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Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! #5684839 04/05/15 08:59 AM
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Double Naught Spy Offline OP
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The rains came while I was hunting in an exposed tripod stand and so I packed out. By the time I loaded up the truck, the rains had nearly stopped. So I decided to drive by a couple of places to look for hogs, but otherwise I was going home.

I drove by a property we call "Safe House" because it is a place where I can change out of my hunting clothes and it is where I process hog carcasses into skeletons. On the first pass by, it look like there were deer or hogs in the side yard. I turned around and drove back and there were definitely animals there and so I drove past the house and parked in the right-of-way and got out. With my handheld FLIR, it looked like hogs in high grass. With the Pulsar Apex XD50 on my rifle, I could plainly see hogs, but they weren't moving much and they weren't bothered by me stopping.

You can't hunt from the ROW and so I slowly stalked onto the property and part way up the driveway. Leaves crunched, gravel crunched, but the hogs didn't notice. I got as far as I felt was safe and took aim on the hog that presented the best target. I shot and squealing started and the scope went black!

There is a flood light in the yard and I watched one squealing hog run right in front of me and out into the pasture.

All the other hogs were gone, disappearing into the shadows. I scanned for the squealing hog, but it was gone.

I figured out the battery compartment lid had not been closed properly and came loose during recoil. I reseated it and went to look to see if I had a downed hog or if the squealing hog was it. There was a downed hog, still kicking.

I used my weapon light to walk up on the hog and sometime during the approach, the scope came back on, and while I wasn't looking through it, it recorded part of the Curly Shuffle...out of focus.

For the life of me, I am not sure what happened, but I believe the hog down was a hog hit by through and through. Why the target hog didn't go down, I don't know.

The downed hog had 2 wounds. The first was a large hole in the left side of her head and the second was where the brain case had split up in front and ushered forth the cranial contents.

Initial searching did not uncover the other hog and the storms set in anew and so we went home.

Angry Bird and I will search for the other hog for Easter fun.

Most of the video is in real time, but I cut out about a minute of search time where there was nothing going on because I had not restarted the Pulsar. Sorry for the text-only section. It was pretty much how I felt at the time - dark.

Oh, and the shot was at about 40 yards and the sow came in at 40 lbs.


Hogdalorian - Si vis pacem cum sus, para bellum.
My Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5684968 04/05/15 02:25 PM
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Cookies for the kiddos!!!

Pretty nasty wound from Grendel , he don't fool around.

That battery compartment problem....

Had you changed them out recently, was the lid fully seated?

HTXH

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5684979 04/05/15 02:38 PM
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flintknapper Offline
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"Grendelized"....!

I am adding that to the list of things I don't ever want to happen to me. Yikes...!


Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5684990 04/05/15 02:46 PM
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Double Naught Spy Offline OP
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Good morning.

Changed batteries? Yes, a couple of hours before, in the dark, in the stand, and felt to be sure I had closed the compartment properly since this had happened during sighting in the first time and I thought I knew what I was doing. I scanned from the stand. I climbed out of the stand with it like that. Loaded and unloaded it from the truck, twice. No reason not to think I had it all done correctly, but no way now to verify now, but I thought I had. bang

Right now, I am having a plate of Easter pig cookies the kids shared with me. They are warm and yummy.

My Easter "hunt" will be for a (wounded/dead) hog hidden by the Easter Bunny, somewhere in a muddy field. Looks like we got about an inch of rain up there overnight. You don't think the skeeters will be out this afternoon, do you? Fun fun fun.


Hogdalorian - Si vis pacem cum sus, para bellum.
My Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685031 04/05/15 03:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: Double Naught Spy
Good morning.

Changed batteries? Yes, a couple of hours before, in the dark, in the stand, and felt to be sure I had closed the compartment properly since this had happened during sighting in the first time and I thought I knew what I was doing. I scanned from the stand. I climbed out of the stand with it like that. Loaded and unloaded it from the truck, twice. No reason not to think I had it all done correctly, but no way now to verify now, but I thought I had. bang

Right now, I am having a plate of Easter pig cookies the kids shared with me. They are warm and yummy.

My Easter "hunt" will be for a (wounded/dead) hog hidden by the Easter Bunny, somewhere in a muddy field. Looks like we got about an inch of rain up there overnight. You don't think the skeeters will be out this afternoon, do you? Fun fun fun.


Okay thanks for the information I will contact Pulsar this week and give them some info on your experience.

The downside to using scopes that operate on batteries alone is a shutoff failure like you experienced at night. There aren't exactly a lot of "backup sights" for that situation and I am glad the pig veered away from you at 15 yards.

