Before X-mas 2015, I was breaking in a new hunting spot. It borders a swamp and had not received any hunting pressure in years.
I baited the area for a few weeks prior to hunting. I'd head down ever 3rd day and put out 100 lbs of corn. Trail camera showed several good hogs.
The night of the hunt, I rolled up to the spot in grandpa's pickup truck. The areas I hunt are agricultural, so the animals are used to hearing trucks and farm equipment. I rolled down the window and used my thermal monocular to scan the field, and saw a few good hogs. I used my R700 5R in .308 with a Nightforce SHV and an Armasight NV clip on unit. I dropped the sow with a single Barnes TTSX 168g to the shoulder. After the shot, all of the other hogs scattered. My experience in the area is that if I waited a few minutes, the hogs usually come back out. Sure enough, 8 minutes later, the hogs come back out. I hit a small boar in the shoulder, and he runs off into the swamp. I was only wearing ankle high water proof boots, so I didn't even bother tracking him, as it had rained the day before and the water levels in the swamp were rising.
I waited another 30 minutes and since nothing else came back out, I decided to try another spot. Get to spot # 2, and saw nothing. Go back to the first spot, and see this boar grazing on the corn pile. I shot him in the shoulder with the .308 and he dropped on the spot. By this time, it was 0230 hrs, so I decided to call it a night and head home.
I need to work on my hog photos. I'm usually by myself and don't feel like going to the trouble of staging photos. I think the boar would have made a nice photo if I'd shown his cutters.
I baited the area for a few weeks prior to hunting. I'd head down ever 3rd day and put out 100 lbs of corn. Trail camera showed several good hogs.
The night of the hunt, I rolled up to the spot in grandpa's pickup truck. The areas I hunt are agricultural, so the animals are used to hearing trucks and farm equipment. I rolled down the window and used my thermal monocular to scan the field, and saw a few good hogs. I used my R700 5R in .308 with a Nightforce SHV and an Armasight NV clip on unit. I dropped the sow with a single Barnes TTSX 168g to the shoulder. After the shot, all of the other hogs scattered. My experience in the area is that if I waited a few minutes, the hogs usually come back out. Sure enough, 8 minutes later, the hogs come back out. I hit a small boar in the shoulder, and he runs off into the swamp. I was only wearing ankle high water proof boots, so I didn't even bother tracking him, as it had rained the day before and the water levels in the swamp were rising.
I waited another 30 minutes and since nothing else came back out, I decided to try another spot. Get to spot # 2, and saw nothing. Go back to the first spot, and see this boar grazing on the corn pile. I shot him in the shoulder with the .308 and he dropped on the spot. By this time, it was 0230 hrs, so I decided to call it a night and head home.
I need to work on my hog photos. I'm usually by myself and don't feel like going to the trouble of staging photos. I think the boar would have made a nice photo if I'd shown his cutters.
