After two years of returning empty handed I finally dropped my first hog last weekend. Every year I head to Texas(N & W of Colorado City) to hunt hogs with an old college buddy. We hunt on one of their leases in Mitchell County. The past two years have been painful. First year we saw about 75 hogs through NV and due to a lack of time the only day light shots were misses. My scope was off about 6" at 100yds. Not sure how that happened but it did. After we zeroed it again we never got pigs in range again.
This year we cleared the calendar for 4 days of hunting. Headed out early and got down there about 2:30 last Friday. We were in the tower stand by 4:00 and had pigs in sight by 4:15. It took 10-15 minutes for this boar to come into range. He came in with a group of 7-8 other pigs. I put cross hairs on him and settled in for a 120yd shot. I fired and saw him go down. Upon chambering another round and attempting to find another pig to shoot I realized he wasn't even kicking. Once we got to the other side of the river we found out why he didn't move. He turned right when I fired. instead of a broadside shot I hit square on his spine. Kind of hard to kick when the spine is severed. The bullet continued through the body exiting mid belly. For those that care. Rifle Remington 700 .308. cut barrel to 20" with Smith Ent Vortex. Scope Zeiss Conquest Z-Plex Reticle. Shooting Federal 165gr Barnes loads.
We didn't put him on a scale but the chart we had put him at 170lbs based on chest measurements.
Saturday morning we had two coyotes come into range. One disappeared into the brush the other kept on moving. The dog stopped and didn't get a chance to move again. Saturday night my buddy shot a 160-170 sow while walking back to the truck.
Sunday night I had 5 pigs come in in a hurry. Not a one of them over 50 pounds. I had my crosshairs on them for a bit thinking a tripple could happen if one pig would move just a bit. I figured why chance it. I put cross hairs on one pig and pulled the trigger. Double shot. Two pigs one the ground with one shot.
I had to put a second round in each pig as they were both still kicking. Notice the cropping on the pig on the left. Finish shot caught him in the head and didn't leave anthing attractive.
Regardless this was the view I got to enjoy each day. When the pigs weren't in I was able to watch some bucks 430 yards to the North come in eat, bed down for a couple of hours and get up again. Unfortunatley I didn't get any pics of them. 5 bucks 2 of which were definate shooter quality. All in all very successful weekend and time spent with an old friend.
This year we cleared the calendar for 4 days of hunting. Headed out early and got down there about 2:30 last Friday. We were in the tower stand by 4:00 and had pigs in sight by 4:15. It took 10-15 minutes for this boar to come into range. He came in with a group of 7-8 other pigs. I put cross hairs on him and settled in for a 120yd shot. I fired and saw him go down. Upon chambering another round and attempting to find another pig to shoot I realized he wasn't even kicking. Once we got to the other side of the river we found out why he didn't move. He turned right when I fired. instead of a broadside shot I hit square on his spine. Kind of hard to kick when the spine is severed. The bullet continued through the body exiting mid belly. For those that care. Rifle Remington 700 .308. cut barrel to 20" with Smith Ent Vortex. Scope Zeiss Conquest Z-Plex Reticle. Shooting Federal 165gr Barnes loads.
We didn't put him on a scale but the chart we had put him at 170lbs based on chest measurements.
Saturday morning we had two coyotes come into range. One disappeared into the brush the other kept on moving. The dog stopped and didn't get a chance to move again. Saturday night my buddy shot a 160-170 sow while walking back to the truck.
Sunday night I had 5 pigs come in in a hurry. Not a one of them over 50 pounds. I had my crosshairs on them for a bit thinking a tripple could happen if one pig would move just a bit. I figured why chance it. I put cross hairs on one pig and pulled the trigger. Double shot. Two pigs one the ground with one shot.
I had to put a second round in each pig as they were both still kicking. Notice the cropping on the pig on the left. Finish shot caught him in the head and didn't leave anthing attractive.
Regardless this was the view I got to enjoy each day. When the pigs weren't in I was able to watch some bucks 430 yards to the North come in eat, bed down for a couple of hours and get up again. Unfortunatley I didn't get any pics of them. 5 bucks 2 of which were definate shooter quality. All in all very successful weekend and time spent with an old friend.
