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2021 Pig Hunt

npaden

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Messages
4,661
Location
Lubbock, Texas
We met 2 of my nephews at our hunting land on Friday night, one is 30 and the other is 15 and neither had ever been hunting before. I feel a little bad for not taking them out ever before, but they do live 300+ miles away and hadn’t ever really expressed an interest before.

My son and I pulled our travel trailer down there for us to stay in and got it parked just before dark. It was cold for Texas and when I went to start the heater it wouldn’t come on and I went up front and checked the propane tanks and found out I should have checked the propane. I knocked on the tanks and they both sounded empty.

I checked out blanket inventory and called my nephews who were still on their way and between what they were bringing and what we had in the trailer I figured we were good if we slept in our clothes. The weather was up to a 100% chance of snow on Sunday morning so this was going to end up being a one day hunt because I had no desire to pull the trailer home in the snow.

My nephews finally got there a little after 9 and we talked though the morning plans and bundled up and went to bed.

After a pretty awful night of sleep with phones going off, blankets being rearranged, and sharing a bed with my 14 year old son who does a good bit of tossing and turning during the night the alarm went off at 6:15 and we started getting ready. I had everything pretty organized and went ahead and loaded up the RZR with guns, breakfast, and other odds and ends for a morning in the box blind. The boys were pretty good at getting up and getting going when I woke them up a few minutes later and the 36 degree temperature inside the trailer helped get them moving.

The older nephew had his right leg removed at the hip when he was 14 to remove a cancer so I took him to the blind in the RZR. I could have shuttled everyone back and forth but it is only about a 1/4 mile walk and so my son and the younger nephew walked. The older nephew could have walked too, he does amazing on his crutches since he has been on crutches longer than he has been without them but he didn’t turn down the ride either.

We got up on the hill next to the blind and started loading stuff in. I built the blind with the plan of making it big enough to fit several people but small enough to hunt by yourself but 4 people is pushing its limits. By the time we got all the guns and everyone’s packs and stuff in there it was pretty tight. We took a while to get chairs arranged and I was able to get the little buddy heater working in there and by the time we were all setup it was almost shooting light.

It couldn’t have been 5 minutes into shooting light and my older nephew spots movement heading toward the feeder. Sure enough it is a lone pig coming in. It gets to the feeder and it looks like a medium sized boar. I had the younger nephew using our AR-15 and got him setup on it. I had my older nephew setup on my old 7mm Rem Mag and he was backing him up. The pig was broadside and I told them to take him when ready. The AR-15 barks and I hear it hit the pig. It trots for just a couple yards and then slowly walks into some brush. My younger nephew has lost it for a follow up shot but my older nephew has it in his sights and when it comes out of the brush and stops he takes any doubt of it getting away out of the equation with a head shot.

It was around 32 degrees outside and it was still very early so after the excitement wore off we decided to go ahead and leave it lay there and see if anything else showed up.

We ate some bagels and waited and spotted a couple young whitetail bucks come onto the property from about 600 yards off and mozey their way around the property. They made a full loop around the blind but never did go to a feeder. Deer season ended the weekend before so they weren’t on the agenda, but it was nice to see them. We saw 6 more deer just on the other side of our property line as well but that was it for the morning.

Still pretty happy to have a pig down and we talked how they could both say they shot their first pig, it just happened to be the same one!

9976265D-351C-4656-9164-BA24F8A3E313.jpeg

We got the pig taken care of using the gutless method. The first shot was a gut shot and the second was a frontal head shot that ruined some neck meat but not too bad. I did a full dissection for them and we took the ribs and found that the Nosler partition out of the 7mm Mag had got through the head, drove through the spine and hit the heart. That part of the pig was a mess and I spent some time fishing around in there looking for the bullet but with the bits of broken bone I wasn’t able to find it.

I showed them the heart, cut a lung off and blew it up for them, showed them the liver and they were very observant and acted interested anyway.

We ended up with about 40 pounds of meat and we got our gear together and headed back to the trailer.

I decided we had some time to kill and we found out that my protein pellet feeder was empty that morning so I was going to run into town to buy some propane for the trailer and some protein pellets. As I’m taking off the first propane tank I realize that it wasn’t completely empty. I knock around on it and there is propane in it so I hooked it back up and tried the heater again. It didn’t start but whatever the problem it wasn’t lack of propane.

They all decide to ride to town with me to warm up in the truck and we get everything bought, get back to the trailer and get lunch, get the truck hooked back to the trailer and get everything ready to go when we finished hunting that evening. Of course after trying the heater a few more times it fired up and started working still hooked up to the same propane tank that it had been hooked up to the whole time. Oh well, chalk the cold night up to teaching them to deal with a little adversity!

We pulled the cards on a couple trail cameras I had out, filled the protein feeder back up and were back in the blind around 1:30. We prepared for a long sit but with it being cold and overcast with the weather coming in I thought there was a chance to see some daytime action.

Around 3:00 I saw a lone coyote moving through about 250 yards off to the west. I thought it might catch the scent of the pig carcass from that morning, but evil it didn’t and it moved on off. Some more quality time in the blind and I looked though some of the trail camera pictures and saw that a group of pigs had been through 2 days earlier around 6:00 pm so I showed them some of the pictures and we continued to pass the time.

Around 5 I saw some movement about 1/2 mile off to the west off our property and saw a deer, then another and another. Got the spotting scope on them and one was a the wide buck we had trail camera pictures of. He looked even better in person.

The deer were moving around and I was having a hard time following them. We had the windows on the blind closed due to cold and wind so I wasn’t able to get any good pictures through the spotting scope.

While still watching the deer I end up catching a glimpse of a pig heading our way, then another, and another and then it is a group of at least a dozen. I point out where they are and no one else can see them as they are in some thick brush and I’m only seeing parts and pieces of them.

Then the deer all bust out heading our way on the run. I lose track of the pigs and then lose track of the deer in the brush. I’m able to pick up the pigs again about 400 yards out and still coming our way. This time the boys can spot them and you can hear the excitement growing in their voices as pig after pigs comes through the tree line.

We start trying to get setup for an artillery barrage and end up with all 3 boys with guns out the front of the blind. I got setup out the side of the blind on a angle and still had a decent sight window.
 
We were all setup and the pigs had been coming fast and then nothing happened. We watched for what seemed like forever and no pigs were seen. I started to worry a bit and thought they may have gone south through the creek bottom when the youngest nephew who has been having a hard time seeing things all day calls out “here they come!”. They were coming into the feeder on a run! He even got a short video clip of it but I’m not sure I’m able to get it posted.

The excitement level ratcheted up to nuclear and it sounded like they had just finished a 100 yard dash they were breathing so heavy. I told them to calm down, take deep breaths and see if they could hold steady looking through their scopes. The pigs were moving all around and not being very cooperative. After a bit they all said they were good and I asked them if they thought they could handle a count down to shoot all at once. They all said yes. We started calling out which pig we were going to shoot at and they kept moving around making it hard.

They each said they were ready and I started the countdown, 3, 2, 1, fire! and the guns went off! I was the only one that didn’t pull the trigger. 2 pigs were down at the feeder and the rest were scattering like crazy! 3 went my direction and my youngest nephew was in my side of the blind with the AR-15 and following them. They slowed down for a second and I shot one and he shot again but not sure if he hit anything or not.

My older nephew was firing to the left and my son was just watching in amazement as there were pigs going everywhere. There was a call from the left that a pig was down over there and one of the pigs by the feeder was up again so my youngest nephew shot it again and put it down. The pig I shot on the move got up and was running to I shot it again and it was down for good.

The smoke cleared and there were no more pigs in sight. The 7 Mag had fired 3 times, my sons 7mm-08 once, I had fired my .300 WSM twice and the AR-15 fired either 3 or 4 times, we can’t decide exactly. 4 pigs were down that we could see from the blind.

Needless to say there were 3 young men and one old man in the blind pretty much shaking with excitement over what had just gone down. I always worry when I have people over to pig hunt that they won’t cooperate as they seem to be here one day and gone the next but they cooperated very well with us only having one day to hunt and now we had 5 pigs to show for it on the day.

It was only 5:30 and it gets dark at 6:30 right now so we went ahead and grabbed all gear and took it to the trailer and then started working on gathering up the pigs and getting them cut up. We looked around for any signs of wounded pigs that might need tracked down and tried to go over which pigs were shot at and which ones were accounted for. Both my son and I were both 100% confident in the shots we had taken and the pigs that were not laying dead but my nephews weren’t as sure as they had both fired more shots.

We did a quick grid search in the direction the pigs had gone and didn’t see any more pigs or signs that any had been hit. They weren’t confident that there was any more pigs hit and we had a lot of work to do with the pigs we already had on the ground so we gave up the search and got the pigs we had together for a picture.

2B39C508-5DE7-4295-85BE-714EF7E47EA6.jpeg

Each one is behind the pig they shot and mine is the one without anyone behind it.

The ones on the end were both mature sows and the one my youngest nephew shot was a small boar. They were the largest of the group they were in, I know one large sow got away and several medium sized pigs.

My oldest nephew was willing to attempt to cut up the one he shot and I got to work on the others. We were pretty picky on skipping over any shot up parts but ended up with well over 100 pounds of pork to take home. I was very impressed with my nephews first attempt at cutting up an animal and his willingness to give it a try. They were very excited about taking home so much meat and we ended up taking home plenty as well.

Darkness arrived quickly and the winter storm warning was moving up so we got everything packed up and sorted as quickly as possible. We made it home safely just before the snow hit and my nephews made it back home just after midnight.

Overall it was a blast. They were very appreciative and of course want to go again whenever they can.

I’m ready to try some new recipes with pork in the sous vide to see if it makes as big of a difference for it as it does with other wild game. My guess is that it will.

