An Unusual “Doe” Hunt

Last Saturday was opening day for Arkansas’ private land doe only hunt. The morning started rather warm in the upper 70’s. It was a beautiful and sunny day, but it rapidly got hot. I was hunting a stand that’s one of my favorites; it’s also been a very productive stand. The stand is a tower blind on the edge of a large powerline that’s approximate 500 yds long by 80 yards wide. The stand is on the edge near the middle. My hunting buddy bushhogs most of the lane in wide strips.

The morning passed slowly as I hadn’t seen any deer. At 10:30 I looked to the left/east and saw a line of pigs extending ¾ the way across the powerline. I was hunting w/ an XP-100 in 7-08 w/ a 3-12X Burris handgun scope. The load hits dead on at 100 yds. I tried to pick up one of the pigs half way across the powerline, but I couldn’t get on it. Suddenly one of the pigs that was nearly across the crossing stopped at a bushogged lane. I quickly put the scope on the pig at mid-chest. The pig looked rather small since the scope was set on 4X. The distance ended up being 170 yards. At the shot, I heard the bullet impact. The pig dropped in its tracks. Not surprisingly, the other pigs started running faster. I repeated the first scene two more times when hogs stopped to check out downed buddies. The XP is a single shot w/ no magazine so I was jacking brass and reloading rounds as quickly as possible. Hog #2 was also a broadside shot. I put the crosshairs on it and pulled the trigger. This pig also rolled over on the spot. More hogs continued to cross. A third pig stopped to check out the two downed hogsI could see. Hog #3 was noticeably bigger and was angled toward me. The crosshairs settled on the front edge of the onside shoulder and I pulled the trigger. The pig squealed, hunched up some, then turned and walked very slowly a short distance into a thicket. By then the rest of the hogs wouldn’t cooperate for any more shots.

I got down and walked to the pigs. Imagine my surprise when I found only one dead pig in the powerline I found a heavy blood trail just 15 yards away at the edge of the thicket. 40 yards later I found the big sow. She was still alive, but strugling so I gave her a finishing shot. I looked around the thicket some more, but didn’t find sign of the third pig. By now it was 90 degrees.

This was the first game I’d shot w/ this bullet, the 120 grain Sierra spritzer. I was satisfied w/ the job the bullet did. We estimated the smaller hog at 100#. The bigger hog weighed 183#.

Although I didn’t get a doe on this year’s “doe hunt,” I had an unusual and fun hunt. I’m looking forward to using this load on a deer. I didn't see a single deer Sat AM, but I did see 20-25 hogs!