Went out on Wednesday afternoon - the weather was absolutely perfect, mid 80's, low humidity with a crystal clear deep blue sky.
I had gone back to a farm I had hunted a few weeks ago trying to avenge a previous miss on a ghog. There was no excuse for the miss, I just didn't make the shot which happens when I don't pay attention to details on shots in 150+ yard category. The hog I missed was ranged at 217 yards.
The minute I arrived I knew this was going to be more challenging since the alfalfa was about 6 to 8 inches high which would make a crawling shot impossible so I'd have to play the "bobbing up and down" game of timing my shot when he stood up if he appeared at all.
I sat for about forty minutes when I saw him pop up. Of course I couldn't be sure he was the same hog as the one I missed a few weeks ago but he was in the same approximate location. Now the fun began, he started going through a cycle of feeding, standing up for about 15 seconds then disappearing from view.
This time, I had taken my Remington 700 Heavy barrel varmint rifle equipped with an 18x Leupold scope. This is the most accurate rifle I own, a 1/4 moa rifle with my tuned reloads of Varget powder, Nosler 50 grain BT's and Federal 205M match primers. I rested the rifle on my shooting sticks, making sure I had a proper finger position on the trigger and my natural point of aim was correct. The hog kept bobbing up and down. I push the safety forward held on the approximate location I had last seen him and waited. A few minutes later he rose about up and I sent the 50 grain Nosler making sure I followed through with the shot.
He disappeared from view. The shot felt very good but I couldn't tell if I got him or not - the alfalfa was just too high for any visual evidence but I hadn't seen any movement back to the tree line where I think he emerged. Well the curiosity was killing me so I got up and went to check it out.
I found him lying in the alfalfa, the shot was perfect, right in the neck. Great start to the day but didn't see anything else the rest of the day. 
But redemption is sweet
I had gone back to a farm I had hunted a few weeks ago trying to avenge a previous miss on a ghog. There was no excuse for the miss, I just didn't make the shot which happens when I don't pay attention to details on shots in 150+ yard category. The hog I missed was ranged at 217 yards.
The minute I arrived I knew this was going to be more challenging since the alfalfa was about 6 to 8 inches high which would make a crawling shot impossible so I'd have to play the "bobbing up and down" game of timing my shot when he stood up if he appeared at all.
I sat for about forty minutes when I saw him pop up. Of course I couldn't be sure he was the same hog as the one I missed a few weeks ago but he was in the same approximate location. Now the fun began, he started going through a cycle of feeding, standing up for about 15 seconds then disappearing from view.
This time, I had taken my Remington 700 Heavy barrel varmint rifle equipped with an 18x Leupold scope. This is the most accurate rifle I own, a 1/4 moa rifle with my tuned reloads of Varget powder, Nosler 50 grain BT's and Federal 205M match primers. I rested the rifle on my shooting sticks, making sure I had a proper finger position on the trigger and my natural point of aim was correct. The hog kept bobbing up and down. I push the safety forward held on the approximate location I had last seen him and waited. A few minutes later he rose about up and I sent the 50 grain Nosler making sure I followed through with the shot.
He disappeared from view. The shot felt very good but I couldn't tell if I got him or not - the alfalfa was just too high for any visual evidence but I hadn't seen any movement back to the tree line where I think he emerged. Well the curiosity was killing me so I got up and went to check it out.
I found him lying in the alfalfa, the shot was perfect, right in the neck. Great start to the day but didn't see anything else the rest of the day. But redemption is sweet 
