Killer Kyle
Senior Member
I was able to bag this sow yesterday evening at about 7:20 p.m. on the early rifle hunt. I think she went maybe 130 or 135 lbs or so. Been hunting with a friend all week and trying to get him on a bear. We have seen bear and hogs 4 out of 5 hunts, but haven't been presented with a shot that we needed. Hunting the thick from the ground is never a foregone conclusion unfortunately. We have been on two different bears the last few days. One sow at the bottom of the lead, and one boar bear at the top. Last night we finally made the decision to split up to increase our odds, as the end of the hunt was drawing nigh. He went high and I went low and sat in a grove of white oaks with just a handful of acorns on the ground. After a half hour of rubber-necking and thinking I was hearing something behind me, I turned and looked over my left shoulder. She was directly behind me at 10 yards, head down, and feeding on what little acorns were present. I twisted around the tree 180 degrees in the seat and made the shot over my left shoulder. She was so close that is was actually difficult to see what I was looking at when aiming through the scope. Her head was down so I shot for the top of it. I actually hit the spine where it meets the skull which I realized when skinning. That bullet from my Winchester .30-30 traveled through after hitting the spine, beyond the shoulder, and lodged in the ribs. I'm shooting the Hornady LeveRevolution 150 gr bullets. She never took a step and piled up like a sack of bricks, but I shot her again in the heart anyway just to be sure. I paced the distance from my hammock seat to the bear. Shot her nine steps away! Because of the weird angle of shooting backwards like that, I let the ol' thuddy-thuddy crack me in the nose like a rookie. Ha! After the shot the second time I felt something running down my nose, and realized I had done it again. I think you can tell in the picture.
I've gotta give a big shoutout to my buddy Natedawg for helping me get her out of the woods. It would have been a long night slicing and dicing in the woods otherwise. Y'all keep hunting hard. The hunt ain't over yet!
I've gotta give a big shoutout to my buddy Natedawg for helping me get her out of the woods. It would have been a long night slicing and dicing in the woods otherwise. Y'all keep hunting hard. The hunt ain't over yet!
Last edited: