My friend and DSS gunsmith (some of yall know him thats had work done) went with our buddy hog hunting. They cleaned house killing 23 pigs. All from unsupported positions and most were moving targets. This is why its important to shoot unsupported and practice alot. Anyone can shoot supported on a bench at 100 yards.
This is their story, courtesy of Pickett for writing it up. I am going to this property with them in a couple weeks.This story about the weekend is too unreal not to share. This is what the amazing stories about Texas are made of. A couple of motivated individuals with good gear on 2,000 acres of un-hunted, overgrown, brushy terrain can have the following impact on an infestation of hogs.
The story starts about 4 weeks ago when we hiked in too start our initial scout of the property. We worked our way in slow as we were checking the place out along the way. The stipulations for the land are that everything is on foot. No quads…….Nothing. There is a severely worn down and overgrown gravel road that runs about 1.5 miles straight to the center of the property. This only makes it slightly easier to get in as there are no fences to climb over or crawl under. Brush is still a minimum of knee high all the way and the ground is very uneven from years of no up keep and cattle traveling back and forth.
We spotted a group of hogs crossing the path headed towards a tank and tried to stalk them at the tank, but they were gone by the time we got there. We headed towards a larger tank we had seen on the satellite photos, and decided to make camp. The next morning, we broke camp and headed North towards the back of the property, making our way to a large tank where the land owner had originally informed me that they routinely saw pigs. This was approximately another mile into the property through brush, over fences, and through knee high, scrub pasture. Pretty tough travelling with all of our gear on our backs.
Nothing at that tank, so I pulled up the satellite image and saw another tank due south of this one. We crested a hill to be able to look down towards the tank and were walking across the top when I spotted a group of pigs directly south of our position and east of the tank. We were able to approach using mesquites trees to cover our advance. We shed our gear and crawled through the brush on our hands and knees as they were still around 150 yards out. As we approached the 4 original pigs, we spotted a group of 8 more off to our right. We split up and I continued my original approach while MicroSuck(MS) moved towards the other group.
We reached our final firing positions, had not worked out our firing plan. Mine were at 100 yards, and MS group was around 30 yards from his position. We looked at each other, nodded, and took aim. MS fired first and I was off target. By the time I got back on target, I was able to squeeze off three shots at my group. 2 of them made the telling Thump sound, but this group was four BIG pigs. They kept going. MS was running through his group, so I moved to help him clean up the runners. I shot one TSX to the face. Down. I scanned for more movers, but the chaos was over.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0509.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0510.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0511.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0512.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0513.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0514.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0515.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0516.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0517.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0520.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/10102010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0521.jpgMicroSuck was on his game this round and with targets at 30 yards, I would expect him to have great results. We determined the official count was Me: 1; MicroSuck: 4.
Last weekend began with a hike into the property starting at 8 pm. With no moon, this required navigation with NVD's. Since we were going in on Friday, staying through Sunday morning, and nighttime temps of 36 degrees, we had to carry a lot of cold weather gear in addition to our standard gear. We were both carrying Eberlestock Operator packs completely loaded down. As I said above, the hike in is approximately 1.5 miles to the center and 2 miles to camp. The weekend proved that it was not going to be a bust when we came up on a herd of pigs at the end of the road. We shed our packs, and MS spotted for me while I did the shooting. Results were as follows. The Barnes 6.8 85 gr TSX does the job easily everytime.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0530.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0531.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0533.jpgThis is full packs and NODs on the 2 mile hike in to camp.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0535.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0559.jpgHere are the same four the next day in the daylight.
Official count was Me: 5; MicroSuck: 4.
So after we gathered the 4 pigs, got pics, and admired our luck so far on the trip, we headed on to camp. We bedded down in our bivy's and slept pretty comfortably through the 36 degree night. Woke up the next morning, heated up some coffee and breakfast, loaded our day packs, and headed out for the pasture where we shot the original 5. We left camp a different direction and worked our way out way around to the west of the property in an effort to scout more of the area and for further sign of hogs. We caught up with a bunch easing along side of some super brushy woods, but the cows would move with us when we moved and the herd spooked down into the brush. We worked our way northwest and then headed straight back to the East towards the Big tank where we were skunked the first time. We moved past the tank to ridgeline of the hill, and headed back South to the location of the original sounder we got into on the first trip.
