Note the terrain: Tens
of thousands of saplings among the trees, streams, and rocks.
Beautiful and rugged...
Some
weeks ago, I was in a local diner. I met a bud from years back
who loves to hunt. He's been everywhere - done everything. Excellent
bow hunter with a trophy lodge full of mounts. He told me of a
group he'd put together who were going Boar hunting. And ... he
invited me to go! Well, I had to think it over for most of a second
and a half before I gave him a big old stupid grin ...
The small detail of the fact that I
had no rifle crossed my mind briefly ... (I'd sold mine) it would
have to be dealt with ... hummm. As I've explained on the daily
brief, I have pcs. and parts all over the place. I often make
up an extra part which I say is for myself. It will lay there
for a year or two on the shelf and, occasionally; another part
will be added to it (usually for a different rifle ... ha ha).
If I need to develop a process or tooling for a customer's project,
sometimes a prototype part or two will need to be run to test
the process. Thus, I'd accumulated many of the critical parts
of a rifle.
The offer of the hunt came at a welcome
time and was just too good to pass up. The winter has worn on
me this year and many of the small details of the year past pulled
a thread loose here and there. I was ready for a break. So, I
took the break, finished a shooting rifle for the hunt, tested
it, and sighted it in. I got this all done at 11:30 pm the night
before the hunt. I had to get up at 4 am the next morning and
leave.
All pretense of luxury ceased when
the cushy new 4 by 4 I was being hauled in left the asphalt and
engaged about a foot of mud. Progress was steady despite the snow,
and ice. Sudden course corrections took place as the truck would
hit a rut and jerk sideways like a car entering an automated car
wash.
Arriving at the end of the road, we
piled out into the frigid morning. A half sheet of plywood was
unceremoniously dumped onto the ground to stand on and put on
our hunting overlay clothing. Brief instructions were repeated,
verified, and we hit the trails in various directions. Taking
positions a few hundred yards apart, we were soon alone with the
snow squalls, the wind, the ice, the snow, the creaking dead falls,
and the rocks all around.
I sat atop a stump on a rocky outcropping.
The wind found me very quickly there as I watched two game trails.
One about 38 yards and one about 63 yards, according to my laser.
When the first game appeared, it was at a dead run - a string
of about a dozen bristling, snorting, charging Boar - in one heck
of a hurry to be someplace else.
The rifle came up - and a kaleidoscope
of hair, tusks, and hooves thundered by. In seconds, I was alone
with the cold again. Feeling alittle stupid. I surveyed my vantage
point. This will never work. Thousands of little saplings filled
in between the hundreds of trees. The boar charged thru without
the courtesy of a pause between trees. I had the wrong optics
for this situation where no time was available to make adjustments.
Over the next few hours, I witnessed
a couple of different versions of this similar Boar behavior.
Numb and hungry (about half past noon), I wandered back to the
truck. Munched on a smoked turkey sandwich, and pondered my fate
...
Story continues below ...
The hunt was scheduled for 2-21-04.
The location was a game reserve in Pennsylvania. The rest of the
group were bow hunters who had never seen (nor even ever heard)
of a big bore airgun. They know now! ha ha. ;?)
Here's the beast I finished up. A Yukon
58 GS (Grand Slam). I was shooting a 510 grain Barnes slug @ approx.
775 fps. It was well up to the task.
Hunt Story Continues ...
After lunch, I decided to try a different
approach. I hiked up to alittle higher ground and came across
a logging road. I began to slowly walk out the road. There were
wild goats on the property. I'd seem them here and there all morning.
At this moment, a group of them were walking out the same logging
road as I was - up ahead maybe 75 yards. A plan began to form
...
The Boar are probably very familiar
with the goats and hardly spooked by them. If I let them take
the lead, and they run across the herd, I might get a shot where
the Boar are not running full tilt.
The goats knew I was there and kept
hanging back and looking at me. I'd sort of turn my head, absently
humm to myself with an airy whistle thru my teeth, and try to
look like any normal tourist strolling thru a museum. Nothing
to be concerned about ... wshhh ... wwhshhh ... shhh ...
Oddly enough (I mean due to great planning)
our paths did intersect that of the Boar. I could see dark objects
crossing the vertical lines of the saplings maybe 100-120 yards
ahead thru the trees. I crouched down to make my profile less
obvious. The goats were on a rise in the road and that helped
too. I closed the ground some until I felt I could see clearly
down the road for a ways. Kneeled down with my left knee up and
my left elbow atop that. Rifle at the ready. Let's see what comes
out of the woods.
The pigs started to appear and cross.
They milled around just alittle and crossed. I can imagine them
seeing the goats and one of them saying ... "HEY! ... Wait!"
And the lead pig calling back and saying ... "It's just the
GOATS dummy". And the spooky one saying ... "What about
that one in the back ... it's wearing glasses!" And, the
lead pig glances at me, looks back disgustedly at the spooky pig,
and says ... Can't you see those blaze white chin whiskers? ...
it's a GOAT I tell you". And, with that, walks on across
the road - being a scrawny pig - and out of danger.
I knelt there for a few moments, and
after maybe five to seven pigs had passed, here came a fine Boar
trotting along. I got on him thru the scope, followed, and squeezed
off the round. He dropped. Dragged into some nearby brush and
it was soon over. A fine male tusker.
The area was very rugged. Snow, ice,
rocks, logs, and mud made for interesting walking. Funny - these
hunts are always up hill all day! ;?)
It was beautiful out there ...
You see alot of things that bring a
smile too. The Woodpeckers have been real busy here. I saw them
working while I hunted.
Good boots are worth gold ...
Can you believe that one of the hunters
was carrying a hunting knife I'd made about 20 years ago? He'd
never met me - didn't know who this old guy with the white beard
and the popgun was ... something came up about knives and he thought
maybe I'd like to see his hand forged custom knife ... amazing.
Wasn't he surprised!!! ;?)
I wish I'd have had a "Pause"
button out there in the woods. Oh ... by the way - you realize
you are looking at about 10 wild Boar here?
The camera stopped them and brought
them closer in this pic. When we'd see them, they were charging
down trails through the rocks and trees ... a thundering blurr
behind obstacles. Try to get a scope on that once!! ha ha.
On previous Boar hunts (different location),
the woods had been more open and there were grassy meadows, etc.
Here, you'd catch a flash of the little buffalo charging through
the trees. I had the incorrect optical set-up for this situation.
(Much more about that later).
Still, I bagged a fine Boar tusker.
As with previous stories ... and in
an attempt to not surprise those who'd rather not see where the
lead went after it left the muzzle, you decide and click over
the traditional successful hunt pose pic.