Saturday morning I went out to enforce a little piggie birth control. The early moonlight allowed me to watch deer at the feeder well before legal shooting light, and when the deer got spooky and all looked down the lane I trained my binoculars in the same direction and confirmed an incoming boar was on the move. At 50 yards he stopped and got that "Never mind, I'll just leave now" look. A bullet placed behind the skull convinced him to stay around, and before the deer returned I ran over and dragged him into the tall grass and out of view. I settle back into my stand, the deer came back within a few minutes and all returned to normal ...until the feeder went off at 07:00. Another pig appeared at the other end of the field and began coming in quickly. I was ready when she paused at 30 yards and put her down too. I dragged her over to lay beside her buddy so they could cool off together. Man, after bow hunting for so many years the 308 sure makes killing easy. Now my freezer has pork chops atop the new deer steak supply, and FIL is happy that the pig population is currently down by a couple. After the pigs were down the deer eventually returned so I put away the rifle, hoping that an undesirable buck would come around. After waiting for a nice 8 to leave (and getting a very tempting visit from a huge but young 10) I also punched my final buck tag by arrowing a 2 year old spike. He crashed right into a puddle and was covered in mud and sand, so I didn't bother with "trophy spike" photos.
This year I passed on three deer that were larger than anything I've ever shot, because they were young. I hope it was the right move and the neighbors don't find them until after the season is over.
