This is another one of my 'historic' hog hunting stories. I keep a brief account of each successful hunt. With TexasLawman's permission, I have been editing the more interesting ones to post here. What makes them interesting, from my perspective, is that they usually reflect things newly learned or experienced by me, surprises, or mistakes. So here is the story. It takes place at my buddy's place, called TBR, that is near the county seat. I probably hunt his place as much as I hunt my own.
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I have a buddy outside of Montague who has nearly 80 acres and wants to see more deer, more turkey, but less hogs. He doesn't own NV gear and so I help out from time to time and he has been kind enough to help me out with my fall food plot. So the day after we put in my food plot, I was at his place to help out with some hogs. While he had to be up early the next morning as was hunting from his front porch, his wife set up in on stand across the creek to my west that overlooked a feeder with a light and I set up overlooking a food plot, hay field, and unlit feeder to my south. We set up just before dark.. While I could see all of the food plot, I could only see part of the hay field. The feeder was 80 yards distant. Winds were light and out of the south. The partial moon shine was quite evident soon after the sun was down.
After being there about 90 minutes, it was 8:14 and time to call the kids for bedtime. As I was quietly whispering and doing prayers with them, a doe, two fawns, and another doe came walking in from the woods to my east and passed within feet of the stand. I watched them with thermal vision as they proceeded down the hill toward the feeder, stopping prematurely to snack on sweet feed I had scattered around before getting into the stand. I have seen the deer snarf up all the feed from the feeder at my buddy's place, leaving nothing for later. So I always toss out a quart of corn or sweet feed to help make sure there is something left should the hogs eventually arrive - something to help hold them in place under the feeder. The kids liked hearing about the deer, especially the fawns...that were eating all the extra bait I had scattered.
So the fawns were between the feeder and me and a few minutes after the call ended, about 150 yards south of me, I spotted movement coming out of the woods to the east. Changing from thermal to night vision, the animal turned out to be a small hog. He ran in toward the feeder in a wide arc across the food plot, stopping behind the feeder from my location where I could only see his feet. The deer were obviously bothered by the hog, but stood their ground. He was there for maybe a minute, just standing there. I had no shot. As suddenly as he appeared, the hog turned and retraced his steps in a run for no apparent reason. I was down wind of it and had not made any noise, certainly none that would be heard at that distance. This event seemed to bother the deer that all started moving westward toward the hay field.
About two minutes later, at the far end of the field and along the fence about 160 yards away, I spied a pig walking in and heading west, like maybe it was headed to the next field and field where my buddy's wife was hunting. This black hog was trailed by smaller hogs, seemingly spaced apart equally, the big hog looking like a train engine followed by train cars. Their walk was deliberate and steady. I could hear the occasional grunts as the various members continually affirmed their presence in the group, the sounds being carried toward me on the wind. The last remaining doe decided to leave at this point.
As the train moved west, as the lead hog reached the hay field, the engine gave out multiple grunts and stopped and the whole train stopped and then all the hogs just stood still and quiet. It was really weird! I had never seen anything like this before. The hogs seemed to be traveling in formation with a definite leader who was able to control the movement of the group fairly precisely. A few seconds later, the lead hog gave out more grunts and started to move and all the hogs moved, only this time the lead hog was headed north towards the feeder and toward me. As I counted, I realized there were 12 shoats following the lead hog along with one other large hog, but the leader was the largest of the group. The time was 8:27
No longer in an organized manner, the sounder spread out into a mob and worked their way through the sprouts of the food plot, grunting and calling to one another as they went. I could not tell that they were doing much more than sampling. None appeared to be rooting that I could see and generally seemed to stay in motion. During this time, I had my rifle trained on the lead hog, using night vision supplemented with an infrared laser illuminator which does produce a visible light at the source. The lead hog was not sampling like the rest of the hogs but seemed to look in my direction most of the time.
The mob seemed to be working its way to the feeder, but I had decided that the lead hog was the critical member of the group. It was the hog that seemed to be in charge and the one that was most apt to bust me. So it was the hog I wanted. The best part was that I did not think it was a boar.
I don't know if they would have made the feeder or not, but the lead hog started veering away from the feeder and slowly moving west while still coming slowly north. It dawned on me that the lead hog would be lost amongst the trees separating the food plot field and hay field very soon and that it definitely was not headed toward the feeder anymore. I was about to lose my best prize which was not only the largest member, but the closest member of the group to me. I was afraid it would take all the other hogs away as well.
