Alright fellas, so in the spirit of telling it like it happened…..I’ve got to fess up and go ahead and tell the rest of the story. I was a little ashamed of myself on one of those last few tracks and left a little bit of detail out.

We had already called off the track and were on the hike back to the truck when it happened. We were walking through a wet hardwood creek bottom that a logging crew had just come in and clear cut and things were a mess. There were tree tops and chitty logs, that I suppose they didn’t want, laying everywhere. We were walking up a four wheeler trail when I saw Otis hit a scent pretty hardcore. He slammed on the brakes and his nose cranked up to high gear. Just to make sure it wasn’t our deer, I told him “Go check it”.

Well, he trotted out in the clear cut a little ways to a tree top where he suddenly went on point with his hair standing up and his tail pointed stiff. He stayed on point for about 10 seconds before the tree top exploded and Otis took off barking. They were in some thick stuff after that happened and I couldn’t see what was going on other than the tree top came alive. I could tell by Otis’s barking that it moving but not really running off. “It’s our buck!!”…I thought. “He’s weak and can’t get away!”…….

As I draw my .45 and start moving toward them to get a shot….I hear Otis keep slowly taking it away from me at about 75 yards. By this time, I’ve got in a little opening where I can see a little better and as I look up ahead I see Otis running back to me……with a good size pig HOT ON HIS ASS!!!! Otis came running past my feet and stopped once he got behind me.... dumping the pig right in my lap. The pig thankfully saw me and locked it down at maybe 15 yards and just stared at me. I shot at it twice and missed before I even took aim. I just pointed and shot. I remember doing it and thinking to myself…..”Chit man, you panicked!!” Keep in mind though that this is all happening in the blink of an eye.

Troy was right that a pistol is tough to shoot accurately under extreme pressure. I did great on the wounded buck I shot earlier in the year but I choked on this pig. I may rethink things next year and look at a really small shotgun loaded with buckshot as my carry weapon. All I’ve got with a pistol is 15-25 yards anyways and even that is tough in this type situation. I should have that distance covered better with buckshot out of a small 20 gauge. It’s got to be a gun that I can easily carry without really knowing its there though. I don’t know…..I’ll have to give it some thought over the summer.

But yeah, anyways…….there’s the rest of the story. I let my nerves get the best of me and flat out missed a gimme with my new pistol.