the chase is on

[djones]

these hogs have gotten to the point where they flush at the first sign of danger, so when I show up, you can imagine their horror. my area has become an evolutionary testing ground for the species. they have adapted by acquiring some type of radar that is presently unjammable. they bolted from clear across a one mile circle. the chase was on.

I cut through the center bouncing across the ruts from the pivot tires. I know all of the hogs were crapping in their pants from the ruckus. I fishtailed out the other side and poured the conoco to the old chevy. I caught up to them as they were exiting the circle and slammed on the brakes to keep from hitting them. thrusting the rifle out the window, I fired as soon as the scope found the largest.

one of my ear plugs fell out in all the bouncing around and the first round pop from the suppressor was a little loud for my comfort level. I'm not sure what it was, but I found something and hurriedly stuffed it in my ear. once back in action, the next largest hog went down with a squeal. the others were long gone in the tall grass by that time. I feel certain I could have pulled off at least three more shots in the time it took to recover from the ear plug malfunction. oh well.. even the pros miss the cut once in a while.

 

[HARPERC]

That sounds like a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[djones]

UPDATE - the sting of battle

this guy was running in the opposite direction of the herd mentioned above, towards the closest brush. since i was focused on the herd, i didn't see him until he was just a few steps away from cover, but i did notice he limped. seems he couldn't travel very far and had to stay close to the groceries. he was out by himself early tonight and was easy pickings. inspection of the body revealed a mangled back leg. perhaps he had experienced the sting of battle on a previous occasion.

 

[nateisw]

Awesome! Keep the stories and pics coming!

 

[djones]

got this guy in the same crop circle where i've been seeing hogs lately. racing around to block the escape route was successful again. when we met on the far side, he stopped and just looked at me. we both knew it was over. he gave me the nod as if to indicate he was ready. there are consequences to staring at a man with a rifle aimed at your face.

this one was leaving a field as i tried to stalk him. he was moving faster than i could, and i had lost as much ground as i could afford. i connected with a lucky long shot, but had to fire quite a few more times to bring him down.

 

[djones]

I finally got the call. hogs in the cotton. I rearranged the weekend and left immediately.

yes there was hog sign everywhere, but the cotton was 4 feet tall. I wouldn't be able to see an elephant unless it stood on its tiptoes. finally about 3:30am some hogs came out of a circle that I just happened to be watching. a big one laid down right next to the cotton and the others settled down in the corner rolling around in the dirt.

I crept closer hoping to kill the big one first and take out as many of the others as I could before they made it back to cover. a big spotted boar was antagonizing the others. they were so preoccupied with him they didn't realize the real danger was closing in. the spotted one agitated the others so much they all got up and slowly started making their way to me. I froze in the ready position watching the spotted one. even though I was thinking about the big one by the cotton, they were getting so close it would be too risky to take my eyes off them now, even for a second.

at under 40 yards I concluded they were as close as I wanted them. the first round took out spot with a head shot. he went down with enough authority I knew he was confirmed. I picked up the second biggest and gave him the appropriate lead, which at that distance also translated to a head shot. then I heard loud hoof beats coming toward me and getting louder. I couldn't see anything except the small tunnel of salvation offered through the scope. before I had time to come about, the pounding hoofs barreled past me. fortunately, the biggest were already down and the smaller ones just wanted out of there. I swept across and nailed him in the head too. then I caught the last ones who were either confused or slow. either way, they're dead now.

 

[CB11WYO]

What a blast!!

Nice work

 

[HARPERC]

The grin says it all in these pictures you're having a lot of fun.

 

[djones]

yea i gotta admit i had a little fun that night. you have no idea how badly i was needing that hunt!

here are some more hogs i've been keeping an eye on. thinking about using the assault shotgun on them. i'll only get a few shots before they disappear in the brush.

just getting started...

a crowd gathers...

taking a break...

ahhh!!! 6 tow sacks of peanuts ought to just about do it...

 

[djones]

I was already setup before dark hoping to get in some close range shotgun work, but I heard the hogs circle wide to get a drink from the pivot before coming in to eat, which would have left me waiting indefinitely. A quick hike back to the truck and I switched to the night rifle. Before I could go after them, a good boar came into view. He kept looking back and forth between the bait and the direction of the pivot, finally deciding to join the others. I could easily have taken him right there, but he cut a path in my direction, so I waited and watched him get closer and closer. This was going to be interesting. He must have known something was wrong because he staged for several seconds behind some brush. When he finally came out it was in a trot. No matter, he was so close his head filled the scope. This was the best shot opportunity I was going to get, so I took him on the hoof. Distance is misleading looking through night vision, and though I knew he was close, I was still a little surprised when I only took twenty five steps to reach him.

