Go to that well one more time...............

        Well I followed the same pattern that keeps working and checked the wheat field first which had zero action then headed to the favorite trees. This time when I got 475 yards from the truck to my vantage point, I caught heat. It was three deer under one of the hot trees. I watched them move off and slid into a better position to watch the bottom and caught three hogs across the creek on the neighbor's land. I watched them for thirty minutes then one brave soul crossed the creek and headed straight to the tree my son took the two sows off of the evening before. The wind was blowing 10-15 and this lone hog was skittish and left pretty quick. I reset on top the ridge and an hour later caught him about 70 yards away at another of the last trees dropping acorns. The hog kept it's face in the ground the whole time as I slid into position for a shot. This spot has now produced six kills in a row and they know something is up. I will leave this spot alone for three nights and return. I am expecting a change to winter wheat soon about 1,000 yards away but if these trees keep producing quick sightings I will keep going back

https://youtu.be/Z9Utd7eKTxg

Get in their dining room

       Tonight I had the trigger man, yes the trigger man that delivers, my son Hunter. We checked one field and then headed to the pasture with the old oaks (property H) and again just like last time when we hit the ridge about 475 yards from the truck and looked down on three old oak trees, there they were, four to six hogs feeding right where I dropped the last sow days ago. My son had the ATN OTS scanner around his neck and as we began to circle to the group of hogs we passed another favorite oak and hogs were under it. I got Hunter set up quickly and a big sow was picked out.
Hunter dropped the sow in it's tracks with the Ruger 300 Blackout sending a Night Ops 110 grain Controlled Chaos custom round to it's mark. We knew the other hogs wouldn't go far so we slowly went down the ridge and took pictures before heading towards the first group. We didn't get far and looked back toward our first hog and three others were feeding toward us. The cows had also moved into our area, some standing feet away. We stood there watching these three hogs for about fifteen minutes and more hogs began filing around us. We videoed off and on and talked of strategy as the hogs moved in and out of the livestock but I knew they would make their way to the fruit producing trees. It was a great learning experience as we watched the hogs fight and feed directly toward our targeted tree. The plan was to wait until we shot in a safe direction at the hill and tree so there was zero chance of any livestock getting in our way or behind our target. The patience paid off and the trigger man did his job, two shots, two large sows and many more hogs to come back to.....
Check out the video link below and see our hunt. If you ever get to hunt with me, we watch the hogs for some time when livestock is around and make moves into position. Hunter has learned that even if these hogs get spooked off or don't go by the plan, we will find others. We can never risk a shot for a harvest or a video. Always confirm, reconfirm then make sure it is a hog or yote. Many times I have dropped an animal and see others within seconds and it is another species or livestock.

    The trees bordering this field are still producing and we will keep returning until the hogs hit the winter wheat. Three specific trees have produced the last five harvests and sightings of at least two dozen more potential movie stars. There also is a mouthy pack of yotes close by but I can't seem to get to them without seeing hogs. That my friends, is a great problem to have..... Until next time


https://youtu.be/1UbfP_afWrM

When that iron is hot , keep striking

       Tonight's plan was a one and done to get some rest and get over the current bug.
Property H was still hot but I stopped off at another spot to see if they were hitting the fields good
there yet. A single hog I know well was in the usual spot and he spotted me as I crested the hale bales and took off again. The full moon helped this guy  but I know I will find him there again, maybe on
my next hunt.May need the heavy artillery for this guy and my long range set-up. Spotted him about 275 yards out and in the full moon he had a slight advantage plus my hefty profile is more apt for rolling than low crawling.

      So I head back exactly where I took the last two hogs and as I approach the first old oak , it seemed this tree was close to if not done dropping it's feed. I made my way to the back two trees and as soon as I crested the hill I spotted my prize. Six to eight potentials about 290 yards out. A quick wind check sent me in a quarter circle around a wooded finger and down to their bottom. They stayed locked under that tree as I made my approach.

     I stalked to the edge of a brush island within range of the 300 Blackout and as close as I could get for the video and sent a 110 grain Night Ops LLC Controlled Chaos round on it's flight. The rest for this hog is history and as I stood over her taking this picture, the acorns continued dropping all around. They will be back , believe I  will be too.

