Well..........I blew it!
Sometimes you think you know what hogs are going to do....and they simply don't DO IT! Who knows why.
Got down to my stand about 3:30 this afternoon (feeder is set to go off at 4:00) but the likelihood of seeing any hogs before dusk...is slim.
Got settled in, adjusted my binoculars, checked the wind (just right), all is good.
About 5:00 p.m. (well before dark) a lone boar steps out onto the logging road to my right. He stood there right in the middle of it, pretty as you please...for about 30 seconds before crossing to the other side and heading in the direction of the feeder.
A few seconds later...a Sow (larger than the boar) does pretty much the same thing. I let her cross as well...expecting both to make a bee-line to the feeder which is only another 35 yds. through some brush.
I train my scope on the feeder (90 yds. from my stand) and wait for a pig to show. Out of the corner of my eye I notice 5 more pigs come out on the road, then go the same direction as the others.
OK, this is good...I am thinking to myself. They will all go to the feeder, I can judge which is the biggest that way... and maybe, just maybe...get two of them to 'line up'.
Well....a couple minutes pass and NONE of the pigs have yet gone to the feeder.
Not an alarming thing at this point...because I can hear them in the brush, grunting and moving around. I figure they are just 'staging' the area to see if all is clear. So, I go back to my rifle and peer through the scope...awaiting a target.
Nothing, no pigs....no more noise, just gone. Still not fretting....I tell myself they have moved farther back into the brush and will come out under cover of darkness (have seen that happen quite often).
Soon it is dusky, then real dusky, then the hog light on the feeder comes on, next thing you know it is dark. I wait, listen...nothing!
I blew it!
For some reason....they chose not to go to the feeder (right in front of them) just yards away.
Gave it another hour, but these pigs were not coming back. Pulled the card from the game camera and brought it home with me. That group had been under the feeder the previous 3 nights at 6:00 p.m. like clockwork.
I failed to follow the advice I give just about everyone who hunts 'pressured' pigs:
"Take your FIRST AVAILABLE good shot"! You just never know what might happen.
I sat there and passed up seven shots just 'knowing' they would go to that feeder. Well....NOT tonight.
Will try them again tomorrow. Sorry to disappoint the readership tonight.
Flint.