I have a cousin with access to 1300 acres of private land in south Georgia. A few of us from up here in NC make an annual trip down there for a long weekend of running around in the woods with guns and shooting at hogs. This year it was me and two buddies.

First evening, we were sitting in 3 separate stands overlooking deer food plots that the hogs had been tearing up. Just at dusk, I hear a shot from one guy. A few text messages later, I find out he saw a group of 10-12 smaller pigs with a ~75lb leader. He dropped the leader with a 50 yd head shot from his M1 carbine and the piglets scattered.

I didn't see anything by the time it was too dark to shoot, and the third guy saw a couple but they were 400 yds off down a cutline in the woods and crossing quickly... no shot.

So I climb into the Bad-Boy cart well after dark to drive around and pick up the other 2 guys. I get "temporarily disoriented" in the dark on some of the logging roads and I end up finding the other non-shooter first, when I intended to get to the guy who actually shot one.

As two of are "reorienting" ourselves, we drive down a trail past a drum feeder. In the headlights of the cart, we see several decent sized hogs just inside the woodline, immediately behind the feeder. We hop out of the cart, I'm on point with my CZ 375H&H while my buddy has a million-cp spotlight and a 308 Marlin express lever gun.

As many of you know, a spotlight like this one, pointed into thick woods makes for some fairly stark shadows and what I would describe as difficult visibility back into the woods. The hogs were not in any big hurry to run off, but every time I would see a hindquarter between two trees, I'd lose sight of it once I raised the rifle. My buddy kept saying he could see 'em clearly so before we lost them all, I grabbed the light and told him to take the shot.

Just as we switched, a big hog stepped out between two trees and stood there... If I had waited another 5 seconds before grabbing the light... oh well.

My buddy takes the shot and spines the hog just above the shoulders from ~30 yds. We walk into the woods and she's lying there grunting at us completely paralyzed. I finished her with the 375 behind the ear (btw, at a range of 4 feet, you could say the Hornady 300gr RN Interlock "failed"... there was definite jacket/core separation- hah!)

We forgot to take pics of the first, smaller hog, but I did snap this one of the second:


The guy in the picture is 6'5" and after dragging that thing a few hundred feet my estimate at a weight would probably be on the high side of reality.

So day 1 of a 3 day hunt was off to a good start. Unfortunately, we saw plenty of sign and a few pigs in the next 2 days, but didn't connect on any of them.

I will say this: it's a lot harder to hit a running hog, in tall grass, from a moving/turning/braking golf cart, with a hip shot from a 375H&H safari rifle, in the dark, than I would have thought... but at least I can say I tried it!

On the ride back north, we decided our strategy for next year... night vision! Anybody ever use this thing?: nyte vu

Nice sow. Seen some good quality infrared scopes, mighty pricey. Don't know the prices of this 'camera' system yet - but it looks neat and will look into it. Thanks

Nice going! Sounds like you guys had an entertaining adventure...

What is truly awesome is that for 3-4 days every May, the owner of this land turns it over to me and guys from "way up north in Raleigh". We have full access to the house, the barn, the Bad-boy cart, the golf carts, the 6x6 Polaris, the stands, the blinds, the ice maker, the freezers and feed corn silo (yes, silo... these boys are serious about deer feeding/management)

The 1300 acres has a 5 mile loop road through the middle of it and encompasses tall timber, cypress swamps, logged and replanted open spaces, with several 1+ acre food plots spread around the loop.

Even if we didn't get a hog, it is well worth the trip just for the fun factor of playing in the woods for a weekend... with guns.

Congrats! Too bad y'all weren't able to connect on a few more.

We have a bunch that gets together every year for a "Big Boars with Big Bores" hunt. You must bring a 375 H&H or larger caliber rifle. It gives us a chance to break out the boomers.

Bob