12-2-17 Coyotes crash my party

       On a hog sit and as I was at my camera checking the card for the previous two day's hog arrivals ,
some mouthy coyotes started sounding off rather close but off of property. I had previously gotten
this black coyote picture here so I threw out the ecaller half way between my camera and myself in a
brush-pile. Three groups of coyotes answered my howls so I switched it up. It wasn't long and I caught a coyote bounding through the timber toward the 40 acres I have permission to hunt which is a fresh clear cut. He played hard to get for a short bit but I got him to cross the creek. At the shot I reached for my remote to play pup distress while following him with the scope and thought maybe I had missed wishing he wasn't the black coyote. I waited thirty minutes with zero calling then as I was looking for blood with my remote to my caller in my blind, I look into the woods and a coyote is slowly stalking parallel to me. I spot this one with my scanner and by the time I get to a tree he hides behind a rise. I catch pieces of him in the thick under-brush until he starts barking and raising cane.
A rookie mistake as I stand there with no calls and a pissed off coyote looking for a fight. I cut my look short thinking that is the coyote I missed until I return home and check the footage. I hit the coyote and his buddy was the other visitor. 30.4 pound male

The "Next Hunt"

   

       A short time after harvesting anything I begin to plan for the next hunt, thinking of where and when I will go after the next hog or dog. I get calls and messages twice a week from new land and decisions have to be made. This Saturday will be my next full night hunt and a fresh property has messaged me. I want to write a short blog on my thoughts on the always present "next hunt".


   My thoughts on this next hunt think back to the most recent hunt and the group that feed by before taking the boar and sow. They came through around 10 PMish so that is a possibility. They like the area and if I slide in for part of the night if the trees are still dropping I believe I can take one of the group or a loner. I also got an eye on another good boar the same night as my last double so he may wander by.

     Cameras on another property tell me the two fat hogs pictured are coming between 11 PM and 2 AM but rely solely on the corn pile and is only a 40 acre track. All eggs are in one basket on that deal but it may pay off especially if I feel like sitting for a few hours surfing the web on the phone and relaxing.


    New property hunting with someone is always iffy. I generally ask what times are the hogs coming in just to get a general idea. If I can at least get a four hour window I can sit it out but if I am confident on any spot, especially if a jumbo has been spotted , I can all night sit it if need be to take out a good tusker.


   Farmers that have fresh damage- These spots I will hit multiple times a night to at least check for my land owners. They see the damage and check their fields daily so it just is a matter of hitting that right time. I alternate my times here generally in two hour windows. The sign is there I just have to catch them at the right time. 

    I also always have go to spots to check. I pull in and walk to a scanning location and will generally sit an hour or until I hear coyotes. Also I keep in touch with a few landowners with feeders. They tell me the times on their cameras and I trust them  to get me on the hogs they want gone.


   Lastly is my lease.... Too many corn piles right now for a pattern so I will wait until mine are the only restaurants open to sit on them. Once the deer hunters are gone I will have it all to my lonesome.


    I will factor all of this in and come up with a plan that probably will be finalized the hour or so drive to my hunting areas after work Saturday.. Having confidence in your sightings and specific spots on your lands make it easy to keep going after them. Don't leave it to chance or luck. Luck is for Lepricans and I ain't green.

I deliver blog begins today.11-28-17 harvest

    I saw a blog and liked it so I thought I would start one first of all to keep some notes on my deliveries from year to year. Secondly, maybe someone can get a pointer or two from these notes and increase their numbers.

   Property H is loaded with swine but I was in a new part of the property mainly after coyotes for the land-owner but I always watch for Mr and Mrs Piggy. I bait 0 spots on this property so it is 100 percent all natural movement. The county is the best kill/acre county in the state for hogs. A huge field with cattle bordered by oaks with some very old trees that are much higher than the surrounding trees and also a creek border the field. When time allows, watching the hogs even if you don't get a kill will provide you with knowledge that will produce big later and in years to follow. I was forced to watch these hogs the previous two times out because of the livestock. I purposely hunted this area at two totally different times previously , once at 3-4 am and 8 pm the second time. Hogs are creatures of habit until I whack a few and they change it up so I try to remember early and late time areas.
I noticed these pigs liked four particular huge oak trees hundreds of yards apart. Two of the trees I saw pigs under on both hunts and could hear the acorns dropping. They acted as feeders and the pigs raced from tree to tree much like you see at a corn feeder. The trees they were under at 8 pm and again at 3 am were the spots to be I believed.

   The third hunt had me right back at the closest tree to my parking space but I could not shoot until
I located the livestock and when the hogs left that tree I had an idea where they would go. I located the cows and got a live recording of the two hogs heading to the other trees. I stalked through the cows and watch two groups of two fight and feed right by the cows.They would leave and come right back. A group of 6 came from another direction and again went to the same tree so I slowly stalked within range of the tree rather than the hogs. The new group left but I spotted the boar a ways off and before long he came right back to the food source where every hog I had seen  traveled .
Woods are not the best for video so the window to shoot was small and he fell in the oaks.
Within nine minutes his sow came toward the same tree and I dropped her within 60 yards of the boar.

   If you see hogs eating in the same area multiple days at different times that is a great spot those times of year. I see hogs in a 250 acre field go eat in the same two acres area time after time. Knowing these areas pays off when it is hard to find hogs.
At this location , those four trees when dropping acorns is hot and I know will produce again in following years. Once the acorns are all gone, I know I will have to hunt this area a little differently.