STI Saboted Hammerhead vs. Hog
Posted: 12 Aug 2019 05:34
This fellow has been coming by my one of my protein feeders on an every other night interval.
[BBvideo 560,340][/BBvideo]
I set up for him by putting a Boar Light near the feeder. I wasn't sure exactly how he was getting to the feeder, but got very lucky. He walked past me off to the left about 15-yards, moving very slowly last night. To rotate to shoot him would have been a mistake, he was moving toward the feeder which sits where a finger of brush blends into native grasses. I started searching the edge of the brush in the moonlight with field glasses, and picked him up, walking along the side of the grass. Brought the 512 up, he was easy to see in the moonlight against the blond colored native grass. He was heading to the feeder, but that is 125-yards from where I was sitting, and a 50-yard shot sure seemed better. The shot was in ambient moonlight, no lights, with just the Weaver low power scope.
Of course, at the shot, it takes a bit to recover your night vision. As that happened, I moved forward through the grass, a bit tense because of the rattlesnakes, at a 10-yards, he stood up and moved away from me slowly. I looked like he went down again, but I just left him until this morning.
Shot placement was poor, that is one problem with night hunting. At the shot, I remember thinking he wasn't as big as he looked when he was off to the side. He wasn't as big in the night's two-dimensional view (height and width without depth) because he had turned, quartering to me. I shot him ahead of the near side shoulder, and Hammerhead enter, shattering the opposite side leg, leaving a huge wound channel. The Hammerhead stayed inside, couldn't find it, but it buggered him up. Typical to a hog shot low, there is not much to go on.
I should have waited longer, but it was in the '90s and I was tired. Had I not got him up, he might have died there. My hound found him 450-yards from where I shot him. My dog has learned to work on blood and the scent of blood, too many critters out here to work on body odor. He found very light blood where it had been laying, made sure I looked at it, and then started slowly out the trail. There was never any more visible blood that he could show me. Thank you, Laurel! I love this hound!
[BBvideo 560,340][/BBvideo]
I set up for him by putting a Boar Light near the feeder. I wasn't sure exactly how he was getting to the feeder, but got very lucky. He walked past me off to the left about 15-yards, moving very slowly last night. To rotate to shoot him would have been a mistake, he was moving toward the feeder which sits where a finger of brush blends into native grasses. I started searching the edge of the brush in the moonlight with field glasses, and picked him up, walking along the side of the grass. Brought the 512 up, he was easy to see in the moonlight against the blond colored native grass. He was heading to the feeder, but that is 125-yards from where I was sitting, and a 50-yard shot sure seemed better. The shot was in ambient moonlight, no lights, with just the Weaver low power scope.
Of course, at the shot, it takes a bit to recover your night vision. As that happened, I moved forward through the grass, a bit tense because of the rattlesnakes, at a 10-yards, he stood up and moved away from me slowly. I looked like he went down again, but I just left him until this morning.
Shot placement was poor, that is one problem with night hunting. At the shot, I remember thinking he wasn't as big as he looked when he was off to the side. He wasn't as big in the night's two-dimensional view (height and width without depth) because he had turned, quartering to me. I shot him ahead of the near side shoulder, and Hammerhead enter, shattering the opposite side leg, leaving a huge wound channel. The Hammerhead stayed inside, couldn't find it, but it buggered him up. Typical to a hog shot low, there is not much to go on.
I should have waited longer, but it was in the '90s and I was tired. Had I not got him up, he might have died there. My hound found him 450-yards from where I shot him. My dog has learned to work on blood and the scent of blood, too many critters out here to work on body odor. He found very light blood where it had been laying, made sure I looked at it, and then started slowly out the trail. There was never any more visible blood that he could show me. Thank you, Laurel! I love this hound!