Around 9:30 tonight, a single hog was circling around and trying to pick up any strange scents or danger from the area of the feeder. She remained on the move and skittish -- likely from being here the first time -- and didn't give me much of a shot presentation. After a few minutes of this, I scanned the surroundings to see if any other hogs were in the area. I picked up nothing other than deer which had circled the wagons, so to speak, and huddled up fairly near the yard fence, which is typical behavior when a hog is lingering.

The hog dropped off into the shadows but finally remained stationary, so I eased my red shooting light on and slowly worked it towards her. She immediately spooked and disappeared into the creek bottom. But several minutes later, she reappeared -- and this time, she was in an open area where there was just enough twilight to betray her presence. After swapping ends a few times, she stopped. I placed the small, dim red dot of the Noblex (Docter) 2.5-10x50, which I had cranked to maximum magnification, on what I believed to be the shoulder and touched off a round.

The 130 grain Sierra Tipped MatchKing, launched at a bit over 2500 fps, hit with a resounding "thwack" and dropped the 140 yard hog in its tracks. The bullet entered low on the shoulder area, wrecked the top of the heart and absolutely pulverized the lungs. It continued forward and exited, breaking two ribs in the process and leaving a quarter-sized gap through the off-side hide and tight behind the opposite shoulder.

Despite a thorough check, we found only one small sliver of lead and no jacket fragments. Small bone chips were in abundance, however.

The pose of the hog (my fault) doesn't do justice to its size. But it was sweltering outside tonight, so time was of the essence, as was minimal exertion. The small sow actually weighed a fraction under 90 pounds on the Moultrie scale.

Ironically, we just polished off a meal of fresh chicken-fried pork tenders and peppercorn cream gravy this evening...

Dang it, Bobby, you know how to live! Another neat job of it and more fresh puerco for tenders!

Amazing how a pose makes so much difference in the apparent size of an animal---and that is why you see all the pics of the hunter 10' behind their kill or fishermen holding their fish at arm's length toward the camera.

Good one Bobby---once this storm is thru I hope to be able to get back into the stand myaelf.

She'll know better next time!

Good shooting Bobby.
Should make some good eats even
if for the coyotes.

Glad you got out again.
Nice up here, mid 80's and dry.
Swamper going 24/7 for a week
and ONLY 55% yet. That's what they
call: "Rub it in, rub it in!" HA!

George

Keep droppin' 'em Bobby. Backstraps!

Good on ya!