asaxon
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I’d planned to go hog hunting with Tom Willoughby last June but my shattered knee put that on the back burner till now. I drove up at o’dark thirty on Thursday and met Tom in San Miguel at 6 am. We squared away my gear and headed out to a ranch where he hadn’t hunted in 6 weeks as a hunt club leases it during deer season. We greeted daylight in a great spot – a little saddle where the hogs move from the barley fields to a wallow/water and then oak trees. But no one showed up. We than wandered all about this property and saw some sign and particularly sign where hogs had crossed our tracks after we’d been by earlier. Clearly these hogs were messing with us.
After nearly 3 hours, Tom sees a couple of boars feeding on acorns. One is black and white “striped” and I immediately say,” let’s try to get that one” as I have a friend who wants a B&W hog skin to make into a rug. For this I’ll break the Admiral’s rule of “no boars” plus Tom figures it is about 150lb or less – good eating size. We plan our approach as we are well down wind and just as we walk behind a hill, a third boar trots down right from our left to join the others. Luckily, that hog didn’t make us. We spend a good 15 min closing the distance and crest the hill with the hogs 150 yds. away on the edge of some really steep and thick brush. Tom whispers to me “Shoot it IN the shoulder.” - he wants me to break its shoulder so it can’t run down into that rough country as we may never recover it. We wait till the animal finally gives me a broadside. I take the safety off my Browning A Bolt II 30-06 with Federal ammo pushing a 165gr. Barnes TSX bullet, lay the cross hairs on the shoulder and BOOM. I see the hog take off like a shot and say, “damn” or something to that effect as it heads down into the brush. However, Tom has eagle eyes and notes “a lot of dust” and figures the animal is down close by. We find blood and 20 yards away on the edge of the steep thicket is ol’ B&W – Tom says 135lb. I ‘missed’ the shoulder bone by one inch but took out both lungs so he didn’t get far. I can’t find my camera (it is “hidden” in one of my many too many pockets), this picture had to wait till we had it field dressed and ready to skin.
I find my camera just as we come on a doe under some tree by an old home– she has the most gorgeous coat so I decide to try to get her picture. I get one but then she sees me so I freeze. What does she do, the damn brazen hussy walks up to me and tries to lick my camera. WFT. Here is a real close-up of a deer. You can see in her eye the reflection of me taking the picture. How cool is that.
. View attachment 78007
After an hour more of searching on this ranch, we move to another ranch further north. As soon as we get ¼ mi onto the property, we spy a passel of little pigs messing around by some oaks on the other side of a field full of cattle. You can see them in background the second picture.
There are some up to 40 lbs. and one reasonable sized but very skinny black sow – she in the lead in the picture. No good shooters. So we sit and watch these pigs and finally a reasonable dry sow that is reddish and white and lots of bristles on her tail wanders out of the trees to join the group. That is the one we want. By now, we have collected about 100 head of cattle that are mooing loudly at us as they take us for the rancher who brings them hay. We decide to use the cattle as “cover” as the wind is perfect for us. We walk through the cattle toward where the hogs are headed and the cattle turn and follow us while making an incredible racket. The hogs suspect nothing – just us hungry cows here…. The pigs reach a little knoll with oaks and begin to look for food. The “pig we want”, the largest sow, is leading and the other are strung out behind. While she keeps walking on with the main group, several youngsters and particularly the skinny sow simply won’t move.
You can just see her here in front of the left most oak and that is my gun muzzle in the lower left. That sow and some small ones hang around the first oaks so we can’t move without spooking them while the others get further and further away. I had half a mind to shoot the damn skinny sow. Here are more pictures of the skinny sow “hanging about”.
End of Part 1
After nearly 3 hours, Tom sees a couple of boars feeding on acorns. One is black and white “striped” and I immediately say,” let’s try to get that one” as I have a friend who wants a B&W hog skin to make into a rug. For this I’ll break the Admiral’s rule of “no boars” plus Tom figures it is about 150lb or less – good eating size. We plan our approach as we are well down wind and just as we walk behind a hill, a third boar trots down right from our left to join the others. Luckily, that hog didn’t make us. We spend a good 15 min closing the distance and crest the hill with the hogs 150 yds. away on the edge of some really steep and thick brush. Tom whispers to me “Shoot it IN the shoulder.” - he wants me to break its shoulder so it can’t run down into that rough country as we may never recover it. We wait till the animal finally gives me a broadside. I take the safety off my Browning A Bolt II 30-06 with Federal ammo pushing a 165gr. Barnes TSX bullet, lay the cross hairs on the shoulder and BOOM. I see the hog take off like a shot and say, “damn” or something to that effect as it heads down into the brush. However, Tom has eagle eyes and notes “a lot of dust” and figures the animal is down close by. We find blood and 20 yards away on the edge of the steep thicket is ol’ B&W – Tom says 135lb. I ‘missed’ the shoulder bone by one inch but took out both lungs so he didn’t get far. I can’t find my camera (it is “hidden” in one of my many too many pockets), this picture had to wait till we had it field dressed and ready to skin.
I find my camera just as we come on a doe under some tree by an old home– she has the most gorgeous coat so I decide to try to get her picture. I get one but then she sees me so I freeze. What does she do, the damn brazen hussy walks up to me and tries to lick my camera. WFT. Here is a real close-up of a deer. You can see in her eye the reflection of me taking the picture. How cool is that.
. View attachment 78007
After an hour more of searching on this ranch, we move to another ranch further north. As soon as we get ¼ mi onto the property, we spy a passel of little pigs messing around by some oaks on the other side of a field full of cattle. You can see them in background the second picture.
There are some up to 40 lbs. and one reasonable sized but very skinny black sow – she in the lead in the picture. No good shooters. So we sit and watch these pigs and finally a reasonable dry sow that is reddish and white and lots of bristles on her tail wanders out of the trees to join the group. That is the one we want. By now, we have collected about 100 head of cattle that are mooing loudly at us as they take us for the rancher who brings them hay. We decide to use the cattle as “cover” as the wind is perfect for us. We walk through the cattle toward where the hogs are headed and the cattle turn and follow us while making an incredible racket. The hogs suspect nothing – just us hungry cows here…. The pigs reach a little knoll with oaks and begin to look for food. The “pig we want”, the largest sow, is leading and the other are strung out behind. While she keeps walking on with the main group, several youngsters and particularly the skinny sow simply won’t move.
You can just see her here in front of the left most oak and that is my gun muzzle in the lower left. That sow and some small ones hang around the first oaks so we can’t move without spooking them while the others get further and further away. I had half a mind to shoot the damn skinny sow. Here are more pictures of the skinny sow “hanging about”.
End of Part 1
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