I haven't been doing any shooting at the duck farm lately, been to busy with work, doctors appointments and what seems like 1,000 other things that have just kept me from going pest hunting, but today I made up my mind I was going and I did :)
I didn't know if I wanted to go for birds or G-hogs, but when I opened up the gun safe and saw my beautiful .22 Talon standing there I instantly knew I was going G-hog huntin :) Gently took the Talon from the gun safe, grabbed the CPH's she likes so much, put my hunting vest on and headed out to the truck. A few minutes later I was pulling into the duck farm and my first thought was that I should have loaded up for birds,,,,,,, there were starlings everywhere I looked. They were in the trees, on the ground, all over the feeders,, they were everywhere.. As I watched a flock of starlings feeding in the field across from my truck I suddenly saw a brown furry object moving in the grass,,, yup, it was a G-hog alright,,,, except he saw me first and scurried off to his burrow which was about 50 yards away under some old wood. Seeing the G-hog got my mind off the birds and back into hunt mode, so I loaded a CPH and headed off to find dinner :)
I slowly walked the perimeter of the farm, constantly scanning the fields and woods for any movement and it only took about 10 minutes to find my first G-hog. It was a young one that was feeding greedily in an unused duck pen that was covered with thick green new grass. He was about 100 yards away from me. There was excellent cover between me and the hog, some thick bunches of trees and 1/2 a dozen large wooden grain feeders, so I kept the cover between us as I slowly made my way to a shooting position. After 15 minutes of stalking I was 50 yards from the G-hog, who was still stuffing his face with grass. There was a large dirt mound directly between us so I waited until he was facing the opposite direction and quickly took a few steps, working my way to base of the mound. The distance was now 45 yards, the G-hog didn't know I was there,,,,, I was ready. I knelt down, put the crosshairs on his head, took a breath and pulled the trigger. The Talon fired and through the scope I saw the G-hog slump down on his belly and start quivering. I loaded another pellet and approached quickly, ready to fire another pellet if needed, but the G-hog was down for good. A good solid hit right in the side of the head with blood pouring out. I put the G-hog in my game pouch and headed off to find another one....
I worked my way around the farm for the next 2 hours, keeping in the shadows and hugging the tree line the entire time. I spotted 6 more G-hogs and attempted stalks on each of them, but each time I got busted before I could get off a shot. As I walked through one field I even had 2 tiny baby G-hogs come running out of the grass and literally stop right at my feet. They just stood there staring at me for about 15 seconds before it registered in their tiny little brains what a dangerous predicament they were in. They were so little and cute there's no way I could bring myself to shoot them, I wish I had had my camera with me,,,, woulda been a great shot :) They finally dashed away into the grass and disappeared. It was getting really hot so I decided to work my way back towards my truck. As I was slowly creeping along the side of a barn I suddenly saw another young G-hog climb over the duck pen chicken wire fence and start to head for one of the feeders. I stopped, shouldered the Talon and took aim, distance was 35 yards. The young G-hog sensed danger and stopped to look around,,,, just what I was waiting for. The Talon fired and the G-hog instantly shuddered a few times and then rolled onto his back. Another solid head shot :) no second shot was required, the young hog was down for good. I retrieved my kill and headed back to the truck so I could get home and take some pics for my GTA buddies :)
As I was driving out of the farm I saw 3 more G-hogs coming out to feed but I already had enough for dinner so I just kept going. With all the G-hogs I saw today, as well as all the new burrow sites I found, it's apparent that the G-hogs on the farm had a very good year with respect to reproduction. I'm gonna have to make it a point to spend more time hunting G-hogs in the coming weeks,,,, the farm owners like me to keep them down to a manageable level. Anyway,,, hope ya like the pics.....
Jeff
