Long Story
OK, here is the long story.
All this last week, I've been working 14 to 18 hour days grading papers and exams and just looking forward to getting the semester over with. Yesterday, I took my 5 year old daughter Gwyneth out with me to Armadillo Ranch (the name we gave my Father-in-law's 1/2 section out near Mt. Calm, TX because of all of the armadillos we saw the first time we went out there together) to clear some brush, hang a new deer feeder and get some shooting in. I screwed up and didn't take all the tools I needed to assemble the feeder, though. So we just ended up shooting the bb gun together and me shooting my M1A to site it in (last time I went hunting, I missed what I shot at and suspected I had a bad zero on my rifle - confirmed by my shooting yesterday).
So, today I assemble the new feeder in my garage before I headed out and intended to see if I could try out my newly zeroed rifle on some hawgs. Got out to Armadillo Ranch and drove out to the South 40 to hang the new feeder. After crossing the creek and in the middle of the woods, I saw some hogs off in the woods to my left. I stopped the truck and grabbed my rifle, but the hogs had scattered by the time I got out of the truck. I went on and hung the feeder. Then, I went SE across the pasture to the tree/fence line on the E side of the field and worked my way back towards the woods moving from brush patch to brush patch against the wind. The sun wasn't optimal, though, since I as moving W/NW for the most part and it was late afternoon.
Once I got to the woods, I stalked the area where I'd first seen hogs, but came in from the opposite direction from where I'd seen them from my truck, hoping to do a pincer move on them. However, I didn't see any hogs. That ended up being a good thing, though, because I was still facing into the sun for the most part. So, I moved back into the pasture and moved along the edge of the wood until I got to a spot where I could still move into the wind but with the sun more at my side. The brush in this area is pretty thick, so I had to move slowly, especially since there was a lot of dead dry leaves on the ground. I'd wait until the wind picked up a bit so that the sound of the wind in the trees would mask my footfalls and then take a few steps. When the wind would die down, I'd freeze, go low and listen. After a while, I heard some noise in the brush up ahead of me. Working VERY slowly, I worked my probably about 75 yards further on from where I first started hearing noises, then I heard a grunt. I adjusted my sling, took my safety off and started inching my way forward while peering into the brush ahead looking for movement. Then I saw a piglet dart across a path from my left to right. I pulled my rifle up to my shoulder and sited in on two more piglets as they crossed the path. I exhaled and waited for Mom. Sure enough, two more piglets crossed the path and then Mom.
Boom!
Once I shot the first hog, the woods came alive with scurrying hogs. There must have been at least 12 or 14 hogs in this sounder. Right off, I shot another one as it crossed the same path as the others had earlier, then I took a couple of quick steps forward around some heavy brush that was between me and the sounds of scurrying hogs and shot another one that was trying to move into some thick brush to make his escape (the boar in the pic). I shot a few more rounds at some piglets that were scurrying around in a panic, but missed. :-(
I only had seven rounds in a ten round mag, so when I went to give a head shot to the first hog to finish it off, there was only a click. I normally carry a spare magazine, but hadn't this time 'cause I was trying to carry light. Bad idea. Always carry a spare magazine. I'd hit the first one just behind the shoulder but about 2" high of the heart. The second one I hit in the neck just in front of the shoulder. The third I hit in the spine just behind the shoulder. So, all three were down but not dead. Good thing I had my pig sticker with me, because I ended up having to cut the throats of all three to finish them off.
