Yeah, I know….there aren’t really any ‘Hog Gods’, but you have to wonder sometimes.

Been after a particular Boar for a couple of weeks now, he has either been a ‘no-show’ or somehow figured out I was on stand when I went.



This evening promised to provide perfect conditions for me however, with a cool North wind, moon overhead and the Hog had been to both bait sites early the night before.

Earlier today I baited out the area, got everything in the box stand ready, all I had to do was sneak in this evening and wait.

Parked the truck a little better than ½ mile from the stand and walked in quietly. Been sitting for about 45 minutes, woods getting dark, hog lights come on…..all is good. Raccoon shows up and starts eating some of the corn, all the better. Love to have a raccoon or two to act as ‘sentry’ for me.

Ten minutes later the raccoon stood up on its hind legs, keyed in on something and then suddenly ran off. Well…..I know the drill, so I went ahead and got my rifle into position.

Suddenly I see movement under the hog light, no need for the binoculars….a single hog is now standing over the bait just 100 yds. away. BUT it isn’t my boar.

Half shocked….I’m trying to process this in my mind.

OK, I tell myself….this hog is part of a group; I’ll just wait and see. Four or five minutes pass, no other hogs appear, no sound to indicate any others, nothing! So…the only other conclusion is that this is a lone (immature) Boar. The ‘Gods’ have sent me the polar opposite of what I thought was going to show up!

So now….what to do?

Do I shoot this ‘bird in the hand’ and ruin any chance at the bigger Boar, or let it feed and hope the larger one comes in? Then another thought, if the larger boar is still in the area, why is this juvenile even around?

So….I finally decide, I’ll just shoot this one, laugh it off, drag it out of here and let the area cool off for a few days.

I wait for the little pig to get broadside, settle the scope high on the shoulder, the illuminated dot a perfect contrast to the black hair. Take up the slack in the two stage trigger and then apply just a bit more pressure. The rifle bucks and when the scope settles back down…. I don’t see a black heap laying there like usual. WHAT?

Now, I am not a person who never misses but I am a person that almost never misses….especially from an elevated stand with a target just 100 yds. away. So I grab my binoculars and look. Still don’t see anything! OK, maybe the pig ran a little ways?

Not a typical outcome with the .458 SOCOM and a 405 grain soft point bullet, but maybe so.

Well….nothing to do now but get down and go look. About halfway there I can see the pig had dropped right in its tracks. It was standing on a small rise in the road and when it fell I simply couldn’t see it.



Went and got my truck and dragged the carcass off. As I untied it from the bumper hitch….I thought I could hear laughing from somewhere above. Deep, guttural laughing.

Oh well….maybe next week.

Keep after 'em Flint, nice boar

Nice read. Those mature smart animals of all types are always hard to hunt.

I'll get the mature boar if he stays around long enough. I am relentless that way. Just funny (kinda), that the one night that everything is almost perfect, I have little 100 lb hog come in.

I suppose I could have waited it out, but I think the mature boar beds nearby on the neighbors land and I will be much surprised if I have any video of him tonight after the shot. I just hate to let any hog go.

I found a very well used trail under the fence line and a line of trees covered in mud that I believe the big boar is using. I can probably snare him at that site. We'll see.

So was it that high-pitched weasely laugh or the deep low rumble laugh?

Good story. I am a bird in the hand guy myself.

I have been little to picky lately ,,,,doesn't help with the pork inventory in the freezer
You will get the big un in due time

Hope so.

If he will stay in the area long enough, I have a decent chance. Conditions last night were near perfect (for me) in terms of not being detected and I was willing to stay on stand 6-7 hours if needed.

I am getting ready to go check my game cams to see if he came in later in the night...or if I made the right decision by taking the pig 'in hand' and just backing out.

I am going to put a snare at the fence crossing I think he uses. I will pre-load it so the loop 'fires' as soon as it drops from the barb wire strand. As long as he doesn't back out of it, we should have a 'catch'.

Only challenge I see is that the trail is in a fairly open setting. Neighbor just had their land 'select cut' for timber and it is a mess on his side of the fence but the fence-line itself doesn't have any debris next to it.

So if I erect any dead limbs to 'funnel' the hog into the snare loop, he might take notice and simply go around it. That set up would look very unnatural and this pig is not stupid.

So, I will have to make a slightly larger than normal loop and hope he doesn't get a front leg in it along with his neck. They are very MUCH alive and NOT happy when you find them that way. Better make sure the snare has a GOOD stop at the end of the cable.

Under the cover of darkness....un-pressured hogs will move/travel at a pretty brisk rate, especially a group of pigs. That is the ideal situation for using a snare. But a lone animal...moving more cautiously is usually harder to catch.

Of key importance is not to leave any scent at a snare site.

Well....here we go........

Deep, low...with a nerdy sort of double 'snort' on the end of it.

Just got back from checking the game cams, no big boar. Hard to know if he just wasn't in the area or if the shot and subsequent activity kept him away.

Should know something in the next few days.

Got a 'hair trigger' snare set up for him at a fence crossing.

Good luck with the big guy.
I'd have a hard time letting a hog just walk away while hoping for something better to come along, no matter what the game camera had been showing.

If the Hog Gods were really that cruel, you would see him on the game cam and hour or so after you left. At least that was not the case. Has happened to me a couple of times.

Just got back from setting (and checking) some snares. On my way past the spot I dumped the hog I shot a couple of nights ago...I saw a pair of Bald Eagles on what was left of the carcass.

They are fairly rare birds around here, especially a 'pair'. I knew they would eat carrion...but have never seen any picking at a hog.

Pretty cool. They flew off as I passed by, but were back on the hog when I came back. Wish I had taken my camera with me. Too far away for a cell phone pic.