Hunt report

It's often a long time between drinks for me these days with a brood of young uns to feed and change so I was looking forward to a hunt when a few weeks ago I managed to arrange an after work visit into one of my favourite spots. I can almost drive right to it and its a great spot for sitting and glassing then moving into range if something is seen. A number of years ago I saw a sika stag on a clearing but was gone by the time i was in range, never the less the sighting has kept me going back over the years, I've never seen another deer there but almost always see or shoot a pig!

On this occasion I spotted a group of pigs come out onto a cutover so I started making my way down to them, through rather steep scrub country I might add. I was still quite a way from where i was trying to get to so not even trying to be quiet and bugger it I got thundering hooves from about 5 metres away, never mind I could barely see 2 metres away anyway and was quite sure it wasn't the pigs I was bearing down on.

I got to the edge of the cutover and sat down in the scrub and sure enough there was one pig rooting away, I could only see the top half and its head as it was in a bit of a depression. I ranged it at 65 metres and it was dead to rights but the wind was in my face so I thought I'd just wait and watch as the pig was working towards me. I was glad I did as out of the depression popped a piglet then another and I was watching the pig which I now knew was a sow and the two piglets get closer and closer. I was seriously pissed off that I had forgotten a camera and even my cellphone with a camera as it wasn't till the sow was about 3 metres in front of me that she saw me, she took off and left the piglets bewilderedly looking at me, they stood there for a couple of minutes before they followed mums grunts from out behind me in the scrub.

I really enjoyed the close encounter and was glad to let them go, they didn't disturb the area and I had seen more than one big pig earlier so again I waited and sure enough three more appeared right on 150 metres rooting their way up a dry stream bed. Again the wind was good and there was plenty of daylight so I waited and watched, secretly hoping they would work their way towards me as well. Anyway they didn't but went out of sight in the stream bed and by then the light was getting low so I snuck in towards them, I got to about 20 metres before we saw each other, one made the mistake of not running immediately so got a bullet through the shoulder.

I got a surprise when it ran/stumbled about 50 metres, I had only recently got a Tikka 308 bushpig and this was actually the first thing other than a few goats i had shot with it. Previously my Ruger 280 was always bang, flop. To be fair the 308 loads were hot hand loads which punched right through the smallish pig compared to mild factory loads in the 280 which almost never exited. The shot was good, right through the centre of one shoulder and out just behind the shoulder blade on the other so it was only running on adrenaline.

The carry out in the dark seemed a lot steeper going up than it was going down but uneventful until about a hundred metres short of the car I got galloping hooves again,typical! I retrieved my phone from the car and got a couple of photos so yes its a bushpig with my bushpig. The pig i got was certainly no monster, but it tasted good and and i was very pleased to have let the (bigger) sow and piglets go.Attachment 15905

Nice one.
Always good when you get the chance to just observe undisturbed animals.
I know the feeling being busy with kids.

Brilliant. Well done

:cool:

Well done fella. Sometimes you learn ten times more when you leave the rifle at home and just watch.;)

Nice report mate You seem to have really enjoyed your self.I also have a brood and slowly but shorly they are able to tag along with me.
All the best.

Good to see someone letting the little ones go, good story and sounds like a primo outing!

nice pig !! nice report!!!