Like other hunting with guide as a newbie. I had appointment to meet Tom Willoughby at 6:00 AM Friday in Paso Robles. So, I drove from San Diego to Paso Robles on Thursday night and got couple hours for sleep. I met Tom and JD (his helper) at Denny restaurant. We drove to the private ranch at 7:00 am. See lots of pigs and they ran around lots with differnt groups. Tom drove with me in his truck while JD on ATV with another old gentle man Hunter. Around 7:20 am. Tom stops his car and pointed me to a Boar with some Turks that I can see it visible without the binocular at 300 yards away on top of the hill. He turned off his car engine and we got out. I put a round in the chambers. At this time, I think a boar is around 175 yards to 200 yards away. Then BOOM. I saw the boar kneel down and Tom said” Good Hit; you got it”. 10 seconds later. I saw a boar got up and run. Thought to myself “Sh….ttt”. Tom and I hop back to the truck and drove up in 20 yards. Then, we got out and I put another round in chamber. Tom whispered to me “wait for it get out the trees and clear”. I looked through my scope I can see it starts slow down (I guess it lost much of its blood by now). Put my finger on a trigger. BOOM. I can hear Tom said “You got it. Good hit again”. I can see a boar suddenly stall and roll down the hill. Tom said to me” you can get up the hill and roll him down; I will be back”. Okay. I think he may want me to experience the hog hunt. Unloaded my rifle. I took a walk across a small canyon and up to the hill around 10 minutes. Looking around and I see a hog butt right out of the bush; put a round back in chamber and came over to use my rifle poke on him several times. I saw no reaction. Voilà. Unloaded my rifle and inspect his wound. I can see clearly my first shot is right behind his shoulder. The second shot is right through his neck. (A fatal shot). Both the shots, the bullet went through his body like butter. Hmmm. I was thinking probably I need to reconsider to change bullet weight or caliber for my hog rifle. I used 7mm Remington magnum with Barn TSX 140 gr (59 gr hordon 4350). It is suck copper bullet which did not mushroom. A bullet gets through behind its shoulder and goes straight to the other side.
My rifle is a Cooper model 56 with AAA French Oak. It is a left bolt action rifle. (I’m lefty
)
The scope is Swarovski Z3 4-12x50.
Make it long to short: Tom came back and guts my pig. JD and other hunter also came back. They had not able to get one at this time. So, Tom let other hunter hop in his truck and I enjoyed to watch the scene and observed the hunt. Around one and half hour, the other hunter also got a nice sow. our hunt was ended after 2 hours with 2 hogs. I dropped my pig at a butcher in King City. Next day, I went for wine country tour tasting. Then, driving back to San Diego on the day after that.
My rifle is a Cooper model 56 with AAA French Oak. It is a left bolt action rifle. (I’m lefty
)The scope is Swarovski Z3 4-12x50.
Make it long to short: Tom came back and guts my pig. JD and other hunter also came back. They had not able to get one at this time. So, Tom let other hunter hop in his truck and I enjoyed to watch the scene and observed the hunt. Around one and half hour, the other hunter also got a nice sow. our hunt was ended after 2 hours with 2 hogs. I dropped my pig at a butcher in King City. Next day, I went for wine country tour tasting. Then, driving back to San Diego on the day after that.
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