07 May 2018, 20:00
Bobby Tomeknice sow taken in moonlight with 7mm BB
Have been ignoring the 7mm BB for a while now, but it was my choice of weapon last night...or -- actually -- very early this morning.
Had a sleepless night, so I checked outside several times for activity. Somewhere after 2 a.m., I smelled the unmistakable scent of hogs, brought to me perfectly on the subtle breezes coming from the creek where they sometimes wallow.
But I could see nothing. Another 15-20 minutes later I looked out again, but this time, my luck would change for the better.
In the faint moonlight, I could make out several barrel-shaped forms, but there was no shot to be taken as I knew knew there was a screen of Johnson grass between their position and mine. In about 6-7 minutes, though, one of them emerged into a clear lane. The bad news was that this spot was only 5-6 feet from a steep drop-off leading to the creek.
I would have preferred to have waited for a different opportunity, but I knew fawns were bedded in the area the hogs were working and wanted them gone ASAP. The shot was app. 158 yards, and the 120 grain Ballistic Tip -- launched at 2651 fps -- did its job, plowing through both shoulders before exiting.
Looking through the Klassik 3-12x50, I could see a hint of a dark outline just above the grass level, telling me the hog was down on the spot. But when I drove the tractor down there, I saw two large areas of blood and no hog -- and also saw that the hog had been standing closer to the edge of the embankment than I realized. So I drove a few feet closer, turned on the flashlight and shined down into the drop-off. Sure enough, the hog was there and quite dead. Its spasmodic kicking sent it down the steep bank and into the cool, running water.
I chose not to wake anyone up at this hour, and retrieval in the darkness -- and with the degree of difficulty and danger it would involve for someone like me -- was simply out of the question. We were finally able to get the carcass out of there around 8:30 this morning, and while there's a chance the meat would have been OK, I made the decision to err on the side of caution and scrap it. I am saddened that the meat could not be saved, but I know we have lots of hungry buzzards thankful for the bounty.
