GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : only1harry June 15, 2010, 08:11:35 AM
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finally met its family it never knew in the animal afterworld over the weekend :)
I had a feeling it would cross the street and find my tool shed irresistible, hehe. It made the fatal mistake last Thursday or Friday and crossed the road to settle in under my beautiful shed. I couldn't post because of the obvious problems with the GTA site.
After a very long day at work on Friday I made my rounds around 6-6:30pm checking the yard for any signs of the fury ground dwellers as I do almost every day. I have been working from home lately so I 've been checking for activity about every 1hr or so. To my surprise there was the G-hog from across the street about 6-7ft from the tool shed! I recognized it because I have been watching it since last summer since it was little on the front lawn of the house directly across from mine.
The G-hog was feeding fast and was stopping very briefly putting its head up only for 2secs to look around and back to eating. It made a turn and started making its way towards the back of the properly away from me. With its back turned to me and getting farther away I took that opportunity to slide the squeaky window up. Luckily I had used Balistol on it a week or more ago when I took that other G-hog so it didn't make a lot of noise. I did it so that only my arms were exposed and kept my body behind the wall out of sight. I waited 30-40 secs and then took a peek and it was still out there about 27-28yds out.
I got the Condor .25 out of the hard case and loaded a 25.4gr JSB King. Got into position but a few minutes later I still had no shot because it just wouldn't stop moving and only put its head up for 1-2secs. I decided I would try to shoot it with its head down while feeding because when it put its head up it was very unpredictable whether it would keep it up for 1sec or 2secs and I had not had a good broadside shot when it did that. It had started coming back after having gone out to 30yds or so and it was now around 26yds out. It was walking in a zig-zag pattern but finally it ended up 1/2 broadside and I took the shot as it put its head down after looking around. That was one time when it didn't move a lot as it was taking that first bite of grass. Upon impact the G-hog dropped on its stomach and its tail went up in the air, which is typical when they are fataly shot. I was aiming between the eye and ear and made a pretty good shot while the G-hogs head was moving up & down a little, if I may say :) The tail stayed straight up in the air a good 5-6 secs and then started coming down very slowly. Like slo-mo I watched its black tail ever so slowly go back down. It took approximately 20-25secs for the tail to touch the ground while the G-hog never moved after the shot. I had 1 or 2 other G-hogs that took a very long time for their tail to "land" again. They are actually dead way before their tail goes back down.
It was an average 1+yr old mature male G-hog weighing 8.8lbs, which is almost as much as the gun itself. The JSB had entered between eye & ear, closer to ear where I was aiming, but because of the angle there was no exit wound. The pellet had traveled back towards the neck and shoulder. It kind of surprised me because I chronied the gun an hour after the kill, and it read 1061fps. It must have hit the shoulder bone or spine and came to a stop before exiting. If think if it were a Kodiak it would have exited being that it's pointier, harder, and carries 8fpe more.
Well I already miss the hairy buggers. It's been very quiet the last few days and I doubt I will see another for a while. It's been fun and exciting ridding the neighborhood of these destructive critters the last few years. I think this was #75, give or take 1-2 8)
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Great account of you yard hunt Harry along with some great shooting and pic's. Every time that I see yours and Jeff's G-hog hunt's it makes me want to drop one even more. Ed
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Great hunt, shot and pic Harry.... It doesn't get any better than that. Must make you feel really good to finally nail that hog after having to just sit there and watch him for so long when he lived across the street LOL
Another great hunt Harry.... and I think you're going to get another "tenant" under that shed before you know it :)
Jeff
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Thanks Ed and Jeff. I finally got him! hehehe. But only because he decided the grass was greener on the other side :)
I 've had a hek of a day today. I got a Grackle in the morning, then a chipmunk and a sparrow in the afternoon. Can't complain, but they all fell in areas where there was poison ivy or very close to it so I didn't feel like putting on pants in this heat and going looking for them. I can see the dead Grackle but I can't see the other 2 but I know they 're gonners. The Grackle was bullying a squirrel! I couldn't believe it. It walked within 14" of it. The squirrel did one or 2 mock attacks from the base of the tree but the Grackle kept coming. The squirrel was too young (smallish and skinny) to teach that Grackle a lesson. The Grackle was distracted with the squirrel, so I had a chance to shoot it while it was on the ground. Dropped it with the 850 with one shot as I did with the chipmunk and English sparrow. All were between 22-24yds out.
