The Perfect Hunt

[socalkid]

Well I'm back. A day early. I went on a hog hunt with Cross Country Outfitters, guided by August Harden.

2 AM my alarm goes off. The vehicle is already loaded up so my dad and I hop in and head up to San Miguel. We get there in less than 3 hours and meet August and Ron at the ranch house.

We set up on a hill overlooking a field with a drainage between us and the field. The pigs come from the field and down the drainage and give me a shot. Or at least that was the plan. We sit there for about 20 min and I watch a nice Bull Tule Elk walk through the cattle in the field. Very cool! Well no pigs showed up so we moved on down the valley.

While driving the ridges we spot several deer, turkeys, and groups of pigs. But all the pigs were sows with piglets or small sows. We continue on driving the ridges.

At about 7:45 as we are slowing driving along, Ron tells August to stop and points to a large oak about 400 yards away. We throw up our binoculars and see a nice, black boar rooting around. Time for a stalk...

 

[socalkid]

We position the truck and my dad, August, and I head out on foot while Ron stays with the truck. Checking the wind, we quickly but quietly make our way to where we last saw that boar under the tree. We get there and he's gone. We follow his tracks over several ridges and come to a group of oaks. There are 3 pigs under these. One is the boar we are after. They move over the ridge unaware of our presence. We sneak after them hoping to catch them in the open. Nope, they headed toward the thick stuff.

We use a small hill for cover to angle towards them and keep the wind in our favor. As we approach, we can see one of the smaller pigs on the edge of the cover, but not the bigger boar. August motions for me to set up my shooting sticks. Right as I get comfortable, the boar emerges from the closest bush as if on cue. He takes a few steps and turns. August makes a noise to stop him. The boar stops quartering slightly away. Breathe, Aim, Trigger squeeze, BOOM! A cloud of smoke. (Did I mention I'm shooting a muzzleloader?).

The 3 hogs take off to the infamous thick stuff. I felt good about the shot but neither me or August heard the bullet impact. My dad goes back to signal Ron for the truck while I reload. I laser range the spot where the boar was. 45 yards. It is 8:10 AM. At 8:30 August and I head to see if we can find blood. Well, see for yourself...

 

[socalkid]

That first pic is from a few feet past where the boar was standing. As he ran off, his hear was pumping out blood. He ran past this tree, and you can see the amount of blood coming out. When you see this, you know they don't go too far.:bounce-aqua:

 

[socalkid]

Not 20 yards past that tree, I see him piled up. August determines he is "deader than dead" so we drag him out of the trees and brush to meet my dad and Ron who is just arriving with the truck.

 

[socalkid]

Here's the fun part. I was shooting a CVA Wolf with a 250gr. Barnes TMZ with 100 grains of 777 pellets. The shot was quartering away. I hit behind the front shoulder and we recovered the bullet under the skin on the opposite shoulder. The bullet had blown through that opposite shoulder and stopped. Now here's a picture of the heart the bullet destroyed as well as the bullet. If that's not controlled expansion and 100% weight retention then I don't know what is. I am a believer in Barnes bullets now. Check this out

 

[socalkid]

More of the bullet...

 

[socalkid]

So we got it done early on this hunt, which is a first for me. August Harden at Cross Country Outfitters was a great guide, highly recommended. The meat's at Green Acres and I'm trying to figure out how what to do with the head. I'm thinking Euro mount. Anyways that's my 3rd hog, 1st boar, and finally my first kill with that darn muzzleloader that I've had for so long! Thanks for reading

 

[ruger_mac]

Awsome! I hope I can get as lucky as this weekend.

Adam

 

[FoCoHugh]

Nice to see you're still out there Kid!

 

[spectr17]

Nice heart surgery doc. Great pics too thanks.

 

[tony270]

That's a fantastic story with pics, thanks for sharing.

HH and good luck.

 

[ORElkBow]

Wow...NICE. Congrats and nice flower peddles on that Barnes mushroom head still intacted. Gotta love it.

 

[dglover]

Nice story! Thanks for sharing that and the pics!

 

[huntingbret]

Awesome story and pictures. The heart shot was just brutal.

 

[w8_liftr]

Good shoot'n. August and his assistants are good people. I have been successful with him 4 out 5 times. It's a tough hunt, definately no slam dunk, but he will do what he can to help you out.

Good going.

 

[myfriendis410]

That's the way to get it done! Very nice, and well written. Good shooting. We LOVE our muzzleloaders here.

 

[PAC]

Nice going and a great shot! I love to hunt our Central Cal blacktails, but once I started hunting the wild pigs they have become my favorite. Way to go and keep it coming.

PAC

 

[aerospace90248]

awsome story and pictures not to mention excellent shot placement and good thing you went with the Barnes.

 

[STICK&STRING]

Awesome story. Good to see another muzzleloader hog on the ground! Congrats!

 

[weekender21]

Great hog!!! Nicely done.