A Good Rest

Whether plinking or chasing big game, tell us about your day outdoors!
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LowKey
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A Good Rest

Post by LowKey »

My friend called and said feral hogs were again plowing up his property. With no trail cam info yet to pattern their probable time of arrival, I was in the stand before sunset. Hunting feral hogs at night is permissible here.

The location of the torn up landscape suggested hogs were entering from the woods to the north. The meandering wood line 200-400 yards away became the primary focus for scanning. With clear skies and an early rising bright full moon, the view through the binoculars looked like a black & white post card.
Full Moon View.JPG
After a while, large black ant piles that littered the field all began to look like small hogs. Every dark area in the tree line appeared to move. At night, the safety stays on until you're absolutely, positively sure of your target. Finally, a dark blob appeared 350 yards away. Its long straight back and slow movement suggested it might be a cow. It was.

Disappointed at first that it was not a hog, gradually the small black cow gave scale to the other dark apparitions in the distance. Large ant piles now looked like large ant piles.

My friend had proclaimed the property coyote-free since he hadn’t heard their howls in such a long time. Tonight in the distance a coyote pack let their presence be known. Their intense yapping and barking accompanied the crying of another unfortunate animal. Dinner was served for all but one.
Coyotes On Patrol.JPG
While listening to the coyotes, movement to the east caught my eye. 75 yards away, a boar was sniffing the ground as he moved farther to the north. Because the view was partially blocked by tree limbs, I had no shot.

The hog did not spook as I re-positioned 50 yards behind a fence line. The height of the fence post was a little too low for a steady shot, but it would have to do. The hog was now 135 yards away.
What A Hog Looks Like At Night.JPG
With a dark tree line providing no contrast behind the black hog, the red light mounted above the scope would be used. Sometimes the red light caused the hogs to scatter. Tonight the hog remained stationary as I saw the red light's reflection in his eyes.

The low rifle rest, a pounding heart, and more than anticipated excitement all yielded cross hairs that would not steady. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as I pulled the trigger. BOOM! Thunk!

The recoil raised the rifle barrel. When it came down, the hog was gone. But a quick scan with the binoculars showed the 100 lb. hog had fallen where he stood.
Harvested Hog.JPG
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HarryAlonzo
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by HarryAlonzo »

A good night's work!
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Ranch Dog
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by Ranch Dog »

Another fine hunting tale, love it. You offer a great description of fire ant mounds that only one that watches them at night could offer. I don't fear snakes out there at night, I move slower than they do so they get out of my way, but I do fear fire ants as I'm moving slow enough that they have no problem latching on to me by the hundreds!

Watch those wood fence posts, dude! I had a scorpion come up out of the cracks in the post and sting the hell out of my hand! Saw him crawl right up on my hand, thought "I'm good, he will keep going". BAAM! Got me!
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zippy
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by zippy »

A good tale, giving RD some competition. Course, on a forum with Rifleman in it's name, you might mention yours. ;)
LowKey
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by LowKey »

Thanks Zippy, that's high praise indeed.

RD's hunting stories are the reason I first joined this site.
Always looking forward to reading about RD's next adventure.

The rifle I used was a CZ 527 shooting 7.62x39 Tulammo 154 grain soft point.
Here's a short video showing the CZ in action.

[BBvideo 560,340]http://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/762x39-accuracy/[/BBvideo]
Last edited by LowKey on 14 Mar 2017 11:16, edited 1 time in total.
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zippy
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by zippy »

After discovering the CZ handguns a few years ago, and now CCing one, I'm now hearing a lot of good things about their long guns too. Still haven't met anyone who'll attempt to pronounce their name though. Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod is sure a mouth full. :)
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by Archer »

"Cee Zee"
Easy!

I've got one of their 75Bs, 97Bs, 2 old surplus 52s for handguns and a couple 550s one varmint in .308 and an American in .30-06.
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Re: A Good Rest

Post by Ranch Dog »

CZ82, the only one I own. Surplus Makarov, best shooting handgun I own!

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Re: A Good Rest

Post by pacificpt »

Lowkey,

Thanks for taking the time to post this up. Love hearing about and seeing the hunts.
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