We've been seeing this big hog on camera for several weeks now and he consistently makes the rounds between the stands after dark. (I added the deer photo for size reference.)
While we have all been hoping to "run" into him sometime we really haven't had a chance to see him in person until Saturday night. There I was, sitting in my tripod watching several yearling bucks and yearling does deal with hormonal overdrives when all of the sudden they all ran for their lives, stage left. I knew something big and silent was coming. It was not a fart.
And there he was, at 7:03 pm. Big Nasty. White whale of a pig. At 10 yards.
I sent an Axis Injection to him, express mode. While it hit a tad bit further forward than I wanted I felt it was a good shot. I called for reinforcements - son and grand kids came with headlamps and a rifle. In 30 minutes we were on the move, tracking a decent blood line. After 120 yards the line played out and the grands were getting hungry. We entered a small field and had no idea which way to turn. It was late so we called it for the night. We marked the last blood.
My friend came out in the morning and she deer hunted at one spot and I went to a new spot. By 9:30 we were both tired of not seeing a dern thing so we met back at the house for a cup of coffee. We took the dogs out to see if they could track and as most of you probably know - we had way too many people out there and when the dogs hit the field they tracked every single person, but not the hog. My friend and I looked diligently for any more sign, but didn't find anything. It was fairly close to my property line so we surmised Big Nasty wasn't on property any more.
But, that's when my friend heard some pigs. So we went back to the house, dropped off the dogs and headed back with 2 rifles. I carried my favorite 223 and she carried my 243.
We played the wind and quickly located the hogs by their grunts. We circled around through a grove of trees and came out on the edge close to them. I walked first and quickly spotted a big black boar walking straight for us at 20 yards. He was just slightly taller than the weeds. My friend, being vertically challenged could not see the hog. I said, "He's RIGHT THERE!!" He was now at 10 yards! I said, "I'm shooting!" followed up by KA BOOM! I hit him in the head.
The hog dropped and the rest of the pigs that I couldn't see started running to our right. She still couldn't see the pigs so she stepped into the clearing and saw everything moving. We turned to chase the pigs but the big black hog jumped up.
He was obviously suffering from traumatic brain injury. He spun in circles with his nose on the ground, staggering and falling and repeating. We turned to watch him. He staggered about 20 yards away, fell then jumped up, running straight for us. Snapping his teeth, he fell again at 7 yards. We backed up raised our rifles, and he jumped up running away from us. I said lets shoot him again. She said, "I got him" as calmly as anything I've ever heard. A shot rang out and down he went. She shot him in the head as well. It all happened so incredibly fast neither of us got scared. We turned to go after the other hogs but they were long gone.
This black pig wasn't as big as Big Nasty, but he's big.
Just for grins, anyone want to guess his weight? I'll post the scale pic tomorrow.
I thought for sure he would be over 200, too.
