The first night out was quite successful for me and I got a nice pig, not the biggest one, but very good one to take and young ones make excellent eating. So I had to find a new place the following day. It was not easy. I mentioned earlier oak trees produced a lot of acorns this year and all pigs fed on acorns and only were going out the woods for a brief moment to eat something different. So the place I wanted was somewhere bordering with oak woodland and with something they like to eat. I decided to give a try to a large stubble. Farmer already started ploughing the field, but from the other end there was still some straw to be collected. From the distance it looked promising so I reserved the area for myself and came back later on. I went off the car and had a quick walk around. It looked good, fresh signs of the wild boar feeding. The straws still had some grain in it and underneath it already started to rot a bit. That attracts bugs and mice, both things wild boar enjoy.
I loaded my .30-06/12 gauge combo gun and went for a walk through the field on the other side. There was an old high seat. The ladder was missing to steps but I somehow managed to climb it. The view was good, but the wind was a bit too strong and I was soon cold. The moon was up and it was very bright, a bit too bring…
I went for a walk further on away from the wood hoping to get a badger as they also like stubble at this time of year, but nothing else was feeding except for a few hares and roe deer. There was a single fallow deer, but it was too dark and already 1 hour after sunset, so illegal to shoot deer.
On a stubble
I stalked along the stubble field, but no sign of pigs or badgers. I got to the end of the field half a mile away from where I started. There was another field freshly sown and I could see fresh signs of pigs. They must have came out but the car that went passed them a few minutes before I got there spooked them… 🙄 I waited for half an hour, but they never came back.
I went back to the car walking in the shadows of the trees and was near the high seat I sat earlier when I spotted a group of boar coming out of the wood. They were feeding on the stubble, but kept close to the forestry. The wind was good and I stalked along the trees closer. It was a bit unfortunate as the pigs were on the slope and I was in the dip. I could see some, but the rest was on the other side of the slope and the ones I could see would not offer safe backstop. I had to wait.
After a few minutes they all moved over the brow and I could hear them feeding on the other side. I waited a bit more and stalked closer. Not I was on the top of the slope and they were somewhere behind, but I could not see a thing. Suddenly a sow grunted and they all moved closer to me and the wood. Now I could see there was a sow with four or five this year piglets. They were all quite small and the sow was not big ether.
There were also five large pigs nearer the wood. They all looked bigger than the sow and same size to me. I watched them for a good few minutes and could not see any larger sow between them. They were walking away from me and got to the next slope and I again had no safe shot. One of the pigs was closer to me and still had to make a few steps to get to the edge of the slope and could offer safe shot, but was facing away from me. I put my gun on the sticks and waited for it to turn broadside. It did a moment later and I squeezed the trigger aiming behind the shoulder.
They all ran to the trees, I could hear the sow grunting and after a few minutes they all went away. I got to the place where the boar was when I pulled the trigger and there it was between the straws. It was much bigger than I expected, so called my dad to come and help me load it.
I went for the dog and let her find the pig. I gralloched the animal when my dad arrived. Fortunately it was dry enough to get the car out on the field and we did not have to drag it.
It was a barren sow that weight 83kg clean.
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