Enjoy your cookies and Easter -

HTXH

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685033 04/05/15 03:16 PM
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Nice huntin' music, too! cool

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685054 04/05/15 03:28 PM
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Congrats! Nice piggie and shot.

I can't figure why you don't think that was the hog you shot at? Looks like you had a nice steady aim.

Your videos are a lot better than mine. I have some learning to do.



Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Beaubien] #5685073 04/05/15 03:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: Beaubien
Congrats! Nice piggie and shot.

I can't figure why you don't think that was the hog you shot at? Looks like you had a nice steady aim.

Your videos are a lot better than mine. I have some learning to do.


X2 on his video productions - top shelf !!!

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685076 04/05/15 03:45 PM
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Actually Beaubien, I thought you would appreciate the things that went wrong here. Even with my best editing, this is the best I could muster, LOL. Even guys that have done this a few times still have problems. Sometimes it looks easy, and when it all goes right, it can be easy, but it doesn't always go right and sometimes you don't even know it until too late. That is just part of the reality of hunting, learning new gear, situational pressures, etc. Your vids will come along.

I don't think the downed hog is the hog I targeted because what would have to be the entry hole looks like an exit hole and it is several inches off from the POA at just 40 yards. With the head so far down, I was doing a neck shot on a hog quartered toward me that should have exited the opposite shoulder...I thought. Instead, there is a massive cheek wound and blasted out head. Errrrrr.

Last edited by Double Naught Spy; 04/05/15 03:46 PM.

Hogdalorian - Si vis pacem cum sus, para bellum.
My Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685090 04/05/15 03:58 PM
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Dead pig - check
Great video production - check
Funny music - check

With that said, the video cut away before the money shot so I'm giving you a C+. I know it wasn't intentional on your part, but there are just no excuses.

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685106 04/05/15 04:13 PM
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You are a kind and generous man, bigjoe. Can't argue with the logic.

One of the things I like for my videos to show is how things really go. Sometimes animals don't go down. Sometimes the gear doesn't work as expected. That is just part of the experience. It is better when everything goes wonderfully, the scope is in focus, the hog stands still, the shot is perfect, and everything DID get recorded, but that just doesn't happen every time. The best kill I ever made was not recorded because the video cable had come loose. I had audio only, LOL.


Hogdalorian - Si vis pacem cum sus, para bellum.
My Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685120 04/05/15 04:24 PM
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I don't know DNS, Beaubien may have something. As you know, quartering toward or away can be tricky with a thermal. i don't have the raw footage to run slow, but it looks like the pig is almost broadside or slightly quartering away. It also appears you pulled a tad left just as you sent the round which put the impact further forward and resulted in a wound instead of a DRT. Entrance/exit wounds can do funny things, particularly with hard bone just under the surface. You may be able to see it much better slowed way down, but I can see Beaubien's point.

Another good job on the vid. Beaubien, there is a pretty good learning curve on the vid stuff. Stick with it and you'll get there. All of us that have done a bit of it have experienced a lot of frustration and still have screw ups regardless. I think the others will agree that it has gotten easier with experience and that , for the most part, we all seen to have had less issues since moving from the Angel Eyes to the MDVR. For those using the X-Sight, the recording should be even easier as you don't have a separate unit with the wiring and whatnot to contend with.

Thanks for sharing DNS!

up

Last edited by dfwroadkill; 04/05/15 04:25 PM.
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685122 04/05/15 04:24 PM
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My grading curve may be impacted by my jealousy of you guys with Thermal scopes. grin

What recorder/mini DVR are you using?

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685140 04/05/15 04:38 PM
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I switch out between two. I use a UNV MDVR (this time) and another that came off of ebay (but it requires more button pressing to activate).

dfwroadkill, I will recheck the carcass. I did not find and exit wound last night other than the exploded brain case and that is an over pressure issue and not a ballistic exit.

Here is the last frame before the disruption of the video by the shot.



Hogdalorian - Si vis pacem cum sus, para bellum.
My Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685145 04/05/15 04:43 PM
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Yeah, that doesn't correlate well with the hog you found... frown

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685158 04/05/15 04:53 PM
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Yes. And that bothers me, too. So I will be going out and looking for it. I figure I know which direction it ran because it ran right by me. I would have looked longer last night, but the storms and lightning were not being kind.


Hogdalorian - Si vis pacem cum sus, para bellum.
My Videos https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685232 04/05/15 05:53 PM
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up up up



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Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5685238 04/05/15 05:57 PM
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I know it's too tough to tell, but that pig you're aiming at appears to be bigger than 40 pounds.

Re: Cephalectomy Sow - Grendelized! [Re: Double Naught Spy] #5686376 04/06/15 03:18 PM
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A+ on the whole thing clap

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