Talk about being lucky!!!

Usually when I go hunting I normally load my rifle once the gate closes behind me because you never know where or when a pig or coyote will show up.   On this day that wasn't the case, as the gate closed I continued on without loading my rifle.   It's 0400 as I drove down the caliche road stopping every now and then looking through the night vision scope checking for hogs.   At one point I could see hogs tearing up the field and since I had not loaded my rifle and had to in a hurry.    Once it was loaded I had to mount the red flashlight on top of the scope, while it was dark which is not easy.

Once everything was ready I eased up further with just my parking lights on, looking for the pigs.    Then I saw them, and they were tearing up the ground next to the fence line and they were getting ready to cross the road.    I moved up a little more and I turned on the red light and looking through the scope I picked one out next to the fence and as I was getting ready to pull the trigger the seatbelt warning system in my truck went off and it was loud.   Luckily for me it was real windy and the wind was blowing from them to me and once I connected the seatbelt and the alarmed stopped I looked through the scope and they were still feeding along the fence line.   I picked one out and pulled the trigger and it dropped and of course the others ran off.  

That Pony don't play that game

 I wasn't sure what time the hogs would come out or if we would see any any at all.  My brother in law Mark Johnson was picking up our nephew Elias and we would try our luck at knocking down a hog, whether it be a small medium or large hog.   Of course safety always comes first so we all had some type of snake boots on just in case we stumbled across any.  Hopefully not.   One of the things we had to do was make sure the cattle were locked up in the front fields so they wouldn't wander into or near where we would be shooting.    We also attempted looked for the four horses but were unsuccessful so we would need to be on the lookout for them all night long.  

But it wasn't long before they would show up.   Mark and Elias were set up on the east side of the property and I was on the north side of the property.

My rifle, which is a Ruger .243 with a Nikon 10X50 scope, is sighted in for 200 yards and my field of view was just about 200 yards, so it should be an easy shot.   As the sun started to go down thats when the 3 horses and the pony started grazing through my area.   If the hogs or a coyote showed up now, there would be nothing I could do about it and I would just have to watch it until the horses and the pony left.  



The sun started setting and made for some awesome pictures but I also was checking the area for hogs and coyotes.   The horses worked their way towards the caliche road and started eating on the  corn and hog attractant (Hog Wild) and I was now using  night vision.  

Once darkness set in I could see a hog walk in under the barb wire and it also was eating the feed we hd set down.   The 3 horses didn't seem to care but apparently the pony didn't like that idea.   For 30 minutes I watched as the pony would take 3 or 4 steps like a in a charging manner, towards the hog and the hog would go back under the fence and come in from a different angle.   The horses would look at the two and kept eating.   At different times the hog was positioned in between all three horses and the pony would just look at it.   One one of the horses would move, as they ate, the pony would move in with its head down in a charging manner.   The hog eventually got tired and walked north into the neighbors field and several times stopped turned around and looked back at the caliche road where the food was at.   The pony never took its eyes off the hog and stood almost like in a challenging manner looking at the hog.   It was almost as if the pony was saying, don't come back or else.  

I watched as the hog traveled towards a small pond in the neighbors field which would put it  behind me to my left, in the field and could see the hog was walking to the fence line I was sitting next to.   I put the night vision scope down and grabbed my rifle to see if I could see anything since it was now 2100 hours.   Once I glanced through it and saw that in fact I could see real good I swing my rifle to the left along the fence and saw the hog come under the fence into the property I was in.  I followed the hog as it walked but still couldn't shoot since the horses were beyond the hog or directly behind it about 70 yards.   Anxiously I looked through the scope and once it walked to where the was nothing but trees behind it I pulled the trigger and heard one of my reloads hit that hog hard on the front right shoulder, and he was down about 30 yards from where I sat.    Until next time, stay safe.

