So I was on my required rehab walk this morning about 3/4 of a mile from home when hog pics started coming in on my phone...
...so I hurried home, grabbed a rifle and came up. Nearly 2 hours had passed between the first picture and my arrival on my property. This was nothing short of a fool's errand, but one for which I had been successful a couple of times in the past, and utterly failed a few more.
Chances were slim that the hogs were there, but they have been rooting the hell out of my woods and so maybe they were in the area. I dressed in color appropriate camo, used scent cover, and approached from down wind.
They were about 150 yards from the water hole but deep in the woods. It took me about 15 minutes to find them after I arrived, or rather, they found me. There was no stealthy approach in heavy leaves. I played the wind but it swirled in the woods and I got spotted first despite trying to move slow along trails that tended to have less leaf litter than non-traffic areas. The warning grunt was made by the big grey pig (sow?) and they took off. As I was on a sort of game trail through a tunnel in the woods, I saw three hogs in all as the crossed the trail in front of me some 30+ yards away...1, then 2, then..., then 3. The trail and my field of view was only a few feet wide. As quickly as I saw a hog, it was gone. I was ready for the 4th hog, or so I thought, but it never came!
I followed hog sounds another 100 yards or so, even caught brief glimpses of hogs through holes in the thick foliage. At some point, they went into the creek bottom. Briar and downed trees blocked my path to readily circle around to overlook the area where I thought the hogs were, so I opted to go down into the creek bottom itself.
At night, I would not do this, but in the day, it isn't so bad. Unlike up top, I have cleared trails through the bottoms several times over the years and the bottoms are actually more open than up top. There is plenty of cover from large trees (like many of y'all saw at the Meet and Greet) and the bends in the creek would hide my approach.
As I stalked around a bend to where they should have been, the larger grey pig was on overwatch from up on the bank side I had been on and at a location where I would have liked to have been to shoot the pigs in the creek bottom. The grey grunted another warning. At this point, I could not see the other pigs.
I could not shoot the grey that was some 20 feet above me because its backstop was tree canopy and sky, though she was no more than 40 yards away. A few seconds after the grunt, she took off into the brush. So I proceeded around the bend and spied 5 or 6 hogs heading up the far bank. They were on the ridge before I could get my rifle up. Once on the ridge, I was able to track them through my scope as they ran about 20 or 30 yards along the ridge line before disappearing into the woods. Again, I could not shoot them up on the ridge because they were silhouetted by canopy and sky - no viable backstop. They headed off back in the direction toward the water hole...circling back around.
I followed in the direction that the hogs had gone, exited the woods and circled around and back to the tripod overlooking the waterhole, but no joy. I even sat in the tripod stand for a while with the hopes that they might come back. Nope. Every so often when the wind would die down, I could hear them out in the distance, but I was done trying to track them through the briar and poison ivy, crunching through 2" or more of leaf litter in most places.
It all, it was a fun hour of my day, quite exciting to be following the hogs through the woods and at least for a while, remaining on the verge of opportunity, though never quite getting a chance to shoot. This last part was frustrating. Being caught by the overwatch grey from atop the bank is going to have me rethinking some of my future stalking.
Maybe tomorrow...
...so I hurried home, grabbed a rifle and came up. Nearly 2 hours had passed between the first picture and my arrival on my property. This was nothing short of a fool's errand, but one for which I had been successful a couple of times in the past, and utterly failed a few more.
Chances were slim that the hogs were there, but they have been rooting the hell out of my woods and so maybe they were in the area. I dressed in color appropriate camo, used scent cover, and approached from down wind.
They were about 150 yards from the water hole but deep in the woods. It took me about 15 minutes to find them after I arrived, or rather, they found me. There was no stealthy approach in heavy leaves. I played the wind but it swirled in the woods and I got spotted first despite trying to move slow along trails that tended to have less leaf litter than non-traffic areas. The warning grunt was made by the big grey pig (sow?) and they took off. As I was on a sort of game trail through a tunnel in the woods, I saw three hogs in all as the crossed the trail in front of me some 30+ yards away...1, then 2, then..., then 3. The trail and my field of view was only a few feet wide. As quickly as I saw a hog, it was gone. I was ready for the 4th hog, or so I thought, but it never came!
I followed hog sounds another 100 yards or so, even caught brief glimpses of hogs through holes in the thick foliage. At some point, they went into the creek bottom. Briar and downed trees blocked my path to readily circle around to overlook the area where I thought the hogs were, so I opted to go down into the creek bottom itself.
At night, I would not do this, but in the day, it isn't so bad. Unlike up top, I have cleared trails through the bottoms several times over the years and the bottoms are actually more open than up top. There is plenty of cover from large trees (like many of y'all saw at the Meet and Greet) and the bends in the creek would hide my approach.
As I stalked around a bend to where they should have been, the larger grey pig was on overwatch from up on the bank side I had been on and at a location where I would have liked to have been to shoot the pigs in the creek bottom. The grey grunted another warning. At this point, I could not see the other pigs.
I could not shoot the grey that was some 20 feet above me because its backstop was tree canopy and sky, though she was no more than 40 yards away. A few seconds after the grunt, she took off into the brush. So I proceeded around the bend and spied 5 or 6 hogs heading up the far bank. They were on the ridge before I could get my rifle up. Once on the ridge, I was able to track them through my scope as they ran about 20 or 30 yards along the ridge line before disappearing into the woods. Again, I could not shoot them up on the ridge because they were silhouetted by canopy and sky - no viable backstop. They headed off back in the direction toward the water hole...circling back around.
I followed in the direction that the hogs had gone, exited the woods and circled around and back to the tripod overlooking the waterhole, but no joy. I even sat in the tripod stand for a while with the hopes that they might come back. Nope. Every so often when the wind would die down, I could hear them out in the distance, but I was done trying to track them through the briar and poison ivy, crunching through 2" or more of leaf litter in most places.
It all, it was a fun hour of my day, quite exciting to be following the hogs through the woods and at least for a while, remaining on the verge of opportunity, though never quite getting a chance to shoot. This last part was frustrating. Being caught by the overwatch grey from atop the bank is going to have me rethinking some of my future stalking.
Maybe tomorrow...
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