GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter June 03, 2008, 02:21:43 AM
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Around 3 pm yesterday I decided to grab an air rifle and head for the duck farm, but what rifle to take. The temperature was 78 degrees according to the dashboard of my truck so I thought I'd go C02 :) I opened up the gun safe and grabbed the Flying Dragon tuned QB-78D .177 and a container of CPL's. I figured I'd do a bird hunt this trip and let the G-hogs rest for awhile.
I got to the farm and saw plenty of starlings and pigeons,,,, just had to find a good spot. While I was walking past one of the barns I saw a white pigeon roosted up on the barn roof. Distance was 25 yards. Pulled the trigger and immediately saw a puff of white feathers and heard the "POP" of pellet striking feathers. First bird of the day down :)
I roamed around the farm for about an hour but just couldn't seem to find a good sniping location with enough birds to make the shooting consistent. There were plenty of birds but they wouldn't stay at any single grain feeder for more than a few minutes, for some reason they kept moving from one feeder to another... Finally I just decided to head straight for the huge mullberry tree at the south end of the farm, set up a shooting position concealed in the bushes and wait em out.
I set up my folding backpack seat in the high grass and bushes and with the camo I was wearing I was not easy to spot. I picked off 2 starlings from the tree when I suddenly saw a flock of pigeons land at a grain feeder that was 45 yards away. The flock had about 30 birds in it and there were a couple of nice sized birds. I know the distance to that feeder is 45 yards, having paced it before, and I figured I'd take a shot one of the fatter pigeons if I got a shot. I only had one shooting window through the bushes to that feeder so I had to wait for a bird to walk into just the right spot. I leaned the rifle on a conveniently placed tree branch and waited. Finally a nice dark colored bird stepped into view in the scope. I put the crosshairs on him, raised the rifle up and placed the 3rd mildot on his chest and fired. At the shot the entire flock took flight,,,, all except one bird that is :) the bird I shot at was lying on the ground flopping around. I loaded another pellet, left my blind and headed for the bird. By the I got there it was all over,,,, so I picked up my trophy and headed back to the blind. I wound up getting 3 more starlings from my blind but then the birds stopped showing up so I decided to slowly hunt my way back to the truck and look for targets of opportunity.
As I was slowly hunting my way back to the truck I saw a medium sized G-hog feeding in high grass near the woods that border the farm. He hadn't seen me so I figured I'd try a stalk on him and see how close I could get. Well,,, I didn't get very close as he spotted me and headed for the safety of his burrow. I walked up to where he had disappeared into the bushes so I could find his burrow for a future hunt. As I was standing there looking in the bushes for his burrow I suddenly spotted another G-hog about 50 yards ahead of me. He was a medium sized hog and was standing in thick grass munching away happily. He didn't know I was there so I decided to try another stalk. I decided that if I could get close, really close, I'd take a shot on him with the QB,, but it would have to be close.
I started my stalk. When the G-hog was facing towards me I'd freeze right where I was. Every time he turned away I'd take another step or two closer to him. I also took advantage of the cover provided by a cluster of tree limbs that were hanging down and almost touching the ground. I kept these limbs between me and the G-hog at all times as I moved. If I could reach the limbs and the G-hog stayed where he was then I'd be about 10 yards from him. I figured this was too good to hope for but I'd try. Well, after 30 minutes of taking a step at a time I finally reached those low limbs but just as I did the G-hog went down on all fours and I could no longer see him. I figured for sure he must've sensed my presence and was retreating, but to do that he would have to run to the woods and I would see him run by, but that didn't happen. I stood there for about 5 minutes assessing the situation when off in the distance I heard a car horn blow. At the sound the G-hog stands up again in the tall grass,,,, he hadn't run off he just moved about 10 feet to his right. Distance from him to me was 10 yards. As he was looking in the direction of the car horn I put the crosshairs on the back of his head, in between his ears, and pulled the trigger. Heard the "POP" and the G-hog flopped forward. When I got to him he was laying there with a steady stream of blood pouring from his nose.
I picked up my C02 trophy and headed back to the truck. Took some pics when I got home, hope ya like em.......
Jeff
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Thank you for another enjoyable hunt, Jeff. I've been too busy to get out much lately and your hunts, help alot.