Coyote down

Well its that time of year again where hunters are willing/able to get up before the alarm clock goes off.   IT"S HUNTING SEASON!!!!!!!!  yippee.  I've mentioned before about a hunters ability to get up, with no problem full of energy and wanting to go out into the cold, sometimes freezing cold weather to hunt.  But yet on a regular working day, it's sometimes impossible to crawl out of bed even if it means you're getting a promotion that day.   Amazing isn't it, and it's something only a true avid hunter would know about.  There's something about getting out in the woods before the sun comes up,  enjoying the stars as they fill the sky on a moonless night.   The fresh air, and of course the ability to hear everything because it is so quiet. Yesterday when I dropped my brother in law Mark off at the gate he walked in and sat next to a tree amongst the high brush and he was able to get a doe which will be turned into chorizo.

It might not be big, but as Mark says, it'll eat good, and he's right.   So this gal is at the Market and he was lucky enough to find a new deer meat processing business just around the corner from where we hunt.   It's about 10 minutes and, on the way home.  The chorizo from this doe will be going to Tennessee on our annual Man Trip.  

So we decided to go out again this morning and try our luck on another doe.   My alarm was set for 0400 since mark was going to pick me up at 0500.   I woke up at 0230 and then at 0330 and dozed off for a few minutes and got out of bed at 0358.  It always happens this way on hunting days.  Mark picked me up and we headed to the ranch and arrived at 0530 and walked out to the happy hunting grounds.   Mark was going to sit in some brush again in hopes of getting a shot at a big buck.   I was going to sit in a tree blind about 10 feet in the air tied to an oak tree.  the view was about 40 to 50 yards all around so it would be alright and anything walking into the shooting zone wouldn't be able to see me till it was too late.  As I sat gazing at all the stars on this cool fresh morning, We could hear two owls about 100 yards apart just sounding off back and forth.  There's nothing like two hooters sounding off this early in the morning.  I climbed up in my stand and Mark hid in the bushes and we awaited sunrise. As the sun started to rise in the east and I was able to start making out silhouettes of trees and I could see see something dark walking down one of the trails.   It turned out to be a raccoon probably making it's way back to it's den.  Around 0700 I spotted another raccoon about 30 yards away making it's working its way down a trail, stopping every now and then checking out it's surroundings.  It wasn't long before a coyote came down the same trail but this guy would stay a while, not like the raccoon that left the area pretty quickly.   I watched this coyote work and dig around several of the cactus in this area.   After watching this guy for 15 minutes it looked like he was not going to leave anytime soon.  That's when I told my self, "self not deer or hogs will be coming into this area while this coyote is her", so I shot it.  

 I was hoping since it was only 0730 that something else would come in afterwards, but nothing would come in the rest of the day.   Mark texted me and said he saw a hog and a couple of does but he was looking for that big one since he already had a doe.  Looks like this will be my last hunt until we get to Tennessee.   Until then, stay safe

Pssst…cover your ears, I'm gonna shoot

I like hunting by myself, but since my wife has seen every episode of The Walking Dead, she doesn't like for me to go by myself.   So I usually get someone to go with me.   But on this day I couldn't find anyone and for a while it looked like I wasn't going hunting this night.   My wife works and on her lunch break when she called, I told her it looked like I wasn't going hunting and that's when she said, I'll go with you if you want.    YES…..  So I picked her up from work,  brought her home to change and we headed out once the truck was loaded with gear and rifles.   We stopped by a fast food restaurant and picked up something to eat and drove to the property.    I'll have to give her credit for wanting to go hunting after she got off work.    She has been up since 6am, went to work and was on the phone for 8 hours and now she was going hunting with me.   What a champ.

As usual I'll drive the entire fence line trying to locate good trails where hogs are coming through so I can sit up on a good trail.   I found what I thought was a good trail and made sure the cows and horses were nowhere around by locking the gates entering the field.   With all the rain we have been getting the last few weeks the weeds and grass was getting pretty tall.   Alma loves sunflowers and was admiring the sunflowers the rancher has grown in the neighboring field.

There are thousands growing throughout the fields and as big as they are, they are beautiful.  Maybe I'll sneak over during the night and cut one or two for her.   

