True 300-pound hogs are as rare as hen's teeth, but I was fortunate enough last night to take a bruiser that went 313 on our Moultrie scale.

Earlier in the evening, I saw an unusually tall hog lurking and had to do a double-take as I first thought it was a calf. Its size seemed fairly substantial, but instead of taking the shot, I retreated inside and got Andy, hoping to get him a chance at a true bruiser.

As he got onto the shooting rest, I told him another smaller hog was approaching from the left -- but that actually turned out to be a group of coons wanting access to the feeder that the hog was now claiming as his own. Before he flipped on his shooting light, the hog bolted to the left and then burned out over the creek bank before Andy could get a shot. Andy stayed out there a while before he called it a night and went back to work on his research paper.

Some time after that, I decided to take one more look. I picked up a stationary hot spot in the little Leupold thermal. It appeared to be a deer bedded down. Because it was stationary for several minutes and in a spot that hogs generally don't frequent, I didn't turn on my light to check it out. But then it moved, and the gait definitely did not appear to be that of a deer.

Within seconds, it sped up and was headed to the creek, so I got behind my Contender rifle with the 24" Van Horn barrel in 30-30. I didn't like the stark angle of the shot, but at the last moment, the hog turned and was close to broadside. Swinging the red dot of the Docter 2.5-10x50 somewhat ahead of the moving target, I tripped the trigger. To me, the shot sounded muted and distant, and I didn't recall any sound of impact. I also lost the hog in the scope and could not gauge a reaction.

By then, Andy was back outside and assuring me he heard solid impact. He already had his sidearm and a good light, so we cranked up the tractor -- with shredder still hooked up -- and headed down there. About 50 yards from where he took the bullet, the big hog was neatly piled up. But we both immediately realized this was not the long-legged creature we saw earlier.

It took a while, but Andy finally got him onto the shredder, insisting all the while that we really need to weigh this one. He's had no problems loading hogs around 200 pounds or even a bit more but struggled mightily with this one. So I hoisted it onto the Moultrie scale and got a reading just barely short of 314, so we'll call it 313. Of all the hogs I have taken, fewer than 2 percent hit the 300 pound mark. Those are a rarity indeed.

As to bullet performance, I was again using the Barnes Tac-Tx 110 grain Blackout bullet, which leaves the 24"barrel at 2859 fps. The bullet entered the crease of the shoulder, broke a rib on entry, ripped through the lungs, broke 2 ribs on the opposite side, penetrated the shoulder and very nearly exited the cartilage shield covering the center of the shoulder. The shield there measured well over an inch thick and was so hard that it took me 15 minutes just to get the bullet out of the block of cartilage. The shield that the bullet encountered on entry was nearly as thick as well.

The recovered bullet was 0.68" at its widest point and retained 108.9 grains of weight, though there still was a bit of tissue under the petals. Honestly, I don't see how performance could be any better. Some may argue an exit is beneficial, but hogs -- with thick, mud-caked hides, layers of fat and the resilient shield -- often don't bleed much anyway, even with large exit holes.

Anyway, I am guessing Andy will be staying up late tonight with hopes of getting a shot at the other brute. I surmise the presence of two large boars last night was purely a territorial battle as the one I shot had numerous puncture marks and scrapes on his body.

Hell of a hog Bobby, big congrats!

I don't think that many people understand just how scarce a 300-pound wild hog is. It is rare that they have either the forage or the lifespan to reach that weight. Congrats on a real trophy piggy!

Just excellent work, Bobby. I am impressed with that bullet, which I have on hand for my Blackout upper. But there are no feral hogs in my immediate area.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I am impressed with that bullet, which I have on hand for my Blackout upper.

I don't recall if I posted it, but Andy used his 14" .30 Herrett and the 120 grain Barnes Tac-Tx Blackout bullet at 2225 fps MV to take this buck at 140 yards. Performance was exceptional on a quartering shot.

Damn good stuff!
Well done, sir.

Zeke

Good one for sure Bobby---and that bullet is a classic one.

quote:

I don't think that many people understand just how scarce a 300-pound wild hog is. It is rare that they have either the forage or the lifespan to reach that weight. Congrats on a real trophy piggy!

Finding a "truly wild" hog in Texas may be a challenge because of the widespread agriculture and cattle businesses. Even hogs living along the Canadian River have access to cattle feeders and crop fields and some of those exceed 500 &600 pounds - been there, done that. Not domestic, but still wild?
With a good dog, they can sometimes be run to bay and shot. Shooting over feeders can save much of the work in taking a big porker + they may be corn fed and tasty. When I raised pigs in High School, we fed one type feed to reach eating size and then finished them off on corn before slaughter.

There is a good video going around that shows dozens of black hogs running from a farmers corn field when the harvest equipment reaches the end of the rows. Certainly not domestic, but they are corn fed- how wild is that?

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:

quote:

I don't think that many people understand just how scarce a 300-pound wild hog is. It is rare that they have either the forage or the lifespan to reach that weight. Congrats on a real trophy piggy!

