More details to come later, but hog #499 fell around 9:30 tonight to end a LONG drought of me not pulling the trigger on anything.

This boar did not have great length but was fat and solid as they get. I intentionally cropped out the scale in the photo, so if some of you guys want to guess the weight, I’ll wait a day or so before posting it. The ground photo with the rifle really doesn't do it justice. Anyway...

Earlier in the day, I had taken my Contender with the 24” .300 Savage barrel outside so the scope had time to clear of any condensation that would form in this scorching Texas heat and oppressive humidity. About 15-20 minutes after sunset, I went sit out there for a while and saw nothing but deer. I headed back inside. A few minutes later – perhaps pushing an hour after official sunset -- I went back out and could distinctly smell a boar. The problem was, the scent was coming from an area that was not shredded – and where the hedges and wild grass can be several feet tall. Nonetheless, I scoured the area with my binos, thankful for the bit of twilight the sliver of moon was providing.

To my delight, I detected an out-of-place and darkened form where 2 deer trails intersect – and where there the grass had been beaten down just enough for me to see. I quickly swapped the Meopta binoculars for the rifle and cranked the Docter Unipoint 3-12x56 to max magnification. Through the superb optics of the Docter glass, there was no mistaking this was a hog, but I knew if I didn’t take a shot immediately on that 160 yard target, I’d likely never see him again. So I activated the illuminated dot, placed it on the vitals and thumbed back the hammer.

It all happened so quickly that I don’t even remember pulling the trigger and don’t recall hearing the shot. But I clearly recall the welcome sound of bullet breaking bone.

It was all but dark at this point, so I went back inside, grabbed a sidearm (just in case!) and flashlight and drove down there with the tractor. The hog apparently whirled at impact but made only a few steps before piling up. However, as hogs often do, he made it under under some low-hanging huisaches and into a thorny bramble, so Andy – one of the 15 year-old twins – became a retriever. He had to basically belly-crawl into there, drag the hog a few yards forward and then hook the chain around the hog’s leg, but we (HE!) got it done.

The 125 grain Accubond, with a muzzle speed of 2740 fps, entered tight behind the onside shoulder, centering and heavily damaging the lungs before plowing into the off-side shoulder. They are working on recovering the bullet as I type this, so maybe tomorrow I’ll have a bullet photo to add as well. One thing to add: the shield on this hefty pig was significant and close to an inch thick across the center of the vitals.

Good to hear you are out hunting and keeping the 300 Savage busy.

Mark

Glad to see you back hammering em! Keep up the good work!

Great to see you back again.
Been wondering how you're doing.
It's been 7-8 months since I've seen you
even online.

How you doing with the health problems?

Sure a pretty stock on that rifle.

Dead hogs are good hogs.

George

Bobby, I, too, am glad to see you posting -- and thinning hogs again with such a classic caliber.

#499?!

Is that this year or lifetime? Wow! Congratulations in either case.

I moved here from Las Vegas where it was hotter but with MUCH lower humidity.

The humidity makes the heat much less tolerable.

George

Thanks, guys, I appreciate it.

GeorgeS- The 499 is from the very late 90s when hogs started appearing out here. As some of the long-time members of AR may recall, I used to rack up good hog numbers on a consistent basis before my health issues put that to a halt. It's been a LONG time since I last shot one, and if memory serves, that would date back to late summer of 2018. Any hogs I get now are simply sniped from near the house as I can't get out and hunt anymore.

georgeld- Yes, you are right: I haven't been on the forums much other than to swap out scopes in the classifieds from time to time. Am currently running a couple of Docter scopes and like them -- a LOT. That stock is a Revolution in birch from Haus of Arms -- from your part of the country!

