Working the Night Shift

After talking to the rancher where I hunt, I found out he has been having a real problem with hogs running hog wild through his property and tearing up the fields. His pasture land looks like little bombs exploded in different parts of the large fields that he has. Even driving though them with my jeep is a little rough. Holes everywhere are rough on vehicles, and especially rough on the legs of the cattle and horses he has, and he wanted me to knock down some of the hogs to help control the population of these critters. What was my answer???/ Hell yeah, I can take care of that. I talked to my neighbor Carlos, and he was up for the task at hand so he, along with his grandson Andrew and other friends on different occasions, accompanied me as we worked the night shift in the killing fields.

If you’ve never been hunting at night, well it isn’t easy but it is exciting. Judging distances during daylight hours is easy, but at night for me it isn’t that easy. Trying to find the crosshairs through your scope and putting them on target definitely is not easy. The first time Carlos and I went out we had a spotlight and rifles. About 15 hogs came in to about 34 yards. They didn’t see us and we didn’t see them since the moon wasn’t out but we could make out what looked like a big dark cloud next to the water tank. They were quiet until they started splashing around in the water. Excitedly

I grabbed my 45-70 as Carlos grabbed the spotlight. Ready with the spotlight, ready with the rifle, ok turn it on I whispered. This was going to be easy, only 35 yards away and it’s only 1930 hrs and i’m getting ready to knock down some pork. I had the scope aiming in the direction of the pigs and as soon as the light came on, it looked like cockroaches running when the light comes on. Man the were fast, I tried following one through the scope, but at night that’s hard to do. Carlos followed a big one as it ran towards the fence and stopped. I focused on it but it wouldn’t turn so I could get a broadside shot. After several seconds of looking at it and seeing it was almost as tall as the third strand on the barb wire fence I told Carlos, “I’m gonna shoot it in the rear end” all I heard from Carlos was “you’re gonna do what”, then BOOM, .325 grains of hot copper jacketed bullet was flying down range, and it smacked the big ole boar in the rear end. That hog ran towards the fence, bounced off of the fence then ran underneath the barbwire fence and into the weeds on the next prope

rty. We never saw it again. That is until a couple of months later, Carlos and I were walking on another part of the property and we saw a lot of bones scattered. At almost the same time, Carlos and I said wouldn’t it be something if we found that big hog you shot, then we found this hip bone with what looks like a round hole large enough to be a .45 hole in it. Is this the pig I shot?? I don’t know but it was found in the direction that it ran.