Last night check on farmer's peanut field (he's very concerned about hogs). No hogs, but when I went around a corner, there's a coyote about 100yd away, noise to the ground and making zig zags as it came to me. No moon, wind not blowing scent to the yote, and I'm dressed in black. At one point I have to set thermal on it's lowest magnification (1x) as yote is getting real close. OK, that's close enough...I mean they are not suppose to attack, but still...I stomp my feet. It stops and looks, so I stomp again. Now it takes off.
I climb up on a berm to look over 100's of yards of fields. Why is the bottom half of that wood fence post 100yd away glowing in the thermal? Finally it moves. Another yote sitting there watching me in line with the post. It watches 5-10 minutes and finally leaves. I suspect it was the mate of the first one and wondered where its mate left to. When I'd turned the corner, one was to my left and the other to my right...think I walked in-between them.
Go to fields a mile away, just to look for a short time. Get around a corner so I can see on the other side of a row of pines. See 3 hogs. Duck back, get my folder chair off and set on the ground. Turn on rifle thermal and look again. Count 27 hogs. Make my plan: go down row of pines, then go east to get safe shooting direction. Shoot biggest closest hog, and since the hogs will have 100's of yards to run to make it to safety, concentrate on another hog and shoot until it goes down or runs off or it's unsafe to shoot.
Hogs cooperate. Aim for neck (shot hit near heart...maybe I should check my thermal sighting in the next day or so to give me that piece of mind that the rifle is sighted in). Knew I hit, cause it squealed. It ran mostly towards me, but now unsafe to shoot so I swung on another running. On the 3rd shot it went down, but stood up on its front legs. Another hit and it fell over. Look over field with thermal...1st hog shot not in sight. 2nd hog was hit in spine which stopped back legs from working and stayed in the field.
1st hog when last seen was running in the opposite direction from safety. Either it made it to the row of pines to the west or it turned around and ran east. Walking along the east side to get back to my chair and camera, I spot a good heat signature. 1st hog had turned around made it just off the field to the east, nicely falling to within about 20' of where I wanted it.
Decide to go get my truck and come back and pick up my chair. Get to truck...locked...keys are in the pouch of the chair darn it! Walk back to chair and get keys...oh well, exercise is good for me.
Wake up early and call Chaps to help. Chaps is out fishing, darn it! Well the agreement with the farmer is to always remove hogs from field as bones could harm the harvesting equipment. Bring my hand drag rope. Driving to the field I see a guy with a dog that had been looking at hog #2. He thinks I might be the farmer and worried I might be upset at someone at my crop field. I'm thinking where did this guy come from? Turns out he's one of Chap's neighbors (Bill) and he has permission from the property owner (but had never met the lease farmer) to walk his dog on the property. Real nice guy and offers to help. Says drive me to his place and he'll get his little tractor with front end loader to move the hog, so we do. What a "load" off my mind! Long chat. Has concerns and questions about us shooting in fields, especially at night, and permissions and hogs and coyotes and what was rooting up his yard (hogs). So I give him all the answers and point out all unsafe and safe directions and the lay of the land and how if shooting here or there the bullet would impact into the ground if not stopped by the hog and that one or more of us will have the names and phone numbers of the property owners and/or lease farmers. He sez you and your night hunting partners are certainly not "bubba's" and I have no concerns about you all, just the poachers who don't care about violating the law. Finally sez he is mostly always at home, and if we need any help, just come on over to his place. He's from Indiana same as me and has goats all with names, just like me.
Estimate 200 pounds and 160.
I climb up on a berm to look over 100's of yards of fields. Why is the bottom half of that wood fence post 100yd away glowing in the thermal? Finally it moves. Another yote sitting there watching me in line with the post. It watches 5-10 minutes and finally leaves. I suspect it was the mate of the first one and wondered where its mate left to. When I'd turned the corner, one was to my left and the other to my right...think I walked in-between them.
Go to fields a mile away, just to look for a short time. Get around a corner so I can see on the other side of a row of pines. See 3 hogs. Duck back, get my folder chair off and set on the ground. Turn on rifle thermal and look again. Count 27 hogs. Make my plan: go down row of pines, then go east to get safe shooting direction. Shoot biggest closest hog, and since the hogs will have 100's of yards to run to make it to safety, concentrate on another hog and shoot until it goes down or runs off or it's unsafe to shoot.
Hogs cooperate. Aim for neck (shot hit near heart...maybe I should check my thermal sighting in the next day or so to give me that piece of mind that the rifle is sighted in). Knew I hit, cause it squealed. It ran mostly towards me, but now unsafe to shoot so I swung on another running. On the 3rd shot it went down, but stood up on its front legs. Another hit and it fell over. Look over field with thermal...1st hog shot not in sight. 2nd hog was hit in spine which stopped back legs from working and stayed in the field.
1st hog when last seen was running in the opposite direction from safety. Either it made it to the row of pines to the west or it turned around and ran east. Walking along the east side to get back to my chair and camera, I spot a good heat signature. 1st hog had turned around made it just off the field to the east, nicely falling to within about 20' of where I wanted it.
Decide to go get my truck and come back and pick up my chair. Get to truck...locked...keys are in the pouch of the chair darn it! Walk back to chair and get keys...oh well, exercise is good for me.
Wake up early and call Chaps to help. Chaps is out fishing, darn it! Well the agreement with the farmer is to always remove hogs from field as bones could harm the harvesting equipment. Bring my hand drag rope. Driving to the field I see a guy with a dog that had been looking at hog #2. He thinks I might be the farmer and worried I might be upset at someone at my crop field. I'm thinking where did this guy come from? Turns out he's one of Chap's neighbors (Bill) and he has permission from the property owner (but had never met the lease farmer) to walk his dog on the property. Real nice guy and offers to help. Says drive me to his place and he'll get his little tractor with front end loader to move the hog, so we do. What a "load" off my mind! Long chat. Has concerns and questions about us shooting in fields, especially at night, and permissions and hogs and coyotes and what was rooting up his yard (hogs). So I give him all the answers and point out all unsafe and safe directions and the lay of the land and how if shooting here or there the bullet would impact into the ground if not stopped by the hog and that one or more of us will have the names and phone numbers of the property owners and/or lease farmers. He sez you and your night hunting partners are certainly not "bubba's" and I have no concerns about you all, just the poachers who don't care about violating the law. Finally sez he is mostly always at home, and if we need any help, just come on over to his place. He's from Indiana same as me and has goats all with names, just like me.
Estimate 200 pounds and 160.