jrifenbark
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The following is my summary of that which I have first hand knowledge. The other Rifenbarks can fill in their experiences. All distances are approximated. For reference, the Game Station at the bottom of the ridge is North and the cars are parked to the West.
We arrived at the North Side (of the ranch) around 12:30 pm. We set up camp and headed out into the field. We picked the spot where RKRIII and I saw pigs back in January. We all took different positions in the same area. After sitting quietly for most of the afternoon, we started back towards the Jeeps. About 50 yards up the road, I turned to look back where I had been hunting to see a large pig trot right passed where I had been, cross the road, and disappear into the brush. It was about 6:45 pm.
Saturday morning was foggy and cold at the top of the mountain (nrifenbark and Rookie know the name of the ridge). We hunted that morning and the other side of the ridge that afternnon without anything to report. On the way back to camp we stopped by our original spot and saw plenty of fresh sign and nrifenbark kicked up a large pig but did not get a shot off. Then we headed back down the mountain. A bit dejected and tired, we decided to hunt Sunday morning until 9:30 then head back home.
We got back to the place where we had seen all that sign Saturday evening at about 6:45 am. The sun had been up for about 30 minutes and we staked out several small draws. These draws lead from the North (base of the Ridge) to south (top of the ridge) and are seperated by a series of medium sized hills (I know I am not painting a good mental picture but it's tough). We thought the pigs used these draws to travel between food (South at the base of the ridge) and shelter (North at the top of the ridge where the road from the game station runs). While sitting 2/3 up one of the hills overlooking one of the three draws and lost in inattentive thought, Nrifenbark shattered the silence with two shots. I saw three pigs running East to West (on my left further down the ridge, as I was facing East), through thick cover, towards the other side of the draw over which I was looking. I ran down the draw and up to the top on the other side to see if I could look down on them and get a shot off. When I got to the top, the pigs were nowhere to be seen. The small hill was surrounded at the base with thick vegetation.
Then Rookie opend fire from two hills behind me (the direction from which I had just come, though he was not shooting in anyone's direction). "Typical," I thought, "nothing ever goes my way." Then three pigs run down the hill I on which I was sitting where I heard Nrifenbark shoot. I ran back to the side of the hill I was then on to get a shot. They turned directly toward me comming down the draw over which I was looking (heading East as I was now facing back towards the West). Before I could shoot, they made a hard left to escape into the bottom of a coverd ravine which passed in front of the North side of my hill. "Of course, they turned, nothing goes my way," I thought.
I ran to the North side of my hill and looked down in time to see the first of the three pigs disappear into the brush. I raised my Ruger M77 Ultralight (.308) and saw the second black pig slip through a narrow opening between two trees and disappear. The third pig, black with brown spots, trailed the second by five yards and, unlike it's two lucky friends who sprinted from my left to right for better cover, angeled to my North-East directly into a small visible patch of ground about 80 yards out and 50 ft down the hill from me. Just before it made it out of view, I put the cross-hairs two inchs in front of it's snout and one inch to the right. I squeezed the trigger. I worked the bolt and slightly lowered the rifle to gauge the effect. The pig continued the rest of the way down the hill sliding on it's back stopping several feet shy of being invisible in the vegetation. It was struggeling to right it's self.
Completely amazed that I had connected, I ran forward cranking the Leupold 3X9 up to 9X and knelt down to deliver a round that would keep the pig down. However, the combination of my pounding heart, burning lungs and light rifle prevented a clean shot at the head or neck (I didn't want to hit a ham or the ribs). The pig rolled behind a tree and made fewer and fewer attempts to right it's self, so I made my way down the hill putting the scope back to 3X. When I reached the animal its conscious struggle seemed to give way to reflexive twitching. To be sure it wasn't suffering, I delivered a coups de grace. Now, this may have been obvious to all of you, but I learned an interesting physics lesson. A .30 150 Core Lokt round delivered to a pig's head from a distance of one foot sprays the shooter with cranial gore. The first shot later proved to shatter the spinal column.
I field dressed the sow and realized that, in my haste to get into position, I had forgotten my radio. I walked back up the draw to the road at the top of the ridge (North) and whislted to locate the others. I found nrifenbark and his son dressing a hog his son had taken. We loaded his pig into the jeep and drove up to the top of the highest draw where the Jeeps were originally parked. After off loading the hog we went back down the road (East) and took the road until it looped around the base of my hill ending up at the North of my hill. We loaded my hog into the Jeep and headed back to the top. After that, we met up with Rookie who had also taken a sow on the North side of his hill.
The pigs weighed in at 122 lbs. (mine), 115 lbs (Rookie) and 109 lbs. (Neil Jr.). So, after a day and a half of expensive nature observation, it was a great and thouroughly unexpected way to end an otherwise uneventfull hunt.
