Three Hog Night

After a week of vacation with family in North Carolina, I was back at the newest farm to see what I could see. It was approximately 6:15 as I slowly drove onto the property. Almost immediately I spotted something in the field ahead of me just off the road. I tried to range it (it was a hog), but for some unknown reason I could not get a distance reading, so I moved slowly off to the right side of the road to maneuver the truck into shooting position. By the time I got into place the hog disappeared. Guess he just got too nervous to stay put. This gave me the opportunity to get the gun into place on the hood of the truck. I decided to give the 204 a rest and brought the 22-250 with me tonight.

I had ranged the spot at 175 yards and was ready and waiting by the time the hog popped its head up to take a look around. That’s all it took for the Savage to bark. I heard a hit, but was not able to see anything since the grass had grown in the week I was away. I gathered up the gun and drove over to the kill site. Here’s the DRT. One shot, one kill. Forgot to get the pics, but there was an entrance wound about shoulder height dead center, but no exit wound???

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...0801011834.jpg

After the photo op, I took my time driving to the location I’ve used before, while scanning the property along the way for more shooting opportunities, but nothing materialized. I got the truck into position, got the Savage ready and waited. Within a half hour I saw movement off to the right, got the binos up and ranged the hog at a distance at about 150 yards. The 22-250 barked again, but I jerked the shot and the hog moved to the left. I loaded another round and found it in the crosshairs about thirty yards left of the miss. The hog was moving and bobbing like a fighter. One minute it’s here and the next it’s over there. Again the height of the grass made it more challenging.

I finally got the crosshairs settled on the hog’s shoulder and let fly the 45 grain hollow point. Immediately I heard the thwack, saw that familiar sign of surrender and knew I had number two in the books. I was still puzzled though about all the movement I saw prior to the shot???

As I stood there looking through the scope, I thought I saw something in the area of the shot. I contemplated retrieving the corpse, but decided to sit and wait to see what, if anything, developed. Sure enough, another hog popped up close the where the other hog had been. This one was more cautious, partially hidden by some old hay and quartering away from me. I waited for it to move, but it didn’t, so I decided to take the shot. Again I heard the thwack and saw the hog go down.

Still puzzled by what just took place, I again decided to hold off the retrieval and just sit and watch, but no more movement. At this point I needed to stretch and with some landscaping trailers in my way from viewing the field to my left, I took a walk with the binos using the trailer as a shield. Wouldn’t you know it, as I peeked around the corner of the trailer I spotted a hog the same time it spotted me. I crept back to the truck using the trailer as a shield, got the gun over to a flatbed trailer, brought up the scope and found the hog with just its head showing in the grass. I leveled the crosshairs and let fly the hollow point. I saw a puff of dirt in the scope and figured that was not a good sign.

It was getting late so I walked over to where I shot at the last hog. Found hole, the dirt the shot hit, but no hog this time. Five shots, three hogs. Those aren’t bad odds in my book.

Okay, I know you’ve been waiting for the walk up shots so here they are, just as I found the two hogs I shot at earlier. I was amazed at what I saw in terms of proximity and the different results being they were both shot at 150 yards. My only explanation is that the first shot hit the skull and the second did not. Anyway, here are the photos. I’ll let you decide what you think happened.

http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...0801012000.jpg http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...0801012004.jpg http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...801012006a.jpg http://i451.photobucket.com/albums/q...0801012007.jpg