After the shot, I was sure the other hogs were making tracks. Still, I doubled back to the field's edge to check in the cotton. No hogs, so I prepared to drag the dead one out and to my surprise, one was at the bait now. I crept back down the trail, watching him eat nervously. A gust of wind spooked him briefly, but he came back. By then I was 92 yards out and was able to make a clean shot on him.

 

[djones]

not sure if anyone else has noticed, but for a bunch of hog hunters on a public forum, you guys don't say much... oh well, i'll keep jabbering for a while longer.

every once in a great while conditions come together and set the perfect stage for a "ground and pound". the wind was cool and easy and surly must have had a calming effect on the hogs. at 2:00am the moon was high and bright at our backs. it probably hurt their eyes to look our direction, which afforded us an additional layer of stealth in our stalk. and the field… did I mention they were in peanuts? everything from their kneecaps up was totally exposed. yes, this is the kind of killing that dreams are made of.

we halted our approach at about 100 yards out and decided to wait since they were making their way in our general direction, albeit in random fashion. at 75 yards out the intensity was more than we could bear; two crouching tigers in tall grass, frozen while the gazelle grazed within striking distance, muscles taught but in total control, only slightly twitching on occasion.

on cue, we let the beast out with a deafening roar, and the field erupted. bullets flew and bodies tumbled. there weren't the usual squeals this time. just pop, thwump and the muffled sounds of bodies hitting the dirt. they must have felt like they had on leg irons and were running through quicksand. some of the sight pictures seemed like they were in slow motion to me too. it's easy to look like a good shot when the targets are so big.

 

[sdkidaho]

Awesome stories, thanks for sharing. A few questions:

Does anyone eat the ones you kill and if so, are they any good?

What are you shooting, is that an AR10?

Why did the suppressed shot still hurt? What suppressor do you run?

 

[djones]

I get asked this a lot, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself from another post elsewhere.

No one is eating the pigs. I leave them for yotes and scavengers unless the landowner wants them drug off. For that, I am often called unsporting or unethical. I know you're not suggesting this, but there are those who would. Fortunately I'm well past worrying about what I'm called. I'm perfectly fine being labeled a senseless killer by those who need to brand it. For reasons I can't explain, I just really like it… A LOT!!!

Some folks say the crop damage is negligible. I disagree, but it doesn't matter what I think. The farmers are the ones who know the impact on their checkbooks, and they want them dead. If you want to hunt off the good graces of landowners, you follow their rules. Every minute I spend messing with a dead hog is a minute I waste not killing another one. Besides, no one wants me dropping off a shot up pig on their lawn at 5am after it's been dead all night.

Depending on what the hogs are eating, they would taste fine. When you add the trouble of skinning/gutting or quartering and packing in ice, a spiral honey ham from United begins to sound a lot better.

I'm shooting a DPMS AR10 308. I've noticed many shooters have big egos wrapped around their guns. I just want it to work… hell my life may depend on it (and it has at times!). I like shooting suppressed, but the suppressor affects how the gas system operates, so I've made some functional modifications and some just to suit my liking. I'm happy with it, but if I were looking today, I'd put a little research into something offering a side charging handle and gas piston before deciding.

My AR has a YHM Phantom 7.62 can. It's heavy but was relatively inexpensive at the time and had a solid reputation. I don't recall if it was full auto rated, but I remember reading many reviews indicating it was built like a tank. While I don't shoot full auto, I have dumped a couple of magazines fairly quickly into herds of hogs and the can will definitely get hot, so the more durable the better.

I don't recall the stats anymore, so I could be way off on this, but I think my 18" AR has a muzzle blast of close to 170db. If I recall, most suppressors in this class, at least when I got it several years ago, were suppressing about 27db to 30db, which would put my suppressed blast near the 140db range (don't quote me on this). My ears have been shot out since I was very young, so they are overly sensitive to gunfire now. I still wear ear protection with everything I shoot, suppressed or not. For what it's worth, the noise doesn't bother most of my friends with normal hearing.

If anyone else is shooting pigs, I'd love to see pics and hear about how they were shot. Dig up old pics if you have to!

 

[sdkidaho]

No problem here with leaving them to rot. I'm not in a pig state but from what I gather they are thick in number and destructive. Plus if it brings in some coyotes to shoot, all the better.

That AR10 should be awesome for that. I'd think an AR15 would be a bit on the light side for those heavy boned critters anyway.

Thanks for the explanation on the suppressor. Waiting for my stamps for my first two as we speak.

I want to hunt pigs some day... Need to get my dad out to do it before he gets too old..