I'll do my best to describe the weekends events.
Our wonderful host, Lancer, was kind enough to let us enjoy hunting the great properties he has access too. Lets just say they are beautiful in both the day and night. Oh, and loaded with hogs! We started out Friday night around 9 pm. We didn't make it 10 minutes down the road and we had our first engagement. There was a sounder of around 20 feeding in a wheat field of an abandoned dairy. The wind wasn't perfect so we had to make a large loop during the stalk to try to keep from spooking them. We made it to about 100 yard, but the hogs kept walking away. We must have tailed them on foot for 1/8 mile and finally decided to shoot. The shots were a little longer then normal and we didn't connect on as many as usual. The distance messed with us. Texaslawman hit 3 and Lancer picked up 1 on the way back. I'm not 100% positive I hit any other then picking up the wounded and the one that was coming right to me. Yep, yet another hog decides to run straight to me. We verified the hogs were done and moved to the next place.
The next place we hunted is called "Big Sky". Big Sky has been a honey hole in the past, but I think Lancer and I have made an impact on the hogs that frequent this place. We patrolled the nearly 600 acres and only spotted one hog. He was a wily old boar and caught onto our reindeer games pretty quickly. He made a run for it, but only went about 600 yards away. After his evasion, the wind was even more in our favor. We made another stalk, got to about 60 yards, we were getting ready to setup for the countdown and the boar loped off into the woods. We bantered about what spooked him off. Did the wind swirl, did my sling rubbing on my coat spook him, was it us talking? No one will ever know except the crafty boar that eluded the three amigos.
We packed it up and made it to another property called "Sierra". This place is amazing! It has a milking area for the cows that contains a milking carrousel! The cows simply walk right on, someone cleans the teats, another guy hooks up a pump, and the cows are happy. Anyway, back on track. We patrol this green, lush, hog paradise and eventually run into a sounder of 15-20. We sat in the truck trying to figure out what move to make next. The wind was at our backs, but the hogs weren't perfectly in line with us yet. We swung out away from the hogs in an arc as we stalked in and it worked. We got to about 50 yards, counted down, and the mayhem began. TLM dropped 2, Lancer dropped 1, and I dropped 1. TLM and I double tapped one in the rear as it ran into some seriously thick cactus. I think its dead out there somewhere, but the cactus made a recovery attempt impossible.
We pulled up to another spot and I can't remember the name. All I remember is as soon as we pulled in there were hogs under a pecan tree next to a tank. We lined up and did the countdown. TLM and I shot a large hog on the left trying to force the hogs to the right. This backfired. We were lined u at a little bit of an angle to the hogs with me on the left side and slightly forward of everyone else in preparation for them running right. Well, the hogs ran left and I was the only one to get extra running shots and I ran out of ammo! I didn't load a fresh mag after the last engagement and didn't think it would be a big deal. Piss poor planning on my part. I was able to drop 3 on the run and a piglet after the main volley. There were 2 dead in Lancer and TLM's shooting areas, but I'm not sure who shot what
Next we checked out "Desperado". This is yet, another beautiful place Lancer has access to. As soon as we pulled in the place there was lone boar on Lancer's side of the truck. Lancer stepped out of the door and let a round fly. He hit the boar, but it was a little back and he took off. We were able to catch up with him a ways down the road and made a hike to finish him off.
The last place we found hogs on Friday night was "Big Sky". We found 4 smaller hogs (50 pounds or so) out feeding in a wheat field. We started our stalk and the pigs started walking away. A doe was interested in what we were doing and started following the hogs. We didn't get a shot because the dang doe ran them off. 14 for the night with one not recovered.
