There's not much to tell here. Yesterday, the deer were incredibly skittish just before dark, and several doe continued to blare warning snorts while looking towards the creek. I figured hogs had to be nearby, but I never saw anything.

Tonight, I decided to sit outside for a few minutes with hopes they may show up. I didn't have to wait long, either.

Dark forms materialized in the twilight and headed straight for the feeder. Getting behind the Docter Unipoint 3-12x56, it didn't take long for me to see that one stood out from the rest in terms of size. I was hoping for a broadside presentation, but when the hog gave a quartering-to opportunity, I decided I'd better seize the moment as mature hogs don't get to be that size without being savvy.

From 160 yards, I placed the illuminated dot low and just inside the shoulder, which I figured would give me a direct path to the heart among other essential organs. I quickly squeezed off a shot, and the audible impact from the 125 grain Ballistic Tip -- which leaves the 24" barrel of the DVH .300 Savage at a sedate 2740 fps -- told me all I needed to know. Getting back on target after the gentle nudge of recoil, I could see the hog's unmoving form next to the legs of the feeder.

The 125 grain Ballistic Tip flew true and impacted as I had hoped. It shredded the upper portion of the heart, damaged the lungs, bored an inch-wide hole through the liver and then impacted the stomach. At this point, it is not clear if it exited the stomach, but I will take a closer look tomorrow morning in daylight. Regardless of how the recovered projectile ended up, it did a fantastic job and put a brute of a hog down in its tracks without any impact to the CNS -- not an easy feat for ANY bullet on a target of this size.

Check out the girth in the snapshot below:



...and the scale...

Well done! Looks huge to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Hannay:
Well done! Looks huge to me.

Especially next to such a "Tiny" gun.

Just kidding of course. Nice hog and nice shooting!

Bobby:
I was surprised at the weight.
Hog don't look too long in body like the
last one you posted was.

Good to see you've come up in the world
and gotten a scale! Now we won't have to
guess, right?

Good shooting again, do you ever miss?

George

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Bobby:
I was surprised at the weight.
Hog don't look too long in body like the
last one you posted was.

Good to see you've come up in the world
and gotten a scale! Now we won't have to
guess, right?

Good shooting again, do you ever miss?


George

Thanks, George. Hope you are doing well.

Whenever possible, we have always weighed them. Was a short time (a few months, maybe) we couldn't when some low-life helped themselves to my old barn scale and didn't return it, but then I got this one.

You are right: this one did not have the length of the one from Saturday. But it had tremendous girth.

This one went 257:



This one 262:



Those 2 hogs look completely different in terms of build, don't they? Yet they are just 5 pounds apart in weight.

That' amazing. And is the scope as good as you had hoped? Be Well, Packy.

Packy-

After having gone through virtually all contending low-light scopes out there, I can -- and will -- state that the Docter Basic 2.5-10x50 and Docter Unipoint 3-12x56 offer everything I require in an optic for moonlight/twilight or just very low-light applications.

I also have the Docter V6 2-12x50, which I recently received back from Germany after having a dimmer illumination system installed. I actually thought it was a factory mistake because the illumination was so bright, but it turns out they decided to make that one for daylight applications -- though they never noted that in any of their literature and continued to tout it as twilight applicable. It's much better now, but I am going to be selling it as Noblex was kind enough to find another 2.5-10x50 for me.

If I could have just one scope for everything, it would indeed be the Docter Basic 2.5-10x50. It's incredibly easy to get behind, has amazing transmission, renders detail in the shadows and allows shots when others fail. The Unipoint I have features all the same attributes, but the style of illumination is different. Instead of turning the rheostat knob as you do with the Basic, you depress it. With my problems, turning is much simpler for my usage, hence my preference for the Basic over the Unipoint.

Thanks for your insight. I appreciate your knowledge base. I haven't the chance to shoot pests at night. Any use of artificial light is against the law in Missouri. Someone might poach one of their valuable deer that kill people on the road in collisions! Now we have elk, next maybe moose. But I can't legally shoot coyotes at night with a light. Strange. I like the idea of setting up a Docter 2.5 - 10 in QD rings on my Steyr Scout. I have my other choices in QD and have an RMR set up as well. Thanks again, Be Well. Packy.

Packy-No problem. I generally don't use an artificial light if I can avoid it. Even the red can spook critters. That is why -- for me -- the twilight performance is so critical. I can't get out in the woods and hunt, so I don't get many opportunities, and I want to be able to cash in on them when they arise.

With good moonlight or twilight, you should be able to take coyotes out to 175-180 yards without the use of illumination. Or is after-hours off-limits there, too?

This one was taken in diffused moonlight using a Minox Ze5i 3-15x56. If memory serves, I was able to use either 13 or 14x, a testament to the excellent glass in that line of scopes.

No artificial light at any time. I'm sure it has to do with control of poachers. But the number of deer is back on the rise after the CWD scares. Our area had less of a problem. Be Well, Packy.

Good shooting Bobby! I have shot a couple of small ones but the buzzards have found them sooner than me!

Holy jeepers, Bobby, that was a heck of a hog! Amazing the difference in conformation between the two so close in weight. Those old "slowpoke .30s" sure are working for you.

That's a stud boar Bobby!! Stout guy. That'll be interesting to see if you recover the bullet. I dug around in my deer this year trying to locate a piece and still have yet to recover one.

I've thought about walking around the pasture with a metal detector to try and locate some of my pass-thru bullets. Even my Red Stag had entrance and exit wounds

Pass thru's save on dental bills!

George

Yet another massive failure by a Ballistic Tip. The failure was that the hog didn't survive being struck by a Ballistic Tip.

.

Now Bobby, that is a BIG pig! Congrats.



.

Congrats Bobby! Now that is one big boar! Keep up the good work.

Best of Hunting,
Mark Hampton