from the pipe. We didn't have to worry about t he moon this time as it was pitch black. We were just about in place to shoot and I spotted another boar moving to the pipe. He started to circle the boar that was already on the pipe as if he was scent checking him and trying to figure out if it was ok to go to the pipe. Well, he didn't get to fulfill his wishes of pushing the pig pipe around for his nightly snack. The first pig was quartering away at a sharp angle and the second pig was head on to us. I started the count down and BOOM, WHACK, FLOP! They both dropped and rolled with legs stiff in the air. Perfect shots! The first boar had an entrance behind the shoulder and an exit out of his face. The second took it under one eyeball and out the opposite ear. Good shooting.
The boar on the right was 180 pounds and the left 140 pounds by girth measurement.
We moved on and went to the young orchard. This is the spot that my friend had shot a bunch before and the landowner recently told me the hogs were coming into it again. I drove to about 300 yards from the property line and stopped the truck. I climbed up in the bed and used the magnifier to scan the young orchard . I could see around 10 hogs in the field. So I pulled the truck to the ditch and we started to walk. As we got closer I could see more and more hogs. When we got to about 80 yards from the main group I counted as many as I could see clearly and that was 40. I could see a second group on the other end of the field , but they were too far to clearly count. I'm guessing it was between 30-40 pigs in the second group too. They were EVERYWHERE!!!
We stalked to 40 yards from a large hog. It was so dark I couldn't see them at all without the night vision. There was a slight south breeze in our face and the hogs were crunching away on pecans that were placed around the base of the trees as mulch. They were completely clueless to the danger looming over them in the dark. I started the count down as I lined up my shot on the largest hog I could pick out. My friend picked out the largest one in his field of fire to the right. 3, 2, 1, BOOM. I blasted the big sow and the chaos began. Pigs running everywhere! This big sow wasn't stopping. I shot her 4 times when she finally stopped about 12 yards from me! Then I picked the next few runners I could. I ended up hitting two other hogs.
120 sst exit after multiple shots on her while running. I could fit a fist in this hole!
My friend ended up hitting three hogs also. All were well placed shots except one. He was still trying to go as I flipped my helmet mounted pvs14 down again. I tagged him with my IR laser and MISS. He started to move a little faster, but he still couldn't run. I squeezed the trigger again and WHACK. He went down. Turns out one round had just grazed his back and took off a 1/2" deep chunk of meat and didn't break his spine. The second shot hit him forward on the shoulder.
The black and white sow measured at 45" of girth for 250 pounds of angry sow. The larger boar was 190 pounds, measured 39"
So in total we got a single, a double, and six more on the run. One hell of a night!!!
Stackem Up!!! Nice hunt.