Today I went to some family land and pursued some hogs. The water is really high right now and had them confined to only certain area. Their usual roaming area is about 1/8 of what it usually is.
I started my pursuit at around 9 am. When I first start off stalking, I am always on high alert, taking my time, scanning before advancing, etc.
Rewind a little..
On our last hunt, my buddy had some bino's(i have never used any) and they proved to be very useful on that hunt, so I ordered some of the lower end Leopold Yosemite's this past weekend. They came in Wednesday.
Fast forward..
I had been walking around for maybe 30 minutes. I stopped to scan with the bino's over 100 yards away I stopped one of those same "weird sticks" that I did last hunt. I then saw that there were 6 good sized pigs bedded down by a tree. As I was approaching then, doing my best to not make noise on the crunchy leaves, I noticed there were some pigs on their feet as well. There were a lot more pigs there than just the 6 I saw.. closer to 15.. or so I thought.
I watched a smaller boar try to lay down by the 6 larger pigs and boy, was that a mistake. The dominant boar came unglued on him and whipped his butt all over that place. When the boar got whipped, he went a laid down by himself not 40 yards from me. I knew he was the one I was going after. I began the stalk and when I was getting close to striking distance, I saw that he was facing my way bedded down by a log.. my only chance was with him being passed out and me making a silent approach. Another 2 steps and i watched his head rise up.. BUSTED! When he snorted there were another 20 pigs bedded down that I did not see due to them laying in the brush.