It happened again this weekend.
I had couple people over to hunt hogs this weekend. One was shooting bolt action rifle and two were shooting AR-15 rifles. I put each shooter up in a tree stand at the edge of hardwood hammock with pig pipes about 100 yards from the stand. Each shooter was several hundred yards away from each other so I stayed with a fellow who was shooting a AR rifle as he didn't have much hunting experience. After about 1 hour I hear a shot and it was the fellow with the bolt gun. He texted me that he had a boar down at his spot. Within just few minutes I see a sounder of about 9 hogs come to the pig pipe. I whispered to the shooter to pick one and shoot it in the upper neck or the head when possible. As the hogs settled down to feed the shooter shoots at the largest hog in the group and miss. At the sound of the gunshot all the hogs freeze for a fraction of a second and then all take off into the bush from which they came. Just as they take off the shooter lets loose with 12-14 quick rounds in the directions of the hogs. Unfortunately none of the hogs were down but I did hear one or two hogs squeal so I think they were hit. As we got down to check it started raining so we couldn't find any blood signs. As we walked over to the friend's stand to help get the downed hog I hear 1 and then another quick follow ups shots followed by 4 quick shots. We quickly change directions and go see the second AR rifle shooter and when we get there I see him on the ground looking for signs of blood in the rain. He said he shot 5 or 6 rounds at the boar that came to the pig pipe but couldn't find him.
Yesterday evening I saw a flock of vultures at one edge of my property. I went to check it out and found a recently dead hog. It was a small one of about 50 pounds. I couldn't tell where it was shot or how many times it was shot but my guess is that it was one of the hog my guess "blasted" away on with his AR rifle.
I'm finding that more and more people are hunting with auto loading rifles with AR rifles being most common. I also find that many of these of these people are shooting when they should not and are depending on their rapid follow up shots to make up for their poor shots. I see them shooting too far and too early. I also see them shooting a lot of rounds which frequently leads to wounded hogs.
I have no issues with people hunting with AR rifles as I too own and use many AR rifles for hunting/eradicating hogs. They are a wonderful tool when quick follow up shots are required but I think too many people are becoming "messy" shooters with them as they are depending on the quick follow up shot to make up for any misses. They are not being patient waiting for the single perfect shot but instead taking shots at targets that are not optimal. I'm finding that more shots are taken but hogs are getting away or lost due to poorly placed shots.
Obviously not all AR shooters are impatient or poor marksman as I have several friends who take pride in their ability to take one shot for one kill with their AR rifles. For new or young shooters I usually let them use one of my AR rifles when they hunt hogs as it is very accurate and the adjustable stock allows it to fit smaller shooters.
I had couple people over to hunt hogs this weekend. One was shooting bolt action rifle and two were shooting AR-15 rifles. I put each shooter up in a tree stand at the edge of hardwood hammock with pig pipes about 100 yards from the stand. Each shooter was several hundred yards away from each other so I stayed with a fellow who was shooting a AR rifle as he didn't have much hunting experience. After about 1 hour I hear a shot and it was the fellow with the bolt gun. He texted me that he had a boar down at his spot. Within just few minutes I see a sounder of about 9 hogs come to the pig pipe. I whispered to the shooter to pick one and shoot it in the upper neck or the head when possible. As the hogs settled down to feed the shooter shoots at the largest hog in the group and miss. At the sound of the gunshot all the hogs freeze for a fraction of a second and then all take off into the bush from which they came. Just as they take off the shooter lets loose with 12-14 quick rounds in the directions of the hogs. Unfortunately none of the hogs were down but I did hear one or two hogs squeal so I think they were hit. As we got down to check it started raining so we couldn't find any blood signs. As we walked over to the friend's stand to help get the downed hog I hear 1 and then another quick follow ups shots followed by 4 quick shots. We quickly change directions and go see the second AR rifle shooter and when we get there I see him on the ground looking for signs of blood in the rain. He said he shot 5 or 6 rounds at the boar that came to the pig pipe but couldn't find him.
Yesterday evening I saw a flock of vultures at one edge of my property. I went to check it out and found a recently dead hog. It was a small one of about 50 pounds. I couldn't tell where it was shot or how many times it was shot but my guess is that it was one of the hog my guess "blasted" away on with his AR rifle.
I'm finding that more and more people are hunting with auto loading rifles with AR rifles being most common. I also find that many of these of these people are shooting when they should not and are depending on their rapid follow up shots to make up for their poor shots. I see them shooting too far and too early. I also see them shooting a lot of rounds which frequently leads to wounded hogs.
I have no issues with people hunting with AR rifles as I too own and use many AR rifles for hunting/eradicating hogs. They are a wonderful tool when quick follow up shots are required but I think too many people are becoming "messy" shooters with them as they are depending on the quick follow up shot to make up for any misses. They are not being patient waiting for the single perfect shot but instead taking shots at targets that are not optimal. I'm finding that more shots are taken but hogs are getting away or lost due to poorly placed shots.
Obviously not all AR shooters are impatient or poor marksman as I have several friends who take pride in their ability to take one shot for one kill with their AR rifles. For new or young shooters I usually let them use one of my AR rifles when they hunt hogs as it is very accurate and the adjustable stock allows it to fit smaller shooters.