Fortunately, none of the hogs were particularly spooked, including the lead hog. They were not moving fast. The lead hog would stop and look in my direction, then it would turn and walk westward before stopping to turn and look at me again. Finally, it stopped, looked at me, but then looked back to the west and seemed to stare. I assume the does and fawns were what it was seeing in the next field. I don't know, but that was when I took my shot. I placed the shot behind the ear and the hog dropped in place and never moved again. Then, pandemonium.
Hogs were running in circles and every direction, but generally all heading away from me to the SW. I picked a light colored shoat at about 160 yards and led it a bit and it tumbled when hit, but got up again and continued on its originally course. I got one more shot at it and likely missed before the shoat made the high grass. By that time, I had no more viable targets although I tried to track another shoat for about 10 seconds as it ran in a very tactical, serpentine fashion in the smooth and open area of the food plot. I don't believe it understood ballistic targeting, but it did a very good job of not becoming a good ballistic target.
I texted my buddy's wife to let her know that hogs were headed her way, but they never arrived. Some 45 minutes later, she was going to call it an evening and offered to come get me and the hog in the golf cart. Not only did I get a ride, but she helped me load it up and then helped me get it in my truck. Such a deal!
My buddy was happy. I got a breeder out of the way for him and maybe took out a shoat as well. Angry Bird is happy and the kids get cookies. For those who don't know, I buy a package of Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies for my kids when I get a hog. It is our way of celebrating. Angry Bird is their good luck charm to me to help me be a better hunter.
The bullet did overpenetrate the sow. I assumed from the lack of twitching that I severed the spinal cord which means probably hitting the atlas or axis vertebra based on the external wounds. I followed the wound channel that went right through the vertebrae and found that the wound channel exited the bottom of the neck. So the round hit high, but at a slight downward angle and then was deflected further downward when it hit the vertebrae. The exit wound did not bleed at the time of recovery that we noticed, hence not thinking there was an exit originally. It started to drain after handling, however. The shoat was identified dead two days later by my buddy's wife, thanks to the help of buzzards.
Details:
Sow - 150 lbs
Rifle - Colt with Monolithic Upper, 5.56
Ammo - Silver State Armory loaded Barnes 70 gr. TSX
Scope - ATN Gen 1 Paladin
Illuminator - ELIR laser illuminator
Thermal - FLIR PS-32 monocular
Distance - 125 yards
Shoat - Unknown weight
Distance - 160 yards
Montague County, Texas
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I have a buddy outside of Montague who has nearly 80 acres and wants to see more deer, more turkey, but less hogs. He doesn't own NV gear and so I help out from time to time and he has been kind enough to help me out with my fall food plot. So the day after we put in my food plot, I was at his place to help out with some hogs. While he had to be up early the next morning as was hunting from his front porch, his wife set up in on stand across the creek to my west that overlooked a feeder with a light and I set up overlooking a food plot, hay field, and unlit feeder to my south. We set up just before dark.. While I could see all of the food plot, I could only see part of the hay field. The feeder was 80 yards distant. Winds were light and out of the south. The partial moon shine was quite evident soon after the sun was down.
After being there about 90 minutes, it was 8:14 and time to call the kids for bedtime. As I was quietly whispering and doing prayers with them, a doe, two fawns, and another doe came walking in from the woods to my east and passed within feet of the stand. I watched them with thermal vision as they proceeded down the hill toward the feeder, stopping prematurely to snack on sweet feed I had scattered around before getting into the stand. I have seen the deer snarf up all the feed from the feeder at my buddy's place, leaving nothing for later. So I always toss out a quart of corn or sweet feed to help make sure there is something left should the hogs eventually arrive - something to help hold them in place under the feeder. The kids liked hearing about the deer, especially the fawns...that were eating all the extra bait I had scattered.
So the fawns were between the feeder and me and a few minutes after the call ended, about 150 yards south of me, I spotted movement coming out of the woods to the east. Changing from thermal to night vision, the animal turned out to be a small hog. He ran in toward the feeder in a wide arc across the food plot, stopping behind the feeder from my location where I could only see his feet. The deer were obviously bothered by the hog, but stood their ground. He was there for maybe a minute, just standing there. I had no shot. As suddenly as he appeared, the hog turned and retraced his steps in a run for no apparent reason. I was down wind of it and had not made any noise, certainly none that would be heard at that distance. This event seemed to bother the deer that all started moving westward toward the hay field.
