Thank you, from the BaitShop Boyz! |
My boaring story |
Post Reply |
Author | |
NH_Hunter
.416 Rigby aka The Kid Joined: 13 June 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3508 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: 05 November 2006 at 16:19 |
Well, I went hunting in a game preserve this weekend (25,000 acres). We
stayed Friday and Saturday night. Got a little hunting in on Friday,
but didn't see anything except tracks. Saturday, I got up at O dark:30,
and saw fresh tracks, but it turned out to be a fairly unproductive
day. On Sunday however, I got up at about 7:30, and did a little
thinking. I knew where the boar like to feed, and I came to the
realization that all the tracks were heading uphill, so I decided, why
not go high? The section I was hunting had a mountain (yes, 2235 feet
is considered a mountain in New Hampshire), and the camp was at the
bottom of said mountain. I hiked up to almost the top, and then hit
some reaaaally thick stuff. When I say thick stuff I mean maybe 4-5
feet of visibility standing up, so I got down on my hands and knees and
crawled through trying to find an open space. After doing this for 20
minutes, I finally found an opening where I could stand up. The area
had opened up into what seemed like hog heaven. Very wet ground, with
some open pools of water, lots of mud, and lots of Hemlock. Blown down
trees everywhere. I climbed up onto a little knoll that was about 12
feet above the ground, climbed up on top, and heard hogs scatter
everywhere. There must have been about 10 of the little bastages bedded
down in that stuff. I waited there for a few minutes to let everything
settle down, and then climbed onto another knoll to the NW of the one I
was on. With how thick the trees were, though they were only about 6'
high, I climbed up on top of a blown down Maple that was about 8" wide,
and 3-4' off the ground and looked around. I saw some nice little
openings where I could sneak a shot into. Then came the waiting. I
stood there for a good 20 minutes before I heard movement. The first
time I heard it, the animal was only about 30 yards away. I found a
little hole in the trees where I thought the piggy would come through,
and it did. Only problem was, it moved through so fast I didn't have a
shot. I waited a good 10 more minutes before I heard more movement.
There were about 5 of them in the area of about 40x30 yards, with me on
1 end. It sounded like they were converging on a rather large clearing,
about 12-15 feet in diameter. I turned myself, which was quite a task
on that maple, and got a steady stance. I could hear a boar getting
closer and closer to the clearing. Finally, the piggy came out, I
brought up my gun, and decided I didn't want this pig to go anywhere. I
put the crosshair just behind the eye, and fired. This was only at
about 20-25 feet. Talk about bang flop. That pig went down hard, and
was just twitching. Pigs scattered all through the area, though I
couldn't see them. The pig I shot looked huge through my scope. I got
up to her and saw that she was actually pretty tiny, only going about
65 lbs on the hoof.
To get her to a place where I could actually drag her, I had to pick her up and throw her over about 20 fallen over trees. Eventually I got out of the thick stuff and got into fairly open hardwoods, Cut a whole in 1 hind leg, put my drag rope through, tied the other end around my waist, and started heading down hill. 1 mile and 1 hour later, I finally reached the bottom. No one else had seen anything, but I had lucked out. I gutted the piggy, and left it off at the butcher's. There really wasn't all that much meat on the thing. Maybe get a roast or 2 and the rest will be sausage. I would estimate it's age at right about 1 year old. Very young piggy. Rifle deer opens this Wednesday, so hopefully I can get a nice doe or some such to fortify the freezer. For those of you who are wondering, I shot it with a Ruger m77mk2LR in .30-06. She was loaded up with Winchester Super X 150 grain Silvertips. Bullet destroyed the skull of that pig. Now, for those of you wondering why I did a headshot, well, my father shot a boar a few years ago, and it didn't go down. It decided to rush him and nailed him right in the leg. Also, the trees were so thick that if he had gone far, there was a very good chance I would have never found him. |
|
Leverguns make me smile
Proud Left Handed Shooter |
|
CB900F
Administrator Honor, Integrity Joined: 10 June 2003 Location: Eritrea Status: Offline Points: 8857 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
NH; I've been back east & have seen the kind of stuff you're talking about hunting in. It's a big reason why carbines, lever actions, and pistols have always been popular choices for that kind of woods hunting. Congratulations on your successful pig hunt! l agree, head shoot it & you don't have to worry about finding something in that mess. Or, as in your dad's case, something finding you. Sounds like that drag out was about all the fun you could stand to have though. 900F |
|
Birth certificate!? He don't need no steenkink birth certificate!!
|
|
Guests
Guest |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Sounds like a great hunt and you told it well. Those feral hogs are lots of fun. Personally I like the meat. I usually get a the hams smoked. And the rest sausage. Seems to me you have had mixed feelings about that '06????? They really are capable of doing it all. You might someday, figure that it is all the gun a man needs. Congratulations sounds like you really "hunted" the pig. Good luck this week on deer NH. BEAR |
|
NH_Hunter
.416 Rigby aka The Kid Joined: 13 June 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3508 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
'Tis true that the .30-06 can do everything, but it is just so boring! I am just getting to the point where I can start playing with other calibers and rifles. The lefty Ruger is still my go-to gun, and will remain in that position until something proves itself better. I think it is pretty cool that I shot a piggy 362 days after I shot my buck last year (1 year anniversary this Wednesday).
I think I earned that pig with the hell I had to go through to get to her! Talk about nerve wracking when you can hear the things with the tusks walking through the bushes 10 feet away from you, and yet you can't see them. On another note, my blackhawk is going off to Ruger soon to get them to fix the chamber throats (measured every one, size varies from .430 to .445), and once that is fixed that will probably end up being my primary piggie gun. |
|
Leverguns make me smile
Proud Left Handed Shooter |
|
Guests
Guest |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I've used 41 and 44 mags on pigs but my favorite presently is the 375 win; I've got a Marlin lever gun and a T/C contender pistol in the 375 win...awesome performance on boar. And as you foound they are tough animals to kill (and to hunt). BEAR |
|
NH_Hunter
.416 Rigby aka The Kid Joined: 13 June 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3508 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Now that I really understand where to look for piggies, the next time I hunt in that game preserve I should be able to get another one, since the meat I will be getting out of this one won't last very long.
|
|
Leverguns make me smile
Proud Left Handed Shooter |
|
OK hunter
.243 Winchester Joined: 20 March 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 240 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Here's a photo of a pig I shot in Florida last December. It was about 9 yards from me and I absolutely wanted piggie to go down right then. It weighed around 275lbs. or so. Okay, my photo is too big to upload. Does anyone have a good idea how to make this work? Nevermind. I decided to read the window and saw that max photo size is 250kb. So, here's the link to my photo on yahoo. http://new.photos.yahoo.com/sighunter
Edited by OK hunter |
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |