Hello everyone, these are the fruits of my first time hunting another living creature.
We were guarding a pond where we had previously spooked several hogs and had set up post under an oak tree to keep us out of the sun. After sunset the moon was nearly full and shining like a beacon. Around 8:45PM, as we were about to change spots, and trio of hogs came running down the hill behind us. They were covered by some brush patches, so I estimated where the lead hog would emerge and took a shot. It ran around in a circle for 2 or 3 seconds and stopped, I thought I had missed and the hogs were just confused, so I shot again and it dropped immediately. Turns out the first shot went straight through the lungs and broke both shoulder plates and the second shot tore right through the spine at the base of the rib cage. The other two ran back screaming the way they came and I paced the second one and hit her in the gut. Oddly there wasn't much bleeding and no odor whatsoever from either hog. Maybe 3 or 4 seconds after my third shot I shot at the third hog, but by that point it was speeding away something fierce and I don't think I compensated for it enough. I was unable to take a fifth shot as it had disappeared over the horizon of the hill. For my first time hunting anything in my life, 75% accuracy shooting moving targets made me pretty happy. My buddy who was with me shot 8 times... and well.. I am sure most of you can figure out why he didn't hit anything.
Now maybe some of you can help sizing these pigs. I thought they were ~150-180 lbs. and maybe 2-3 years old. However, a friend of mine, who is a well-seasoned hunter, said closer to 250 lbs. They looked like they had more size on them than the friend who was with me; he only weighs about 150 lbs. I weigh more like 185 lbs. The ribs were pretty shabby but the back straps were as delicious and tender as filet mignon after being smoked for 4-5 hours.
We were guarding a pond where we had previously spooked several hogs and had set up post under an oak tree to keep us out of the sun. After sunset the moon was nearly full and shining like a beacon. Around 8:45PM, as we were about to change spots, and trio of hogs came running down the hill behind us. They were covered by some brush patches, so I estimated where the lead hog would emerge and took a shot. It ran around in a circle for 2 or 3 seconds and stopped, I thought I had missed and the hogs were just confused, so I shot again and it dropped immediately. Turns out the first shot went straight through the lungs and broke both shoulder plates and the second shot tore right through the spine at the base of the rib cage. The other two ran back screaming the way they came and I paced the second one and hit her in the gut. Oddly there wasn't much bleeding and no odor whatsoever from either hog. Maybe 3 or 4 seconds after my third shot I shot at the third hog, but by that point it was speeding away something fierce and I don't think I compensated for it enough. I was unable to take a fifth shot as it had disappeared over the horizon of the hill. For my first time hunting anything in my life, 75% accuracy shooting moving targets made me pretty happy. My buddy who was with me shot 8 times... and well.. I am sure most of you can figure out why he didn't hit anything.
Now maybe some of you can help sizing these pigs. I thought they were ~150-180 lbs. and maybe 2-3 years old. However, a friend of mine, who is a well-seasoned hunter, said closer to 250 lbs. They looked like they had more size on them than the friend who was with me; he only weighs about 150 lbs. I weigh more like 185 lbs. The ribs were pretty shabby but the back straps were as delicious and tender as filet mignon after being smoked for 4-5 hours.
