I went hunting last week. I didn't really expect much to happen. Most likely, I figured I would be sleeping in the woods. However, weird and great things happened. Due to work schedules Me, my Dad, and the Weasel could only hunt three days, Mon. - Wed.
We hunt twice a day. Usually in the morning from 7-10:30, and in the evening from 2-5:30. On Tuesday we got to our evening hunting spot kind of late. It was about 2:30 when we got there Then we had to gear up, and get back in the woods.
I arrived at my tree where I would put up my tree stand at about 3 O'clock. It's a climbing tree stand, and I tend to put it on trees that are too big. I did manage to get it around the tree, but then I had trouble getting in it. Actually, I fell out of it while trying to get into it. I then proceeded to express myself with very vile langauge.
So I try to get into it again, and this time I manage not to fall out. I climb up the tree about 15 feet off the ground. It's the right amount for me, not too tall, not too low. I get my stuff settled, take a few breaths, and start to settle into my tree stand. However, it's kind of warm, and I realize that I haven't put on my bug repellent yet. I start to reach for it when I hear a crashing through the woods coming behind me.
I think to myself, "Is that the Weasel? What is he doing coming up behind me?" Then it occurs to me, "Well, it could be a deer right?" That's when it walked out. A black as midnight hog. It was about 45-50 yards away from me. I immediately picked up my shotgun, pointed it at the hog, and shot. The shot hit it so hard that it rolled the hog. The hog then immediately squealed loudly. But then it got up. I fired again. It when down. I think I hit it in the rear with the second shot. It got up again, and this time I was careful when pointing my gun, and hit the hog again with my third shot. It knocked it down hard... again.
I then realized that I needed to reload. I put my last two rounds in my shotgun, and looked up for where the hog might be. I saw it trying to get up. It had it's head up, so I pointed at the head, and fired shells number 4 and 5, one right behind the other. I then yelled across to Dad, "Yes!!!!" To which he replied, "Were the last four shots necessary!?" I then yelled, "It kept moving!"
So Dad gets down out of his treestand (he was about 70 yards from me) and I direct him to where the hog was. We get it, take pictures, and get all of our stuff to the truck. I had my video camera with me, so I did some video taping. Then Dad gutted the hog while I filmed. Dad then did something that surprised me. He laid on the truck horn to get the Weasel back to the truck.
When the Weasel got back, he claimed that he saw the hog cross right behind the truck, and he was trying to stalk it when he heard all the shots. So, I may have done a bad thing in killing his hog (yeah, right.) We all went to the Check Station, and checked in the hog. It weighed 42 pounds gutted, and an estimated 55-60 pounds whole.
I am still amazed by it. It's the first hog that I have shot in 19 years, and only the second hog that I have ever gotten. I still can't believe how much noise it made. It may have made it by me if it hadn't made so much noise. I heard it when it was about 70 yards away. I could hear it before I saw it. That's a heck of a lot of noise. Also, I had only been in my tree stand for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes. The other weird thing was that I had been making a lot of noise with falling out of my tree stand, and cursing.
I ended up shooting it somewhere between 3:07 and 3:10. I can only estimate since I was busy with other things. I'm also glad that I had the video camera with me this time. I got a lot of neat things on tape.
Well, hopefully I won't have to wait 19 years to get another hog. I'm glad I did get one because so I can actually say I'm hunting, and not just sleeping in a tree.
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