I took my little boy to Northern California this week to hunt wild hogs. I've hunted pigs all over the USA and outside the USA on several occasions. Hogs are a passion of mine I just can't explain it.
We drove down in the pickup with the camper and stayed right on the ranch we were going to hunt. During the stay I would guess I saw 50-60 pigs, although none provided any normal ethical type of shooting ...... for me. The Pigs here are all very nocturnal. In daylight or across open ground they are moving all the time towards the thick stuff. It took a while to figure this out for me. I was always expecting them to stop at some point and offer some kind of standing shot.
After a couple days of this the manager of the ranch I was hunting went out with us. We came across a group of hogs crossing way ahead of us and he said "shoot one"....... They were trotting at a good clip, but not quite full out running.....yet.
When he yelled to me I sat and rested the rifle across my knee and picked one out, but dog-gone they were moving fast and getting out of range in a hurry.
Then he yells..... Better shoot, they are going to be gone.
So I lead the biggest one which is quartering away and moving fast at 150 plus yards. I squeeze the trigger and nothing falls or even flinches.............A miss?
He yells over to me shoot again!
I'm trying my best now to steady this rifle and only have a tail shot as the same hog is heading up the hill about 250 yards away. I lay the crosshairs between the ears hoping it's enough lead and click it off...........Nothing at all, no reaction nada zip.......nothing!
He says to me "wadda ya missin these hogs"
Then I get a break, ........well kinda........that big hog stops just below the rise in the hill, turns broadside and stands looking back. I said to the rancher, how far? My rangefinder is in my pocket but I have about 2 seconds to shoot. He says " he's all of 300 maybe 350" I was thinking 400 but at least he's motionless. I know my rifle is 13" low at 400 so I hold the crosshairs right on the top of his back. Slowly squeeze off and Boom!...... the good sound of a solid hit with the pig lurching and stumbling then running up the hill and over the crest.
The rancher says........well that last one got him.
So we load onto his ATV and drive up to hill. He drops me and Jesse off on the down hill side to look for blood and he drives up the really steep sidehill where the pig was standing. Before I could even get serious about the direction I was looking he yells down the pig is up here!
So we climb up and he says you hit it twice about 3 inches apart right through the chest. Perfect shots. Wow how did that pig go that far with a double lung hit.... up that steep hill at a run? When we were rolling him over for photo's he says holy cow you really blew a hole into this hind quarter. I looked over and said wow I actually hit him all three times! He did not seem to think it was reason to be pleased that I blew a ham to bits. I'll take a bad ham and a running shot at 250 yards every time! Better to lose a little meat then the whole animal. But what's even more impressive is that this hog was double lunged at 150, had a complete length wise penetration at 250, and still made it to 350 plus for a needed 3rd shot.
And this was a Sow too! Anyway it was a good hunt with my nearly 5 year old son. And three more complete pass throughs with the 165TSX from that 30/06. I'm not one to shoot running game as a normal practice. I've taken a few head running, but I never like the odds. The Northern California Ranchers don't look at pigs like normal big game, but rather they seem to consider them as most of us would coyotes. I would never pass a chance at a coyote even running. I guess I was slow to grasp that when I arrived there. I definately gotta practice a bit more running shots if I do this again!
All the exits looked like good expanded functional TSX performance. The entry on the hindquarter was 1" and that inner thigh was just mush. The exit was between the front legs but very near the right front leg "arm pit". The exit was about 1/2" diameter. They also kept the TSX tradition of no game reaction when hit. Only that last shot which broke the exit side Humerus and poked through the entry side scapula gave an indication of a hit.
Hard to argue with a 250 yard lengthwise pass through on what is probably a 200pound animal as tough as a hog is. Let there be no doubt about the toughness of a wild hog. These aniamls are like African Game where the ability to absorb bullets are concerned.
Since I have taken a number of exceptional hogs in my life, I've become just as happy with a nice size meat hog. This was a sow which will be great table fare. Just as good as big tusks sometimes. I have another tag good til June. Maybe I'll try and head back down for another one before this tag expires.
