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...you can do it, when the hunt only takes 15 minutes. This pig hunt and my deer hunt (well the second part at least) were both wham bam thank you ma'am's this year. more later...this is just a teaser...she needed one in the neck...to finish her off...  The more later... Roger and I rolled out of the driveway at 1:45 am and headed downtown to Atascadero, CA and pulled into the designated meet point at 4:45 am. The meet wasn't until 6am, so we took a little snooze. Kyler was right on time (as usual) so we transferred gear and head for the ranch. We entered the ranch before light and parked and began glassing fields. Within 5 minutes, we see a big sow with piglets about 200 yards out and she beats feet before we can even think about a stalk and of all things she runs into the open fields instead of into the cover that is only 40 yards away. But she is off to over 14000 acres of this gorgeous ranch. So we continue our little patrol and within about another 5 minutes, we stop to glass a stock tank with some cows milling around and low and behold three pigs start heading in... We dismount and Roger (my hunting partner)is up first. Roger and Kyler stalk in close. One of the dark boars has meandered thru the cows and made it to cover. Now the cows part and leave the brownish boar in the open and when Roger and Kyler confirm they have safe angles, Roger hits him with a 165 grn GMX in the back third of the vitals from about 75 yards. This boar is also confused and does not head for cover that is only 25 yards away and runs about 70 yards out into the open field where he eventually tips over. His girlfriend the grey sow has gone with him and hangs out long enough for me to drill her. She goes down with a whack and squeal. The squealing continues and Kyler based on his three wildlife management/biology degrees eloquently and scientifically declares "That ain't right, I don't like all the squealling". So we start running towards her and she hops up and starts to run our way. This decison would be classified as "bad"...but now the fun begins. The sow is running back the way she came towards the stock tank and the cows. The cows at this point have a gone form a "Who cares look" to a "WTF look" Twenty yards on the other side of the stock tank is a riverine thicket which is more poison oak than anything else. As she is running back towards us crossing about 30 yards in front between us and the cows, I am trying to wait for her to clear the cows and at the same time confused as how this sow can be running with what looks like a half dollar size exit hole high in the shoulder area on her right side. She clears the cows and Kyler (having done this about a 1000 times more than I have is not confused at all...his thought processes are much simpler; i.e., if the pig is wounded and running for cover shoot it) is thinking the hell with what looks like a fatal wound this pig is heading for the poison oak (and I know who has to dig it out)and will be in it in just 10 more yards so he drills her in the neck and it exits the head. Amazing what a head/neck shot from a 300 Win Mag at less than 10 yards will do. Kyler had moved up some and as he was moving forward I thought he might be considering bayoneting her...LoL. The mystery with sow was my shot was high and while it looked like a high shoulder exit it was even higher and was over the top of the spine. Further autopsy revealed it clipped the spine but clearly did not cut spinal column. I was shooting my Kimber in 308 with TSXs and Roger his Rem 700 in 308. The GMX was a pass thru and took out the back of the lungs and the liver. Kyler's finishing shot was with an A bolt in 300 Win Mag. We gottem field dressed and loaded. Went to a local diner for breakfast. Gassed up at $4.65 a gallon (ouch)and drove the 204 miles back home. Pulled in the driveway at 12:45 pm to watch the 49er's crush the Bills. The sow on the left had an estimated live weight of 160 lbs based on 80 lbs butcher hanging weight. The boar was noticeably heavier but not weighed. I would estimate the weight maybe 180ish.  Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | ||
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Great story, great pictures. Looks like you had a great time on the hunt. Congratulations.   Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
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Congrats on a fun hunt! There is room for all of God's creatures....right next to the mashed potatoes. http://texaspredatorposse.ipbhost.com/   | |||
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you boys sure grow some pretty colored pigs out there in Cali. | |||
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Glad the hunt came together, Mike. Over the years you've put up with a lot of dry runs with me, so it's great when the hunting gods smile on us. Raven, You're right that's an unusual one. I've only seen a couple pigs colored like that one. Most of the pigs in this area are solid black, the next most common color is brown and then the last 20% or so are a mix of different colors. | |||
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