Finding a "truly wild" hog in Texas may be a challenge because of the widespread agriculture and cattle businesses. Even hogs living along the Canadian River have access to cattle feeders and crop fields and some of those exceed 500 &600 pounds - been there, done that. Not domestic, but still wild?
With a good dog, they can sometimes be run to bay and shot. Shooting over feeders can save much of the work in taking a big porker + they may be corn fed and tasty. When I raised pigs in High School, we fed one type feed to reach eating size and then finished them off on corn before slaughter.

There is a good video going around that shows dozens of black hogs running from a farmers corn field when the harvest equipment reaches the end of the rows. Certainly not domestic, but they are corn fed- how wild is that?

I see your point but don't tell the ducks and pheasants, that I hunt in the corn, that they're not wild.
From my perspective, they might use agricultural areas but they're still wild animals and pack on the weight accordingly.

Zeke

Excellent work!!

Bobby:

Thanks for sharing this last night while he was
still bleeding almost.

Sure a ragged looking mess this time. Anything
that looks that nasty needs to be shot.

Big hog for sure in that area. Sure they get bigger in some other areas with lots of feed.

I'm impressed with the velocity of those loads in a .30/30.
Those bullets do a fine job for you.
Better stock up before the production ends.

George

congratulations very nice

quote:

crop fields and some of those exceed 500 &600 pounds

Sorry, CR, but I call BS on that one and stand by my statement that wild hogs (or "feral" if you wish) over 300 pounds are exceedingly rare. Cornfield or no.

If you've ever weighed, not "guestimated", a 500 or 600 pound wild hog and have evidence of it then I'll happily eat crow.

If I can remember the name of the outfitter on the OK side of the Canadian river where of the pictures , weights, and names of the Dallas Cowboy players who shot each hog, I will tell you where to go to see them. Just north of Burkburnett, TX on the north bank of the Canadian. In fact one elevated blind with feeder is in the river bottom and we drove there in the ranchers 4WD van.
PS Eating a Crow might cause indigestion, so I can live with understanding that not all habitats provide the same conditions and nourishment for maximum growth.

I shot this 600 pound sow in OK myself, just north of the Canadian and east of the Lake Texoma drainage. But as you can see, it was a Duroc breed gone wild. Rancher said it had been on his place 5 years but his hog dogs only chase boars, and trophy hunters shoot only boars, so no hunter saw it until a buddy and I happened on it. I shot it with .308

Wow. A good boar for sure. Thanks for sharing again Bobby. Be Well, Packy.

CR:

Not much interest in the D/ cowboys names.

The only one I'd be interested in contacting again was: Joy Wood, one of the cheer leaders. I was in the Army with her older brother.

Big hogs and weight claim without showing the
scale dial don't mean a whole lot. Sure that's a big one. Show us the dial, ok?

Trucking over the hills in South Dakota late one night a big white hog ran across the road mighty close to me hitting it in the rig. I'd bet that one was around 5-600lbs. Not long before I was in on moving several 600 pound hogs at a livestock auction after the sale where we saw the weights and marked it on each one's tag record. A full 600# hog is a big son of a bitch!

I'd of expected to get derailed if I'd hit that hog.

George

Nice hog.

You are right about the hogs over 300. Rare indeed . Personally, I have shot over 1,000 hogs. I’ll bet less than 25 were over 300.

Larry, I believe you, but do not be surprised if Georgeld asks for a Notorized statement from the processing plant that processed your hogs.
No proof? Well,,, darn.

CR:

I've heard of of 1200-1500 pound elk out here.
No one I ever knew among the old elk killers ever saw any near that big. That's where I'm coming from.

That time in Fla just up the road from Larry's place. No lights to shine at 'em. We saw a few
real big hogs on a patch of white sand about 80 yards away. It was too dark to see thru the scope I had then, or I'd of sure shot one.
Whole lot bigger than this 200# boar I shot.

Surely as there's so many 500 600# as you claim
down there. Can't you come up with a picture or
three?

I'm not calling you a liar, I'd just like to see
some honest 600# hogs. I used to truck thru that area in the '70's before hogs took over.

It's close enough I might would make the drive.

George

George:

The biggest hog I ever shot was in 1991. It was in an orange grove. The tracks were so big that I first thought it was a cow track.

It was so big that we could not load it in the buggy. We ended up field dressing it to reduce the weight . Field dressed it bottomed out 500 pound scales. We weighed the meat, the hide and the skull separately. Here 30 years later, I don’t remember the number exactly. It was in the low 500’s. How much would a big boar like this weigh on the hoof? My guess is over 700 pounds.

Have I seen hogs that big since? Yes, I saw a small group on my place . However, I am 100 % certain that those hogs escaped from a local farm.

The biggest I shot since them was right at 500 pounds . A big black bar.

After that bar, my next largest was something in the 300’s.

