Spotted A G-Hog

[longislandhunter]

After work had nothing to do so I grabbed the Winchester 1000 .177 and headed to the duck farm to see if I could nail a couple of starlings before the sun set.  Well, I did take a few shots at some yellow beaks, but I missed every one.  I wasn't missing them by much cause I did nail a couple in the tail and they flew off squawking, but a miss is a miss. I put out a target at 25 yards and took a couple of shots and found the gun shooting a little to the left.  Perhaps I bumped the scope, who knows, but I moved the POI back over and took a walk.  

Was walking through an open area in one of the pens and suddenly noticed a large brown "blob" in the middle of the field.  The temperature was 45 degrees and there was a little bit of a cold wind so I never thought I'd see a G-hog today, but there he was.  I couldn't even start a stalk as the fat G-hog was looking dead at me.  The game was over before it even began.  

He scrambled back into his newly enlarged burrow, but I know where he lives now so I'll be back.  :)

Guess it's only a matter of time now and the rest of the G-hogs should be coming out to play....   :)

Jeff

[Big_Bill]

Hey Jeff,

Have you fired your Discovery at 45 yard targets yet ? That would sure be nice, to pop that bugger before he thinks he needs to run ! :)

I look forward to your outstanding hunting accounts in the future !

Bill

[longislandhunter]

Hey Bill,

I wound up returning the Discovery, had some accuracy issues that I couldn't resolve to my satisfaction.  Killed me to take it back, I really did love that gun, but what can you do???   I'm thinking about getting a Talon SS,,,, am saving my pennies now,,,, hope to have enough soon......

As for that G-hog,,,,, I may head back tomorrow after work and take up a good sniping position with either the .22 350 magnum or the GAMO 1250 .22 and wait him out :)

Then again,,, maybe I should give the TF-89 .22 a shot at him,, hmmm,,, decisions decisions  :)

Jeff  

[only1harry]

Hey Jeff,
They are extremely skiddish as you know, I think more in the Spring time when they come out of their burrow than any other time.

BTW, I spotted a big one on my property about 30yds out yesterday afteronoon!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was in the high 40's but nice and calm, no wind.  I ran and grabbed the 350 .22.  Put the open sights on his head but hesitated.  He was only 15ft away from a well known hole that I had covered up with a few branches to see if it was an active burrow.  I 've been checking it every day and looked at it that morning as well but nothing had been moved.  So after 30secs of thinking and observing him I decided to go for it.  Was almost ready to squeeze the trigger when someone in the neighborhood started a loan mower or a weed wacker or something, and he spooked.  He stood up looked around and ran towards the back of the house, so then I knew he was using the 2 holes in the back on the hill.  I figure this is a good time to watch and see where he goes.  He paused another couple of times on his way to the hole and looked around very nervously and eventually disappeared behind a large tree about 25yds from the window I was at.  I could have taken him since he was 50-60ft away from his hole and probably would have had plenty of time for a follow up shot if he were wounded and not running full speed.  

I waited for him to come out for another hour or so but it got a little windy and clouds had moved in and was getting late.  I then walked over and found a huge hole behind that tree.  Checked the other 2 holes that were within 20ft of that one on either side and they looked active too because all the branches I had placed on them had been moved aside.  

I may give him a few weeks to mate and reproduce before I take another crack at him but I 'm not sure if it was male or female.  It was very large though but females get pretty big too.  It surprised me too to see one out when it's not even 50deg. out.  It was also pretty cloudy and my grass is not really green yet.  They usually come out on perfect days but he was hungry the way he was munching on my grass like it was his last meal (which could have been) :-)