Once again my trusty old .303 Enfield came through!

I went out again this past Sunday, 3 May, and got this boar. I estimate he weighed close to 140 pounds. I went back to the corner of a pasture where I usually hunt around six o'clock in the evening looking for a pig to shoot. The wind, which is normally from the south coming across the pasture, was out of the northwest. With that in mind, I went further up along the fence line, maybe 3/4 of the way up a little hill there. I set up a canvas chair and waited. I was expecting that pigs might show up about halfway between where I was and the corner where I usually wait. That would have been about 80-90 yards from me, a decent shot distance.

What actually happened was that about ten minutes after seven I heard some noise in the trees that sounded at first like wind. However there was no breeze at that moment. I sat and listened and the rustling got louder. It was definitely animals. A couple of minutes later there were pretty close to me, and I could hear grunting and snorting, and an occasional squeal. They were pigs, no doubt about it, and they were almost on top of where I was sitting! I sat quietly for probably five minutes while they grunted and snorted, and I continued to hear the random squeal. I'm not sure what they were doing, I thought perhaps they had smelled me. The winds were mostly in my favor, but they shifted around now and then so that the pigs might have gotten a whiff of me at some time.

I sat with my rifle at the ready, roughly aimed at the area where I thought they might emerge if they came out. Sure enough, eventually a brown pig stuck its head out of the brush. I figured they were so close (25-30 yards away) that they would spot me almost immediately, so I decided I would shoot the first one that I saw before it could run and warn the others. The pig looked out, and turned it's head my direction. It gave me a wink. I blew it a kiss, and then I further showed my affection by nailing it through the heart with a .30 caliber bullet.

It squealed, turned and ran, and zig-zagged through thick brush about 30 yards. Luckily with a heart wound it left a blood trail. I would have had a difficult time finding it otherwise. My freezer will be full after this, so I need to eat some pork so that I can continue hunting! In fact I got this guy cut up today, and used some smaller pieces to make a stew. It was quite good.