As to the weight, we recorded the hog at 292. However, today I noticed the scale was between 3 and 4 pounds off. I don't know it it got bumped after the hog (I thought we zeroed it out), but to err on the side of caution, I am going to call it 288 instead of the original 292. It's quite rare for them to get this large. This one was definitely eating well and likely spending time in someone's corn and/or sugar cane fields. Most fully-mature boars out here go 180 to maybe 240 other than in rare instances like this one. Those "500 pounders" like you hear mentioned on some hunting shows have never seen a good scale.

Nicely done.

One thing for sure, he's bigger than the 30-pounder I trapped last night.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Clark:
Good to hear you are out hunting and keeping the 300 Savage busy.

Mark

This particular barrel and also the 24" 30-30 are incredibly-accurate and such a joy to use. You guys certainly know what it takes to produce exceptional products.

quote:

Those "500 pounders" like you hear mentioned on some hunting shows have never seen a good scale.

Bobby, what do you reckon this Boars Nest sow weighed? The hog scale would not handle this one- it took two men to roll the thing into the front end loader and even the very experienced land owner estimated it near 600 pounds.
Clue- that is a little "weighed" 250 pounder laying on the concrete cleaning pad in the left background.


So far my largest pig, but always on the lookout for a bigger one. When we hunt with dogs, we often shoot boars from 250 - 300+ pounds. My red feral Duroc is larger than a weighed 500 pound show boar from my pig raising days.
Hunting hogs on the Red River, I have seen pix of 400-600 pounders; that outfitter used his livestock scale to weigh them.

Keep up the good work knocking down any and all hogs you can. Shooting hogs is FUN.

Bobby, good to see you are still making life difficult for those pesky hogs! Keep it up!

Zee..

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Clark:
Good to hear you are out hunting and keeping the 300 Savage busy.

Mark

This particular barrel and also the 24" 30-30 are incredibly-accurate and such a joy to use. You guys certainly know what it takes to produce exceptional products.

Thank you.
I hope whoever stole the first 300 Savage barrel is enjoying it.

Mark

Mark-

I've scoured the internet for all sorts of classifieds and gun/pawn shops that list inventory, but so far I haven't come across anything. I even tried all sorts of shooting/reloading forums, thinking someone would be talking about their .300 Savage barrel. Someone out there has it -- no doubt in my mind. I hope Dave finally got the USPS to cooperate on the insurance. The last time I spoke to him, it seemed they were giving him the royal run-around.

Great to see you convert that hog into a good hog. I was wondering when you would share your experience of a great scope for the night shots you take. Looks like the Docter might be the ONE. Thanks for sharing. Be Well. Packy

Packy-

My 3 Contender rifles all now wear Docter glass. I've gone through lots of scopes in search of that non-existent perfect one for night or very low light shots. But the Docter glass is close when all factors are considered.

I got very lucky on these illuminated Docter scopes and got them all on major closeouts. I paid less total for all 3 of them than the normal price for one Docter V6 2-12x50.

I ran these for a while, and while the S&B Polar series does have the overall highest transmission (perceived brightness) I have seen, there's more to the equation than simply a bright image. As good as they were, they weren't perfect, either, and eventually went on the classifieds.

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:

Bobby, what do you reckon this Boars Nest sow weighed?

Sorry I missed this earlier. It's really hard to gauge a weight from that angle/presentation. Do you have any more photos? Is the Boar's Nest you mention the outfit near Columbus? Years ago I hunted that area on a place owned by Crockett Lyendecker. Loved those tall pine trees.

Was taking a break to have a snack one day, so I sat on a pine log and set my feet on another somewhat-rotting log. When I put my feet on it, the log rolled a bit -- and right there -- next to my legs -- was a coiled copperhead. All I could do to prevent being bitten in the calf or thigh was to shove my Super Redhawk .44 Magnum towards it and fire off a round. That 320 grain Cast Performance bullet did the trick, but the concussion left my ears ringing for days.

Sorry that is one of my only two pictures as I did not think to take one with rifle or self with it on the ground. In this pic, I was holding the tail to keep it from rotating.

