We had carried in our climbers and set up on the edge of the swamp. Louann picked a tree about 400 yards from me where a couple of Overcup Oaks were dropping nuts. I set up near a scrape that was active.
So about 9:00 I hear her rifle go off but it sounds like it's a lot closer to me than 400 yards. Waited a couple of minutes and called to be sure it was her. She tells me she's shot a hog and that I need to come help her.
So I climb down and head off in her direction. Find her about 150 yards down the swamp right in the edge of the palmettos.
Turns out that she had seen/heard a group of hogs feed through the palmettos near her stand but could not get a clear shot. As they were working up wind from her stand she climed down and started trailing them through the palmettos.
Took about 30 minutes and a couple of hundred yards but she finally gets close enough to catch one at about 25 feet. When she shoots they all run off.
When I get to her she points out that there are 4 or 5 VERY small piglets still milling about in the palmettos 10 or 15 yards away. My first thought is that she has shot the sow, which turned out to be incorrect.
We mess about for 10 minutes or so, the whole time the pigletts are doing the same in the palmettos near us. A couple of times we see them scurry by very close. We even discuss the fact that if we weren't both so old that we might be able to catch one or two and carry them to the house.
So while we're doing all this, and mind you this is at least 20 minutes after she shot the hog, we hear something working our way through the palmettos. At first we guess that the whole pack, having been confused by the shot, is working back in our direction.
Finally decide that it's only one hog. It get's about 20 yards from us. Can't see it but the palmettos are moving where it is. Then it gives a grunt or two and those pigletts take off in it's direction. Last we hear they are working off in the direction from which the lone hog had come.
So what has happened is that the sow, having taken off with the rest of the pack at the shot, waited a bit and then came back to find her little ones. I know some of you may not think much of hogs but they do deserve credit for being smart......and more than a little brave.
So about 9:00 I hear her rifle go off but it sounds like it's a lot closer to me than 400 yards. Waited a couple of minutes and called to be sure it was her. She tells me she's shot a hog and that I need to come help her.
So I climb down and head off in her direction. Find her about 150 yards down the swamp right in the edge of the palmettos.
Turns out that she had seen/heard a group of hogs feed through the palmettos near her stand but could not get a clear shot. As they were working up wind from her stand she climed down and started trailing them through the palmettos.
Took about 30 minutes and a couple of hundred yards but she finally gets close enough to catch one at about 25 feet. When she shoots they all run off.
When I get to her she points out that there are 4 or 5 VERY small piglets still milling about in the palmettos 10 or 15 yards away. My first thought is that she has shot the sow, which turned out to be incorrect.
We mess about for 10 minutes or so, the whole time the pigletts are doing the same in the palmettos near us. A couple of times we see them scurry by very close. We even discuss the fact that if we weren't both so old that we might be able to catch one or two and carry them to the house.
So while we're doing all this, and mind you this is at least 20 minutes after she shot the hog, we hear something working our way through the palmettos. At first we guess that the whole pack, having been confused by the shot, is working back in our direction.
Finally decide that it's only one hog. It get's about 20 yards from us. Can't see it but the palmettos are moving where it is. Then it gives a grunt or two and those pigletts take off in it's direction. Last we hear they are working off in the direction from which the lone hog had come.
So what has happened is that the sow, having taken off with the rest of the pack at the shot, waited a bit and then came back to find her little ones. I know some of you may not think much of hogs but they do deserve credit for being smart......and more than a little brave.