So I haven't been getting out as much this year as in past times, but I seem to be making up for it by getting lucky in finding hogs. My buddy and I were out about three weeks ago and came home empty-handed for the first time this year, but we made up for it this past weekend. Central Texas got rain Friday evening, which we very much needed, so we decided rather than hunt that night we'd just get to bed early and go out before dawn. We were out by 5:30AM but didn't see anything except cows before daybreak. When the sun came up I put away my Photon NV scope and pulled out my trusty bolt gun. The weather was cool (compared to what we've been experiencing), the temp was in the mid-60's. We figured we'd wait awhile in hopes that the hogs might be enjoying the moderated temperature and stay out a little later themselves. As it turned out, that strategy worked!
We spotted a small sounder meandering through a pasture about a half-hour after sunup, but they wandered over to an oak tree and stayed there for quite some time. I suppose the rains overnight had knocked down some acorns because they fed under that tree for over 45 minutes. That gave us plenty of time to get into position to intercept them. We sat and waited for them to continue their journey. The weeds were high, and often we couldn't even see the smaller hogs. There were maybe three of any size, and perhaps 6-8 smaller pigs.
When they finally finished feeding under the oak tree, they headed our way in a hurry! We were hoping to pick off a couple of the larger ones, but the small pigs were running ahead and we were afraid one of them would bust us. We decided not to focus just on the larger hogs because they were lagging behind in the weeds and agreed to shoot whatever we could. I told my buddy to count down, and he started counting from three. Just as he began, the hog I had targeted turned away from me. We have an agreement that once the count starts, it completes. No suddenly trying to abort at the last minute. I moved my point of aim to my right, waiting and hoping that the hog would turn enough for me to take a shot at its' head. I didn't really want to make the "Texas Heart Shot". My buddy reached zero before I had a view of the head, and he shot on schedule. At that point the hogs bolted, and they were so close I couldn't pick one up in my scope. I shot but missed. My buddy got his though, a sow that weighed 130 pounds.
That evening we went back out and spotted a sounder across a field. We made a long stalk and sneaked through a few trees to get within range. Since I hadn't gotten a hog yet, my buddy told me to go on up using the trees as a screen while he worked along the wooded fence line where we were sure they'd run once the shooting commenced. I got to within about 80 yards and shot a 160# sow, then managed to pick off another sow that weighed 100# as they broke for the tree line. My buddy didn't get a good shot off, but we had two more hogs to clean.
We tossed a couple of the shoulders because they were shot up too badly, but after deboning the remaining quarters and collecting the backstraps we brought 92 Lbs of hog meat the the local processor to be made into sausage. We rated it as a "Really Good Weekend!"
Here's the two I shot Saturday evening.
Now we plan to stay away for a couple of months because archery season for deer opens in October, and there are some bow hunters who will be trying to score. We'll avoid the property for a while so as to offer them the best possible opportunities. Come mid-November though, the hogs better look out!
