Thanks again for all the nice comments. It's sure turned into allot of fun sharing her first kill with all of you, plus family and her taking pics to work. In the split second that it took to squeeze the trigger, she's changed into a hunter who is now very interested in hogs, deer, guns, deer and nature in general. It's all more interesting to her!!!!
I asked her if she wants to do it again, and she's very exited about her next time!!! Looks like it was a very good experience that went better than I'd hoped for.
Ken,
Funny thing about your comment. She just got a big promotion at work and is moving from one doctor to another. The one she's leaving isn't happy about his at all and it's created allot of stress and tension. Than she shoots the hog, brings pics to work and things sort of calm down there. Not saying one has anything to do with the other, but her confidence level is way up and the people she works with were very supportive of her accomplishment.
Jim,
Be sure to tell Kathy hi from both of us!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
No hunting at the park of any kind for any reason. Hogs will probably be a problem that will have to be addressed, but with hundreds and hundreds of acres all around us, there is no way to get rid of them. Too much habitat. We'll trap the ones that are persistant, but just having people here will deter the majority of them.
Greg,
Thank you very much for your kind words. I agree that Steph is an amazing woman and I'm very lucky to have found her. Life really is good!!!
Gene,
I know Nat and them were at the Arbors most of the day, but they did wonder over to the Moutain just to see what's there. Dog Row is my favorite area, which is across the road from the Mountain.
One time I was at the Mountain and took the free train to the top to walk down through all the shops before leaving. In the car, a few miles away I realized I had lost my cell phone. The last time I remember seeing it was in that train. It was worth the effort to see if somebody had found it and turned it in, so we went back and asked the train driver if he or anybody had found a cell phone. They did and it was in lost and found!!!
Chris,
I posted a picture on your thread from a month ago of the same herd of hogs. There was 20 of them in that picture, but 19 ran off. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
In the new picture, there was 26 of them before Steph shot hers. I reckognized the large brown one that seems to be the leader of the group and several of the piglets have destictive markings that I reckognized. They are also twice as big as last time, but there was another very large one in this group that was pink in color. She wasn't there the last time.
This was aslo the largest group of hogs that I've ever seen!!!
Next time your driving down my road and see the gate open, feel free to stop by anytime. Things are a little different than the last time you were here.
JazzDad,
Thanks for the funny story. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Country living sure has it's advantages. Where else can you run around barking like a dog and be considered normal!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Bill,
Last summer we had a pretty large boar on the side of the road just before our place. Guess it was hit during the night, but they regularly rut up the grass along the highway.
The funny part is how many people stoped to take pictures of the dead body or looked at it to see how fresh it is. Here, we make fun of rednecks because of situations like this. If we hadn't been working out there and watching them, I'm sure somebody would have taken that hog.
In the three years I've lived here, I've seen three road kill hogs. The largest was on Interstate 20 a few miles from my place.
I have no idea of the damage to the cars or what it's like to hit one, but would think it's less than a deer since they are so low to the ground and the bumpers would probably take most of the impact. Just guessing though.
gsganzer,
I've thought about buying another smaller caliber rifle for smaller animals. The .30-06 is a real nice all around caliber, but it does do allot of damage to anything under a hundred pounds. Too much damage that causes allot of meat loss.
I have a .22-250 that is super accurate, but with a large bull barrell, bipod and big scope, it's not very practical for hog and deer hunting. It's a good caliber for her to practice with because thers no recoil and it's accuracy.
I've been thinking about a .243 because of seeing what it's done on hunting trips for blacktail deer in California. Nice flat shooting round, minimal recoil and effective on smaller animals.
The .25-06 would probably be so similar in performance that it's a wash either way.
I also think there's a very strong advantage to haveing her shoot the same caliber as I am. If we're out hunting together, we can have the same setups with the same ammo and everything is interchangable.
She's already shot the rifle, so I know she can handle the recoil, so it's just a matter of getting her familiar with it enough to be comfortable and confident on her own.
Eddie
