Lets see some of your Hogs-Exotic pics
First Hog
10-16-2010, 09:44 AM
#125
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 170
Hog #2 for 2010
Got One !!
I got to my hunting spot and checked around Thursday afternoon, but really didn't see anything. I spotted what might have been tracks of a hog by one of the tanks, but they also could have been a small calf. I put out some corn there, but when I came back by Friday morning it had not been eaten.
I set up a target and checked the sights on my rifle. I made a few adjustments but mostly I observed that I'm just not a great marksman. I need to forget anything fancy like head shots and go for the high-percentage shots. That's what I did Friday afternoon.
I had coffee with some of the neighbors out there Friday morning, then pushed off a little after 10:00AM to start scouting some more. I put a fresh battery on my game camera, then headed over to walk through some areas where I've sometimes seen hogs in the past. I looked around there a bit, and noticed that in one area the creek had dried up enough to walk across. I journeyed over to the other side and meandered around there. I always like to check out a little tank at one corner of the property whenever I can because I have sometimes observed hogs there before. The only problem is that I have to be able somehow to get across the creek -- I can't drive onto that portion of the property except under extremely dry conditions.
I didn't see any hogs when I got there a little after 11:00AM, but I did see very fresh signs of wallowing. They were certainly less than 24 hours old -- I later concluded they were perhaps less the 2-3 hours old. I hiked back and re-crossed the creek, called home to let my spousal unit know I would be a while, got a bit of corn and returned to the tank. I arrived back just after noon and spread some corn around the area where the hogs had been wallowing. I set myself up on the other side of the pond in a position where the wind wouldn't carry my scent toward the wallow and commenced to wait. I collected a few sticks and weeds and made a crude blind to somewhat break up my outline and wished I had brought a book. I was prepared to stay most of the afternoon if necessary, but fortunately the hogs didn't make me wait long.
A few minutes before 1:00PM I heard a crunching sound, and looked up to see some dark shapes coming through the brush on the other side of the tank. They were eating the corn I had put out, that was the crunching noise I heard. At first I thought they might be cows. They were only about 60 yards away and looked huge. I couldn't see them distinctly through the brush, but then I saw some piglets come through and I realized they were definitely hogs. They weren't actually that large, they just looked big because they were so close and coming over a rise to get to the tank which made them look larger. There were three sows. I sighted on one but she had large teats and I assumed she was nursing the piglets. I moved my sights to another sow and she didn't show obvious signs of having piglets, so I put the crosshairs just behind the shoulder and shot. The bullet went pretty much where I was aiming, and she went straight down and lay still. I waited close to 20 minutes to see if the others might return but they didn't. I have no idea why I did that. It's so much work to clean one, I don't know what I'd do if I got two. Recall also that this was across the creek where I couldn't drive meaning that I had to drag it about a quarter mile to get back to the truck.
I got it cleaned and it's in the ice chest now. The next job is to get busy cutting it up and ready for the freezer.
I'm including a photo: The hog is dirty because I had already dragged it about a hundred yards. I stopped to rest and decided a photo would be a good idea. The bullet went through both shoulders. I'm guessing it weighed roughly 70 pounds? It's been a bit of a hunting dry spell for most of this year. This is only hog #2 for 2010. Hopefully things will pick up a bit from here on.
The rifle is a Browning A-Bolt II in .308 Winchester. The bullet was a Winchester 150 grain PowerPoint.
I got to my hunting spot and checked around Thursday afternoon, but really didn't see anything. I spotted what might have been tracks of a hog by one of the tanks, but they also could have been a small calf. I put out some corn there, but when I came back by Friday morning it had not been eaten.
I set up a target and checked the sights on my rifle. I made a few adjustments but mostly I observed that I'm just not a great marksman. I need to forget anything fancy like head shots and go for the high-percentage shots. That's what I did Friday afternoon.
I had coffee with some of the neighbors out there Friday morning, then pushed off a little after 10:00AM to start scouting some more. I put a fresh battery on my game camera, then headed over to walk through some areas where I've sometimes seen hogs in the past. I looked around there a bit, and noticed that in one area the creek had dried up enough to walk across. I journeyed over to the other side and meandered around there. I always like to check out a little tank at one corner of the property whenever I can because I have sometimes observed hogs there before. The only problem is that I have to be able somehow to get across the creek -- I can't drive onto that portion of the property except under extremely dry conditions.
I didn't see any hogs when I got there a little after 11:00AM, but I did see very fresh signs of wallowing. They were certainly less than 24 hours old -- I later concluded they were perhaps less the 2-3 hours old. I hiked back and re-crossed the creek, called home to let my spousal unit know I would be a while, got a bit of corn and returned to the tank. I arrived back just after noon and spread some corn around the area where the hogs had been wallowing. I set myself up on the other side of the pond in a position where the wind wouldn't carry my scent toward the wallow and commenced to wait. I collected a few sticks and weeds and made a crude blind to somewhat break up my outline and wished I had brought a book. I was prepared to stay most of the afternoon if necessary, but fortunately the hogs didn't make me wait long.
A few minutes before 1:00PM I heard a crunching sound, and looked up to see some dark shapes coming through the brush on the other side of the tank. They were eating the corn I had put out, that was the crunching noise I heard. At first I thought they might be cows. They were only about 60 yards away and looked huge. I couldn't see them distinctly through the brush, but then I saw some piglets come through and I realized they were definitely hogs. They weren't actually that large, they just looked big because they were so close and coming over a rise to get to the tank which made them look larger. There were three sows. I sighted on one but she had large teats and I assumed she was nursing the piglets. I moved my sights to another sow and she didn't show obvious signs of having piglets, so I put the crosshairs just behind the shoulder and shot. The bullet went pretty much where I was aiming, and she went straight down and lay still. I waited close to 20 minutes to see if the others might return but they didn't. I have no idea why I did that. It's so much work to clean one, I don't know what I'd do if I got two. Recall also that this was across the creek where I couldn't drive meaning that I had to drag it about a quarter mile to get back to the truck.
I got it cleaned and it's in the ice chest now. The next job is to get busy cutting it up and ready for the freezer.
I'm including a photo: The hog is dirty because I had already dragged it about a hundred yards. I stopped to rest and decided a photo would be a good idea. The bullet went through both shoulders. I'm guessing it weighed roughly 70 pounds? It's been a bit of a hunting dry spell for most of this year. This is only hog #2 for 2010. Hopefully things will pick up a bit from here on.
The rifle is a Browning A-Bolt II in .308 Winchester. The bullet was a Winchester 150 grain PowerPoint.
12-21-2010, 03:49 PM
#128
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,834
12-23-2010, 07:17 AM
#130
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Republic of Texas
Posts: 12,040
They taste better when they're this size... Rifle is a Model 700 ADL in .243 Win., with a Redfield 3-9X scope. Shot him at 175 yards as he was trotting across the pasture. After the shot, he did a leaping somersault into a cactus patch. I thought he had decided to hide there so checked through my scope to see if he'd pop out, and then spotted blood on the cactus... Weighed about 35 lbs. Nice tasty little porker...