I thought the animal was about 200 lbs on its feet. If anyone could tell me if those numbers match-up or not I would apprecieate it. Skinned, decapitated, and with the legs severed, Green Acers weighed it in at 80 lbs.
We arrived at the North Side (of the ranch) around 12:30 pm. We set up camp and headed out into the field. We picked the spot where RKRIII and I saw pigs back in January. We all took different positions in the same area. After sitting quietly for most of the afternoon, we started back towards the Jeeps. About 50 yards up the road, I turned to look back where I had been hunting to see a large pig trot right passed where I had been, cross the road, and disappear into the brush. It was about 6:45 pm.
Saturday morning was foggy and cold at the top of the mountain (nrifenbark and Rookie know the name of the ridge). We hunted that morning and the other side of the ridge that afternnon without anything to report. On the way back to camp we stopped by our original spot and saw plenty of fresh sign and nrifenbark kicked up a large pig but did not get a shot off. Then we headed back down the mountain. A bit dejected and tired, we decided to hunt Sunday morning until 9:30 then head back home.
We got back to the place where we had seen all that sign Saturday evening at about 6:45 am. The sun had been up for about 30 minutes and we staked out several small draws. These draws lead from the North (base of the Ridge) to south (top of the ridge) and are seperated by a series of medium sized hills (I know I am not painting a good mental picture but it's tough). We thought the pigs used these draws to travel between food (South at the base of the ridge) and shelter (North at the top of the ridge where the road from the game station runs). While sitting 2/3 up one of the hills overlooking one of the three draws and lost in inattentive thought, Nrifenbark shattered the silence with two shots. I saw three pigs running East to West (on my left further down the ridge, as I was facing East), through thick cover, towards the other side of the draw over which I was looking. I ran down the draw and up to the top on the other side to see if I could look down on them and get a shot off. When I got to the top, the pigs were nowhere to be seen. The small hill was surrounded at the base with thick vegetation.
Then Rookie opend fire from two hills behind me (the direction from which I had just come, though he was not shooting in anyone's direction). "Typical," I thought, "nothing ever goes my way." Then three pigs run down the hill I on which I was sitting where I heard Nrifenbark shoot. I ran back to the side of the hill I was then on to get a shot. They turned directly toward me comming down the draw over which I was looking (heading East as I was now facing back towards the West). Before I could shoot, they made a hard left to escape into the bottom of a coverd ravine which passed in front of the North side of my hill. "Of course, they turned, nothing goes my way," I thought.
I ran to the North side of my hill and looked down in time to see the first of the three pigs disappear into the brush. I raised my Ruger M77 Ultralight (.308) and saw the second black pig slip through a narrow opening between two trees and disappear. The third pig, black with brown spots, trailed the second by five yards and, unlike it's two lucky friends who sprinted from my left to right for better cover, angeled to my North-East directly into a small visible patch of ground about 80 yards out and 50 ft down the hill from me. Just before it made it out of view, I put the cross-hairs two inchs in front of it's snout and one inch to the right. I squeezed the trigger. I worked the bolt and slightly lowered the rifle to gauge the effect. The pig continued the rest of the way down the hill sliding on it's back stopping several feet shy of being invisible in the vegetation. It was struggeling to right it's self.
Completely amazed that I had connected, I ran forward cranking the Leupold 3X9 up to 9X and knelt down to deliver a round that would keep the pig down. However, the combination of my pounding heart, burning lungs and light rifle prevented a clean shot at the head or neck (I didn't want to hit a ham or the ribs). The pig rolled behind a tree and made fewer and fewer attempts to right it's self, so I made my way down the hill putting the scope back to 3X. When I reached the animal its conscious struggle seemed to give way to reflexive twitching. To be sure it wasn't suffering, I delivered a coups de grace. Now, this may have been obvious to all of you, but I learned an interesting physics lesson. A .30 150 Core Lokt round delivered to a pig's head from a distance of one foot sprays the shooter with cranial gore. The first shot later proved to shatter the spinal column.
I field dressed the sow and realized that, in my haste to get into position, I had forgotten my radio. I walked back up the draw to the road at the top of the ridge (North) and whislted to locate the others. I found nrifenbark and his son dressing a hog his son had taken. We loaded his pig into the jeep and drove up to the top of the highest draw where the Jeeps were originally parked. After off loading the hog we went back down the road (East) and took the road until it looped around the base of my hill ending up at the North of my hill. We loaded my hog into the Jeep and headed back to the top. After that, we met up with Rookie who had also taken a sow on the North side of his hill.
The pigs weighed in at 122 lbs. (mine), 115 lbs (Rookie) and 109 lbs. (Neil Jr.). So, after a day and a half of expensive nature observation, it was a great and thouroughly unexpected way to end an otherwise uneventfull hunt.
I thought the animal was about 200 lbs on its feet. If anyone could tell me if those numbers match-up or not I would apprecieate it. Skinned, decapitated, and with the legs severed, Green Acers weighed it in at 80 lbs.
