I just got back from 11 days at home and managed to hunt for nearly half of my trip. Thought I'd share some photos and stories with you fellow hog fienders.
The trip started out with an 8 hour "warmup" hunt right next to my house. We chased a few pigs, one of them ran by another hunter who got two shots off with a 30 carbine, but both were misses. The dogs weren't able to get any pigs stopped long enough for backup to arrive, but was a great rainy day anyways.
The day after my warmup hunt I embarked on a 6 mile journey to prime goat/pig hunting territory. The first day I managed to take down a small nanny goat for meat. My friend also hit a small 50lb white pig that we weren't able to recover. On the way out he shot a nice 17" billy. I spent the whole second day smoking meat from my nanny, it turned out great. We also attempted to roast our own coffee but the beans were reduced to charcoal. It was worth a shot at least.
After my backpacking adventure I had a few days to rest before saturday rolled around. We headed back out with the dogs. I was hiking maybe 10-15 minutes behind my friends/dogs. I heard something crashing through fern and thimbleberry uphill from me, it sounded too loud to be a dog so I chambered a round and positioned myself where I thought it would cross the trail. In the first opening I flinched my trigger pull (first time shooting in many monthes) and completely missed the pig, chambered another round and the second shot hit the back of the ribs. The first dog came flying by about 30 seconds later and I heard some growls and a bark from 100 yards away. We waited for a few more dogs to get there and ran up. A nice 150lb boar with 1.5" teeth was down for the count.
It was still early and none of us were tired so we butchered the pig and hung the meat out of the heat. Another hour or so into the hunt the dogs were on to another pig. He was bayed up in a fern filled drain. I could hear the action from the top of the ridge, I was waiting in case the boar was able to shake the dogs and sneak away towards me. I figured it was a massive gorilla boar from the noises I heard. Roaring, barking, yelping, dogs screaming. I never heard the pig squeal once. He cut up a few dogs pretty good for only having 1" tusks. We estimated his weight at ~100lbs.
The trip started out with an 8 hour "warmup" hunt right next to my house. We chased a few pigs, one of them ran by another hunter who got two shots off with a 30 carbine, but both were misses. The dogs weren't able to get any pigs stopped long enough for backup to arrive, but was a great rainy day anyways.
The day after my warmup hunt I embarked on a 6 mile journey to prime goat/pig hunting territory. The first day I managed to take down a small nanny goat for meat. My friend also hit a small 50lb white pig that we weren't able to recover. On the way out he shot a nice 17" billy. I spent the whole second day smoking meat from my nanny, it turned out great. We also attempted to roast our own coffee but the beans were reduced to charcoal. It was worth a shot at least.
After my backpacking adventure I had a few days to rest before saturday rolled around. We headed back out with the dogs. I was hiking maybe 10-15 minutes behind my friends/dogs. I heard something crashing through fern and thimbleberry uphill from me, it sounded too loud to be a dog so I chambered a round and positioned myself where I thought it would cross the trail. In the first opening I flinched my trigger pull (first time shooting in many monthes) and completely missed the pig, chambered another round and the second shot hit the back of the ribs. The first dog came flying by about 30 seconds later and I heard some growls and a bark from 100 yards away. We waited for a few more dogs to get there and ran up. A nice 150lb boar with 1.5" teeth was down for the count.
It was still early and none of us were tired so we butchered the pig and hung the meat out of the heat. Another hour or so into the hunt the dogs were on to another pig. He was bayed up in a fern filled drain. I could hear the action from the top of the ridge, I was waiting in case the boar was able to shake the dogs and sneak away towards me. I figured it was a massive gorilla boar from the noises I heard. Roaring, barking, yelping, dogs screaming. I never heard the pig squeal once. He cut up a few dogs pretty good for only having 1" tusks. We estimated his weight at ~100lbs.
atiotic-wavin-flagDUDE!! TOTALLY BITCHEN!!!
