Members of the Double Rifle Shooters Society got together for an open hunt with Premier Hunting Outfitters in Latham, Ohio over the February 15 to 17 weekend to do some DR shooting and hunting.

In attendance were myself, Bill73, RM007 and RoJoVin.

Lodging was provided by Long's Retreat, and we stayed in a two bedroom, one loft cabin with restroom, shower, full kitchen with dinnette and living room with gas fireplace. The cabin also had satelite TV, DVD player and VCR.

Here is a photo of the cabin:



I left my home in northern Virginia around 8:00 PM on Thursday night and overnighted in Morgantown, WV - about a 3.5 hour drive from my home. The next morning I awoke and finished the drive, about a 4.25 drive to Long's Retreat, arriving around 12:30 PM.

Bill73 had some bad weather coming out of Michigan and arrived into camp aroun 5:30; RM007 was picking RoJoVin up at the airport, but due to a 4 hour departure delay, RM007 and RoJoVin didn't arrive until approx. 7:30; and RoJoVin's two double rifles never made it with him (And as of his departure from Ohio on Sunday around 5:00 PM, his rifles still hadn't been delivered!)

The following morning we drove approx. 5 miles to Premier Hunting Outfitters, received the obligatory safety briefing, and headed into the property to sight in the rifles if you wanted.

After the sighting in, Bill73 and I jumped on a Quad-Runner with Tim, one of the owners, and headed to the north side of the property, to the top of the ridge line to start stalking some hogs. After about 30 minutes, we scared up a group of about ten of them, but they quickly moved over the next draw and we lost sight of them.

We continued on the stalk and about 20 minutes after the initial encounter, we saw two hogs, including one tan and black spotted one next to a pile of stacked branches. We stalked to the north, getting above them, then moved towards the back side of the pile of branches. We got close enough to see that there were more in the group than the two standing on the back side. We spooked them and saw that there none worth shooting - all appeared to be in the 100 lb range.

We continued east along the fence line and didn't see anything.

Along the center of the property, in the ravine, is a creek that flows through the property. We headed to the back of the property, headed south, crossed the creek, than headed west, paralleling our initial stalk route, but on the other side of the creek and heading west.

Half way to the front of the property we spotted a lone hog walking along the banks. He turned north and headed to one of the empty feeders on the property.

We stalked over to that area and found about ten hogs milling around the feeder. We stalked closer and spent a good 20 minutes watching them. There weren't any "big" ones in the group, so tim retrieved the Quad-Runner and we headed back to the far east side of the property and continued to the southern side of the fence line. We stalked along the top of the ridge heading west. At the far west corner, we came across two hogs; the one I shot and a black Russian boar. The sow I shot had some very nice coloring and when weighed, tipped the scales at 143 lbs. I loved the coloring on her and, since it was now 2:00 PM, I decided to take her.

Tim and Bill73 stayed back while I stalked within 25 to 30 yards from her. I raised my "new" Francotte .470 NE, shooting 500 grain woodleigh softs in front of 85 grains of RL 15, up on her shoulder and squeezed the trigger...and I missed. Well, actually I didn't miss.

I am not experienced with pure European Boars enough (only hunted them once in Austria six years ago) to know exactly how thick and "high" the hair on their backs are. The sow I shot had back hair that stood a full 6 to 8 inches above the top of her back.

Also, I should have aimed lower to compensate for how close I was to her, but failed to remember to do that.

My first bullet literally skimmed about 3/4" right off her back - she was standing broadside to me.

She took off, running away from me, to my left, when I brought the gun level, squeezed my second barrel and put that 500 grain soft right into the left side of her belly, exiting up near the right shoulder.

I reloaded as she continued to run.

Boom, my third shot....skimmed right off her back like my first shot, only about four inches back from the first "skid mark" I gave her.

She stopped, but there was still movement so I hot her with a forth shot in the chest.

No more movement after that.

Here is where she dropped:



You can't see it, but on the back side some of her intestines and nether region parts were hanging out.

Here I am with her close to where she expired:



And here she is back at the cleaning shed:



Now what kind of hogs got pulled out of the property that day? One of RM007's friends pulled this one out - check out the teeth!



Bill73 also got a nice boar, topping the scales at 200 lbs even:



And RoJoVin got the largest - by weight - in our group, something like 240-some lbs:



As of 5:00 AM, Sunday morning, RM007 still hadn't bagged his boar. I got a jump on my drive because it started to rain and I didn't want an eight hour drive to turn into 12 hours if the weather got worse. So I got ahead of the weather and made it home in under eight hours.

I had a great time, the guys at Premier Hunting Outfitters were great and they have some nice looking boars on their property.

NICE!

Nice teeth!