Before the sun went down, I threw some corn down where I thought the hogs would be coming from and then we parked about 200 yards from the corn.   I bought a new Ruger American .243 rifle and had a Nikon 3-9X50 scope mounted on top and after working, and perfecting some reloads I sighted it in for a 200 yards zero.  I was hoping since the moon was going to be full tonight I would be able to see without a green light.   For backup, in case I couldn't see, I also brought my Ar with night vision scope on it.  As the sun went down and the moon started to rise it was clear enough for me to see with my scope without the assistance of any light.  At 2130 hours I could see a good size hog crossing the field next to us and tearing up the ground where the cows were.    I decided against going after it since it was in the same field with the cows were, and I don't need a hog the bad.   But I kept glancing at it with my binoculars and watched it work the field amongst the cows.   Around 0030 hours I noticed a hog working its way from that same field towards the field I was sitting in.    By this time Alma was sound asleep.  I kept watching the hog work its way towards my field and saw when it went under the barb wire and was in the same field I was in.    Once it was apparent it was heading in my direction, I woke Alma up.   Well I tried.    Even though the wind is blowing in your direction and the sound will carry away from the hog,  I kept whispering, trying to wake her up.   pssst…psssst……Alma….Alma, wake up….nothing.    psssst……pssssst.   Finally, she woke up and I told her there was a hog coming our way and she needed to cover her ears, because I was going to shoot.   She said ok and covered her head with a pillow she had brought and it looked like she went back to sleep.   

I looked through my binoculars and continued watching the hog, and then noticed there were several hogs with it and some what looked like 8 little hogs (footballs) working a line in my field.   They were not coming right towards me, they were working straight across the field from east to west which is the same direction the wind was blowing.    In a few minutes they would be directly in front of me around 200 yards.    I picked up my rifle and had a perfect view of them as they worked the field.   I picked one out and started tracking it through the scope and whispered to Alma, cover your ears I'm gonna shoot.  She said ok and I continued following this one hog and watched as it went behind a small mesquite bush.    I could see it behind the bush and for a few seconds it stayed behind it like it was trying to hide from me.   I placed the cross-hairs slightly to the right of the bush and waited for it to step out, and once it started to move into the cross-hairs of my scope I pulled the trigger and heard the loud boom of the rifle which was followed on the other end by a whack and one downed hog.   I could see all the other hogs running like crazy trying to get out of that field.        

Thanks for going hunting with me sweetheart.

He's danced his last dance

Have you ever seen a dancing pig?  It sounds ridiculous and impossible but thats what it looks like this hog was doing.   The game camera I have set up took pictures of this big hog on several occasions coming in to the feeder and eating the corn that was thrown from the feeder earlier in the day.   Then after he finished what was on the ground he stood up on his hind legs and started hitting the timer and the light with the motion sensor attached to it.

We have the legs of the feeder set on some bricks to help prevent the feeder from sinking.   Since it's all sand in that area it's soft and when it rains or with any moisture on the ground, the legs will start sinking into the sand.   Directly under the feeder is lower than the outside of the legs, and thats because of the  amount of wild game  that stands and digs in that specific area,  so its a few inches deeper.   In some of the pictures that I'll post on this blog you'll see this hog hit the timer and he actually knocks the back leg off the brick then with the soft sand the feeder starts to sink.    I have probably 20 pictures of this taking place in one night and this big boy actually broke the motion sensor on the timer.   I might add, that when I stand under the timer, it is even with the top of my lip, so it's about 5 and a half feet from the ground.

When I  downloaded the pictures and saw the picture, of this hog looking at the feeder I told myself, he would look funny standing up and spinning the blade on the spinner.  Then I asked myself, he wouldn't knock it off trying to get more corn would he?   I have heard of pigs knocking feeders completely over and eating the corn that spilled  onto the ground.    I have never seen it, and two years ago it looked like someone or something knocked off the complete spinner and timer from the feeder.

Imagine the look on my face when I saw this picture.   Look where he's standing, so that should give you an idea of how long he is.
Then whatever corn he knocks to the ground he starts to eat.  This goes on for 2 more hours before he finally walks off, either because he was full or he got tired I don't know.

