Posted By: Tactical Hog Control - CO
Orange County "PorkChoppers" - 06/10/12 10:17 PM
Jon, Mike and Matt, from Orange County, New York came down to Texas for a little R&R...Tactical Hog Control style! This was Jon's second trip and think he'll definitely be back!
After flying into Houston, they made the short drive up I-45 to Madisonville where they met up with Kevin and I. As always, we spent about an hour getting everyone fitted for ANVIS-9 night vision goggles and then having a safety briefing on our weapons and optics.
With all of the guns loaded in the racks of the RSOV and the sun going down, we headed out to put a dent in the local hog population....then the fun began. The ranch we were hunting was one of my favorites...about 24,000 acres of pecan orchards, pastures and irrigated farm land, with several miles of river frontage.
On our way to check out a recently harvested wheat field, we ran into the first hog of the night...but the wind didn't cooperate...Busted! Since there's no sense in crying over spilled milk, we continued on toward the wheat field and as soon as we panned it with the ATAC-360 thermal...BINGO....PORK!...about 20 of the little buggers at 800 yards. It was going to be an easy stalk....right up until a truckful of spotlighters showed up at the other end of the same field. Bye Bye hogs!
We re-located to another part of the ranch and it wasn't long before we spotted another group of hogs. That's when the ranch owner's daughter and a group of her friends came riding by on 4-wheelers....I'm about to pull my hair! Luckily the hogs didn't pay much attention to the riders and we stalked to within about 70 yards of the group of rooters. The weeds were a little over knee-high but visibility wasn't a problem thanks to the TuskIR-384 thermal weapon sights from Nitehog Systems and the D-760's Gen3 night vision scopes by Night Optics USA. Once everyone was ready, we counted down...3..2..1..and the Larue Tactical OBR's started singing. 5 hogs will root no more!
Since Jon and his buddies wanted to take some meat back to New York, we called the skinning crew in....Pork Chops, Baby!
While the skinning crew was "doin' their thang", we went looking for more action...and it wasn't long before we found it. Another wheat field...and another group of hogs. Using some round bales for cover, we got the guys to within about 60 yards. 5 more pigs met their maker! Small, but perfect eating size! (they said "Anyone can hit the big ones!")
By now, it's getting late....but then we saw another porker on the thermal. The monitors in the RSOV are hooked to a 640x480 ATAC-360 thermal imager with a NightMIR controller....it wasn't hard spotting this old bruiser. He was rooting around in the middle of a recently-planted cotton field and that's where he met his demise....3 simultaneous shots to his head/neck that you could've covered with a playing card. Since all of our rifles are suppressed, it sounded like a fat kid getting knocked out in dodgeball!...WHOPPP!
We all had a blast....except for the 11 hogs that got blasted. A lot of the meat is going to be processed and then shipped to New York, so Jon and his buddies will have something to remember it by...until they eat it all! Then, they'll come back!
After flying into Houston, they made the short drive up I-45 to Madisonville where they met up with Kevin and I. As always, we spent about an hour getting everyone fitted for ANVIS-9 night vision goggles and then having a safety briefing on our weapons and optics.
With all of the guns loaded in the racks of the RSOV and the sun going down, we headed out to put a dent in the local hog population....then the fun began. The ranch we were hunting was one of my favorites...about 24,000 acres of pecan orchards, pastures and irrigated farm land, with several miles of river frontage.
On our way to check out a recently harvested wheat field, we ran into the first hog of the night...but the wind didn't cooperate...Busted! Since there's no sense in crying over spilled milk, we continued on toward the wheat field and as soon as we panned it with the ATAC-360 thermal...BINGO....PORK!...about 20 of the little buggers at 800 yards. It was going to be an easy stalk....right up until a truckful of spotlighters showed up at the other end of the same field. Bye Bye hogs!
We re-located to another part of the ranch and it wasn't long before we spotted another group of hogs. That's when the ranch owner's daughter and a group of her friends came riding by on 4-wheelers....I'm about to pull my hair! Luckily the hogs didn't pay much attention to the riders and we stalked to within about 70 yards of the group of rooters. The weeds were a little over knee-high but visibility wasn't a problem thanks to the TuskIR-384 thermal weapon sights from Nitehog Systems and the D-760's Gen3 night vision scopes by Night Optics USA. Once everyone was ready, we counted down...3..2..1..and the Larue Tactical OBR's started singing. 5 hogs will root no more!
Since Jon and his buddies wanted to take some meat back to New York, we called the skinning crew in....Pork Chops, Baby!
While the skinning crew was "doin' their thang", we went looking for more action...and it wasn't long before we found it. Another wheat field...and another group of hogs. Using some round bales for cover, we got the guys to within about 60 yards. 5 more pigs met their maker! Small, but perfect eating size! (they said "Anyone can hit the big ones!")
By now, it's getting late....but then we saw another porker on the thermal. The monitors in the RSOV are hooked to a 640x480 ATAC-360 thermal imager with a NightMIR controller....it wasn't hard spotting this old bruiser. He was rooting around in the middle of a recently-planted cotton field and that's where he met his demise....3 simultaneous shots to his head/neck that you could've covered with a playing card. Since all of our rifles are suppressed, it sounded like a fat kid getting knocked out in dodgeball!...WHOPPP!
We all had a blast....except for the 11 hogs that got blasted. A lot of the meat is going to be processed and then shipped to New York, so Jon and his buddies will have something to remember it by...until they eat it all! Then, they'll come back!