Like Dago Red did last week, I met up with Tom Willoughby for a fantastic hunt. Thanks to all who posted his name on this forum.



When I called Thursday to confirm he asked if I could be there by 6:30 pm on Friday. I said, sure, so my hunt started a day early. We met up and drove out to, for lack of better info, Tom's home base where we made sure everbody was legal and went over the rules.



Then we headed for the hills and procceded to to glass til our eye's hurt. We saw one nice hog on the backside (east side) of the hill but it was accross a draw up on another hill and that hill was on somebody else's property. So, we headed back around the way we had come and stopped at the top of another big hill. We started glassing west and the ocean breeze was blowing straight at us. Just as the sun was about to set Tom spotted some pigs way out west on the other side of the main road. Luckily with that breeze blowing as strong as it was we were able to high tail it back down the hill and accross the road til were just north of them. As we crested a hill we spotted 4 pigs. They were on the top of the hill just south of us. We stopped and waited till they started down that hill headed east. We hauled ass down the hill we were on and then up the hill they had just gone over. We slowed just before we got to the top and somewhere along the way Tom had picked up a forked stick which he handed to me. Instant shooting stick. We slowly made our way near the top that hill to see them about 100 yds southeast of us just on the down side of another small hill. I crept up toward the crest of the hill until I could get a clear shot on the lighter colored one Tom had told me to shoot. It was about twenty yards further away than the rest which gave me a clear line of sight on it but kept me out of the others' sight. It was also lighter colored which really helped in the ever diminishing light. I steadied my Mauser on the branch, took a deep breath, held just behind the shoulder and squeezed. I hadn't shot in what was nearly dark in a long time so the muzzle flash surprised me a bit but not enough to keep me from seeing that hog collapse on the spot! I ran over to where it was while Tom went for the truck. The other hog, a sow, didn't run until I got within about thirty yards. Turns out I shot a sow, and her piglets didn't run off till I was within five yards of their mom. Then they went running off after the other.



I couldn't believe it. After fifteen years it felt great to be out in the field again and even better to have gotten lucky within two hours of taking to the fields. Tom arrived with the truck and quickly gutted the sow and we threw her in in the back. Back at camp he skinned it and the other fellow, also from LA, showed up with a small boar. Mine weighed 46 lbs dressed out and his went 44. Tom stuck em in the freezer and told us to meet him at 4:30 am.



Here's a pic of the sow, thanks to BFaucett:







Next morning we follow Tom back to camp again and headed for the hills. We scoutted around some and were headed for, you guessed it, another hill. It was just after sun up and I heard a boar that we had just passed as we were headed upward. I saw it disappear down and around a bend. We gave chase and went to the other side of the hill that Tom thought the pig went up. We waited and never saw or heard it so headed back the way we were originally going. We stopped at the top of that hill and spent some time glassing when, before long, Tom spotted a "herd" of hogs that were emerging from the tree line. They had been driven up the hill and through the trees by Tom's son Blake and the other hunter. They'd taken another boar and that set the "herd" moving in our direction. We waited til they'd come down out of the trees and made their way up and over the next hill.They were headed to the barley field about a quarter mile away. When they were out of sight we raced around to position ourselves between them and the barley. Just as we came aound a bend at the base of a hill they came up out of a gulley. That spooked em and they started running up the hill. It was now or never because Tom said if they ran down the backside of that hill and up over the one behind it they would be off the property. Again, they were about a 100 yds away but trotting this time. At least it seemed like they were trotting. I think I was seeing things in slow motion. I chambered a round, quickly tried to pick out the biggest pig I could find and get a decent shot at, and squeezed one off. I hit it in the ass end. It went down then got up and disappeared over the hill. We raced around the hill over to the downhill side of the next one to position ourselves between the neighbor's property and my pig. We then made our way up and over that hill and then I saw him. I steadied my rifle. Took aim for the neck and fired. He went down and stayed down. This boar looked to be nearly twice the size of the sow I shot. And sure enough, it weighed in at just under 90 lbs dressed.



Here's the pic of the boar:







We headed back to camp and the other hunter from LA had gotten a second boar just slightly bigger than his first. He'd shot both of his in the ribs. On one, the bullet hit a rib smack in the middle and the ensuing shrapnell from the rib literally tore out the set of ribs on the opposite side. He'd used some failsafes in his .270 and recoverd one of the bullets. It had mushroomed very little and probably retained all its weight. I recovered one of mine from the ass end of the boar. I was using the Hornady light magnum loads since they shot real well in my rifle. I'll weigh the bullet later but I bet it weighs about half of the 165 grains it started out as.



All in all, I had a great time, and can't wait to do it again. I need to go shopping for a freezer this week before I drive back up and pick up the meat.



I tried to post some pics but hunt101.com is down. Anyone know of another good pic hosting site?

Just an FYI, the recovered Hornady 165 gr, interlock weighed 105 grains for 64% retained weight.

Z,

Congrats and well done my friend! Finer pigs I have not seen quite a while. Everyone that works hard deserves a little time to unwind and hunt a little and I'm glad you finally got the chance to get out in the field and kill something.

I especially like that custom 98 you're holding. If I recall, I saw a picture of it a while back after you had completed it...now you've baptized it as well. That feels good too; I know I how I felt when I dropped my doe with that mauser I'd been working on.

Congratulations on a fine hunt amigo!

-Jason

Tex21,

Gracias compadre! Yes, it was a well deserved break from everyday life. And "baptizing" my creation was icing on the cake! Thanks for the compliment!

Take a trip on down to the gunsmithing forum. There are some really sharp folks down there that will make the visit worthwhile. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've learned more about gunsmithing, Mausers in particular, in that forum than I ever did at gunsmithing school.

vaya con dios