I had to spend most of the day running all over the county doing errands, but I was home by 3 pm which left me just enough time to get to the duck farm for a late afternoon G-hog hunt. I decided this hunt would be strictly for G-hogs, so I grabbed the RWS 350 Magnum .22, a pellet pouch full of RWS SHP's and headed for the farm.
Parked in my usual spot, loaded the gun and started out walking slowly through a small field of waste high grass. I was planning to cross the field and head over to the woods that border the farm, where I would start my still hunt around the farm perimeter, but I only got 1/2 way through the field before I saw my first G-hog. It was a medium sized one and he was busily feeding on grass in a small section of the field where it appeared the grass had been cut down recently. I started to make a stalk on him in the grass but he busted me within about a minute and dove into his burrow. At least I knew where the location of another G-hog to hunt in the future.
I made my way to the tree line and slowly started my still hunt around the farm edge. After about 30 minutes I came to a large barn and decided to walk through the barn and see if I could find any targets inside. This barn has a couple of G-hogs that actually built their burrows inside the barn underneath some old farm equipment that looks like it hasn't been moved for about 10 years. I slowly made my way through the barn but saw nothing.
I walked over to one of the large sliding doors to the barn, which was open and decided to use my binoculars to glass the tree line and grain feeders which were opposite me on the west end of the farm. As I was glassing the wire duck pen fencing at the tree line I suddenly saw a large G-hog emerge from the thick brush near the pen fence and proceed to climb over the fence. I watched him as he made his was about 30 yards to an area where there was a thick growth of large thick stalked vegetation. He made it to the vegetation and started standing up on his hind feet and pulling leaves off the plants to eat. At this point he was about 75 yards away from me with nothing between us but open field. I was trying to figure out a way to stalk close enough for a shot but with all that open field there was just no way to close the gap without being spotted.
I decided to keep watching the G-hog just in case he moved to a location that might be more conducive to a stalk, so I moved out of the barn door and quickly made my way to one of 4 grain feeders that were 10 yards away from the barn. Using one of the feeders for cover I kept watching the G-hog as he fed, but there was still no way to stalk him without being seen. As I watched him the G-hog suddenly did something that solved my problems,,,, he started coming to me :)
It was amazing,,,, he stopped feeding, left the thick vegetation and walked over to the man made stream that runs through the middle of the duck pens. When he got to water he stopped, looked around real good and then waded in and waddled across the 15 foot wide shallow stream. He emerged from the water and was walking straight for me. I knew instantly what he was doing,,,, he was heading for the grain feeders I was hiding among. Seems this G-hog had a hankering for some delicious duck grain and he was willing to cross 75 yards of open territory to get it. There were actually 4 other grain feeders that were much closer to him, but there were several hundred ducks clustered around those feeders and I think all those ducks made the G-hog hesitant to feed there.
I figured he'd head for the closest feeder to him out of the 4 feeders I was hiding among so I set the AO on the Leapers 4x16x50 scope for 10 yards, set the scope magnification at 9 power and waited. I lost sight of the G-hog for a minute or two as he entered a low spot in the terrain, but he emerged right where I figured he would and he ran right up to the grain feeder and started filling his face with grain. I knew I'd have to aim a bit low due to the close range so I put the crosshairs on his eye, moved it down a bit and pulled the trigger. WHAM, heard the pellet hit, but I had aimed a little to low and it struck him high in the neck. He was hit hard and shuddered for a second and rolled over, but as I loaded another pellet he gathered his strength and stared moving back down the hill in an effort to get back to the tree line and safety.
I finished loading the pellet, closed the barrel and took off after the G-hog in an attempt to get between him and the woods. He was bleeding pretty good, and he was hurt bad, but he was still moving. I managed to get between him and the woods and he suddenly realized his escape was cut off. He made a hard left turn and started waddling back up the hill and I suddenly saw what he was trying to reach,,,,, it was a large water pipe lying on the grass about 20 yards away. I quickly ran after the G-hog and reached him just as he dove head first into the round opening of the pipe, but there was only one problem,,,,, he was to fat to fit in the hole and got stuck half way in. When I got there all I saw was the back 1/2 of the G-hog wriggling frantically trying to fit inside the pipe. I reached down, grabbed him by the tail and in one motion yanked him out of the pipe and tossed him onto the ground about 10 feet from the pipe. By the time the G-hog got up on all 4 legs and spun around it was to late,,,, I already had the crosshairs on his head and pulled the trigger. The RWS SHP slammed home, the G-hog dropped, did the death quiver and died.
This was without a doubt the strangest G-hog hunt I've ever had. I took my dinner back to the truck, layed him in the shade and went back on the hunt. I hunted for another 2 hours and did see 6 more G-hogs, but never got a shot at any of em. Called it a day, returned home, cleaned the G-hog and me and the youngest daughter had fried G-hog for dinner. I took some pics at the farm prior to heading home and then had my daugher take a couple of me and at home proudly holding the hardest earned G-hog I've ever gotten.
Jeff
