One of my landowners said he had seen a couple sows behind his house, so I set up on a sort of ridge/hill top that runs from his house into his pastures. The ridge top is fenced with two pastures on one side and one on the other. In order to scan all the areas, I basically patrol along the fence line back and forth about 200 yards. There are plenty of trees and so I was fairly well hidden from the very bright moon.
So I spot hogs in the far, overgrown pasture. Aside from the vegetation, there are dikes in this pasture to prevent hill erosion and they are down below the 2nd dike in a small flat area. Even better, it looks like two sows and then some much smaller piglets. Maybe this is what the landowner saw?
I dropped the larger sow and the rest moved to where I could not shoot, not knowing what was back in the brush and sure enough, as I head down to check out my kill, 4 horses sort of materialized out of nowhere.
Got pics and headed back up to the fence and sat under a tree in the shade of the moon and waiting, hoping the hogs might return for the downed sow. Hogs did return, but it was a different group, so I go smart and knowing that I could probably only get off one shot from where I was, headed down to get closer in order to be in a better position to shoot down into the clearing. I made it down and was between the two dikes, peeking over the last dike and watching the hogs, looking for a chance to move up just a few more yards to pop up over the dike and be shooting down at the hogs...and then the coyotes opened up, yipping and howling somewhere off to the right. This disturbed the hogs and the largest sow turned to face the direction of the coyotes with the other hogs and that is where the video picks up. She then turned back around, raised her nose in the air, gave a little grunt, waited, and then led the hogs away. Obviously, this group isn't fond of the coyotes.
I thought I had worked this out really well. I was hidden. Wind wasn't an issue. I was just moments away from shooting one or more hogs and the hunt was ruined by something completely beyond my control. Maybe I got greedy. I dunno. It is fun to try new tactics and such, but nothing is ever a sure thing. What I do think is that if I had stayed in my hiding spot at 145 yards, all that time I spent stalking down could have been used for shooting at least one of the hogs. Errrrr!
So I spot hogs in the far, overgrown pasture. Aside from the vegetation, there are dikes in this pasture to prevent hill erosion and they are down below the 2nd dike in a small flat area. Even better, it looks like two sows and then some much smaller piglets. Maybe this is what the landowner saw?
I dropped the larger sow and the rest moved to where I could not shoot, not knowing what was back in the brush and sure enough, as I head down to check out my kill, 4 horses sort of materialized out of nowhere.
Got pics and headed back up to the fence and sat under a tree in the shade of the moon and waiting, hoping the hogs might return for the downed sow. Hogs did return, but it was a different group, so I go smart and knowing that I could probably only get off one shot from where I was, headed down to get closer in order to be in a better position to shoot down into the clearing. I made it down and was between the two dikes, peeking over the last dike and watching the hogs, looking for a chance to move up just a few more yards to pop up over the dike and be shooting down at the hogs...and then the coyotes opened up, yipping and howling somewhere off to the right. This disturbed the hogs and the largest sow turned to face the direction of the coyotes with the other hogs and that is where the video picks up. She then turned back around, raised her nose in the air, gave a little grunt, waited, and then led the hogs away. Obviously, this group isn't fond of the coyotes.
I thought I had worked this out really well. I was hidden. Wind wasn't an issue. I was just moments away from shooting one or more hogs and the hunt was ruined by something completely beyond my control. Maybe I got greedy. I dunno. It is fun to try new tactics and such, but nothing is ever a sure thing. What I do think is that if I had stayed in my hiding spot at 145 yards, all that time I spent stalking down could have been used for shooting at least one of the hogs. Errrrr!
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