sleepyone
Member
So after last night’s hunt I walked to my feeder to set the clock back one hour. As I was setting the clock, I hear a bunch of animals running up on my left side. It happens to be an entire sounder of hogs. Now keep in mind I have both my hands above my head changing my timer clock. My rifle is in my stand 50 yards away. All the hogs stop on a dime right before the barbed wire that encloses my feeder since we have cattle. The first few hogs are about eight yards from me. I could not tell exactly how many there were, but having seen this group on my trail camera before I know there could be a dozen hogs, most if not all are black. It is dark enough where I need my clip on cap lights to see what I’m doing. They don’t run or charge. They just stare. I can’t tell if they are all sows or if any babies are with them. I don’t know if they will charge or not and really don’t want to find out.
The one thing I have in my favor is my Smith and Wesson Stainless 686 Plus 4” 357 Mag. I slowly lower my left hand from my timer to my holster, unsnap it and pull my weapon and hang it at my side. Then in one motion I turn to my left, bring down my right arm, bring my gun into position and fire one shot at the lead one. To my relief, they all took off in the other direction. I did not find a blood trail or a hog, so I figured I missed. It was pretty dark at that point so I just went back to camp with my ears ringing. I had already taken out my ear plugs, and 357 Mag PD rounds are loud.
After this morning’s hunt I was coming off the trail from my stand to a main road and saw something black to the left down the road. It was the hog from last night. She had made it only a couple of hundred feet before dropping dead from a shoulder shot. Picture is attached. She probably weighed 100 lbs. I had to drag her about 300’ into the woods away from any deer trails. Now, I could brag about my awesome shot, but the truth is it was a lucky shot. It may not have even been the lead hog. There were three bunched together tightly at the front of the group. It must have been turning to leave when I fired since it was a direct shoulder shot. But I’ll take it.
Question for you experienced hog hunters. Should I have been scared at all? I know the whole episode lasted 5 or 10 seconds max, but it seemed like an eternity. There were too many unknowns. Were there any young with the sows? Were there any big boars in the group? I was hunting by myself and my truck was a ¼ mile away. Were they sizing me up for an attack or were they just as nervous as me?
The one thing I have in my favor is my Smith and Wesson Stainless 686 Plus 4” 357 Mag. I slowly lower my left hand from my timer to my holster, unsnap it and pull my weapon and hang it at my side. Then in one motion I turn to my left, bring down my right arm, bring my gun into position and fire one shot at the lead one. To my relief, they all took off in the other direction. I did not find a blood trail or a hog, so I figured I missed. It was pretty dark at that point so I just went back to camp with my ears ringing. I had already taken out my ear plugs, and 357 Mag PD rounds are loud.
After this morning’s hunt I was coming off the trail from my stand to a main road and saw something black to the left down the road. It was the hog from last night. She had made it only a couple of hundred feet before dropping dead from a shoulder shot. Picture is attached. She probably weighed 100 lbs. I had to drag her about 300’ into the woods away from any deer trails. Now, I could brag about my awesome shot, but the truth is it was a lucky shot. It may not have even been the lead hog. There were three bunched together tightly at the front of the group. It must have been turning to leave when I fired since it was a direct shoulder shot. But I’ll take it.
Question for you experienced hog hunters. Should I have been scared at all? I know the whole episode lasted 5 or 10 seconds max, but it seemed like an eternity. There were too many unknowns. Were there any young with the sows? Were there any big boars in the group? I was hunting by myself and my truck was a ¼ mile away. Were they sizing me up for an attack or were they just as nervous as me?
