My area is riddled with groundhog holes and I shoot them on sight to preserve my fenced in garden. Yes, they still get in somehow occasionally and bang big dents in the chicken wire from the inside, trying to find their way out again. I looked out the back door yesterday and there was something lying on the ground near my picnic table. Hmmmm. That kinda looks like a groundhog upside down with his feet up in the air. Grab the binoculars. Yep. That's exactly what it is. Materialized right out of thin air! Must not have missed that one yesterday after all! Let's go down and see if we can figure out if it has a bullet hole in it.
The day before, I had been at my computer desk in front of the window overlooking the 20 ft wide creek that flows through my back yard when the huge hog I've been trying to get for over a month moved into my peripheral vision. I've been keeping the .223 loaded and propped at the back door so I can grab it quick when I see him. Twice now he eluded me by scampering before I could get the cross-hairs on him. I quickly stepped over to the door, grabbed the gun and flipped the scope covers open, slowly opened the back door and began slowly raising the gun. During that interval the hog had moved out of the open area of the back yard and into the edge of the brush along the creek where its den was. We had a thunderstorm last week break a branch on a small maple tree in the back yard and the foliage was dangling right across the den area where the hog was. Damn! I peered through the scope and was able to make out the top edge of his back through the leaves. He was fidgeting around and I knew if he moved I wouldn't be able to see him at all, so I had to shoot quick. When the gun roared, I lost sight of him due to recoil and never saw any movement whatsoever. He must have been right on the edge of the den hole. I walked down to the area and could not find anything - no hog, no blood, no nothing. Must have missed on account of all the leaves. May have even hit a twig while shooting through them. Oh well. There's always next time.
Back to today. I got down to the picnic table and could not see any damage on the big hog lying there on his back in rigor mortis with all four feet straight up in the air. He was a good thirty feet from where I had shot at the one yesterday, but was big enough to be the same one. I rolled him over and sure enough, there were intestines stringing from a hole two inches under the backbone way to the rear end. I had gut shot him and he went into the den without leaving any blood. I have no idea how long he stayed in there, but I found it interesting that he exited and tried to go somewhere else before he ran out of steam 30 ft from the den. He survived all night and tried to move sometime the next morning before expiring. I know he wasn't there by the picnic table when it got dark. I've killed a lot of hogs but that's the first time I've ever had that happen.
The day before, I had been at my computer desk in front of the window overlooking the 20 ft wide creek that flows through my back yard when the huge hog I've been trying to get for over a month moved into my peripheral vision. I've been keeping the .223 loaded and propped at the back door so I can grab it quick when I see him. Twice now he eluded me by scampering before I could get the cross-hairs on him. I quickly stepped over to the door, grabbed the gun and flipped the scope covers open, slowly opened the back door and began slowly raising the gun. During that interval the hog had moved out of the open area of the back yard and into the edge of the brush along the creek where its den was. We had a thunderstorm last week break a branch on a small maple tree in the back yard and the foliage was dangling right across the den area where the hog was. Damn! I peered through the scope and was able to make out the top edge of his back through the leaves. He was fidgeting around and I knew if he moved I wouldn't be able to see him at all, so I had to shoot quick. When the gun roared, I lost sight of him due to recoil and never saw any movement whatsoever. He must have been right on the edge of the den hole. I walked down to the area and could not find anything - no hog, no blood, no nothing. Must have missed on account of all the leaves. May have even hit a twig while shooting through them. Oh well. There's always next time.
Back to today. I got down to the picnic table and could not see any damage on the big hog lying there on his back in rigor mortis with all four feet straight up in the air. He was a good thirty feet from where I had shot at the one yesterday, but was big enough to be the same one. I rolled him over and sure enough, there were intestines stringing from a hole two inches under the backbone way to the rear end. I had gut shot him and he went into the den without leaving any blood. I have no idea how long he stayed in there, but I found it interesting that he exited and tried to go somewhere else before he ran out of steam 30 ft from the den. He survived all night and tried to move sometime the next morning before expiring. I know he wasn't there by the picnic table when it got dark. I've killed a lot of hogs but that's the first time I've ever had that happen.
