We had gone to Greystone Castle to hunt a mature management buck, but when a group of hogs came into the field five minutes after myself, Criag Nyhus and Greystone’s Bill Honza settled into the blind, it was game on.
Bill said up until last week, the ranch only had about 50 trail camera photos of hogs, and all of those were at night.
Then, about two weeks ago, the hogs started making regular appearances at the feeders during daylight hours.
So it was a little surprising when the group of three black hogs, all about 50 pounds, ran into the field.
It was only about 2:30, so shooting a pig wouldn’t ruin our deer hunt. Bill told me to pick one out and shoot him behind the shoulder so he wouldn’t fall in the field where the deer would see it.
I waited until two pigs lined up side by side, aimed behind the shoulder of the lead pig and squeezed off the shot.
Of course, the first pig dropped in his tracks, while the other made a dash for the woods, obviously hit well.
“Sorry, Bill. I hit him right where you said and he still dropped.”
Bill decided to make a dash into the field to pull the downed hog away from the corn. While Craig and I watched, another pig came down the same trail the others had come while Bill was walking toward the dead pig.
Bill had the wind right in his face, so he dropped down into some tall grass as the pig approached the corn.
Grabbing a rock, Bill stood when the pig was less than 20 yards away. Hoping to pull off a move straight from the cavemen, Bill took aim and threw the rock at the now-alerted pig. The rock missed its mark and the pig departed quickly.
JUST A BIT OUTSIDE: Bill Honza throws a rock at the quickly-departing pig. Photo by LSON.
After dragging the pig into the brush, we settled back into our hunt for a buck, chuckling the whole time at Bill “Caveman” Honza’s wild throw.
After downing a big buck, I retrieved the pigs and took the meat, which is marinating as I write this for dinner tonight in the fridge at home.
I will laugh at the thought wondering if a rock-killed pig would taste any different than a one shot with a rifle while eating pork backstraps tonight.
