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I took a day off from work before daughter number one heads back to school in Chicago for the last part of her last year of undergraduate work. She spent the first part of her spring break taking daughter number three on a couple of college visits. That left us just a little time for a quick hunting trip.

We headed out Thursday morning with the Jeep loaded down with feed, hunting gear, and a big cooler. I'm pretty sure if we crammed much else in the Jeep it would have rolled over and surrendered.

After we arrived, we worked on a ground blind that daughter number two and I built last fall. Here is a picture of it when we finished it last fall and one from Thursday. We built the blind to replace a pop-up blind we hunted in this spot successfully in the 2015/16 season. It is made mostly of heavy t-posts and vinyl-coated wire mesh, with a camo tarp roof and camo cloth covering. The cows appear to have rubbed the leaf cut fabric off most of it, so daughter number one and I replaced it with camo burlap (second picture). When the cows destroy that, I will put camo on the inside! I still need a better roof which I can do next time I am there, but it is ready to hunt if the wind is right. It is a great spot unless the wind is out of the south.

We saw one group of pigs run across the road while driving the north fence line but had no shot opportunity. We also saw one doe crossing to the NE corner, so at least we got to see some game if nothing else developed.

We got our chores done and ran to town for a late lunch and some wasp spray. The wasps had been busy and started three or four nests at the blind we planned to hunt since I was last there. Here is the blind we hunted. The picture is from a game camera from last year. This picture also shows why I moved the feeder uphill from where I originally had it! The blind is not very sophisticated since it is made from treated wood. I built it mostly by myself, lots of it at night after work using the light on the side of my garage. I built it in sections and a friend helped me assemble it on site. He also helped me add the roof later.

We got back from town and to the blind a little before five. As we arrived, a large group of pigs was breaking out of the brush and heading to the feeder. We managed to get into the blind without being noticed and waited for a shot. There were close to 20 pigs of all sizes, and given the distance and their constant movement, my daughter waited patiently for a good shot opportunity. The pigs fed a while without moving closer and then all but one left. That one was a bit small and it was working its way toward us, so we waited.

While we waited, another group of three sows and two young pigs started coming our way through the brush. They slowly worked their way towards us and finally gave my daughter the shot she wanted on the largest sow. She hit it right on the onside shoulder and it went down fast.

We took some pictures and were locking the gate behind us with the pig cleaned and in the cooler by 8:00. We headed into town for some more ice and extra caffeine and were home about 11:00. It made for a long day, especially getting up early for work Friday afterwards, but I am glad we did it. I was sore everywhere but my hair yesterday after getting the lease chores done and the pig wrestled around, but am bouncing back pretty fast for an old guy.

My wife and daughter dropped off the meat at the processor and it weighed a little over 70 pounds, so I am estimating a live weight between 140 and 150 pounds.

A brief word about her rifle. I had been planning to go to Africa for buffalo and take her with me. I wanted a rifle that she could handle but that I could use on a buffalo if mine developed problems. I was going to try to get a Ruger Hawkeye African in 9.3x62 for her, but they didn't make many and they seem to command a premium. Before I got in a bidding war over one, I checked with Wayne Jacobson at American Hunting Rifles. He was able to put this rifle together for her pretty quickly, using a Ruger action he had barreled and a factory take-off stock he had in hand. He cut the stock and barrel down a bit for her, added sights, coated the metal, and scoped it for her. As usual for his work, it was fast to sight in and it handles well. It fits her better than a factory rifle. We sighted it in with Norma American PH loads at 232 grains, and they did the job on the pig.

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