In the wee hours of Thursday morning (probably around 1:30 or 2 a.m.), I checked outside to see if there was any activity. Fawns are now on the ground, and this is when it seems coyotes and hogs tend to make their presence known.

Sure enough, I spotted a large form lurking in a heavily-overgrown area, and after a minute or two, I could definitely tell it was a big boar. I would have liked to wait for him to be in a more open area, but large boars don't get age on them without being smart, and I figured it was unlikely he's venture away from that heavy cover.

The cloud bank was thick, so there was no chance of using any twilight. Thus, I flicked on the shooting light atop my 24" Van Horn .300 Savage Contender and slowly raised the red beam onto him.

Vines, limbs and grass combined to prevent a shot, but eventually -- after what seemed three to four minutes -- he stepped onto a small, semi-clear knoll. I still could not see anything but his shoulder area. His head, neck and a bit of his upper chest were shielded by vines. I could see grass swaying in front of his lower chest, so I opted against my usual -- and preferred -- shot placement through the heart. I feared the bullet could deflect, so I elected to put the 125 grain Ballistic Tip, which leaves the muzzle at 2740 fps, into what I believed would be the center of the lungs.

At the shot, he disappeared, and I could see nothing other than deer in the distance through my thermal monocular.

The hog was in one of our two "restricted" areas. Due to a couple of harrowing incidents in the past, we no longer venture into those spots at night. One is s steep and dangerous creek bank/bed; the other is an almost impenetrable jungle of vines, thorns, poison ivy, poison oak, scorpions, wasps, yellowjackets and copperheads. This hog was in the latter.

Anyway, I wanted this fawn killer stopped, and the possibility of losing the meat didn't even cross my mind. So I placed the dot of the 8x56 Docter scope where it needed to go and sent a 125 grain Ballistic Tip on its way. The distinct sound of the impact was reassuring, but again, I saw nothing in the monocular, though with all of the vegetation and lay of the land, that did not surprise me. I did take the tractor and drive as close as I could, but I still saw nothing. I intended to check things out at first light, but that simply did not pan out.

When I finally was up and about around noon, I saw a number of buzzards gathered, but I was having a rough day and did not venture out there. But today, I just had to check.

The boar appeared to be between 220 and 225 pounds and had some good cutters on him.The impact did seem to center the lungs, and my hand-held metal detector did not alert to anything on the opposite side, so I assume the bullet exited, though it was hard to tell since the buzzards had been busy. (They'd already removed most of the innards via his back side.) He was only 13 to 14 yards from where he met the Nosler.

The pictures might be a bit much to take, so I will post them below in another thread. That way, if you aren't ready for a little gore, you can stop scrolling at this point. I wasn't even going to post, but this forum seems to have grown quite stagnant, so against my original instinct, I'm going to post.

Nice shot Bobby
Love the 300 savage
Especially in a contender

quote:

Originally posted by Bear Cat:
Nice shot Bobby
Love the 300 savage
Especially in a contender

Thanks. I really like the .300 in Contender format. I think it's an overlooked option for the single shots. The taper of the case is minimal, and the geometry is not all unlike that of AI chamberings, which are preferred and recommended in setups like the Contender.

I keep my loads in the book-minimum range, but so far, none of the hogs or coyotes have complained.

Below, from left, are the 7mm Bullberry, the .300 Svg and the 30-30. All three shine in the Contender.

Well shit, lost two posts in a row tonight.
Am going to quit now!>
George

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Well shit, lost two posts in a row tonight.
Am going to quit now!>
George

I somehow manage to do things like that quite often!

It's amazing how fast the vultures find stuff!! I think they hear the shot at night and know to start looking at daylight! I finally sat the other night. No pigs. A big coon did show, I smoked him and went home!

Bobby, I am sure you made Arthur Savage and Charles Newton proud. Well done. I love that capable old cartridge out of a Savage 99.

quote:

Originally posted by Live Oak:
It's amazing how fast the vultures find stuff!! I think they hear the shot at night and know to start looking at daylight! I finally sat the other night. No pigs. A big coon did show, I smoked him and went home!

The carcass was in a spot with 3-foot-tall Johnson grass among other greenery. You can see in the photo how they flattened and cleared it out better than a shredder could LOL. Then again, it's not unusual to have 80+ on a carcass out here. I think I texted a photo of a huge gathering of buzzards to George a couple years ago. I think I recall him saying they've never in such numbers in his area of CO.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Bobby, I am sure you made Arthur Savage and Charles Newton proud. Well done. I love that capable old cartridge out of a Savage 99.

Thanks. I like the .300 Savage a LOT. It does all I could ever need. I should put it to use more often, but I somehow always find myself reaching for the 6.5 Bullberry instead.

Sierra now makes a 150 grain HP Varminter. I hope to try some of those before long and see how they do in expansion medium out to 200 yards with a muzzle speed of around 2450 fps. I doubt it will replace my current load with the Nosler 125 grain BTs and ABs, but curiosity is killing me.

Bobby:

I have never seen a vulture here.

Live Oak:
When out shooting prairie dogs the hawks and eagles come in from all directions shortly after the shooting starts. I have had at least ten birds come in within 20 minutes. There is no fighting over the dead either. Seems like they take turns. First one gets to eat first etc.

It's common they and the burrowing owls to land near a dead one and start actually pointing live one's to be shot. With a high powered glass we watch the birds often. When they face some direction, just look that way and more prairie dogs can be seen. They know it's feeding time when the shooting starts.

George

George-

Around here, hawks will often circle over working farm machinery as they've figured out that activities like shredding will stir up small rodents or snakes.

Bobby, super story
What do you think about the old 303 Savage in 99 lever action?
Any experience?
Found one years ago, got the brass but procrastinating to load

quote:

Originally posted by M.Shy:
Bobby, super story
What do you think about the old 303 Savage in 99 lever action?
Any experience?
Found one years ago, got the brass but procrastinating to load

Thanks. The .303 is an oldie but definitely a good round, and there are quite a few bullets that can make this one shine.

I am glad to hear you have brass for your rifle, because it seems to be a little hard to find nowadays. PPU still makes runs of it. But the last time I saw any listed, it was already about a buck apiece before tax and shipping.

I've only run across one .303 Svg that I recall -- and that was probably close to 40 years ago. An elderly widower from Gonzales County (TX) owned it. The rifle was a well-worn 99 that had about all of the finish worn off of the stock. He told me that he always kept it in his truck and carried extra rounds loosely in his tool box. Rumor was that in his younger days, he used to shoot gars in the Guadalupe River with that rifle.

I found it in antique store in Noxon MT years back, really good shape so I grabbed it. They wanted only $ 250
I’m glad I bought that brass
I’ll work on it
I have couple 309’s in 99 as well that I picked up few places over the years
Of course we don’t have pigs up here but I go to the old country Czech and hunt them there…lots of fun