BPS
Member
The family & I went down to a friends place to spend Thanks Giving with Him & his family.
As we always do when I get there, we escape for at least a day to do some hunting. Ground Squirrels are usually an abundance, Coyotes just about every where you look & lots & lots of Pigs....
T- Day started out with some light fog & 50 degree temps, we made it out to the ranch right at day break & drove up on top of a ridgeline to some known hog bedding area's.
We walked up on top a hill where we've both seen & killed several hogs in the past & from the amount of rooting & hog sign we knew they still loved the place.
Brian my friend had me make a stand along a fence line where several trails led to it out of the thicket they were bedded down in. He circled around the thicket & started a slow drive in my direction.
From where I was posted up, I had limited visibility due to the brush, I had a small trail that I was watching straight away from me, that I could see for a bout 20 feet, a couple more trails just up the hill from me & a small 15' clearing in the brush to the right of the trail I was watching.
I had my .45 in a shoulder holster & my Rem 721 in 30.06 & honestly I didn't know which one I should have my hand on. If a big boar came out of the brush, it could quickly turn to hand to hand combat real quick.
Brian started the drive, & within a minute I heard a pig snort straight out in front of me, I didn't know where it was going to come out, either on the trail or in the clearing to the right, this went on for another minute then this big ole sow stepped out into the clearing 15 yards away & just stared right at me. She stood close to 3' tall & looked pretty darn BIG at that close range.
I already had my 30.06 shouldered, she lowered her head & started to root, then lifted her head again to look at me, when she lowered it again I shot her in the back of the neck & down she went. She rolled on her side & kicked her feet for a few seconds & stopped.
I picked up my empty brass & heard another snort & out walks a second sow, a hair smaller than the first. She just stood there staring at the downed sow, so I put one behind the shoulder, she was knocked sideways but still took off like a freight train, down the hill to my right heading for the fenceline, I lost sight of her & heard her hit the fence then nothing.
I picked up my second brass & walked over to the first sow & looked down the hill & there was the second sow piled up on the other side of the fence.
I stepped back to the fenceline & waited not knowing if more pigs were headed my way or not.
Brian came in from my left a minute later & the celebrating began.
As it turns out, when Brain went around the hill to make the drive, he had a BIG BIG Boar come in from behind him & walk right past him into the thicket, it caught his wind & took off with the majority of the pigs in the thicket. For whatever reason these 2 went the other way but they definitely weren't spooked.
After the fun wore off we cleaned & drug both sows to a spot we could get the truck to, then we loaded up & headed out in pursuit of more adventure.
The mornings good luck stopped right there, we made 2 coyote stands.
At about the 15 minute mark of the first stand I had 1 come in from my left, but I bungled it with a hurried push of the safety "CLICK" in all honesty I rushed it & should have let the coyote get closer to the caller & I could have taken it with ease but I got Cocky & figured I couldn't screw this up....
The second stand was a blank, then worse came to worse...
The drought in the area has pretty much wiped out the local ground squirrel population, neither of us fired a full magazine from our 10-22's. Usually we fire 500 - 1000 rounds apiece in a few hours at 2 different colonies.
After that it was back home for some horse shoes, Beer, Spending time with the family & a Thanks Giving Feast.
Lee
As we always do when I get there, we escape for at least a day to do some hunting. Ground Squirrels are usually an abundance, Coyotes just about every where you look & lots & lots of Pigs....
T- Day started out with some light fog & 50 degree temps, we made it out to the ranch right at day break & drove up on top of a ridgeline to some known hog bedding area's.
We walked up on top a hill where we've both seen & killed several hogs in the past & from the amount of rooting & hog sign we knew they still loved the place.
Brian my friend had me make a stand along a fence line where several trails led to it out of the thicket they were bedded down in. He circled around the thicket & started a slow drive in my direction.
From where I was posted up, I had limited visibility due to the brush, I had a small trail that I was watching straight away from me, that I could see for a bout 20 feet, a couple more trails just up the hill from me & a small 15' clearing in the brush to the right of the trail I was watching.
I had my .45 in a shoulder holster & my Rem 721 in 30.06 & honestly I didn't know which one I should have my hand on. If a big boar came out of the brush, it could quickly turn to hand to hand combat real quick.
Brian started the drive, & within a minute I heard a pig snort straight out in front of me, I didn't know where it was going to come out, either on the trail or in the clearing to the right, this went on for another minute then this big ole sow stepped out into the clearing 15 yards away & just stared right at me. She stood close to 3' tall & looked pretty darn BIG at that close range.
I already had my 30.06 shouldered, she lowered her head & started to root, then lifted her head again to look at me, when she lowered it again I shot her in the back of the neck & down she went. She rolled on her side & kicked her feet for a few seconds & stopped.
I picked up my empty brass & heard another snort & out walks a second sow, a hair smaller than the first. She just stood there staring at the downed sow, so I put one behind the shoulder, she was knocked sideways but still took off like a freight train, down the hill to my right heading for the fenceline, I lost sight of her & heard her hit the fence then nothing.
I picked up my second brass & walked over to the first sow & looked down the hill & there was the second sow piled up on the other side of the fence.
I stepped back to the fenceline & waited not knowing if more pigs were headed my way or not.
Brian came in from my left a minute later & the celebrating began.
As it turns out, when Brain went around the hill to make the drive, he had a BIG BIG Boar come in from behind him & walk right past him into the thicket, it caught his wind & took off with the majority of the pigs in the thicket. For whatever reason these 2 went the other way but they definitely weren't spooked.
After the fun wore off we cleaned & drug both sows to a spot we could get the truck to, then we loaded up & headed out in pursuit of more adventure.
The mornings good luck stopped right there, we made 2 coyote stands.
At about the 15 minute mark of the first stand I had 1 come in from my left, but I bungled it with a hurried push of the safety "CLICK" in all honesty I rushed it & should have let the coyote get closer to the caller & I could have taken it with ease but I got Cocky & figured I couldn't screw this up....
The second stand was a blank, then worse came to worse...
The drought in the area has pretty much wiped out the local ground squirrel population, neither of us fired a full magazine from our 10-22's. Usually we fire 500 - 1000 rounds apiece in a few hours at 2 different colonies.
After that it was back home for some horse shoes, Beer, Spending time with the family & a Thanks Giving Feast.
Lee
