Thanks guys!! Just woke up from much needed sleep. The guy on right of pic is second guide groover (i think) Daniel was taking pic.
Well, here goes. Me & a brave few ventured out Friday eve in the downpouring rain, lightning & wind. The smarter ones stayed back at camp. :lol: We still hunted & nothing sighted. Before getting back to truck I discharged my White Super 91 so I could start with a fresh charge on Saturday. I was totally soaked to the ass (so to speak :lol: ) even with rain gear on. The wind was making those off & on windswept rain almost unbearable. I was amazed my White even fired.
Saturday morning I hunted from treestand down near pond & saw 1 turkey, 2 squirrels & clint sneaking by twice. :lol: Since I had to leave yesterday Daniel & second guide(groover i think) said they would take me out with the hounds in the PM. Yesterday (Sunday was a total hound hunt i think).
We drove in on large ridge above pond & Daniel put the hounds out & they took off like a bat out of hell. In about 1/2 hour after driving in deeper we could hear them. Daniel could tell by barking sound they had some bayed-up. We headed towards dogs on foot (about 3 hundred or so yards away. Wind was in our face & daniel said things look good. We moved in slowly & about 40-50 yards I could see several Hogs behind a blow down moving around with dogs circling. Tough to pick one out to shoot. They finally I saw a LARGE HOG standing in some thick brush besides the blow down. Not too thick to shoot. I steadied up against a tree & centered those Leupold crosshairs exactly where I've been practicing to shoot. I slowly squeezed off and
POP the unmistakable sound of just the primer popping!!! The Hogs took off down the mountain & all I could say was F@#*. Both Guides had a sick lookin smile (i think) on their faces & not sure whut my expression was. :lol: Daniel said put a nuther No.11 in & see if gun fires. I did and WHOOMMM!!! All I can surmise is that some moisture worked it way back into plug fire channel. I did ck with lite before loading & hole was clear. I should of completely tore gun down but felt that since it discharged Friday eve at end of hunt it would be ok.
Oh well, speedloader quickly had gun reloaded & we were off again chasing the hogs. We went down the mountain & finally caught up with dogs baying-up for second time. Ran into Bob Bowers(Super 91) & company near the dogs/hogs. They already had one or 2 in their sights but pulled back since they knew I was leaving for home early Sunday morn & this was my last chance. What a fine group of sportsmen!!!!
The hogs were ducking in & out of the thick laurel with dogs circling in & around . Finally I could pick out a Hog to shoot. About 40 yards max. I shot offhand squeezed off & Whoommm!!! Hog went down like a sack of potatoes. Then in a second or 2 it was back up on all 4's squeellin like hell & sorta anglin up towards Bowers but then turned running off to my right. I didnt have any time to reload so pulled my 45 out and shot 2 at its ass just trying to stop it. I wasnt lookin for a textbook shot at this point of my endeavor to say the least. The hog disappeared and we found blood everywhere & the dogs took off thru the thick stuff trailing it. I couldnt believe my eyes that a .504 460 No Excuse bullet hit didnt plant the hog!!!!
Daniel, grover & myself got on the blood trail...Daniel said he's bleedin good & wont go far. Wrong!! We trailed hog for about a 1/2 hour (heavy blood trail) for approx 3-4 hundred yards down over an embankment at the dammed up creek. Daniel yelled ....he's in the water!!! About that time I could see the hog (only see the head...looked like a hippo head :lol: ) & the dogs swimming around barkin, splashing & all Hell breakin loose. Daniel yelled shoot before he gets out of the water up into the thick laurel. Finally I could get a clear shot and shot & the hog was actually drilled that hard it was pushed across the water with water going up in the air like a valcano. Daniel said....YOU GOT HIM!!! Groover went in the water up to his ass & drug the hog out on the bank. ( Noticed he had hip boots on Yesterday morning :lol: ). Part of the Hogs one rear leg was chewed up from dog fights but butcher said very lil meat was damaged. One tough Hog for sure!! :lol:
Thats it. I thought this Hog Hunt would be easier than last years but one never knows. Think I'll get one of those lil .451's like Mehlig brags about. They dont travel quite as far as my .504 hit hogs. My first shot was high in the shoulder & the butcher couldnt believe the hog went anywhere. He showed me the backbone & it was actually severed /partially ground up by my first shot. The water shot was square in the boiler room at about 10 or less yards. I threw up & all I could see in scope was was Hog, dogs, water splashing etc at first & took a while to shoot. Thinking back should of used my 45 but with the Dogs raisin hell in the water & all else that was happening i stayed with the rifle.
Wyatts was closed Sat nite so we took to Lifelike Taxidermy to butcher they dont vac pack but make sausage & do a great job. They even saved the brains & heart for Loggy. Likely Daniel told him to. :lol:
Had a wonderful time with one the best group of guys one would ever want to hunt with!!! Much thanks to Blue Dot (Scott) for putting the hunt together. :yeah:
I look forward to more stories to come!!!