After finally knocking one of the legs off the brick the feeder starts to tilt because it starts to sink into the sand from the weight of the corn inside.   Then this hog  stands and holds on to the timer with it's front legs and goes to town trying to get more corn and consequently destroying the timer.   I only put one picture on here but with all the pictures I have of this taking place, when I scroll through them real fast, it looks like he's dancing with that timer.  

After looking at all the pictures from those two nights, I knew I'd be spending some nights out there hunting this guy.   One way or another the fiddler was going to be paid. Three days later the fiddler would be paid.

I took two other friends out and after showing them the pictures they wanted to get that big guy. They would have settled for any hog that showed up, but tonight all they would see were raccoons. I set them up about 80 yards from the feeder with a clear shot of any hog.

I went to another part of the property and as I drove around the area I could see these hogs in the next field digging and rooting.  I watched them as the sun went down.

There were 5 hogs tearing up the field but they were on the next property and I couldn't do anything about it.   I would have loved to have stalked them but a barb wire was between us and all I could do was watch them from about 300 yards away.   As it got dark there was half a moon, with my nikon binoculars I could see the hogs still feeding in the field.   I was hoping they would head southward which was where I was at.  As the temperature started to drop the hogs were still tearing up the field so I decided to sit in my jeep and wait them out.   Every ten minutes I would check on them and I could see them still working the field.  Somewhere around 2100 hrs I almost got busted by a big hog as I sat in my jeep.   I was starting to doze off when I looked to my left with my nikon's and I could see a big hog walking along the fence line towards me.   I grabbed my rifle and looked through the scope only to find he had crossed under the barb wire and was on the next property still walking in my direction and he would soon walk behind me.  I went back to my binoculars and watched as the hog was now about 20 yards behind me and tearing up the field.

At 2215 hours that big hog crossed back into my field and as I watched him with my nikons, he looked big.   I had two rifles with me and both were loaded   I had my wife's Thompson Contender .243 which I bought for her last year.   I also had my Ar15 but I grabbed the TC.   I had reloaded some 100 grain Hornady soft point bullets and it is very accurate.   With half a moon I could see the hog through the scope with no problem and it looked big.   I grabbed my nikons just to make sure it wasn't a calf since it was pretty big.   Nope, it's a pig so, I found him in the scope and watched him for a few seconds and as I rested the cross hairs on the side of his ribs I slowly squeezed off a round as he ate some corn I had thrown on the ground.  I could hear the smack of the bullet hitting his ribs, then immediately a loud squeal but not a regular squeal.   This squeal sounded like it had liquid in it, like a gurgling sound, and then I thought I heard a string on a banjo bust, sort of like a twang followed by sounds of something big hitting tree limbs and busting the tree limbs all in about 4 seconds then silence.    And of course the darkness.  

There was a half moon, and I could see with no problem out in the open, but once you get into the tree line, whatever lighting there is with that half moon is gone.  Knowing how dangerous a wounded boar this big could be I elected to wait for 30 minutes before I went looking for it.   When that 30 minutes passed I drove up and with the assistance of the L.E.D lights on my jeep I found where it was standing when I shot and followed the tracks.   I soon found that banjo I heard.   That hog ran right through the bottom barb wire and busted it running into the wooded area.   Now it was going to get spooky.   Part of me was saying, don't go into the woods by yourself, and another part was say, go into the woods.   I walked along the fence and gazed into the wooded area and noticed what looked like a big tree on the ground.  I moved the jeep to get the lights to reach a little further into the wooded area and looked through my Nikon's and there it lay day.   He was big and he was about 20 yards from the fence.   As I walked up, it kept getting bigger and I thought this was gonna tough getting him out.  I retrieved a rope I usually carry in my jeep and tied it to him and then the fun began.   He was fricking heavy.  It's dark, it's cold i'm by myself and in the woods with this huge pig and all sorts of things went through my mind.    One of the things that I thought of was, I didn't want to tie that hog to me while dragging it out.   If it came back to life and ran with me attached to it there was no way I was going to stop it, or get that rope off.  Yeah I wasn't thinking right.   As I pulled it out I was only moving a few inches at a time and it ended up taking me 30 minutes to drag it 60 feet and at 39 degrees outside I was sweating pretty good.  I was finally able to get a few inches of the rope to the fence line so I tied a knot on it and then moved my jeep to the fence line.   I then attached the rope to a hook on my bumper and towed that big hog out of the wooded area.

