June 22, 2005 Gause Texas
I went to Gause last night with the intention of stayin gup late and using the red spotlight to look for some pigs on the main ranch.
Jeff and I left college station right from work and we arrived fairly early to his abode in Gause. It was early so we took the opportunity to do some chores, He ran the lawnmower and I got the chainsaw out and made some apple, maple and cherry firewood. It was hot so we had a few beverages to quench our thirst. We put out guns in Jeffs truck and headed out to feed his might herd which was grazing in the pasture to the south of the house with creek that runs East and West. After dispensing the grain to the hungry bovines we made out way to the creek to scare up some rabbits or squirrels and such. On the way there I saw what I believed to be pig feces but I wasn't convinced it wasn't a calf dropping, afterall it was too early for pigs and there hadn't been any sign of them for a long time.
We came to the creek and found it predominately dry with a few muddy spots. There were lots of small pointed hoof prints in the soft soil.
"If those are all calf prints they are the darndest calves Ive ever seen"
We walked along the stream from east to west. I noticed a writhing in the water as we spotted a pair of water mocassins. I blew one up the the .22 mag and we continued down the pasture. Just then I saw a wet spot and asked Jeff if I he was responsible for it. When we established that neither of us was responsible for the blatantly wet spot on a very hot day we knew that something considerably larger than a rabbit had to be near. Jeff got the small shot out of his pump gun and loaded in some 00 buckshot.
A few steps later Jeff said "we have them up at the feeders!" The pigs were making themselves at home in and around the cattle feeders set up in the corner of the pastures ahead of us and to the right. This put about 100 yards of open pasture between us and them. Jeff was carrying a shotgun with 00 Buckshot and I had a .22 WSM. We plainly needed to get closer.
Jeff stayed put and I followed the creek through the woods, running a large left hook I ended up coming out of the creek bed in the next pasture over. I could see Jeff had snuck out of the woods and was getting closer to them. We had them caught between us. I knew with certainty that at least one of us was bound to get a good shot now. I was between 50 and 80 yards from the bacon when at least a couple of them seemed to become aware of my presence. When one started to move quickly away from me I let a shot go at a pig that was toward the back of the bunch and facing toward Jeff. I figured that since pigs typically run the direction they are facing when startled that they should run toward the buckshot and certain death.
The pigs jolted into action at the report of my little rifle. The pigs ran toward the wooded creek that I had just used to conceal my envelopment maneuver. I jumped up and tried to head them off at the pass. I heard a shotgun blast followed by a squeal and I felt that jubilation that is so much of the reason we hunt.
It seemed like there were pigs everywhere. While I had seen seven or eight before shooting at least twenty now made a mad scramble for the trees. When Jeff started blasting several pigs came right toward me before realizing there was another blood thirsty hunter in that direction, In the chaos that followed I took several more shots but dropping a running pig with a 22 WSM is not easy. As I always say after a run and gun encounter such as this I wish a had a rifle without a scope.
Jeff was appropriately jubilant after blasting a nice black pig with lots of dark red hairs in her hide that would be just the right size for eating, near 100lbs. I was happy to see something get dropped by buckshot. Jeff said it was approx. a 25 yard shot.
Autopsy confirmed 3 pellets hit the body of the pig and left enough evidence to be noticable. Two went through the body, one behind the diaphram making a mess of the intestines and the other went into the chest just above the diaphram, through the heart and out the ribcage on the far side. A third pellet went through the backstrap and stopped against the spine just above the shoulder blade.
There were at least two other spots were the pig had been hit with considerably less lethal pellets.
All in all I would suggest that anyone interested in a healthy life avoid getting blasted with 00 buckshot at 25 yards.