We drove down in the pickup with the camper and stayed right on the ranch we were going to hunt. During the stay I would guess I saw 50-60 pigs, although none provided any normal ethical type of shooting ...... for me. The Pigs here are all very nocturnal. In daylight or across open ground they are moving all the time towards the thick stuff. It took a while to figure this out for me. I was always expecting them to stop at some point and offer some kind of standing shot.
After a couple days of this the manager of the ranch I was hunting went out with us. We came across a group of hogs crossing way ahead of us and he said "shoot one"....... They were trotting at a good clip, but not quite full out running.....yet.
When he yelled to me I sat and rested the rifle across my knee and picked one out, but dog-gone they were moving fast and getting out of range in a hurry.
Then he yells..... Better shoot, they are going to be gone.
So I lead the biggest one which is quartering away and moving fast at 150 plus yards. I squeeze the trigger and nothing falls or even flinches.............A miss?
He yells over to me shoot again!
I'm trying my best now to steady this rifle and only have a tail shot as the same hog is heading up the hill about 250 yards away. I lay the crosshairs between the ears hoping it's enough lead and click it off...........Nothing at all, no reaction nada zip.......nothing!
He says to me "wadda ya missin these hogs"
Then I get a break, ........well kinda........that big hog stops just below the rise in the hill, turns broadside and stands looking back. I said to the rancher, how far? My rangefinder is in my pocket but I have about 2 seconds to shoot. He says " he's all of 300 maybe 350" I was thinking 400 but at least he's motionless. I know my rifle is 13" low at 400 so I hold the crosshairs right on the top of his back. Slowly squeeze off and Boom!...... the good sound of a solid hit with the pig lurching and stumbling then running up the hill and over the crest.
The rancher says........well that last one got him.
So we load onto his ATV and drive up to hill. He drops me and Jesse off on the down hill side to look for blood and he drives up the really steep sidehill where the pig was standing. Before I could even get serious about the direction I was looking he yells down the pig is up here!
So we climb up and he says you hit it twice about 3 inches apart right through the chest. Perfect shots. Wow how did that pig go that far with a double lung hit.... up that steep hill at a run? When we were rolling him over for photo's he says holy cow you really blew a hole into this hind quarter. I looked over and said wow I actually hit him all three times! He did not seem to think it was reason to be pleased that I blew a ham to bits. I'll take a bad ham and a running shot at 250 yards every time! Better to lose a little meat then the whole animal. But what's even more impressive is that this hog was double lunged at 150, had a complete length wise penetration at 250, and still made it to 350 plus for a needed 3rd shot.
And this was a Sow too! Anyway it was a good hunt with my nearly 5 year old son. And three more complete pass throughs with the 165TSX from that 30/06. I'm not one to shoot running game as a normal practice. I've taken a few head running, but I never like the odds. The Northern California Ranchers don't look at pigs like normal big game, but rather they seem to consider them as most of us would coyotes. I would never pass a chance at a coyote even running. I guess I was slow to grasp that when I arrived there. I definately gotta practice a bit more running shots if I do this again!
All the exits looked like good expanded functional TSX performance. The entry on the hindquarter was 1" and that inner thigh was just mush. The exit was between the front legs but very near the right front leg "arm pit". The exit was about 1/2" diameter. They also kept the TSX tradition of no game reaction when hit. Only that last shot which broke the exit side Humerus and poked through the entry side scapula gave an indication of a hit.
Hard to argue with a 250 yard lengthwise pass through on what is probably a 200pound animal as tough as a hog is. Let there be no doubt about the toughness of a wild hog. These aniamls are like African Game where the ability to absorb bullets are concerned.
Since I have taken a number of exceptional hogs in my life, I've become just as happy with a nice size meat hog. This was a sow which will be great table fare. Just as good as big tusks sometimes. I have another tag good til June. Maybe I'll try and head back down for another one before this tag expires.