Hope everyone has a blessed 2021!
 
Good times for all. How did the new truck do pulling the camper?

It was pretty amazing. Just set the cruise at 75 and it didn’t even break a sweat. It didn’t get spectacular fuel economy but it did better than the old truck did pulling it at 65.
 
That’s awesome you guys got those and got to have quality family time while taking them out for their first time congrats.
 
I am looking forward to taking my first pig. I’ve had a few opportunities at very close ranges. But the circumstances weren’t right for the shot. Happy hunting!
 
Congrats on a good hunt! I'm sure you already know but pigs can be variable when it comes to the quality of meat. But I have to say a good quality pig (I have my eye on that young boar) is fantastic in the sous vide. Probably some of the best pig I have eaten was a good quality back leg. Cooked at 155 and seared in cast iron. Eating it cold days later it was still delicious.

I haven't done it yet, but next time I cook a roast from a pig that is on the leaner side I'm going to inject it and see how it comes out.
 
Great story. That’s looks like my part of the country. What part of Texas are you in?
 
Congrats. That area will grow on you. I've hunted south of 20 but not north. The area between Sweetwater and Lubbock has always been an area I'd like to hunt.
 
We were all setup and the pigs had been coming fast and then nothing happened. We watched for what seemed like forever and no pigs were seen. I started to worry a bit and thought they may have gone south through the creek bottom when the youngest nephew who has been having a hard time seeing things all day calls out “here they come!”. They were coming into the feeder on a run! He even got a short video clip of it but I’m not sure I’m able to get it posted.

The excitement level ratcheted up to nuclear and it sounded like they had just finished a 100 yard dash they were breathing so heavy. I told them to calm down, take deep breaths and see if they could hold steady looking through their scopes. The pigs were moving all around and not being very cooperative. After a bit they all said they were good and I asked them if they thought they could handle a count down to shoot all at once. They all said yes. We started calling out which pig we were going to shoot at and they kept moving around making it hard.

They each said they were ready and I started the countdown, 3, 2, 1, fire! and the guns went off! I was the only one that didn’t pull the trigger. 2 pigs were down at the feeder and the rest were scattering like crazy! 3 went my direction and my youngest nephew was in my side of the blind with the AR-15 and following them. They slowed down for a second and I shot one and he shot again but not sure if he hit anything or not.

My older nephew was firing to the left and my son was just watching in amazement as there were pigs going everywhere. There was a call from the left that a pig was down over there and one of the pigs by the feeder was up again so my youngest nephew shot it again and put it down. The pig I shot on the move got up and was running to I shot it again and it was down for good.

The smoke cleared and there were no more pigs in sight. The 7 Mag had fired 3 times, my sons 7mm-08 once, I had fired my .300 WSM twice and the AR-15 fired either 3 or 4 times, we can’t decide exactly. 4 pigs were down that we could see from the blind.

Needless to say there were 3 young men and one old man in the blind pretty much shaking with excitement over what had just gone down. I always worry when I have people over to pig hunt that they won’t cooperate as they seem to be here one day and gone the next but they cooperated very well with us only having one day to hunt and now we had 5 pigs to show for it on the day.

It was only 5:30 and it gets dark at 6:30 right now so we went ahead and grabbed all gear and took it to the trailer and then started working on gathering up the pigs and getting them cut up. We looked around for any signs of wounded pigs that might need tracked down and tried to go over which pigs were shot at and which ones were accounted for. Both my son and I were both 100% confident in the shots we had taken and the pigs that were not laying dead but my nephews weren’t as sure as they had both fired more shots.

We did a quick grid search in the direction the pigs had gone and didn’t see any more pigs or signs that any had been hit. They weren’t confident that there was any more pigs hit and we had a lot of work to do with the pigs we already had on the ground so we gave up the search and got the pigs we had together for a picture.

View attachment 169495

Each one is behind the pig they shot and mine is the one without anyone behind it.

The ones on the end were both mature sows and the one my youngest nephew shot was a small boar. They were the largest of the group they were in, I know one large sow got away and several medium sized pigs.

My oldest nephew was willing to attempt to cut up the one he shot and I got to work on the others. We were pretty picky on skipping over any shot up parts but ended up with well over 100 pounds of pork to take home. I was very impressed with my nephews first attempt at cutting up an animal and his willingness to give it a try. They were very excited about taking home so much meat and we ended up taking home plenty as well.

Darkness arrived quickly and the winter storm warning was moving up so we got everything packed up and sorted as quickly as possible. We made it home safely just before the snow hit and my nephews made it back home just after midnight.

Overall it was a blast. They were very appreciative and of course want to go again whenever they can.

I’m ready to try some new recipes with pork in the sous vide to see if it makes as big of a difference for it as it does with other wild game. My guess is that it will.

Hope everyone has a blessed 2021!
What a great story and an awesome experience for you and the boys! Thanks for taking the time to write it up and share it!
 
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