Mike
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Great story Jeff!!, and thanks for the nice pics. Sure wish i had n duckfarm nearby to hunt on, you lucky o'll Hunter
JOHAN
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Good Hunting my friend, and as alway's you never seem to come away empty handed, even just the hunt alone is great. Thank's for sharing your hunt adventures buddy and great pic's. Ed
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That's a medium sized g-hog? :O
That thing looks huge!! I didn't know a .177 could take out game that big. I thought rabbits were about as big as it gets for .177 rifles. I learn something new everytime I visit here. This place is great!
Great story and great pics!
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I've taken quite a few G-hogs with my .177 rifles, but in each case I made sure the distance was right and I had a perfect head shot. I prefer to hunt them with my .22 rifles, but if the conditions are just right I'll confidently take a shot at one with my .177's.
As for this G-hog, he really is just a medium sized one. I've taken em much bigger than this :)
This one is resting comfortably in the freezer waiting to be made into G-hog pot roast :)
Jeff
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You have to post some pics of big ones!! I thought this one was a monster, now I'm just itching to see a real big one :D
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I've posted quite a few pics of my kills,,,, if you do a search you should be able to find a bigger one than that :)
Jeff
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http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4107&posts=17&highlight=g-hog&highlightmode=1#M28372
The g-hog in that post is huge!! Do you remember how much it weighed?
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Wonderful account of your hunt Jeff. Your stalking skills are a credit to airgun hunters. Great photos to match!
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Thanks Stephanie.......
Daniel,,,, I do remember that G-hog very well, he was a fat one :) but I don't remember weighing him. All I know is my arm got tired carrying him back to my truck :)
Jeff
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I need to move out to your area!! I've never had g-hog, but I really want to try one and getting a g-hog like that to try out would be awesome!
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I've always wanted to get out to your area to shoot,,,, every time I see a post from one of the CA guys shooting those magnificent HUGE jack rabbits that your state has I get instantly jealous :)
I have plenty of rabbits around here but they aint as big as your !!
Jeff
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How about we trade places for a week? You take all the rabbits near my house, and I take all the g-hogs at the duck farm! I really want to try out g-hog stew, bbq g-hog, bacon wrapped fried g-hog, etc. etc. etc.
Yes, my fetish with bacon is growing after you told me about wrapping dove in bacon :D
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Ah, another bacon addict :)
Everything taste better with bacon :) Glad that dove recipe worked out for ya....
Jeff
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I always thought bacon was only good on burgers, sandwiches, and with breakfast. Boy was I wrong! Bacon has become a big part in all my cooking.
My mom and girlfriend want to make a trip to NY just to check out that state. Do you know the laws on shipping an airgun out there? I might have to see about getting my first g-hog when they go!
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There are a couple of cities in the state that prohibit having air rifles shipped, New York City of course being one of them,,, but the rest of the state has no problem with it. You'd have to check the local laws for the exact city or town that you wanted to have it shipped to.....
\Jeff
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Nice shooting with a CO2 Jeff!! Way to stalk within 10yds!! Dang.. that was awesome. Great shot on the pigeons too. I 'm looking forward to getting an adult g-hog with my 850 .22 on a nice warm day.
Hey are you and I competing for the most g-hogs taken this year? :-) I 'm sure there will be no competition since you have large farms and woods to work with and I have less than 1 acre :)
Daniel:
Some of the very large male g-hogs that have been around for a while and can feed without being harrassed for longer periods of time, can weigh close to 20lbs. Here is one of the bigger males I got early in the spring.. and he just came out of hybernation! My arm got tired quickly carrying him just 30yds. He usually hung out at the neighbors so he wasn't under any real thread for years.. until he made the mistake to cross over to my property to check out some of the "abandoned" burrows that other dead g-hogs left behind :) He was at least 5lbs heavier than the female I got a couple of days ago - (2nd link). She was skinnier and a couple of inches shorter. I took her with a .177 36 (same as 34) but the 1st one was with a .22 and it took a while to recover him as I was using open sights and the shot wasn't perfect.
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=7706&mid=55497#M55497
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=8554&posts=7#M62199
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I need to get out to NY with my guns. I completely forgot to make a post about my new rifle. I picked up the Crosman Phantom Shooter's Kit from Bass Pro Shops. It was the same price as the regular Phantom, but it looked A LOT nicer and had some nice little goodies with it. I'm planning on going to visit my uncle soon since he's having rabbit problems in his garden. That's where I'll test out my new gun. I sure would love to use it on some g-hogs though!