I spotted Hogs at 250 yards and yelled "Contact" to MS. He moved to a position where he could see my view, and we put together our gameplan. We could visually confirm that there were 3 hogs in this group. The scrubbrush in this pasture is Knee high and as a lot of these pigs are 90-140 pounders, their back line is below or level with the brush. This bunch was nosing through an old round bale pile, and I have historically had good luck with finding hogs in these locations. There was a ridge that would allow us to stay concealed as we moved in to around 100 yards. We now were behind a patch of Mesquites to conceal our advance. At 100 yards, we now had a confirmed visual on 8 pigs. We crawled hands and knees into approximately 65 yards, and decided we should fire from this position to keep our lines of sight open. We set it up to where we had a three count and would both pop up and start firing from the outside of the sounder to the middle from our respective sides. This process worked extremely well as they did not spook even when we popped up and started firing.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0542.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0543.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0549.jpgThis picture pretty much says it. 5 down to me. 1 down to MS. It should be noted however, that in the middle of this turkey shoot with pigs running everywhere, we both had weapon issues. My gun is blowing primers, and MS had Magazine issues.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0544.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0550.jpgMS providing overwatch.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0557.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0553.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0554.jpgOfficial count was Me: 10; MicroSuck: 5.
We left these lay and worked our way back to camp. We scouted some bottom areas, and walked some creeks, but didn't see anything or scare anything up. We headed to camp and sat down for some lunch and rest. We had a pretty nice set-up going.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0562.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0564.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0569.jpgView from Camp........Some huge Bass jumping in this Tank. Hasn't been fished in a long time, so you can only imagine the potential.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0565.jpg http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0566.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0567.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0569.jpgAfter resting up a bit and eating some chow, we headed out around 4:30 to see if anything was moving. As soon as we came up out of camp, we were in the middle of a herd in the exact same spot as the night before at the end of the old road. They were moving slowly in southerly direction, so we split up and setup to push them towards each other as we shot. There was LOTS of brush, mesquites and fences in this area, so moving and acquiring targets was not near as easy as earlier in the morning. However, there was so much comotion for the pigs, that we both had pigs coming at us and taking shots at 15 yards. It was definitely a dynamic situation. We found three confirms, but are confident there are two more out there, just way too brushy too find them all in this location.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0573.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0571.jpgAs we were discussing which direction to go next, we heard hogs nosing around down in the bottom. We headed off in two different directions to try and catch them coming out one side or the other as they were moving along the creeks. I am not sure about MS story as he said that he took a knee and waited as the boar moved in on him. I was on top of a hill by a small tree looking down through a ten foot opening in the brush. The boar and sow moved through this opening and I fired on the biggest one at around 100 yards.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0612.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0610.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0607.jpgMS shot the Boar that was with this sow, and It was one of the coolest boars I have seen yet. He was pretty excited. The dates are actually Sunday as we got a call from a neighbor about a sounder of 15-20 on another part of the property, so we left them lay and headed out as it was already dusk.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0598.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0601.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0599.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0606.jpgOfficial count was Me: 13; MicroSuck: 7.
We found the Sounder, but due to fences and distance, we determined that we wouldn't be able to move in on them without spooking them and everything running off, so we left these for another trip. Back to camp for the night and start again Sunday morning.
We headed out Sunday morning to check the pasture where we had so much luck, and wouldn't you know, another sounder of about 5.....We used the same strategy and moved in close. We watched for a while, and the Large sow in the bunch moved towards us behind a mesquite tree. We definitely tried to use the available cover to our advantage. We worked out our shooting scheme, and put it in to action as soon as she came around the tree and saw us. MS fired, and that was my sign to pop up and start on the others running off. I shot one at around 50 yards and he rolled. I shot at his buddy, but missed him. He stopped at the top of the ridge to look for his buddy and I moved. Staying below the ridgeline, I was watching his backline as I closed the distance at a crouched jog. Once I got to a point where I could no longer stay hidden, the little sucker hauled [censored]. I sprinted to the ridgeline and had a quartering away shot at 100 yards.....missed again. One more shot before he's in the brush. I held about 8-10 inches off his snout and fired......Holy crap. Legs and nose and legs and nose and then flopping all over. That sucker went nose first in the dirt and summersaulted himself twice before flopping around off several small trees. Blood everywhere. Definitely my shot of the trip. The following pictures also show the damage of the Barnes 85 gr. TSX....
MS's Sow
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0586.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0588.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0591.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0592.jpgBarnes TSX Damage
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0579.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0580.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0582.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0585.jpgAnd the Runner....
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0575.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0577.jpghttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k307/pick713/11072010%20Hogs%20Down/IMG_0578.jpg We grabbed the Backstraps out of these three and A ham off of one of the little ones. Headed back to camp. Grabbed pictures of the big sow and boar, loaded our crap and hiked out. We were out by Noon.
Forgot to mention. MicroSuck hiked the entire two miles out carrying a 15 lb. boar head in a trash sack. LOL. It will make a badass skull once it gets cleaned up.
Awesome trip and story.