George and Larry,
I love to hunt boars with dogs and have not done so for a couple of years. My son wants to go shoot hogs, so I will try to set up another hunt in OK. I live in northeast Texas, but my favorite hog hunts are in OK just north of the Canadian. My son and grandson both shot their first hogs on the south side of the Canadian.

Sons hog is front and center and grandsons two hogs are hanging.

My 45-70 DR is now being upgraded to 45-90 and when done, I will see about blooding it on a decent hog, just like I did my .405 and 45-70 doubles. It is most fun with the express sights.

Thank you both.

Larry the guy up the road from you told us he
drives "Four hours south to pick up a cage trailer full from someone that traps them. That he'd gotten some he thought were over 400lbs. At that time no one had killed any over 375."
Thats maybe 5 miles north of your place. Seems like his place is on Tiger Island. I no longer have his info. That was July '11.

CR: Nice pictures. IF you would pm some contact info down that way I'd appreciate it. Just might make the drive. It's about 400 miles near as I can recall. 330 to Amarillo. Last I was thru there was in April '04. Got nailed in that half block speed trap in Quanah. $130. I figured it was payback for waking those folks up with my Jake brake popping in the middle of the night so much.

George

Jake Brake? Same as engine brakes?
Reminds me of a drive south in SW Colorado in 2015 in my then-new Tahoe. Driving from Montrose south on USH550 sounded like a scenic, fun drive until we were only just out of town when we saw that our south bound lane had fallen into the canyon!
After that it was a road than required full attention to driving and not the fantastic scenery. After a while it was less stressful on the south side of that pass until I head a loud diesel horn blowing for me to get over. There were two tractor trailers loaded with timber right behind us! As soon as I spotted a wide spot, I pulled over and let them pass - not their first ride down and God only knows how fast they were driving. There were about three more such passes before we reached the town where we pulled in to a motel for the night.
Never Again!

I trucked NB on that 550 several times. That's one long snake like winding road. You think that was thrilling, you should drive it in the dead of winter. Even snow plows fall off that "trail" at times. Did you stay on it to Taos? Turns so tight you could kiss your own butt and LOTS of 'em.
It's quite an adventure the first time for "flatlanders" to drive over such a hill.

Log haulers? Oh yeah! Fearless drivers, total nut cases.

You stopped at Cortez, or Durango I'll bet. Don't you agree that's part of: Scenic Colorado?

George

great written story, Bobby... is there any way to age the boar??/

Exciting story, Thanks, Brian

Here is a big one .

A couple more . The smaller one was weighed on certified scales at 258 as I recall. The scales did not have the capacity to weigh the larger one.

George,
We spent the night in Durango and next morning high tailed it for Texas, stopping overnight in Amarillo and then on to the farm the last day of our 3,000+ mile break in drive.

Larry-

The body conformation of the big hog in your truck bed looks odd. Is that maybe a "cut-and-release" specimen? A friend of mine in FL recently told me he has killed several bar hogs, including one that was quite chunky. No one on the two ranches he hunts castrates boars, and neither do the neighbors -- but they've killed several now. So he was wondering if that's a common practice there (he's a transplant and not originally from FL).

Bobby:

It is a very common practice in my area. We have cut over 100 on my place since 2017. They grow large and are good eating .

Definitely not a catch and release hog. It was on a 28,000 acre tract where I am a member . They do not do that kind of thing . We saw him off and on for about 3 years before I finally got him.

The bars can grow quite large. I have seen 2 bigger than the one in the pic. There are some truly massive bar hogs around . However, one generally sees them on camera in the middle of the night . Almost never in the daylight.

We had a boar hog on my place that I have not seen in 3 years now. He was so big that he knocked the spinner off a feeder twice . The spinner was 6’7” off the ground! We called in 3 B which stood for big black bastard . I recon he was easily over 400. He might have made 500. I got a close up of his face on a trail cam. His cutters were as thick as my thumb. He was never seen in the daylight . Not once .

Yep, the old boars don't get age on them by being dumb -- that's for sure. The big ones out here are highly nocturnal and extremely skittish.

Hey, I didn't mean catch and release as in fishing. I meant as in trapping, castrating and letting them go -- just tried a little play on words there.

Got it . I thought you meant raised and released .

Those guys at the 28,000 acre place definitely cut a lot of hogs. We have done it many many times .

The best is to catch a pile of young boars that weight 25 pounds or less. They are easy to cut. A hell of a lot less chance of getting hurt. Cutting a 200 pounder is an adventure. Dangerous as hell.

One of my more entertaining adventures was New Years Day one year. I took all the kids out to catch hogs with dogs. We caught some. I had a grip on the back legs of one . It was squealing like hell. The catch dogs had it by the ears. I threw it down and had my knee on its head . I looked at my rather wide eyed stepdaughter. I told her to bring my knife . She wanted to know what I was going to do. Operate on the hog was my response . She wanted to know what kind of operation. My response ? “One I hope your mom never does .” I cut the hog. She thought I was crazy as hell.

Larry: WOW

George

Larry,
Those are some well fed hogs in your pickup.