A friend with a new ATN Thor thermal scope hunted with me. I'd never looked through thermal before and couldn't wait to check it out. It wasn't high resolution so target identification was a problem. It takes a lot of practice to know what you're looking at. He would spot something but I'd have to identify it with my scope as a mouse at 20 yards or a rabbit at 50 yards or a deer at 100 yards or a cow at 300 yards. Still, he spotted a herd of 20 hogs at a weedy water hole that I missed. We looked side by side and I could see all of them in his scope and none were visible in mine. It was perfect for locating the dead ones too.

Hogs came out all night; like hunting a prairie dog town that's so big, when you get to the end you can go back and dogs have already started coming out on the other side. I told him to bring 100 rounds, but luckily he brought more. Using 30 round mags, he shot well into his reserve stash.

I also introduced him to high speed hunting as we raced around a circle to head off escapees. I was watching the hogs and didn’t notice the area recently flooded from the pivot. I hit a water bog at about 60mph that sent a wave of mud over the entire truck. I never would have made it through at normal speed. Fortunately the momentum carried us to the other side. By the time the wipers cleared the windshield enough to resume, we were only able to get the last one.



I usually have to quit at daylight because my scope shuts down at dawn. Thermal keeps working and he had an extra rifle for me with a red dot. Over 30 hogs were still feeding at sunup on the edge of cut wheat and 5 inch cotton, so there was no cover. If you think hogs can't see... well never mind, I’m not one to start an argument . We got within 175 yards before they busted. 60 rounds between us didn't bring any down (223 ). No matter, the fun on this hunt was measured by the number of shots fired, not hogs killed.

I'll protect his identity in case he shows up elsewhere in pink underwear.

OMG!!! Dude you are HARD CORE!!!!

Sounds like fun...

Very nice Mr Jones. hows the new upper working for you?

good job!!!!

biggie,
I’m glad you asked. Now I have an excuse for the dismal hog count. I actually had jams on the first two stalks. The old upper jams were from emptys stove piping in the ejection port. I broke in the new upper shooting single shot and never had a problem. Even had the chamber and feed ramps polished.

Early in the hunt, I had two failures of the bolt not closing. I was able to clear the first without much difficulty. I had to use a hammer on the charging handle to get the second one out. Fortunately I had a BCM handle and it held up to the abuse. This is what I got out. The mouth peeled back. I had no more jams after that and two more stalks resulted in complete magazine dumps. I haven’t looked at the gun yet. I’m still in a vegetative state from the all nighter.

Any ideas?

Awesome!!!!

You are a killing machine Mr. Jones.

Nice kills Jones and sorry about the jamming that can raise hell during a hunt.

Nicely done bud. Looks like someone will be buying a thermal

Holly crabs you buddy don't have eyes
Nice job BTW

That looks like too much fun!

You are da man big D!

Great work djones. I like that you are protecting the face of the innocent here on the THF. You never know what little internet gremlins are lurking about these days.

You are a beast!

nice shooting

. Why did your Buddy block his face....?

I think I have been very selective of who is selected to play a role

Jones comes through again, never disappointing, not only is he a THF hog hunting legend, but he can looks smooth doin it, while he steals the eyes of your lady at the same time!!!!!!!!

good job once again.

very nice

x2

woody,
he's not a thf'er so i blocked his face because i didn't think it was appropriate to post his mug on a public forum without his knowledge.

fcb,
East is just now starting to talk to me again after the Barmaid incident. This will strike a nerve with him.

djones...any idea which version of the Thor your buddy has? I hunted last weekend with a buddy of mine that has one and it was very easy to tell the animals apart out to about 200 yards. The forward and rear lenses are adjustable. Is it possible he hadn't dialed in the focus?

I put the stalk on a group of about 15 hogs to about 50 yards and then took my time looking at each hog to decide who gets the first round. I was able to distinguish the floppy ears of one of the larger hogs in the group and that sealed the deal. Pulled the trigger on that one and it laid down. Then, to my amazement, I could see a fountain spraying from his neck with the Thor. I knew before even walking up that it was going to be messy.

Having a thermal in the group sure makes it easy to find them.