I Finally Got Her

I have been after a black sow near my house for 3 weeks now. She normally hits the bait very sporadically and is gone within 15 minutes. This would usually lead to a stalk that ended with her already gone. Wednesday night I had her in my sights but couldn't get a shot. Well last night as Clemson kicked the game winning field goal I got an alert from my camera. I threw on my insulated monkey suit, grabbed the rifle and took off. A 100 yard stalk with no light down a dark fire line got me to the place where the trail turns and to the pine tree I planned to neel behind and use for a brace. I got the rifle up to my shoulder and woke the thermal up. Being careful that she couldn't see the light at the ocular end. 70 yards away she was laying broadside unaware in the corn shucks feeding. I decided to shoot her in the crease instead of in the ear just to see what the 123 Eldm would do. I put the crosshairs 1/3 up the body and tight to the front leg and squeezed the trigger. She bolted straight ahead without a sign that she was hit but I knew the shot was good. I thought I heard her crash and scuffle around but my hearing is terrible. In the cornshucks there was lung tissue and blood everywhere. There was a 3 ft wide trail of blood leading into the pines 10ft away. I scanned with my thermal and could see her laying dead about 30 yards away. She had hit a very large pine tree about 25 yards into her run. Evidently that's what I heard. There was plenty of blood to follow. She had a perfect exit in the offside crease and weighed around 160 pounds. I've killed a lot of hogs but this one sure gave me a run for my money. She had plenty of friends so I have a lot of work ahead. These are some of the smartest hogs I've ever hunted. They are like ghosts. They've been run with dogs, wont go in a trap, and only show erratically in the middle of the night. But I'm working on them. Sorry I don't have a picture. I forgot my phone in my hurry to get out of the door. I may have a video on the scopes shot activated camera. If so I'll provide a link.

Hell yeah! What thermal do you use?

The_Whitetail_kid said:

Hell yeah! What thermal do you use?

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AGM Adder TS 50 x 384 on the rifle. I've been very happy with it. I can see and recognize deer out to 900 yards. My only slight issue with it is the field of view can be a bit smaa
My spare and spotter is a AGM Rattler V2 25 X 256. I use it on my other Grendel and as a spotter. If it's not on the other Grendel it's slung around my neck on a sling I made for it. It's well worth the money and works for deer and hogs out to 200 yards. Coyotes to about 150 or so.

Congrats
Kill them all and crush the eggs.

Congratulations!
I am heading to my place in Texas tomorrow with my new longer range thermal. Two years ago I cut timber and built a lake. My shots then were from 30 to 150 yards and my 35mm, 384 thermal was great for that. The hogs were gone for almost 2 years but have now come back with a vengeance. The problem is that they are traveling the other side of the lake, making the shots from 200 to 300 yards. So I pulled out a dormant 6.5 CM and bought a new 50mm, 640 thermal. We'll test them out this week.
Unfortunately, I do not have cell phone reception at that place, so can't use that type of camera. I got 2 motion sensing lights working last trip and bought 2 more. I'll put them up so they can let me know when something is moving while I sit on the porch by the firepit, sipping hot beverages.
Have fun!

Congrats! I hunted in Florence and Williamsburg Counties for about a decade, and other than the occasional scat, I never saw hide nor hair of a bear.

Comanche41 said:

Congratulations!
I am heading to my place in Texas tomorrow with my new longer range thermal. Two years ago I cut timber and built a lake. My shots then were from 30 to 150 yards and my 35mm, 384 thermal was great for that. The hogs were gone for almost 2 years but have now come back with a vengeance. The problem is that they are traveling the other side of the lake, making the shots from 200 to 300 yards. So I pulled out a dormant 6.5 CM and bought a new 50mm, 640 thermal. We'll test them out this week.
Unfortunately, I do not have cell phone reception at that place, so can't use that type of camera. I got 2 motion sensing lights working last trip and bought 2 more. I'll put them up so they can let me know when something is moving while I sit on the porch by the firepit, sipping hot beverages.
Have fun!

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During deer depredation I kill deer regularly out to 450 yards with the Grendel and the adder 50-384. It's all about knowing the range and I have my holdovers down pat. I have purchased an AR 10 in 6.5 CM however to get a little more forgiveness at that range as I cover some big fields.

The cell cameras are very nice as these hogs are so erratic. At times thy will disappear for a week or more then be there every night the next. Especially during deer season when there is a corn pile for every acre it seems. It's much easier to pinpoint them after deer season ends.

Good shooting!
I have heard nothing but great things about the ELD-M Hornadys.

Old Rooster said:

Good shooting!
I have heard nothing but great things about the ELD-M Hornadys.

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I shoot eldms in 6 of my 7 main hunting rifles and that's because one doesn't like them. It prefers Amax's. In the last two years I've killed over 150 animals with them using 6.5 caliber in 123 and 147. In 308 I use 168s. For Deer, beavers, coyotes, cats, and hogs they just work. And they work well