About two minutes later, at the far end of the field and along the fence about 160 yards away, I spied a pig walking in and heading west, like maybe it was headed to the next field and field where my buddy's wife was hunting. This black hog was trailed by smaller hogs, seemingly spaced apart equally, the big hog looking like a train engine followed by train cars. Their walk was deliberate and steady. I could hear the occasional grunts as the various members continually affirmed their presence in the group, the sounds being carried toward me on the wind. The last remaining doe decided to leave at this point.
As the train moved west, as the lead hog reached the hay field, the engine gave out multiple grunts and stopped and the whole train stopped and then all the hogs just stood still and quiet. It was really weird! I had never seen anything like this before. The hogs seemed to be traveling in formation with a definite leader who was able to control the movement of the group fairly precisely. A few seconds later, the lead hog gave out more grunts and started to move and all the hogs moved, only this time the lead hog was headed north towards the feeder and toward me. As I counted, I realized there were 12 shoats following the lead hog along with one other large hog, but the leader was the largest of the group. The time was 8:27
No longer in an organized manner, the sounder spread out into a mob and worked their way through the sprouts of the food plot, grunting and calling to one another as they went. I could not tell that they were doing much more than sampling. None appeared to be rooting that I could see and generally seemed to stay in motion. During this time, I had my rifle trained on the lead hog, using night vision supplemented with an infrared laser illuminator which does produce a visible light at the source. The lead hog was not sampling like the rest of the hogs but seemed to look in my direction most of the time.
The mob seemed to be working its way to the feeder, but I had decided that the lead hog was the critical member of the group. It was the hog that seemed to be in charge and the one that was most apt to bust me. So it was the hog I wanted. The best part was that I did not think it was a boar.
I don't know if they would have made the feeder or not, but the lead hog started veering away from the feeder and slowly moving west while still coming slowly north. It dawned on me that the lead hog would be lost amongst the trees separating the food plot field and hay field very soon and that it definitely was not headed toward the feeder anymore. I was about to lose my best prize which was not only the largest member, but the closest member of the group to me. I was afraid it would take all the other hogs away as well.
Fortunately, none of the hogs were particularly spooked, including the lead hog. They were not moving fast. The lead hog would stop and look in my direction, then it would turn and walk westward before stopping to turn and look at me again. Finally, it stopped, looked at me, but then looked back to the west and seemed to stare. I assume the does and fawns were what it was seeing in the next field. I don't know, but that was when I took my shot. I placed the shot behind the ear and the hog dropped in place and never moved again. Then, pandemonium.
Hogs were running in circles and every direction, but generally all heading away from me to the SW. I picked a light colored shoat at about 160 yards and led it a bit and it tumbled when hit, but got up again and continued on its originally course. I got one more shot at it and likely missed before the shoat made the high grass. By that time, I had no more viable targets although I tried to track another shoat for about 10 seconds as it ran in a very tactical, serpentine fashion in the smooth and open area of the food plot. I don't believe it understood ballistic targeting, but it did a very good job of not becoming a good ballistic target.
I texted my buddy's wife to let her know that hogs were headed her way, but they never arrived. Some 45 minutes later, she was going to call it an evening and offered to come get me and the hog in the golf cart. Not only did I get a ride, but she helped me load it up and then helped me get it in my truck. Such a deal!
My buddy was happy. I got a breeder out of the way for him and maybe took out a shoat as well. Angry Bird is happy and the kids get cookies. For those who don't know, I buy a package of Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies for my kids when I get a hog. It is our way of celebrating. Angry Bird is their good luck charm to me to help me be a better hunter.
The bullet did overpenetrate the sow. I assumed from the lack of twitching that I severed the spinal cord which means probably hitting the atlas or axis vertebra based on the external wounds. I followed the wound channel that went right through the vertebrae and found that the wound channel exited the bottom of the neck. So the round hit high, but at a slight downward angle and then was deflected further downward when it hit the vertebrae. The exit wound did not bleed at the time of recovery that we noticed, hence not thinking there was an exit originally. It started to drain after handling, however. The shoat was identified dead two days later by my buddy's wife, thanks to the help of buzzards.
Details:
Sow - 150 lbs
Rifle - Colt with Monolithic Upper, 5.56
Ammo - Silver State Armory loaded Barnes 70 gr. TSX
Scope - ATN Gen 1 Paladin
Illuminator - ELIR laser illuminator
Thermal - FLIR PS-32 monocular
Distance - 125 yards
Shoat - Unknown weight
Distance - 160 yards
Montague County, Texas
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