577NitroExpress,
thanks for posting the pics,it was an enjoyable hunt,my first time stalking boar,it was fun to hunt an animal that was'nt afraid to fight & charge,a few came really close & we actually saw a couple really mixing it up!
Hunting with my 470 Merkel was really fun,I got mine as he was running away,getting on target with my Merkel was almost too easy,one shot later & he came to a stop with his nose down in the snow,he came down hard,he was done for but I put another one in him just to make it quicker for him,I was shooting cast bullets out of my gun,500 grains with a wide flat nose & they worked real well!
Both my guns tasted blood this hunt,Rojovin put down the heaviest boar with my 9.3 Chapuis!
I think a double rifle is the perfect firearm for a stalk hunt,& I am looking forward to the next one.
Let me also add,I was really impressed with the speed that Paul took his shots at & how quickly he was able to reload & get additional shots of

Good job, Paul!! Sounds like you guys had a nice time!!

BTW, how's the little man?

quote:

BTW, how's the little man?

He's EXCELLENT! Thank you for asking. His eyes are all clear and his eyes look as straight as the good Lord intented them to be.

Now he's back to driving mommy and daddy nuts...

Thanks for the report, guys! Well done!

Hey Guys

Thought I would give you an up date on RoJoVin's guns. First of all he still has not recieved his rifles. To back up and tell what happened for the rest of you, RoJoVin's plane was 3 1/2 hours late getting in and no gun case. American Air promised to deliver them to us later the same day. It about 1:00 am when they called to say they had not found them yet. At about 8:00pm next day they call and had found guns. RoJoVin told them to keep them at the airport and he would pic them up on his flight out. We arrived the next day at the airport and were told the guns had been shipped to the cabins where we had been staying. After several phone calls by us and the airlines the guns were with a driver in Kentucky. American promised to get them back and ship them to NY. Waiting on update from RoJoVin.

quote:

Originally posted by RM007:
Hey Guys

Thought I would give you an up date on RoJoVin's guns. First of all he still has not recieved his rifles. To back up and tell what happened for the rest of you, RoJoVin's plane was 3 1/2 hours late getting in and no gun case. American Air promised to deliver them to us later the same day. It about 1:00 am when they called to say they had not found them yet. At about 8:00pm next day they call and had found guns. RoJoVin told them to keep them at the airport and he would pic them up on his flight out. We arrived the next day at the airport and were told the guns had been shipped to the cabins where we had been staying. After several phone calls by us and the airlines the guns were with a driver in Kentucky. American promised to get them back and ship them to NY. Waiting on update from RoJoVin.

What a drag. That is my biggest fear when I travel with firearms. At least they have been found and will be reunited with their rightful owner!

Thanks for letting us go pig hunting with you!

I have only killed 4 pigs in my day (one with a Swift, 2 with a 270 and one with a 375 H&H) but I must say I was surprised to hear that pig ran off after being ventilated with a 500gr Woodleigh!

You are right, she had a nice color to her.

Glad to hear your son is recovered enough to drive you crazy!


Tim

Sweet! Congrats to all - those boars look nice.

Glad ya'll had a good time. Did Bal cook one of his famous early am meals.

JD

Looks like you guys had a real nice get together/hunt! I sure wish I could have made that one, but I was just tied down with important medical tests, and doctor's appointments. The boar there look pure for sure, and in good health. If there is another one next year I will try to make that one if I'm still above ground!

Congratulations gemtlemen!

Paul, I have to ask, how many trees died to your DR? This time!

Keith

quote:

Originally posted by Hog Killer:
Paul, I have to ask, how many trees died to your DR? This time!

Keith

Keith:

No trees were killed during this hunt. I did have a big maple tree stare me down for a few minutes. It was a tense situation, and I wasn't too confident with the lowly .470 NE in my hands - would have felt better with my .577 NE; that gun has shown future lumber who is top dog.

But in the end, it decided not to pick a fight this day. Other hunters may not be so lucky. She's a big mean ol' lookin' tree, she is.

JD

Bal didn't cook but had pizza and wings about 1:00 am. We went out to dinner but as it was only 9:00 pm it was still to early for Bal to eat. As the rest of us ate steaks, Bal teased the waitress and drank margaritas and shots.
Bal was ready to go by the time we got back to te cabin, none of us were prepaired to keep up with him.

Yea,I guess the trek through the woods wore my friends out ,me I just felt rejuvenated!I eat late,running a restaurant & the late hours does that to you,but prepared or not,when the pizza came out,everybody got some,we had a good time!

What can I say?....Doublerifle gunners have more fun

Thanks for pictures here...utterly happy faces from a great day....even the pigs were happy to be killed by DRs

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you guys had lots of fun. I wanted to make this one especially since I'm right next door in IN but I spent all my time and money on a hunt in Florida last month.
I shot a hog there with a borrowed double since mine are at home in AK.
Next year I'll have to remember to bring my doubles down with me so I can join in.

I had a great time in june at the
drss hunt. Trying to keep up with Bal and doc
left me with the mother of all hangovers.It just went away last week,but the fun and good company were worth the pain.

JD

quote:

Trying to keep up with Bal and doc
left me with the mother of all hangovers

Big mistake! I refer to them as "Seasoned Drinkers"!