My First Hog (2009)

Brian Shaffer

Hog Hunter
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I keep a log of my successful hunts. Some of what I record isn't very exciting. Some of it is, as I reflect back on it, because it shows a lot of naivete about hunting, hog behavior, etc. Some are amusing, insightful, or just laughable. By the time I got my first hog, I had hundreds of hours in the stand...mostly watching deer and raccoons. This was truly a monumental event for me and the start of an addiction I truly enjoy. If you find these sorts of stories interesting, then I will look through some of my other hunts, edit the text a little better, and post some of the better ones.

From June 2009...
For the past several months I have lurked on various hunting forums and talked with anyone I could find who hunted in hopes of garnering useful insights to deal with my hog issues in Montague County, north of DFW. I have 46 acres and several game cams that have been catching hogs for the last year, though I have only had actual sight of them three times including two nights ago.

So after more than 6 months of trying, my boar finally came in! Unlike what I have read, my hogs have been very irregular in their timing. They may come three days in a row and not show up for two weeks after that. Or they may come at night for a while and then switch to coming during the day and vice versa. So whatever I try to plan based on the data from the game cameras, it hasn't worked so good...until now, and even then the hog was a surprise. He actually was about 3 hours earlier than expected based on his previous visits the last couple of weeks. Had I come when he was expected, I might have missed him again.

I heard him crashing through the woods slowly, maybe with a partner that often accompanied him to the feeders. He/they passed by my stand (but out of sight in the foliage) more than once and I think even walked under it or very close and then camped out very close to the stand for about 10 minutes, not moving.

At that point, I had no idea what creature it was, but knew it was big based on footsteps I heard (deer maybe?). Then the noise started anew and the animal continued on around to my front left, still in the woods and out of sight, but making noise. It is funny how you can mentally track movement in your mind based on sounds when you are sitting in a dark place in the woods, all alone.

Then the noise stopped again and I spied a shadow crossing the meadow in front of me. It was a half moon that was lighting the meadow. So the animal was out of the woods now. I took out my night vision scope (and old Gem I equivalent Russian scope) and saw that this was indeed a hog and I promptly hyperventilated. I was making so much noise breathing that I thought he would hear me for sure. I could not stop panting and thought for sure that I was going to blow the opportunity!

Everything was set up and ready - a benefit of sitting for hogs and guarding the corn some 40 or 50 times thusfar. I finally got my breathing under control and shouldered my rifle -steadied it up on the rest and looked for the shadow in the meadow. I put my sight on the shadow. The shadow was crossing from left to right, but I apparently made enough noise breathing that he turned around with thoughts of returning to the woods he just left, but had not opted to run just yet. He was only about 25 yards away.

I turned on the light on my rifle and centered the red dot of the sight on the shoulder of the hog and he bolted for the woods from right to left. I was looking at him through the scope and then he was gone! I caught up with the dot and tracked him a few feet and squeezed the trigger as he started up an incline which slowed him. There was a flash, report, a lot of smoke reflected in the light, and when the smoke cleared, Hog Down! I chambered a new round and waited to see if he was down for good or not. He was. He had traveled about 20 feet from where I first put the light on him to where I shot him.

The whole event was something of a surprise. He arrived much earlier than expected. He didn't come in and go directly for the feeder but seemed to survey the area before coming into the open. He was nowhere near the feeder when I shot him and he had not been to the feeder. He popped out of the woods much closer than I expected. Even close, he didn't look large as he was partially hidden by tall grass. It wasn't until after getting down on the ground and seeing my neighbor Ken next to the hog that I realized how big it was. About the only thing about this event that wasn't a surprise was the hog running after I got the light on him.

I did learn a valuable lesson. You don't do your happy dance while still up in the tree stand. Trust me on this.

Details:
Estimated @ 250+ lbs. (weighs more than me), boar, 1 shot from 14' elevated stand, 25 yards, dropped immediately and flopped for about 30 seconds.
Ammo: Hornady Leverevolution .45-70, 325 gr ammo chrono'd @ about 1800 fps from my rifle, no exit from hog.
Rifle: Marlin 1985, 22" barrel (40" overall length - used for scale in picture)
Light: Olight M20 Warrior Premium mounted on a Pro-Mag offset light rail
Optic: Aimpoint Micro T-1
Muffs: Peltor Comtac electronic muffs
Night Vision: Zenit NV100 with illuminator
BriansBoar2reduced.jpg
 

TEXASLAWMAN

Lone Star Boars Owner
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Great story and write up! I'm looking forward to hearing more! Nice 45/70 also. Love that you keep the records, I did also but accidentally deleted them. :(
 

Ratdog68

LSB Official Story Teller
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Mmmmm.... .45-70 !!! I need to get mine to the range and see how it shoots.

Great tale, fine hog too. Love the gun. It's like... a "Happy Ending" !!
 

Brian Shaffer

Hog Hunter
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I will tell you what, the Leverevolution ammo out of the Marlin 1895s (based on seeing it fired from 5 of them) is really outstandingly accurate ammo. It is also fairly inexpensive for factory ammo, the only cheaper stuff I have found being the much lower velocity cowboy action loads.
 

Ratdog68

LSB Official Story Teller
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Agreed. I snagged up half a dozen boxes of some "Alaskan Backpacker" this spring... at $56 a box, it ain't cheap stuff. The Leverevolutions were $43 a box in Kodiak, AK (where I bought my Guide Gun).
 
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