The other pic has even less to use to compare to estimate size. However, it does show the very thick ankles on the beastie. I have hunted that place several times before and had never seen her.
I asked the dog handler why the dogs pursue only boars and he thought it must be because of their strong rank odor.

We had just wandered into the trophy boar pasture early one morning with no loosed dogs and a friend dropped a 200 pounder causing this big mama to step into view below me at about 40 yards. Without even thinking, I threw up my .308 and dropped her with a spine shot. One of the assistant handlers shot her in the head with his .45 with no effect, so I borrowed his pistol , put it to the forehead so the bullet would go through the brain. I then gave it back to him and he dispatched her properly. He knew his dogs better than he knew the hogs.

PS this Boars Nest is located in OK about 90 minutes north of Dallas. It is a hog hunting operation owned by a dog hunting enthusiast who has 50 + hounds in his kennels there. He also runs bears in southeast OK with some of his dogs. He breeds, shows, and sells such hounds as a hobby.
Some of my friends and I have hunted there for 15 - 20 years and it never gets boring or old. They also clean and quarter the hogs for the hunters. If you take a real trophy and want it mounted, they will skin it for delivery to a taxidermist. This service allows us to eat and BS about the days hunt and still get home by dark.

PS My left ear still rings from shooting an escaping rattler sunning below a deer feeder in Comanche County. My hunting partner scared the snake with his .380 and it headed for a nearby creek, so I shot it three times with 44 Mag snake shot, slowing it to a crawl(pun intended). With insufficient forethought I fired the fourth shot splitting the head nicely with a full house 240 grain bullet. OUCH! Maybe it was worth the buzzing ear because my buddy now thinks I am some hot shot Pistolero! He took the rattlers as he did not grow up in rattler country. I grew up shooting rattlers and moccasins in the head with a Daisy pump BB gun.

First focal Plane Bobby? Packy

quote:

Originally posted by packrattusnongratus:
First focal Plane Bobby? Packy

The V6 is 2nd FP. The Basic and the Unipoint are a unique combination. Here's the info directly from Docter:

Reticle has its bars in the first focal plane – FFP and the illuminated dot in second focal plane – SFP. FFP-SFP reticle has a distinct feature that on higher magnification settings the reticle bars are thick and point the marksman eye towards the very fine illumination dot in the center of the reticle. This is perfect for precise long range shots and at the same time also a perfect combination for low light hunting.

-----

All that glitters is NOT gold, though. Tonight I found out that the V6, a more expensive model than the Unipoint and Basic, has illumination that is far too intense on the lowest setting. It has to be a mistake from the factory as these are reported to all use the same Swiss system -- and the others adjust VERY dimly. Am guessing this one was a casualty of the conversion when Noblex obtained Docter.


I do not like Optics Planet and prefer CLNY or EuroOptic but have tolerated their BS three times now to get these Docter deals. This V6 wasn't even new, though it was advertised as such. It arrived with a dead battery, had fingerprints on the covers and ocular lens, debris on the objective glass and had NO warranty card, no cloth and no cover.

I was told by OP it's almost impossible for that to happen, but these are the same folks who wanted to hold the 2 previous scopes until their compliance department gathered more information from both me and the manufacturer since they considered these "hazmat" items. Seriously...that happened TWICE.

More than likely, I will work directly with Noblex to get this resolved. Too bad they have no official US distributor for rifle scopes at this time.

Please keep us up on what you find out. Good luck with your quest. Be Well. Packy

Noblex responded right away, said send it directly to them and that they'd take care of it ASAP. They were very apologetic. I mailed it today.

Here's a picture of the hog's cutters, which you really could not see in the original photo. Sorry that it looks a little gruesome, but that's a gut pile for ya', ha ha.

Wicked looking cutters. Packy

That's a big slab of bacon! Nice work, Bobby! Many don't realize that a true 200-pounder is a big wild hog. Anything over that is a monster.