Sunday morning excitement

Quick story of my Sunday morning adventure….A pig came out by the range last night and I went to take care of it. As I was walking out, he winded me and started to run off when I shot. The thermal pic is from the moment before the shot…not good. I looked for blood, but didn’t see any and thought it likely I actually shot under him. I decided to come back out in the morning.

This morning I went with my wife and one of our dogs (on a leash) to look. Since I figured it was unlikely we would find him, I only grabbed my carry gun (Glock 19). We poked around for a bit when I finally saw it laying down in some think brush. I yelled to my wife that I found it when he stood up and started to charge me (about 7 yards away). My initial thought was “that’s a big pig!” and I drew my pistol (I was carrying AIWB under my jacket, not because I wanted to be concealed, but because it was cold outside). I got 5 shots off before he ran away from me (but left in the direction of my wife). He got as close as 3 yards. Not sure how many hits I scored, but I’m confident in the majority. Interestingly, this unfolded similarly to the Attack Target I use in classes. Threat started advancing from around 7 yards, I immediately began moving backwards, drew, and engaged until it was no longer an immediate threat to me.

My wife instinctively went back to the house to put the dog up and came back with an AR. We worked our way through the thick brush and eventually found the pig again where I was able to finish the job with the rifle.

An injured animal is dangerous and a wounded boar even more so.

Some good things this event reinforced in my mind. 1) Always carry. 2) Training pays off! I drew from concealment and fired 5 aimed shots in less than 3 seconds. I never thought about the task of shooting. It was subconscious. My conscious brain was focused on the threat and where my wife was in relation to where I was shooting. 3) Whatever you choose to carry, you’ll likely want something bigger and more powerful in the event you need to actually use it! I thought about taking an AR for my initial search, but opted for the smaller option. Again, I felt it unlikely that I had hit the pig last night and if I had, it would either have died or gone much further from where it was shot, never to be found. Both of those assumptions were wrong.

I talk about training all the time. Yes, I love shooting and my range is 200yds from the house so it’s easy for me to practice. However, I encourage everyone who owns a gun to make time to train. Do more to get better than you did last year. Take a class, go to a competition, dry-fire, have a plan and purpose when you go to the range, but put in some effort.

Yes, this was only a pig, but he was pissed and was focused on coming after me. He undoubtedly could have injured me, my wife or my dog, but I’m happy with how quickly and effectively I was able to deal with the situation. Keep training and be prepared.