Getting ready to get in bed, watch a little disappointing news and go to sleep tonight about 10:15 p.m.
But first let our two Dachshunds out in the back yard to do their business before they settled in for the night.
I have flood lights in the backyard and part of the yard is fenced in (60' x 80') so they can run a little, but not go anywhere.
The first one off the back deck went right to the grass and starting relieving herself, but the second one locked up, looked out in the direction of the pasture behind the house and let out low, guttural growl. Then the hair went up on her back and she shot down the yard to the fence line like a rocket. Of course, that started both of them barking.
I keep a spotlight in the pantry just inside the house. I grabbed that and shone it out into the pasture. Sure enough, only 125 yds away were 5 hogs rooting around!
I called the dogs back inside, walked to the closet and fetched the 7mm-08. I wasn't really expecting the hogs to still be there when I got back, but to my surprise they were. Very bold not to have run off with dogs barking and having been lit up with a white light just moments before.
I decided not to try and shoot them from the back porch because it would mean a 150' shot while trying to hold the spot light in one hand and steady the rifle with the other.
Instead I turned off the flood lights in the back yard. Went out the front door of the house and walked down to the fence line at the pasture. This gave me a more comfortable 115 yd. shot.
Once at the fence line...I decided it would be best to sit and rest the rifle across my knee while holding the spotlight along side it. I knew it wouldn't be real steady....but this wasn't going to be long shot and I only needed to be 'minute of pig' accurate.
So there I am. Barefoot, in my PJ's sitting in grass that is wet with dew. Rifle pointed out into the dark....about where I think they are, I turned on the spotlight. Low and behold the little devils are still there. More spread out now, but still there.
The closest one (pure black hog) was quartering to me and being the stillest of the bunch. I placed the cross-hairs (wavering a bit) on that hog and got ready to shoot when I noticed a lighter colored hog had gotten nervous and was walking briskly away.
Fortunately it's path looked like it would track right in front the black hog which was still rooting. So I let the lighter colored hog come.
The light colored hog walked just a foot or so in front of the other one but I had to time the shot because it wasn't slowing up any. I double checked the cross-hairs were on the point of the shoulder of the black hog and when the front of the chest of the lighter one aligned... I tapped the trigger (no controlled press this time).
Immediately, I heard squealing out there in the blackness. I retrained my spotlight on the area and the black hog was down and thrashed about for a few seconds. The lighter colored hog was nowhere to be seen. But in order to have hit the hog behind it (the black one) the bullet would have had to of passed through the lighter hog in front.
OR.....I mis-timed and shot in front of it. Won't know for sure until morning. Not going out there tonight.
I had the 7mm-08 stoked with 160 gr. Federal Trophy Bonded bullets that I hand load to about 2800 fps. It would easily zip through these smaller hogs and hold together. Hoping to find the hog (in front) not far from where it was hit. But we will see in the morning.
Not a lot of fun sitting in the wet grass in your PJ's....but you do what you have to do.
Timing was good because I just cut that pasture today and the grass was only about 6" high. The terrain also slopes downhill....so the hogs were very easy to see.
Don't know what they rooting around for....but it was a mistake on their part.