Until the next hunt.  

Stay safe

Good Shooting

As we dropped Mark Johnson off at the blind Elias and I could hear coyotes in the distant barking and howling.   Since Elias and I were going to be on another part of the ranch hunting coyotes, I knew our hunt would be good.   As we drove to the back, we set up by the barn where the other equipment was at.   The rancher has a couple of tractors and some old inoperable vehicles and the plan was to park amongst the equipment so we would blend in.   I figured a coyote wouldn’t know the difference between a John Deere and a Ford.   

As the sun started to rise on this cold morning, our view of the field in front of us was getting better.   Around 0700 I turned the foxpro caller on with the rabbit in distress and hoped a coyote in the area would hear it.   It took about 20 minutes before a coyote came walking in.   I spotted it about 100 yards in front of me and it was coming in to the caller.   It’s ears were up up and it was looking at the caller which was still 120 yards away.  I turned the caller off and whispered to Elias, who was sitting behind me, that a coyote was coming in and where it was coming from.
  Since Elias was very new to hunting I had been talking to him, while we waited, about trying to acquire the target in the scope, and then tracking it with the scope.   And now we were gonna see if he was able to do it.   He whispered, “Ok I see it”, and I asked him do you see it in thescope.  He said no, it’s still too far to the right.   I could see the coyote walking in, still with his eyes fixed on where the sound was at.  Then Elias said, I have it in the scope. The coyote was still slowly walking towards the caller and I was whispering to Elias, when he the coyote stops or slows down shoot it.  Before I finished the sentence there was a loud boom, and the coyote dropped dead in it’s tracks 5 yards from the caller.   It was an awesome shot, good shooting  Elias.  

At least you got your nails done

My wife Alma usually doesn't go hunting with me.   Fishing she doesn't mind, but hunting, well, it's something that's best done quietly.   I invited her on this hunt and she said sure, but I've got to get my nails done before we go out.   So she got off work, then went and had her nails done, then we headed out.   We met Johnson and his friend David and they were going to sit in one field and we sat in another field hoping hogs would come in.  We got set up and it was starting to get dark and I was wondering how long it was going to take Alma to fall asleep since she had worked an 8 hour day, and had her nails done.    Around 2130 hours I heard something in the next field so I looked through through the night vision scope and saw some hogs working there way to the fence.  Now this is where I thought Alma was going to freak out, but she didn't.   I told her to stay in the jeep and I would work my way to where I thought the hogs were going to cross, and I told her to look through the night vision scope (NVS).   I started to work my way towards the hogs and every 10 steps would stop and look through my binoculars.   I could see the hogs walking around some oak trees along the fence line so I kept going very slowly.   At some point they crossed the fence and went onto the next property, so I never got a shot at them.   We decided to move to the opposite end of where we were at and since the wind was blowing from north to south, the east end of the field would not be too bad.   After moving and getting set up I looked through the NVS and saw another group of hogs getting ready to cross the fence line and by the time I got set up to shoot they too were gone.    The rest of the night was uneventful and we didn't see or hear anything else.   Not even the coyotes were sounding off tonight for some reason.    Alma crashed out and around 2300 I woke her up to let her know I was going to take a walk through the field because I saw something and I wanted to check it out.   After a 45 minute walk going after what I thought was hog, turned out to be a Cow, and it was at the opposite end of the field and, it was having a calf.   So I worked my way back to the jeep and Alma was still crashed out.   We decided to leave around 0230 after she said, "I can't believe I'm sleeping in your jeep when I have a perfectly good comfortable Tempur-pedic mattress at home".   Wow your nails look really nice.