With deer season over and 3 fat prego sows and several others coming in regularly, tomorrow night will be opening night!

Report and pics to follow.

Good luck!

Go get em! May the wind stay right!

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Thought that pigs were open all year ?

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tallyhoo!

Charlie, Yes pigs can be hunted 24/7/365 in Texas. If you hunt on someone else's property that likes to deer hunt, to be on good graces, you do not hunt pigs during deer season.

I hope you were able to get out there and that you had some good luck.

I'm feeling decent enough this afternoon that I'd like to check outside a few times tonight to see if there's any activity, but the radar tells me it might be a washout. That's OK with me, though, as we can certainly use the rain.

Bobby:

Thats good to hear that you are feeling good for a change.

Dusty: Hope to see a dozen or 29 pigs killed with one bullet.

Was 54F here yesterday after 2 weeks of cold down to-19F a few times. Now tonight 95% for
2-4" more snow.

George

Well, weather was too bad—foggy, humidity at 96% so it will be tomorrow night.

And, the reason I said the season opens, is because this is also my deer hunting acreage. The second place I hunt is the landowner’s deer hunting spot so both are shut down from September-January.

Good luck if you are going to be out there tonight. Hopefully this breeze will die down later today and give you some good conditions to pursue piggies in.

Well, the only traffic I saw started with 5 horses, then half a dozen ‘coins, a coyote, and 2 skunks. I’ll be back at ‘em next week.

One consolation—the sky was gorgeous!

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"Charlie, Yes pigs can be hunted 24/7/365 in Texas. If you hunt on someone else's property that likes to deer hunt, to be on good graces, you do not hunt pigs during deer season."

Thanks for the feedback! Appreciated! Learn something new every day!

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Well, it finally happened! Sitting in ambush, looking toward the feeder which had not spun. Turned to look back east to see if the deer were approaching and a big dark shadow crossed my field of view from left to right into the wind. Went past me and turned towards the feeder. I got on him and when he hit an opening in the brush I triggered and off he went back into the pasture. I tracked and shot 2 times, the second one sounding "whop" but he kept on going. After about 75 yds he crossed the north fence and stopped and staggered a bit then laid down. I figured he would bleed out and die there. I got my shooting sticks and began a slow quiet stalk with good wind direction. Got to about 30 yds away with a clear shot and popped him and he stood up and I popped him again and he turned and staggered away. No shot due to brush but eventually I spotted him about 75 -100 yds away in the woods. I don't have permission to hunt/shoot over there so I went back to the truck and waited for about 30 minutes. Sneaked back down with the unloaded rifle as its thermal is much sharper than my hand scanner. Still laying in the same spot. Laid the rifle down, climbed the fence, and sneaked in. Well, he had crossed the east fence and I do have permission to go there but from all appearances he was down and dead so I closed in. Threw a limb and no response--took this pic and circled to the right to get a broadside and before I got it, he got up and slowly staggered off. My initial weight estimate was 150-175 but after I got this look and a broadside look, I'm revising up to 200.

As usual, after such terrible shooting, I'll be at the range rechecking zero.

Sure looks bigger than 200 from here to me.

Fat Butt pose makes em look that way.
At least you got him and broke the ice now.
Thanks for sharing.

What did you shoot this one with?

George

Shot him with the .223, 55-gr soft points by Hornady.

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:
Shot him with the .223, 55-gr soft points by Hornady...I'll be at the range rechecking zero.

On a large-bodied hog, those often won't give adequate penetration for quick kills on chest shots and do most of their damage within the first couple of inches.

The Speer Gold Dot bonded series, the Barnes TTSX line and the 65 grain Sierra GameKing (NOT the 64 grainer, though) will generally give ample penetration and work much better. The 55 grain Hornady SP from a .223 does fine on ribcage shots on deer and medium-sized hogs, but I would not recommend them for larger hogs.

The 55 grain TTSX has worked very well for me on both deer and hogs.




The hog below was taken with the 55 grain TTSX. It was a slight quartering-to presentation from 120 yards. The bullet performance was impressive, damaging the onside shoulder, wrecking the heart and the frontal portion of the lungs before exiting tight behind the opposite shoulder. The hog ran downhill and only made it 20 to maybe 25 yards before tipping over. The exit in the hide had the classic cookie-cutter Barnes shape and was just a bit smaller than the size of a nickel. There was no evidence that any of the petals had sheared off, which I confirmed with my cheap metal detector while examining the wound cavity.

Bobby—don’t reload any more but I will look for ammo with this bullets. I generally shoot ‘em in the ear hole and the .223 does just fine. Wasn’t accurate enough shooting on my part and in hindsight I should have let him go on to the feeder where would have had a standing still shot.

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:
I generally shoot ‘em in the ear hole and the .223 does just fine.

Yes. it will -- and work well, I might add.

I'll look later and see if I can find a link to any good deals on ammo for you.

Bobby—your help would be much appreciated—

OK, it seems Graf's has the most available .223 hunting loads and at the best prices, too.

The Hornady 55 grain CX is on sale and is the least expensive of what I am listing -- about the same as a normal soft point load. I've used the GMX and CX in .30 cal with great results but have not tried them on hogs from a .223. I've seen several gel tests with it, though, and they seem to open very consistently. They did the same in my test medium. Here's the link:

https://www.grafs.com/retail/c...duct/productId/91292

The Speer Gold Dot -- this one 62 grains -- does wonderfully also. It will open to nearly a half-inch out to about 200 yards and is quite lethal. Link:

https://www.grafs.com/retail/c...duct/productId/98825



The Barnes 55 grain TSX is on sale, too. Lots of folks use this ammo for deer and hogs, so it's a proven performer.


https://www.grafs.com/retail/c...duct/productId/22402


The only bad thing with factory ammo is not knowing how they'll group in your particular gun, but any of the loads above will do the job on a hog.

Bobby--fast service--thanks. Ordered a box of each to see if my rifle has a decided preference.

No problem! Keep us posted on how they do.

Bobby—got the ammo, now for a warmer and less windy day.

I hope you get some cooperative weather soon, but if the forecast is right, that may be a ways down the road. Tonight the hogs should be moving as it's cool while the air is heavy with mist/fog. I took one look outside earlier and decided I didn't want to subject my rifle to all of that moisture and then have to clean it tomorrow. So, unless I change my mind, they'll get a free pass if they show up here tonight.

I haven't tried them on game, but the 55 TTSX and 62 TTSX handloads (random powder selection) shoot well in my .223 w/ 8" twist.

ClaMar

quote:

Originally posted by ClaMar:
I haven't tried them on game, but the 55 TTSX and 62 TTSX handloads (random powder selection) shoot well in my .223 w/ 8" twist.

ClaMar

My MGM Contender barrel in .223 is a 1:8 also. I tried a box of the 62 grain TTSX and ran them alongside the 55 grain version. Even at similar impact speeds, the 55 grainer opened wider (and earlier) and penetrated more than adequately, so that is the bullet I settled on. But I must say the 62 grainer certainly printed beautiful groups for me with both CFE223 and TAC.

With that being said, I still have quite a few Sierra 65 grain GKs loaded up with SW Precision to a shade over 3000 fps, and those are no slouch for deer and hogs, either. And fortunately for me, out to at least 200 yards, they print to nearly the same POI as the 55 grain Barnes load.