Today was another hot, humid day but after getting the lawns mowed I packed up the .22 CFX, a handful of Beeman FTS pellets and headed for the duck farm. Pulled into my usual spot just in time to see a large G-hog munching on grass not 20 yards from my parking spot, but of course he beat feet back into the tall grass and he was gone. Oh well, if there's one there's more, so I headed off lookin for dinner.
Started working my way around the farm perimeter like I usually do, staying in the shade, and as I approached a small overgrown field I saw a medium sized G-hog having dinner in the middle of the field. There wasn't any cover between us except some very thick, waist high grass so I decided to give it a shot. I crouched down and began my stalk. The G-hog was very nervous and alert and kept standing up to look around for danger, but after 20 minutes I was finally within 30 yards and had a good clean shot. I poked my head up above the grass and started to shoulder the rifle when all of a sudden a large red tailed hawk buzzed the field and let out a loud call. The G-hog reacted by immediately hauling his butt as fast as he could to his burrow, which was 20 yards away, and down he went. Well, at least I got to watch that beautiful hawk gracefully swoop across the field, it was awesome !! I set out again looking for another potential target.
I walked down the dirt road to the other duck farm, where the breeder ducks are kept, planning on popping some starlings. For some reason there are always starlings at this farm even when there's none at the main farm, although I'm not sure why. Anyway, I was looking for starlings and not really paying attention to the ground so when I walked past a large metal storage box I was surprised to suddenly see a large G-hog not more than 10 yards away, his face buried in a grain feeder . As quietly as I could I set the AO on the Golden Antler to the lowest setting and then cranked the magnification from 9 down to 4. The G-hog still hadn't noticed me so I shouldered the rifle. At the same time the G-hog pulled his grain covered face out of the feeder and looked over his shoulder right at me. I already had the crosshairs on this head so I pulled the trigger. At the firing of the gun the G-hog took off running, climbed over the duck pen fence and was gone. When I shot I had to shoot through the wire fencing of the duck pen and apparently luck was against me and the pellet wound up hitting the fence. I stayed at the breeder farm for another 30 minutes and did nail 2 starlings at 40 yards as they perched on an old telephone pole, but didn't see any more G-hogs so I returned to the main farm.
As I was glassing the main farm with my binoculars I suddenly saw a G-hog emerge from the thick brush at the far end of the farm, climb the duck pen fencing and waddle over to a grain feeder. I watched as he walked up to the feeder and proceeded to disappear as he actually climbed inside the feeder. At this point he was about 300 yards away, but I had plenty of cover to make my approach. Using grain feeders and farm buildings as cover I worked my way to an old storage shed that was 35 yards from the grain feeder the G-hog was inside of. I set up in a small opening in the shed and waited. Didn't take long,,,, within 10 minutes the G-hog poked his head out to look around and I sent a Beeman FTS on its way. Heard the pellet strike him in the side of the head and he went down hard. I loaded another pellet and ran up to the feeder. The G-hog was laying there doing the "death boogie" but he quickly expired. Grabbed my trophy and hiked back to the truck. Took some pics when I got home. In one pic you can see where the pellet struck him right between the eye and ear. He was a young G-hog, but he'll be nice and tender :)
Jeff
