I didn't know where to post this since we shot a little of everything but the pig was a surprise so I picked the hog forum.
Tim and I decided to pack it up and head north to some of the ranches that we have predation access on and do a little bit of hunting. We were thinking of trying to get a turkey and then just concentrate on the coyotes and ground squirrels since the ranches are having serious varmint problems. So we took off work Monday and we headed out on Saturday afternoon. Well the Bad Luck started, Tim had a flat on the Furbucket before he left the driveway for my house, then he lost his cell phone charger because he left it on the hood and Sunday morning we wake up at the motel to find that something or someone had broke the back side window on the Furbucket...
Well the luck all changed shortly after that. We got set up for turkeys, but didn't hear any birds talking, a short time later we had a hen stroll by us and then another after her. But this one came to the decoy, it didn't take long to realize that this hen was sporting a 5 inch beard Tim whispered to take her so I dropped the hammer on the bearded lady.
Later that day we went to shoot some ground squirrels and while we were on our way back to the Furbucket I glassed a pig laying down. At first I thought it was a dead pig and started to approach it but Tim noted that the ear was sticking up and unless the 30 mph wind was holding it up that pig was probably sleeping. So I put a well placed .204 35 grain Berger in it's right ear and soon we were dragging a 225 lb pig back to the jeep.
Yesterday morning, we got set up in the same spot for turkeys, but 45 minutes later not a sound or sight of any birds we decided to relocate. We drove over hill only to find 4 jakes, a tom and a hen out in a field just strutting away. So we drove past them, went into stealth mode to get set up in the next field over and started calling. Once the tom and hen left the 4 jakes came running over to us, except that they didn't know the plan and came in behind us and stopped a whole 15 ft away and just gobbled forever and we couldn't get a shot on them. They bugged out back to the field after a bit so we took another approach. After a lengthy stand off, including freezing in mid step as they looked our way for 25 minutes on the side of a muddy hill (can you say leg cramps) we finally made it behind a brush pile put out the decoy and start calling. I finally managed to squeeze off a load of 12 gauge #6's on a jake from about 45 yds and dropped him in his tracks, Tim quickly grabbed the gun, racked another round and then started alarm puttin' and the other jakes came back to whoop the dead ones butt. At 50 yds, Tim smoked the 2nd jake. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked.
We headed out from there to hit up a neighboring ranch for coyotes. On our first stand I noticed a dog bugging out slightly behind us and to our right and since Tim was on the right I let him know it was there and leaving. As he moved his rifle and shooting sticks I hand squeeked the dog to a brief stop and Tim stopped her permanantly with a great 220 yard shot with his 22-250.
Total take for the day and a half was 3 Turkeys, 1 big sow, 1 coyote and a truck load of ground squirrels...
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Tim and I decided to pack it up and head north to some of the ranches that we have predation access on and do a little bit of hunting. We were thinking of trying to get a turkey and then just concentrate on the coyotes and ground squirrels since the ranches are having serious varmint problems. So we took off work Monday and we headed out on Saturday afternoon. Well the Bad Luck started, Tim had a flat on the Furbucket before he left the driveway for my house, then he lost his cell phone charger because he left it on the hood and Sunday morning we wake up at the motel to find that something or someone had broke the back side window on the Furbucket...
Well the luck all changed shortly after that. We got set up for turkeys, but didn't hear any birds talking, a short time later we had a hen stroll by us and then another after her. But this one came to the decoy, it didn't take long to realize that this hen was sporting a 5 inch beard Tim whispered to take her so I dropped the hammer on the bearded lady.
Later that day we went to shoot some ground squirrels and while we were on our way back to the Furbucket I glassed a pig laying down. At first I thought it was a dead pig and started to approach it but Tim noted that the ear was sticking up and unless the 30 mph wind was holding it up that pig was probably sleeping. So I put a well placed .204 35 grain Berger in it's right ear and soon we were dragging a 225 lb pig back to the jeep.
Yesterday morning, we got set up in the same spot for turkeys, but 45 minutes later not a sound or sight of any birds we decided to relocate. We drove over hill only to find 4 jakes, a tom and a hen out in a field just strutting away. So we drove past them, went into stealth mode to get set up in the next field over and started calling. Once the tom and hen left the 4 jakes came running over to us, except that they didn't know the plan and came in behind us and stopped a whole 15 ft away and just gobbled forever and we couldn't get a shot on them. They bugged out back to the field after a bit so we took another approach. After a lengthy stand off, including freezing in mid step as they looked our way for 25 minutes on the side of a muddy hill (can you say leg cramps) we finally made it behind a brush pile put out the decoy and start calling. I finally managed to squeeze off a load of 12 gauge #6's on a jake from about 45 yds and dropped him in his tracks, Tim quickly grabbed the gun, racked another round and then started alarm puttin' and the other jakes came back to whoop the dead ones butt. At 50 yds, Tim smoked the 2nd jake. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked.
We headed out from there to hit up a neighboring ranch for coyotes. On our first stand I noticed a dog bugging out slightly behind us and to our right and since Tim was on the right I let him know it was there and leaving. As he moved his rifle and shooting sticks I hand squeeked the dog to a brief stop and Tim stopped her permanantly with a great 220 yard shot with his 22-250.
Total take for the day and a half was 3 Turkeys, 1 big sow, 1 coyote and a truck load of ground squirrels...
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