In case you have been living under a rock, feral pigs wreak destruction wherever they go. We witnessed some of the damage and it shocked us. Georgia is a state that has been hit hard by feral pigs as there is plenty to eat and they reproduce like crazy. One of the many highlights of the Badlands Operative Pro Staff trip to Georgia last April was the nighttime pig eradacation. In the state of Georgia, you can take out pigs in whatever manner you can, day or night, and we couldn’t wait to aid in the cause.
Newly knighted OPS member, Henry Ferguson and I were given first crack at taking out some wild pigs at night. Brandon Peavy, our ex-military, night time travel guide and expert pig exterminator, was eager to show us the ropes. He gave us a rundown on the firearms we’d be using and gave us the choice of who got to shoot each one first. He offered up an AR-10 and a bolt-action rifle, both chambered in .308 Winchester. For the first round, Henry chose the bolt-action and I snagged the AR-10 figuring we could switch it up as the night went on.
It was pretty cool to see Brandon pull up to a field in the pitch blackness and spot hogs with his thermal scope. He has some supernatural skill of knowing where the big boars are and being able to sneak up on them. He doesn’t look like a ninja, but you could have fooled us. More on that later as he slowed the truck down at the first field, whispered there was a big boar on the left and a sounder a few hundred yards off to the right. We were going after the big boar!
After making a U-turn, we pulled into a small opening and parked. Brandon briefed us on how it was going to go down. He would hand us our firearms, we would walk single file (he would take point), and we wouldn’t make a sound. Easy enough to follow, right? Brandon takes point, Henry in the middle and I fell in at the rear. Simple and effective, right? If you don’t know Henry and I, we aren’t the smallest gents in the world, but we are stealthy and ready for action. As we turned to walk from the road to the field disaster struck! Henry, in complete stealth mode, found the only empty aluminum can in the area and accidentally kicked the living snot out of it! Imagine a night where it’s so quiet you can hear a cricket fart. That was this night. So many things went through my mind. Brandon was only about fifteen feet in front of me, and while I couldn’t see him very well I was betting he was shaking his head and ready to call us amateurs out. I figured Henry was shaking his head in disgust and wondering how in the world the only empty can around ended up right in front if his foot. You could not have planned for it to be in a better position for a penalty kick. Hey Team USA, Henry’s a good striker!
Brandon didn’t miss a beat and pulled up the thermal scope to view the boar. Henry and I figured the boar had long since taken off at the sound of the can, but Brandon let us know he was still eating out in the middle of the field. I honestly couldn’t believe it. We crept up, little by little, until we were about 70 yards from the hog, who was oblivious to our presence. Brandon set our rifles up on tripods, turned on the thermal scopes and got us locked onto the boar. He gave us a countdown of 3…2…1…and that’s when we sent .30 cal projectiles on a one way trip to Pigsville!
Fair warning, this part of the story will be graphic, so if you are offended easily or can’t handle reality, feel free to skip to the end. What happened next was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Henry and I both had direct headshots at the same time. You could see the spray in the scope from either side of his head. Double impact headshots on a boar! Pig down, right? Nope! That thing took off to our right on a full sprint and that is precisely when my gun jammed! Cool as a cucumber, Henry had already racked another round and was tracking the boar. “Crack!” The shot missed. Underterred, Henry chambered another round and squeezed the trigger. “Crack!” This time the projectile made impact and the boar stumbled, but again, got right back up. Immediately, Henry sent another into the boar and dropped him. What a wild chain of events!
Brandon fixed the jammed AR-10 and we walked out to the boar. All three of us were amazed at the size of the pig and how many rounds he had taken. As someone who loves hunting pigs, I know how tough they are, but with a double headshot I figured it was done right then. They are so much tougher than I give them credit for.
Walking back, we couldn’t stop laughing about the stupid can being in Henry’s path. Of all the places and times to find an empty can in our path. Even Brandon gave it a kick when we found it by the road. It truly was hilarious! Brandon asked if we wanted to keep looking for pigs and in unison we answered, “Yes!” That was all he needed to hear and drove us to another area.
This time we were going to be challenged. Brandon spotted quite a few pigs scattered around a field, but all at one end. We snuck out and set up once again. Brandon called out shots as we lit up the field. We dropped two pigs at the far end and one bruiser close up bringing our night total to four dead hogs. The picture above is the hog that was the largest of the group. The picture doesn’t do the pig’s size justice as Henry and I are not petite young lads. Heck, I weighed in at around 250 lbs prior to this trip. Husky is what my mom used to say, husky.
A great time was had by all of us. Brandon, Henry and I were thrilled, tired, and hoping we’d be able to do it again. Little did we know that a few short evenngs in the future, we’d get our wish. And it was full of more excitement than this one.
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