I’d been taking my oldest son to TX on an annual archery hog with my brothers and their sons. My oldest had been successful which really made my youngest boy jealous(9yoa). I promised if he’d practice shooting every day in our basement range his pellet rifle, we get him a shot with a rifle (he wasn’t strong ending to pull more than a 25lb bow at the time). We practiced every night for 6 mos focusing on perfect sight alignment and a perfect trigger squeeze. When we finally got to TX, I explained my hopes for my son. He produced an open sighted 22mag loaded with plastic tipped rounds. That evening, we drove around after dark and came across a group of 70-80 lb hogs in the headlights. We’d set up a rest on top of the truck cab that was perfect height. With 3 adultswatching, he fired. All of us were certain he’d missed. I was feeling really bad for him. He said dad, the sights were perfectly steady when I squeezed off a shot. I hit him exactly where you told me to. Because there was nothing left to be said, we went looking in the thick brush. 30yds away, I nearly tripped over a very dead hog that had been 10 ringed. There were 3 humbled adults that evening, a proud 9 year old boy, and an even prouder father. Best hunt of my life!
