I've had a bunch of new hogs tearing up my property, and one in particular seems to like digging up the trails themselves. He's also started tearing up the edges of my driveway. That same hog also likes to show up right about the time or shortly after the feeder goes off at 6:30.
I've been taking walks with my young son to change out the cards in the cameras around that time, so we've come across him a couple of times. Young boys tend to not sit quiet enough to sneak up on a hog, so usually he's either just left or just leaving before we're in a spot where I can get a shot off.
The last couple of days he's been sick, so I've been making my walks alone and being extra quiet coming over the rise from the tank dam to where the feeder/clearing is.
Last night, I come up over the rise as stealthily as possible, and I get a view down the trail from there where I've cleared most of the branches that are in the way. There were a few left, but I keep forgetting to bring my loppers.
Lo and behold, he's down there, munching corn and completely unaware. I wait a few seconds for a shot that won't pass through and hit the leg of the feeder. He moves and gives me a perfect broadside neck shot, and I squeeze the trigger... and the pig runs off into the brush.
Now I've seen enough posts from Flint to know that pigs don't generally run off after a shot though the middle of the neck from a .458 SOCOM 405 grain bullet. I also know there's no way I could have missed such an easy shot like that at a distance of maybe 25 yards. But there I stood, no pig, and not a hint of a blood trail, even with my blood trailing light .
After some examination of the scene, here are some things I learned:
1) Even a 405gr SP can be deflected by a little pine branch or two, so that an easy 25y shot is a complete miss. In this case, it seems my bullet notched one branch and severed another, along with some pine needles immediately prior.
2) I should trim those branches.
3) Pigs run awful fast when you don't hit them. :banghead: