Reply With QuoteWhat an evening! And recently you said the hogs hadn’t been coming around much. Now 3 in a week? Good job.
Sometimes, it's nice to have luck on your side.
With the moon beginning to set in the west, twilight waning and the merging of the dew point and ambient temp soon to create fog, I was about to call it a night and bring my 6.5 Bullberry back inside. I had been watching deer feeding, rabbits romping and 'possums and a skunk roaming about on this very mild night. I enjoyed seeing these creatures, but they weren't the reason I had been spending time outside. I was hoping to see hogs as there had been fresh signs on the area, but it looked like they missed out on their dinner invitation.
I scanned the surroundings one last time with my old Leupold LTO thermal monocular and noticed that the bedded deer were now standing and that all the deer were now facing the creek. Two of them bolted and ran the opposite direction, and within seconds, the others followed suit. So I decided to stay out there just a bit longer.
Within minutes, I noticed two large forms emerging from the creek bottom, and peering through the Zeiss Diatal 8x56 scope confirmed my suspicions that these were hogs. At this point, with the twilight fading, I was really wishing I had brought out the .300 Savage since it had a shooting light atop it. But this was happening quickly, so I'd have to make due or likely not have a shot at all. When the lighter-colored hog stopped on a slight incline and was quartering towards me, I put the illuminated dot of the #60 reticle on the front portion of the shoulder and touched off a round. I reloaded quickly and once again scanned with the thermal, with my main intent being to track the direction of the hog in the event it ran after impact. But as I was bringing the thermal into the general direction of the hog, I noticed the other was circling and beginning to run downhill to the east -- and would be even closer to me than the first hog was. She was following a trail that would veer back to my left, and as she maneuvered the curve, I had her in the scope, ran the dot in front of her and tripped the trigger.
I heard the impact but saw nothing in the monocular after reloading. Scanning back around, I saw that the first hog was down right where it took the bullet.
Considering the difficult lighting conditions, a target on the move, a quartering-away shot and the fact aI was using a light-for-caliber bullet, I began to question my choice of pulling the trigger and decided to wait for my son to arrive home before heading down there to see what had unfolded. He was less than 10 minutes away, but it seemed like an hour as I was replaying the shot over and over in my mind.
Turns out, I shouldn't have worried. The Nosler 100 grain Ballistic Tip, which leaves the muzzle at 2840 fps, entered on (and broke) the second-to-last rib and exited the front portion of the shoulder, leaving the thoracic cavity in an utter state of disarray. The hog made 33 yards before giving up the ghost. As we approached the hog, I could see the entrance and immediately thought that I'd be recovering the bullet, but that was not the case. The exit through the hide (see photo) was the size of a nickel. For a 100 grain bullet on a tough presentation, this was impressive, to say the least. I've been a proponent of heavier bullets in the medium-capacity 6.5s, but the 100 grain Nosler BT is certainly winning me over.
The range on the first hog was only about 115 yards. The bullet entered near the front portion of the shoulder, and the jacket was recovered between the fat and hide (see photo) near the third-to-last rib. Its path was almost the reverse of the second hog. The core had separated from the jacket, and my wand scanner indicated it was in the intestines, but I was not able to recover it. The wound track was impressive, and the chest cavity was filled with blood.
The portion of the jacket that I recovered measured .523 at its widest point and weighed 35.1 grains.
EDITED TO ADD:
Both sows were pregnant and would have been dropping litters soon. So the two shots -- in a way -- accounted for 15 hogs.
In the short time it took us to retrieve the hogs, the fog set in, visibility had become minimal, and there was moisture all over my 6.5 Bullberry. I'm about to give it a crude cleaning in just a bit.
What an evening! And recently you said the hogs hadn’t been coming around much. Now 3 in a week? Good job.
They had been scarce for months. I am glad they are back!
I had someone ask me the range of the second hog. I need to take the rangefinder to get a more accurate figure since the terrain includes a hill and slough, but I want to say it is about 90 yards. Walking it, the range is nearly 140 yards, but straight-line distance is much less. I hope to remember and range it tomorrow.
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