Shot this nice sow back in May I believe. Hunted the north side, got to this clearing while it was dark and just sat and glassed for a bit. All of a sudden I saw one lone black hog in between a few trees at about 300 yards. I got up and started to make a stalk, when out of the corner of my eye I see a group of about 8-10 moving across a hill side to my left. I ran my ass of for about 100 yards to get a clear shot, and pick this one out of the group because she was big and had a cool color. She was quartering away pretty heavy, so it actually went in the back ham and went out the front shoulder. She flopped over and the others just kept on going. Don't know her weight, but she was pretty damn heavy. This was the week they were out there filming for Dodge and Jeep commercials on the ranch. Pretty funny when all these vans and production people drive by while I'm skinning her out.
shot her with .300 WSM 168gr TTSX
fast forward to just last week. I'd been hunting just about every week, and seeing hogs everytime. I started to focus on the south side, to either get one with a bow, or hold out for a big one. Well I headed out while still dark to an area on the south side, where I've never failed on catching them moving out along a couple certain hillsides. I had jumped a few small ones right on the road while it was still dark. I parked on a high point and just started to glass the far hillside. When I look around the bare hillside right in front of me i see a dark spot. Now its still pretty dark, but just starting to get light enough to see things a little. I use my binos and can tell its moving, so I quietly get the rifle ready, put on the bipod, make sure I'm nice and quiet, and just take my time. I back track a little on the road, so i can come up over on top closer to where I think he is heading. He's chomping away with no idea I am there, so I'm in no hurry either. I have a few more minutes before its legal time anyways. So I peek over the hill, and he's still there. I turn the scope up and get settled in. He's at about 130 yards and still no idea I'm there. Since he's alone its a little hard to guess his size, but I can see he has good shoulders so I figure its worth the tag. Now this is the first animal thats being shot at with my dad's 30-378 that I got for him a couple years ago. So I'm excited to see what it can do. I wait a couple more minutes and I can't wait anymore. I can see him clearly now, so I send one right through both shoulders. to my surprise he doesn't flop over. he lets out a gnarly squeal, turns 180 degrees and runs right back towards the road (up hill). I'm thinking WTF? but laughing because its going to be an easy drag. he gets about 40 yards and then sure enough the engine starts to give out and he starts slowing down. I put one more in him and he flops over. 20 yard drag tot he road and it was easy as that. he was big and fat. by far the biggest bodied pig I've ever shot. you can see his size in proportion to the rifle, which has a pretty long barrel. His coat was nice and clean, no ticks, and he was in great shape. I figured he was pretty young, his cutters were nice but not too heavy. I gutted him there, and getting him into the truck was quite an ordeal. I ended up having to bear hug him to get his head on the tail gate, then pull his butt up on afterwards.
shit him with the 30-378 weatherby mag, 180 gr TTSX
Being that I shot him so early and pigs were still moving... I decided to go look for more once he was loaded up in the truck. I spotted a few more across the canyon, and while I was glassing I heard some grunts. I looked over my left shoulder and I just barely caught a glimpse of a pig heading up and out of a ravine just about 150 yards away. I grabbed my video camera and my canon with the 400mm lens to try and grand some video and stills. Basically after about 30 mins of crawling and scooting along I was able to sneak up on two sows with a nice group of piglets. they were feeding right to me, so I was able to get within about 10 yards from a couple of them. Here is a little video of some clips. I was actually taking photos of the smaller sow, when I heard a grunt and when I look up I see the larger sow (mother of the piglets) running straight at me. i was able to grab a couple seconds of video before I stood up and said "hey!" even then she didnt stop, she came right up to about 10 feet from me, and only then she turned slightly away and around behind me. The whole time making a crazy sounding continuous grunt. Got my heart racing for a second there, but it was a great experience. Some cool looking grey piglets in there too.
http://vimeo.com/26899119
[VIMEO]http://vimeo.com/26899119[/VIMEO]
http://vimeo.com/26899119
shot her with .300 WSM 168gr TTSX
fast forward to just last week. I'd been hunting just about every week, and seeing hogs everytime. I started to focus on the south side, to either get one with a bow, or hold out for a big one. Well I headed out while still dark to an area on the south side, where I've never failed on catching them moving out along a couple certain hillsides. I had jumped a few small ones right on the road while it was still dark. I parked on a high point and just started to glass the far hillside. When I look around the bare hillside right in front of me i see a dark spot. Now its still pretty dark, but just starting to get light enough to see things a little. I use my binos and can tell its moving, so I quietly get the rifle ready, put on the bipod, make sure I'm nice and quiet, and just take my time. I back track a little on the road, so i can come up over on top closer to where I think he is heading. He's chomping away with no idea I am there, so I'm in no hurry either. I have a few more minutes before its legal time anyways. So I peek over the hill, and he's still there. I turn the scope up and get settled in. He's at about 130 yards and still no idea I'm there. Since he's alone its a little hard to guess his size, but I can see he has good shoulders so I figure its worth the tag. Now this is the first animal thats being shot at with my dad's 30-378 that I got for him a couple years ago. So I'm excited to see what it can do. I wait a couple more minutes and I can't wait anymore. I can see him clearly now, so I send one right through both shoulders. to my surprise he doesn't flop over. he lets out a gnarly squeal, turns 180 degrees and runs right back towards the road (up hill). I'm thinking WTF? but laughing because its going to be an easy drag. he gets about 40 yards and then sure enough the engine starts to give out and he starts slowing down. I put one more in him and he flops over. 20 yard drag tot he road and it was easy as that. he was big and fat. by far the biggest bodied pig I've ever shot. you can see his size in proportion to the rifle, which has a pretty long barrel. His coat was nice and clean, no ticks, and he was in great shape. I figured he was pretty young, his cutters were nice but not too heavy. I gutted him there, and getting him into the truck was quite an ordeal. I ended up having to bear hug him to get his head on the tail gate, then pull his butt up on afterwards.
shit him with the 30-378 weatherby mag, 180 gr TTSX
Being that I shot him so early and pigs were still moving... I decided to go look for more once he was loaded up in the truck. I spotted a few more across the canyon, and while I was glassing I heard some grunts. I looked over my left shoulder and I just barely caught a glimpse of a pig heading up and out of a ravine just about 150 yards away. I grabbed my video camera and my canon with the 400mm lens to try and grand some video and stills. Basically after about 30 mins of crawling and scooting along I was able to sneak up on two sows with a nice group of piglets. they were feeding right to me, so I was able to get within about 10 yards from a couple of them. Here is a little video of some clips. I was actually taking photos of the smaller sow, when I heard a grunt and when I look up I see the larger sow (mother of the piglets) running straight at me. i was able to grab a couple seconds of video before I stood up and said "hey!" even then she didnt stop, she came right up to about 10 feet from me, and only then she turned slightly away and around behind me. The whole time making a crazy sounding continuous grunt. Got my heart racing for a second there, but it was a great experience. Some cool looking grey piglets in there too.
http://vimeo.com/26899119
[VIMEO]http://vimeo.com/26899119[/VIMEO]
http://vimeo.com/26899119
