I had an eventful early morning hog hunt this month that was more than eventful. I decided to go out before dawn with my 6.8mm suppressed and ATN scope. At 5am, I was watching a calf laying in a field by itself about 150 yards away. This did not seem right because the calf should have been with the other cattle. Then into the scope's field of view came a coyote stalking the calf so I shot the coyote (+1). Then right before sunrise I tagged a lone 150 lb sow (+2). I headed back to camp to get my 4-wheel when I came upon a group of 12 juveniles. The wind was to my advantage, the grass tall, and I moved along the edge of the field. I was able to stalk within 50 yards without spooking them. There were cows grazing in the lower part of the field but they were all behind me. As I opened fire, a heifer burst out of the woods and ran across my line of fire. I didn't see him coming until he was in the scope. Startled, I did lower the rifle but it discharged (-10). I looked up and saw the cow was limping away to the rest of the herd. I left the hogs for the buzzards and went to get the rancher. I apologized for disrupting his morning but I needed to have him come check one of his cows in case it needed medical attention. I explained the cow had run out of the woods and across my line of fire. He was pretty good about it and thanked me for getting him right away. On the way out, I pointed out the lone calf still lying in the field where I shot the coyote. He found the heifer with no wound or blood. I believe the bullet grazed the right hoof. Having a close call with the livestock like this shook me up.

I share this event so others may not make the same mistake(s) and be more alert to their surroundings. Two errors I made that would have help me see the cow sooner. I had not reduced the magnification back to minimum after shooting the lone sow so had less field of view than I should have. I was also close enough I could have used my laser which would have kept me heads-up and two-eyes open. Ultimately, I probably shouldn't have engaged at all with cows nearby.


Epilogue

A week later, I did get to see the rancher. I found out the that calf had a broken hip and died later that week (must have gotten in the way of the bull). The heifer is no longer limping and doing fine. I am very fortunate.

Accidents happen mate, but you did everything possible to avoid hitting the cow, so don’t beat yourself up. Of course you did the right thing in getting the property owner and accepting responsibility...well done.

Apart from that, you had a good hunt and will no doubt be welcomed back by the owner because of your integrity and hunting skills.

good on you for showing respect and owning up....that young cattle beast may well have been away from herd as it had a sore foot....you just got in between it and herd and it spooked..... yes the magnification needs a plurry bungy on it so it zooms back to lowest setting ....EVERYONE gets caught by that at least once.love the photos...Im guessing its a gopro type setup??? do you have video of hogs getting lead disprins???? if so feel free to post up or PM them.

Elvis, its an ATN-X 4k digital night scope. It has a feature to activate video record upon recoil 10 seconds before to 10 seconds after the last shot. It is very helpful to as a learning tool because you see exactly what occurred which is often different than what I perceived.