Mondays are my day at the horse farm. Got there at 9 am on the dot. Pulled around back of the tractor barn and parked next to one of the horse trailers. Got my stool and tripod and set up just inside the far door to the indoor riding arena overlooking the holes where I saw the monster two weeks ago.
Sat there for at least 40 minutes when I glanced at the leftmost hole and there it was with its head just peeking out, but flattened to the ground. I could tell by the color it was older, but without seeing the whole body I could not tell the size.
We just sat there staring at each other. The gun was up, but I had not readied myself to shoot when a breeze picked up, it raised its head to sniff the air and then turned and disappeared down the hole.
I sat there another 20 minutes, but it was a no show, so I decided to walk over to the place where I saw another hog the last time I was there, just below the house and pasture and along the tree line where Bill keeps some of the hay wagons and other farm equipment.
As I was walking and glassing I caught the shape of a hog through the wire mesh of one of the hay wagons. I moved over to a flatbed trailer where I figured I could get a good rest, but when it didn't make an appearance, I stood up to glass the area again and it was gone.
I looked around for a place I could sit to set up an ambush and found a pallet at the base of a tree. Then went to the truck to retrieve a couple of towels to sit my old butt down on and waited.
It was probably another twenty minutes when off to my left about twenty yards farther away from the first sighting, I saw a hog on its hind legs checking out the territory. I got the gun up and found it in my sights, but it was partially hidden by a fence post. I waited until it moved, stopped and rose up slightly and let go the Hornady 20 grain jhp. All that was left to do was watch it salute. 75 yards. Gotchya!
Here’s the evidence and a rollover pic.
I got up to walk to my truck to get my camera which is about forty yards away. While I’m walking I’m glassing the holes where my first set up was. Low and behold, I think I see something in the uppermost hole this time, about 115 yards away. I take a few steps and glass, take a few more steps and glass, but I’m just not sure. So I go back to where I just shot the hog, get my Marlin 917VSF in 17 HMR, walk back to the truck, pull down the bipod, set it on the hood of the truck, turn the magnification on the Pentax Gameseeker 5 to 10 and put it one the hole.
There’s a hog there alright. Again, it’s just peeking out of the hole and pretty much flat to the ground. I get a good rest, take a breath, exhale and squeeze the trigger. In the scope I see the shot kick up a bunch of dirt (that what I love about this 17, you can watch the hits through the scope). The hog rears up backwards and then leaps out in front of the hole flopping around like a fish out of water. I can’t tell if the shot went through its head and then kicked up the dirt or whether I got a ricochet or what? So I sent another shot down range into the body and it stops flopping. Based on the pictures, I'm pretty confident the shot hit the hog first and then hit the dirt. 95 yds.
I swear, no more than five minutes have passed since I just finished off the first hog and now I’ve got two.
Again, here’s the evidence and the rollover pic.
Got to run some errands and then plan to pop over to the other farm this evening. Later, I hope!
Oh, by the way, the second was just a pup and not the monster I was hoping for. Guess that means I've got another chance!
Sat there for at least 40 minutes when I glanced at the leftmost hole and there it was with its head just peeking out, but flattened to the ground. I could tell by the color it was older, but without seeing the whole body I could not tell the size.
We just sat there staring at each other. The gun was up, but I had not readied myself to shoot when a breeze picked up, it raised its head to sniff the air and then turned and disappeared down the hole.
I sat there another 20 minutes, but it was a no show, so I decided to walk over to the place where I saw another hog the last time I was there, just below the house and pasture and along the tree line where Bill keeps some of the hay wagons and other farm equipment.
As I was walking and glassing I caught the shape of a hog through the wire mesh of one of the hay wagons. I moved over to a flatbed trailer where I figured I could get a good rest, but when it didn't make an appearance, I stood up to glass the area again and it was gone.
I looked around for a place I could sit to set up an ambush and found a pallet at the base of a tree. Then went to the truck to retrieve a couple of towels to sit my old butt down on and waited.
It was probably another twenty minutes when off to my left about twenty yards farther away from the first sighting, I saw a hog on its hind legs checking out the territory. I got the gun up and found it in my sights, but it was partially hidden by a fence post. I waited until it moved, stopped and rose up slightly and let go the Hornady 20 grain jhp. All that was left to do was watch it salute. 75 yards. Gotchya!
Here’s the evidence and a rollover pic.
I got up to walk to my truck to get my camera which is about forty yards away. While I’m walking I’m glassing the holes where my first set up was. Low and behold, I think I see something in the uppermost hole this time, about 115 yards away. I take a few steps and glass, take a few more steps and glass, but I’m just not sure. So I go back to where I just shot the hog, get my Marlin 917VSF in 17 HMR, walk back to the truck, pull down the bipod, set it on the hood of the truck, turn the magnification on the Pentax Gameseeker 5 to 10 and put it one the hole.
There’s a hog there alright. Again, it’s just peeking out of the hole and pretty much flat to the ground. I get a good rest, take a breath, exhale and squeeze the trigger. In the scope I see the shot kick up a bunch of dirt (that what I love about this 17, you can watch the hits through the scope). The hog rears up backwards and then leaps out in front of the hole flopping around like a fish out of water. I can’t tell if the shot went through its head and then kicked up the dirt or whether I got a ricochet or what? So I sent another shot down range into the body and it stops flopping. Based on the pictures, I'm pretty confident the shot hit the hog first and then hit the dirt. 95 yds.
I swear, no more than five minutes have passed since I just finished off the first hog and now I’ve got two.
Again, here’s the evidence and the rollover pic.
Got to run some errands and then plan to pop over to the other farm this evening. Later, I hope!
Oh, by the way, the second was just a pup and not the monster I was hoping for. Guess that means I've got another chance!
