Week 5 of our weekly trip to Grayson County finds Ed (Zen Archery) and myself hunting together like a well oiled machine that needs to be lubed with graphite. Each week has been a new adventure, but except for the first hunt that was in the ragweed jungle, we had not been seeing hogs. So despite any health considerations for Ed who had been left with sinus issues and eyes partially swollen shut and me with a sinus infection, we ventured back into the ragweed jungle, this time without our guides of Mike and Jon. I was impressed with Ed's ability to find camo for this particular excursion, but he managed to do so with something new. I just wore my old gear.
I had had the benefit of some prolonged discussions with Glenn Guess about using an electronic caller to call hogs. He had shown me some of his yet to be published videos of hogs coming in and explaining what was going on at the time. Armed with that information, we thought we would try to call hogs in the spot where we shot 2 hogs (sow and piglet) 5 weeks ago with Mike and Jon. The area where we set up is an area cleared for the installation of a fence. There is plenty of deer and hog sign in the soft sand. So we know the hogs are around. We just need to get them to show up.
I set up the caller across a drainage about 100 yards away. Strangely, the first animals to come in were deer. They did not seem too bothered by the caller. They noticed there was a commotion, but regardless of what sounds I tried, nothing seemed to phase them. Then while we were watching they one young buck, he turned and hightailed it away. I told Ed something might be coming in and a minute or two later, this hog appeared in the clearing. Now this fence clearing is only about 10 yards wide. The hog came in and appeared to be looking for the caller that I had muted, then he quickly lost interest and started to leave. The goal was to get video and audio of the event, but the delay in doing this resulted in the hog vacating the area.
A little while later, a second boar came in. The caller was going and the boar crossed the clearing, stopped onc to check out the caller from several yards away, continuing a few feet closer to the edge before stopping again a second time at which Ed commenced the countdown and we both fired - 3, 2, BOOM. The hog dropped in place.
We decided to continue calling until the moon came up, but no additional hogs came. I was sweating the wait. Ed was using his new 6.5 Creedmore loaded with 140 gr. Hornady ELD-X with a Pulsar Apex XD50a thermal sight and I was using a .50 Beowulf loaded 350 gr. Hornady XTP with a Sig Sauer Echo 1 thermal reflex-type sight. Ed had been warned that if he wasn't careful, he could put an eye out. Sure enough, his bullet entered the left eye and exited the right eye with no eyes remaining. My bullet entered behind the shoulder, going through the rib cage on both sides before exiting the other side. It was monumental occasion. It was the first time Ed had shot a hog with his 6.5 Creedmore. It was the first time I had shot a hog with the .50 Beowulf. It was the hog's first time to be shot by either caliber, much less both at the same time. In all, it was an evening of many firsts!
Unfortunately, there was no video of the shot. Things happened far to fast in the narrow clearing. However, plenty of photos and some video (not yet reviewed) were taken of the necropsy and I will try to put that together soon.
Looks like Week 6 will find us trail blazing through the ragweed again, calling hogs.
I had had the benefit of some prolonged discussions with Glenn Guess about using an electronic caller to call hogs. He had shown me some of his yet to be published videos of hogs coming in and explaining what was going on at the time. Armed with that information, we thought we would try to call hogs in the spot where we shot 2 hogs (sow and piglet) 5 weeks ago with Mike and Jon. The area where we set up is an area cleared for the installation of a fence. There is plenty of deer and hog sign in the soft sand. So we know the hogs are around. We just need to get them to show up.
I set up the caller across a drainage about 100 yards away. Strangely, the first animals to come in were deer. They did not seem too bothered by the caller. They noticed there was a commotion, but regardless of what sounds I tried, nothing seemed to phase them. Then while we were watching they one young buck, he turned and hightailed it away. I told Ed something might be coming in and a minute or two later, this hog appeared in the clearing. Now this fence clearing is only about 10 yards wide. The hog came in and appeared to be looking for the caller that I had muted, then he quickly lost interest and started to leave. The goal was to get video and audio of the event, but the delay in doing this resulted in the hog vacating the area.
A little while later, a second boar came in. The caller was going and the boar crossed the clearing, stopped onc to check out the caller from several yards away, continuing a few feet closer to the edge before stopping again a second time at which Ed commenced the countdown and we both fired - 3, 2, BOOM. The hog dropped in place.
We decided to continue calling until the moon came up, but no additional hogs came. I was sweating the wait. Ed was using his new 6.5 Creedmore loaded with 140 gr. Hornady ELD-X with a Pulsar Apex XD50a thermal sight and I was using a .50 Beowulf loaded 350 gr. Hornady XTP with a Sig Sauer Echo 1 thermal reflex-type sight. Ed had been warned that if he wasn't careful, he could put an eye out. Sure enough, his bullet entered the left eye and exited the right eye with no eyes remaining. My bullet entered behind the shoulder, going through the rib cage on both sides before exiting the other side. It was monumental occasion. It was the first time Ed had shot a hog with his 6.5 Creedmore. It was the first time I had shot a hog with the .50 Beowulf. It was the hog's first time to be shot by either caliber, much less both at the same time. In all, it was an evening of many firsts!
Unfortunately, there was no video of the shot. Things happened far to fast in the narrow clearing. However, plenty of photos and some video (not yet reviewed) were taken of the necropsy and I will try to put that together soon.
Looks like Week 6 will find us trail blazing through the ragweed again, calling hogs.
