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Playing Tag With a Pig

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    Playing Tag With a Pig

    This past lease trip, just as I was getting into bed a pig came into a setup with a favorable wind. I couldn’t resist. I loaded up and headed that way. It was lightly drizzling and pitch black. I was able to get into range without issue and had a decent crosswind. The boar was milling around at edges of the light and behind a tree. He popped out a few times but was around 25 yards and not at a great angle. I opted for patience. After a couple of minutes he turned broadside about 22 yards out. I came to full draw and triggered the light on my bow for a little extra illumination. The pin found his shoulder and I wrapped my thumb around release… release breaks and arrow lands with a cracking sound. I see the pig wheel away with the lighted nock sticking out maybe 8”. I backup about 50 yards and set a timer for 5 minutes. The rain is getting heavier and I know my hand is going to be forced.



    I go look for blood at impact, nothing. Not my favorite way to start. I walk to the far side of clearing where I last saw him and there some small flecks of bright red blood. Ok that’s better. A few feet further the back half of my arrow. It looked like I had 18” or so of penetration based on blood on the arrow. Experience tells me he’s dead nearby. Experience did me dirty. I sneak forward another 5 yards putting me into another clearing, I hear the pig standup and shuffle off. So it’s going to be one of those nights. I dropped a gps pin on my phone and high tailed it back to camp. I returned with my dog. The rain was still going and getting worse. When I parked the cart I realized my phone got left in camp. Well time to figure out how good the new Apple Watch is for navigation. I drop a waypoint on the cart and then on the feeder, and then send Bowie after the pig on the end of a long tracking lead. I give him plenty of line as I know this is about to be a chase. The pig had laid down within 50 yards and I know it wasn’t a gut hit, he’s hurt and I want to keep him moving and bleeding. Bowie is having a super easy time following and about 50 yards later I see the pig get up and steady himself. I launch a .40SW round his way from 30 yards one handed while restraining Bowie, who knows might get lucky. Pig shuffles off. Bowie and I take off after him. He heads into some thicker cover. I pull Bowie up short and keep pistol in hand. We ease into thicker stuff, I see the pig standing broadside on the trail 25-30 yards in front of us. I sling another hollow point his way. He disappears to the right. Bowie and I slowly approach the spot where he was and Bowie is instantly confused. It’s where multiple tunnels through the thicket come together. Rain is really coming down now. Bowie tried a path and circles into another clearing. He makes a few circles and appears to have lost the track. It’s getting late, we are soaked and I have to be up at 5am to hunt again. I call it. Now to find out if I can get back to feeder using just my watch. I think I vaguely know where I’m at, well I was totally wrong lol. Fortunately my watch takes me back to the feeder easily. We head back to camp, and I wonder if I just really botched the shot. My immediate reaction had been it was a tad low and forward, but should have been a dead pig in 50 yards. Maybe I saw it wrong in my memory though.



    The next day during my lunch break I needed to run and change the feeder time and dump a bag of corn in it. While doing that I would see if I could spend 10 minutes looking for evidence of the pig. Found him in five minutes probably 20 yards from where we lost sight of him. He had a broadhead hole clean through both shoulders. I just stared at the wound trying to figure it out. He had run about 200 yards with a hole clean through his chest. I have no explanation.



    If it hadn’t been raining I would have given him 30 minutes and I think he’d probably been dead in that first bed. Made for a fun but exhausting night.
    Last edited by Loneaggie; 12-03-2022, 02:04 PM.

    #2

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      #3

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        #4
        Need to be 2" lower & 2" back

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          #5
          Originally posted by cbd10pt View Post
          Need to be 2" lower & 2" back
          2” lower would have been below the body line. This is the exit. The entrance hit his elbow right at the body line and deflected up coming out higher than it went in. I thought it was further forward in the moment, but the actual hit was exactly where I wanted it horizontally.

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            #6
            Nice!

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              #7
              Good shooting Ag.
              Well done.

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                #8
                Originally posted by JuDGe View Post
                Nice!
                Originally posted by Briar Friar View Post
                Good shooting Ag.
                Well done.
                Thanks

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                  #9
                  Nice job. Shooting in the dark, and especially tracking in rain take everything to a new level.


                  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                    #10
                    Great story Matt! And nice write up.

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