pine log-excited and depressed at the same time

[308-MIKE]

i went squirrel hunting at pl, off of oak st. not much happening all afternoon. cold and windy. i ended the afternoon in the hardwoods on the left hand side of the road going to the big dove field. 75%+ of what i saw was torn up by hogs. really impressive. i decided to leave, no squirrel activity at all. i'm walking down the road to oak st. when i cross the divided food plot. looking to the righ i see a group of hogs at the end of the plot by oak st. i dropped my back pack and ran around the wooded area in the midle of the roads. they were no longer where they were on my right. i looked to the left and there they were. a large hog with black and white patches was in front heading towards the woods. i raised my .22wmr and found him in my sights. at this time his heasd was past some brush, i moved to his neck and shot. locating them aiming and shooting took less than 2 seconds. i missed!!!!!
if i made it there 2 seconds earlier and had a chance to settle a little better, this may be about the hog i shot at pine log.
i was excited, because i had been going to pine log for over 15 years, and saw acres and acres of hog sign and no hogs. most people here have the same history there. it was really something to see them. i keep running the shot through my mind over and over. that's the depressing part. a little longer to steady my aim....
well, hopefully i won't have to wait 15+ more years to see them again.

 

[strothershwacker]

Pine log pig is as elusive a critter as it gets! You done good just to have seen em.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

Sometimes seeing something is better than killing something. We just don't realize that until we get over that feeling your having now! Man some of the deer....turkeys....pigs....coyotes...etc. have offered me many opportunities to view them. And view them only. Briefly. Those are magical moments. And always remember we are on THEIR turf.
But dang I know the feeling...

 

[strothershwacker]

It's the ones we don't get that keeps us going back.

 

[bfriendly]

Woooooo Hoooooo! Awesome man! Glad you saw them and the black and white ones are on my hit list. I shot one that I’ve never recovered and I killed one little bitty one but he was rank so I had to leave him. The first black and white one I saw was huge and I never took the shot as I hesitated a bit too long, I know EXACTLY where you were and the last one I killed there was in the same area! CONGRATS on a seeing the elusive PINELOG hogs!!! that gas line path gets torn up pretty good too!

 

[elmer_fudd]

Almost exactly the same thing happened to me last spring at Redlands. A few weeks ago I finally got one. They are out there.

 

[jwillban]

They're there and can be killed, but as others have said, it's not easy. My nephew killed this one last Thursday.

 

[garman]

I've killed a few on PL, always during small game season with a muzzle loader. Used to be a liittle easier before they announced it to everyone. Definitely requires a ton of leg time. I started finding sign in there almost 20 years ago.

 

[Sniper62]

I put a crossbow bolt through one in PL at the beginning of small game season. Recovered the arrow, had a blood trail but couldn't locate it...
I went this afternoon. Saw no signs of activity around the creek but the hillsides were torn up.

 

[bfriendly]

I've killed a few on PL, always during small game season with a muzzle loader. Used to be a liittle easier before they announced it to everyone. Definitely requires a ton of leg time. I started finding sign in there almost 20 years ago.

I went Sunday morning at Oakstreet and saw the exact same thing I thought I was hot on the trail of one but I never smelled them never heard him never saw anything .
On a sidenote all that clear cutting out Oakstreet and on main street is Shirley reaping the rewards as deer tracks were everywhere big ones too and I saw four scrapes on the edge of the field I was on.