Sunday morning excitement — not for me but for a hunting buddy’s son.

Quick story of my Sunday morning adventure….A pig came out by the range last night and I went to take care of it. As I was walking out, he winded me and started to run off when I shot. The thermal pic is from the moment before the shot…not good. I looked for blood, but didn’t see any and thought it likely I actually shot under him. I decided to come back out in the morning.


This morning I went with my wife and one of our dogs (on a leash) to look. Since I figured it was unlikely we would find him, I only grabbed my carry gun (Glock 19). We poked around for a bit when I finally saw it laying down in some think brush. I yelled to my wife that I found it when he stood up and started to charge me (about 7 yards away). My initial thought was “that’s a big pig!” and I drew my pistol (I was carrying AIWB under my jacket, not because I wanted to be concealed, but because it was cold outside). I got 5 shots off before he ran away from me (but left in the direction of my wife). He got as close as 3 yards. Not sure how many hits I scored, but I’m confident in the majority. Interestingly, this unfolded similarly to the Attack Target I use in classes. Threat started advancing from around 7 yards, I immediately began moving backwards, drew, and engaged until it was no longer an immediate threat to me.

My wife instinctively went back to the house to put the dog up and came back with an AR. We worked our way through the thick brush and eventually found the pig again where I was able to finish the job with the rifle.

An injured animal is dangerous and a wounded boar even more so.

Some good things this event reinforced in my mind. 1) Always carry. 2) Training pays off! I drew from concealment and fired 5 aimed shots in less than 3 seconds. I never thought about the task of shooting. It was subconscious. My conscious brain was focused on the threat and where my wife was in relation to where I was shooting. 3) Whatever you choose to carry, you’ll likely want something bigger and more powerful in the event you need to actually use it! I thought about taking an AR for my initial search, but opted for the smaller option. Again, I felt it unlikely that I had hit the pig last night and if I had, it would either have died or gone much further from where it was shot, never to be found. Both of those assumptions were wrong.

I talk about training all the time. Yes, I love shooting and my range is 200yds from the house so it’s easy for me to practice. However, I encourage everyone who owns a gun to make time to train. Do more to get better than you did last year. Take a class, go to a competition, dry-fire, have a plan and purpose when you go to the range, but put in some effort.

Yes, this was only a pig, but he was pissed and was focused on coming after me. He undoubtedly could have injured me, my wife or my dog, but I’m happy with how quickly and effectively I was able to deal with the situation. Keep training and be prepared.

Pictures didn't copy but you can go here and see them--

https://www.texasbowhunter.com.../27018393-good-story

Glad ya'll are okay ---
sounds more exciting than one would expect!

quote:

1) Always carry. 2) Training pays off! I drew from concealment and fired 5 aimed shots in less than 3 seconds. I never thought about the task of shooting. It was subconscious. My conscious brain was focused on the threat and where my wife was in relation to where I was shooting. 3)

One fights how one trained

Most any animal can and may charge when wounded.
Some species like hogs have a lot more tendencies to do so.

I watched a bull elk charge Dad once. A ridge got in the way so he had to shoot offhand from about 250 yards. The bull had spotted him long before. The shot broke it's back over the flank. When he got up on the hill the bull came dragging his ass end at a fairly fast speed. I was behind Dad a 100 yards but in full view. He shot it in the chest at about 50 yards and ended it. The bull had traveled more than 100 yards dragging it's hind end.

Never go unexpecting until you know for sure it's dead.

George

got charged by a blackbuck once -- hit in threw the shoulders, knocked him down (416 rem) - walked up to him, he jumped up, reared on his back feet, charged, and dropped his horns -- i stepped out of the way, kicked him over as he passed, pulled my 45 colt, and gave him a finisher -- i wear it, usually, in a rear carry holster, didn't even think/process it - rifle in my left hand, pistol in my right, bang --

and yeah, in one sense, my 45 colt was more effective than my 416 rem

Am glad they were OK. That could have ended badly.

Wow. That was a close one. Plus, the clear night scope view was interesting confirming what I thought was not right when I (first time ever for night scope) shot a pig where the view was very faint and grainy.
Glad ya got the beast down permanently while remaining unscathed.
CB

Custombolt--that's not my story but my thermal scope is that clear whether I have the image in black on white or white on black as this one is. The Gen 1 & 2 night vision aren't nearly as clear and they require some ambient light where the thermal just uses body heat as the source for the image.