D
djones
Guest
one small glimpse of white appeared through the brush several hundred yards away, but it was too thick to get any closer in the truck. thinking about rhino lining the skid plates to see if it quiets things down some. for now, however, it’s gonna be a hike. 15 rounds in the mag to play it safe. i usually don’t get many shots at this place anyway because of the cover.
no wind, no sound, save the mosquitos. the closer i crept the more eerie i felt, like something was watching me. there were security guards on patrol but unless they could smell me there was no way they were going to see or hear me. moving left for a better shot. closer still... until i was a member of the herd. i’m thinking to myself... choppa – ready on the right? flower – ready of the left? good. rattdogg69 – ready out there in front hehehe?? yea, that would be fun.
then the crosshairs brought me back to reality when they found tone. gotta be ready to move fast. these guys know what the deal is and won’t hang around when the first shot reports, especially if the hog squeals. for some reason i was still thinking about something watching me and wondering if i was being setup. these hogs aren’t just educated, they’ve done some post grad work, and it’s all i can do to stay ahead of them. fortunately no problems with the magazine. maybe i can limp along just loading them 2/3 full. sometimes it just takes a while to get the kinks worked out of a new system. fyi i’m sporting new vid cables from alba quirky dave. i have you guys to thank for that tip. his cables look stronger than my tow chains. pretty sure the stock will break or scope will pull off before the cable gives. it’s nice to cross another weak link off the list.
next night i spotted a lot of hogs right away. a hunter considers lots of things when setting up a shot... mostly wind, but sight and sound too. if you’re hunting over bait from a blind, you’ve already taken these things into account. this place has obstacles i also have to avoid... pivots, equipment and structures. not to mention the hogs don’t stay in one place as you’re moving in. as luck would have it, a sow with a few youngsters was going to wind me before i could safely set up. i thought about going ahead and letting her spook, hoping she wouldn’t take any others with her. i kept checking her over and over until i felt the wind swirl around the back of my ears, and i didn’t want to take any more chances.
she looked to be a decent sized hog, so i went ahead and took her out. in hindsight, i should have just stayed on her kids, but i spun around hoping to get lots of hogs from the group. something wasn’t quite right with the sight picture and i paused for a moment to make some mental adjustments, then continued to pick up targets.
got a few shots but passed on several because i just wasn’t comfortable with the background. after i worked the magazine down a bit it started jamming again. three jams in a row. i finally gave up and inspected the last one... live round lodged with its butt in the mag and the nose in the chamber. pulled the mag and noticed the next round was sticking out through the generous opening in the front. perhaps the last few rounds didn’t have enough spring tension to keep the second to the top round from scooting forward under recoil. if my new mag works, i’ll shoot these.
a quick pic of the bodies and that eerie feeling overcame me again. there was something definitely out there. i stopped and got out to examine the area and out of nowhere they attacked all at once. i got one of them but guess what, another jam. fortunately i’ve had training in this area and went into full hand to hoof combat mode. i can only show the one that was hit with the rifle because the others are too graphic for lsb. my only injury was a severed finger which i don’t use much anyway. i found it in the throat of one of the bodies and dug it out. it still looked pretty good, so i guess i’ll see if it can be hammered back into place tomorrow.
. You do have a mess of pork! BANG BANG!!