I also got a little surprise today. The G-hog I shot in this post left me a couple of presents :)
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Nice shooting Harry! a real mix of fur and feather there! Glad to see you get a GHog fix too!
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Nice shooting Harry!
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Presents as in little furry g-hogs ???? :)
Jeff
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nice shooting
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Thanks guys.
You got it Dave, I had to get my G-hog fix. In the summer time I get G-hog fever, hehehe. I have been shooting them since '00 or '01. I am addicted to them :)
Jeff is the winner! I guess maybe it was a female I shot last Friday. Here are pics from today of the young twins with the camera zoom on 16x. They were about 27yds out. They move around much faster than the adult ones and stay out a lot longer because they are inexperienced. These guys stayed out for over an hour from 2:45 to almost 4pm, and you could clearly see their stomachs getting bigger. My son had just arrived from school and the wife was home too so I didn't try anything.
I was still good from Friday's "fix", so I didn't feel the need to run for a gun so I grabbed the camera instead. I must admit it got harder for me after watching them for about 20-30min. I left the window and returned 1/2hr later and they were still there. That is when the cold sweat and the shakes started, hehehe. That's ok I got all week :)
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Very nice shooting! I haven't seen any lately here.
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Great pics, good work on the G-Hog termination.
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Thanks guys, I am getting ready to take out one of the young ones this G-hog left behind. I can't hold out any longer! 8)
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Don't do it Harry !!!!! Give them a "free pass" for awhile so they can lure more hogs to your yard, breed and make even more furry targets for ya...... Besides,,,, you can't shoot g-hogs as young and stupid as them ,,,, give em a chance to grow a bit and become a challenge. You'll enjoy hunting them much more that way :)
Jeff
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Harry, excellent shot at that G-Hog. Wow...the powerful .25 Condor really messed him/her up. And a head-shot...no chance for it.
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Thanks Stanley.
Jeff,
I wish I could do that!! I really do. You don't understand.. I see a G-hog and all I want to do is shoot it in the head - very badly. It's worse than wanting to smoke a cigarette I tell you.. hehehe.
I would love nothing better but to leave them alone and let them breed, but that won't happen until next year because they won't reach maturity until next Spring. I know I won't last 5 days looking at them roaming freely on my property before I put lead through their head. They are not that stupid though :) They do run down the hole and hide when a car goes by, or when my wife went outside a couple of times to do her gardening. They do delay slightly and come right back out again after hiding, so they are no where near as cautious as an adult. Not too challenging, but I wish I could help not shooting them. That's all I have to say.
It's a psychological thing. I need help.. for real. Is there a G-hog or Hunters Anonymous I could go to? Like an HAA? :o 8) I don't think it's funny..
Honestly though, could you last the hole summer just watching 2 G-hogs on your lawn until October? If I knew they would breed at 5mos old like in August, I would try really hard, but I 'm pretty sure they won't be mature enough to breed until next March-April. What if they are both male? I 'm just looking for excuses :)
PS.
It's too late anyway :)
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Well,,, you do have a good point Harry about them being to young to breed until next year,,,,, and there is 2 of them :) so how bout this....... pop one and let the other one hang around as a live decoy :)
JEff
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Already done Jeff :)
I will keep the other one alive for as long as I can, and maybe it can attract another one to have a friendship with :)
The length of time of which I can hold out without shooting it, may not be longer than a week though. I am really putting myself to the test now, hehehe.
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Go spray the yard down with "Hog In Heat". Use the hole dang bottle. You might get them breading faster than they thought hey could. You will have them so "happy" that they will be chasing cats, small dogs and squirrels around the yard to mate.
Great shooting, pics and story. Hey, keep that camera ready after spaying the yard down. You could start a new mag for the other hogs to draw them in. Hogler, Playhog or something like that.
Ok, I better stop. Im pushing my limits here.