I started off last night's hunt out at Elk Springs Ranch. I hunted a new area that favored the northerly winds. It was not as productive as I had hoped, but I did net a singular small sow. Last week, I had wounded two more in addition to the pregnant sow I killed. The landowner came across one and finished it off. This week, I found the other...
I left ESR and headed over to another property to pick up one of the landowner's long time friends and visiting deer hunter (Greg) to try to do some night hunting. He had not used thermal before so I went through a 15 minute orientation on the Pulsar Apex XQ38 LRF and we stepped out into the field next to the house and tried calling coyotes. The idea was that it would give him opportunity to learn to work the controls and maybe get to shoot a coyote before we did some hog hunting. Sure enough, a coyote came in at full speed from his side and came to a stop, but Greg did not shoot. With a caller in my mouth, I tried to tell him to "Shoot it" but he could not understand me. After the coyote found the electronic caller and appeared to be leaving, I went ahead and dropped him.
We cycled through other properties with no luck and were on our 2nd visit to this one property when the hogs materialized out of nowhere and we were caught exposed, out in the middle of a field with no cover, under a bright moon. We could not move without alerting the hogs and so we waited for them to move...
I know it is possible, but I have yet to recover a pregnant sow with 10 piglets on-board. I have recovered a couple 9s and some 7s, but never 10.
Greg and I searched for his hog for about 45 minutes and then he went back today and looked. As near as I can tell from the video, his shot was at the right elevation for a heart shot, but a tad too far back, likely missing anything immediately vital. This is unfortunate as his hog was even bigger than mine and also appeared to be a pregnant sow.
I left ESR and headed over to another property to pick up one of the landowner's long time friends and visiting deer hunter (Greg) to try to do some night hunting. He had not used thermal before so I went through a 15 minute orientation on the Pulsar Apex XQ38 LRF and we stepped out into the field next to the house and tried calling coyotes. The idea was that it would give him opportunity to learn to work the controls and maybe get to shoot a coyote before we did some hog hunting. Sure enough, a coyote came in at full speed from his side and came to a stop, but Greg did not shoot. With a caller in my mouth, I tried to tell him to "Shoot it" but he could not understand me. After the coyote found the electronic caller and appeared to be leaving, I went ahead and dropped him.
We cycled through other properties with no luck and were on our 2nd visit to this one property when the hogs materialized out of nowhere and we were caught exposed, out in the middle of a field with no cover, under a bright moon. We could not move without alerting the hogs and so we waited for them to move...
I know it is possible, but I have yet to recover a pregnant sow with 10 piglets on-board. I have recovered a couple 9s and some 7s, but never 10.
Greg and I searched for his hog for about 45 minutes and then he went back today and looked. As near as I can tell from the video, his shot was at the right elevation for a heart shot, but a tad too far back, likely missing anything immediately vital. This is unfortunate as his hog was even bigger than mine and also appeared to be a pregnant sow.
