The Hog
The Hog God's were cruel tonight.......!
Yeah, I know….there aren’t really any ‘Hog Gods’, but you have to wonder sometimes.
Been after a particular Boar for a couple of weeks now, he has either been a ‘no-show’ or somehow figured out I was on stand when I went.
This evening promised to provide perfect conditions for me however, with a cool North wind, moon overhead and the Hog had been to both bait sites early the night before.
Earlier today I baited out the area, got everything in the box stand ready, all I had to do was sneak in this evening and wait.
Parked the truck a little better than ½ mile from the stand and walked in quietly. Been sitting for about 45 minutes, woods getting dark, hog lights come on…..all is good. Raccoon shows up and starts eating some of the corn, all the better. Love to have a raccoon or two to act as ‘sentry’ for me.
Ten minutes later the raccoon stood up on its hind legs, keyed in on something and then suddenly ran off. Well…..I know the drill, so I went ahead and got my rifle into position.
Suddenly I see movement under the hog light, no need for the binoculars….a single hog is now standing over the bait just 100 yds. away. BUT it isn’t my boar.
Half shocked….I’m trying to process this in my mind.
OK, I tell myself….this hog is part of a group; I’ll just wait and see. Four or five minutes pass, no other hogs appear, no sound to indicate any others, nothing!
So…the only other conclusion is that this is a lone (immature) Boar. The ‘Gods’ have sent me the polar opposite of what I thought was going to show up!
So now….what to do?
Do I shoot this ‘bird in the hand’ and ruin any chance at the bigger Boar, or let it feed and hope the larger one comes in? Then another thought, if the larger boar is still in the area, why is this juvenile even around?
So….I finally decide, I’ll just shoot this one, laugh it off, drag it out of here and let the area cool off for a few days.
I wait for the little pig to get broadside, settle the scope high on the shoulder, the illuminated dot a perfect contrast to the black hair. Take up the slack in the two stage trigger and then apply just a bit more pressure. The rifle bucks and when the scope settles back down…. I don’t see a black heap laying there like usual. WHAT?
Now, I am not a person who never misses but I am a person that almost never misses….especially from an elevated stand with a target just 100 yds. away. So I grab my binoculars and look. Still don’t see anything! OK, maybe the pig ran a little ways?
Not a typical outcome with the .458 SOCOM and a 405 grain soft point bullet, but maybe so.
Well….nothing to do now but get down and go look. About halfway there I can see the pig had dropped right in its tracks. It was standing on a small rise in the road and when it fell I simply couldn’t see it.
Went and got my truck and dragged the carcass off. As I untied it from the bumper hitch….I thought I could hear laughing from somewhere above. Deep, guttural laughing.
Oh well….maybe next week.
