12/11 Hog Hunt

[deerhuntsheatmeup]

I was fortunate enough to get to go hog hunting close to Jena, La, close to the Quachita River. I was hunting with an old rolling block in 45-70 shooting FL sized Rem brass, 70 graisn of 1.5 Swiss, under a Lyman 457122 345 grain hollow point bullet lubed with Black Magic lube. We walked into hogs before daylight, I not gonna say I was scared, but, a lesser man would have panic'd.

So I sit in a ground blind for the first hour of light, I saw hogs but not the big kinda hog I was after. I decided to get up and slip north east and look over some ridge tops. On the second ridge top I peeked over, there he was, 50 yards broadside, facing right. I leveled the copper penny just behind the front shoulder, broke the shot, and the hog did not flinch, he just started walking straight ahead. I loaded another and clocked off another round at about 70 yards to the same spot as the previous shot. All the hog did was start trotting away from me, I knew I had not missed twice but I was amazed the hog had not so much as squealed or kicked when hit with my hunting load. He trotted away from me and I was trotting after him and I was able to get three blows down the barrel not using a blow tube. The hog stopped broad side to me on the same side as before, all I knew to do was keep pouring lead to him, so I did, in the same spot. This time he fell. I cut the distance to point blank, he was still alive so I put one straight up between his front legs that exited his back just off the side of the backbone. He was still alive so I took my old buffler skinner and heart stuck him to finish him off.

I was amazed at what had just happened because I could not imagine anything in North America taking 4 of these round thru the boiler room and still being alive. Turns out a big hog is by far the toughest animal to kill I have ever hunted. Let me explain, All three broadside shots hit exactly where aimed, two bullets were recovered under the skin on the off side under the skin. The other two shots were pass thru's. The recovered bullets retained virtually all it's weight, both weighed over 340 grains after being recovered.









All shots penetrated straight and the bullets at 25-1 held together nicely. Neat thing to not have to carry a wiping stick or blow tube in the woods.

Best, David B

Merry Christmas

[Bad Bill]

Wow, that's some story and...some mean looking hog! Just be thankful he didn't decide to come your way. Making sausage?

[Tasmanian Rebel]

Wow, that a whopper Barvid! Thanks for the report.
Keith Lay

[Tasmanian Rebel]

tried to beat the edit but I know what you mean on walking into hogs. In the 1980's was bowhunting in the Pear River WMA and walking out in pitch dark when I damn near stepped on top of a big porker and like to have stroked when that thing tore out into the swamp. That coupled with nearly stepping on a big cottonmouth when going in in the same place earlier in the day gave me a case of the heebeejebies by the time I got back to the truck lol.
Keith Lay

[Clarence]

David,

Good hunt!

Looks like good bullet performance-I'm surprised that there was not more reaction to your hits.

I think I'll try my .45-90 with the 500 gr. flatnose on a hog hunt this winter and see if performance is any different.

Clarence

[Don McDowell]

Good job, Thanks for sharing.

Pork roast for Chrismtas dinner?

[rdnck]

Barvid, that's not a hog. That is a sure enough HAWG with more than a little Russian in him. That bad boy is the perfect example of why I won't step into the woods down here with less than a 45-70. You never know when you might run across one of those and they can absorb a lot of punishment. They can also dish it out as well, so it doesn't pay to come in light. Congratulations on a good one. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[mdeland]

That happens quite often with brown and grizzly bears Barvid only they come for you most of the time. Great story and I love that rifle! Had that been a brown though, at 50 yards, he or she would have probably killed you !
Mountain goats are much like that hog too and as I heard one man say , they live in the lower third of their body , can be shot to pieces and still keep moving!
I once had a little black bear do the same thing after five hits with a .338 Mag through the torso. He just would not stay down!
That bugger was getting holed by what looks like .75 caliber plugs of splayed out lead and stays on his feet through for good hits, amazing !
Great adventure and nice going! MD

[mdeland]

Sorry ,didn't read it thoroughly enough, make that on his feet through two hits and alive through four, still amazingly tough. MD

[Marathonman]

That happens quite often with brown and grizzly bears Barvid only they come for you most of the time. Great story and I love that rifle! Had that been a brown though, at 50 yards, he or she would have probably killed you !
Mountain goats are much like that hog too and as I heard one man say , they live in the lower third of their body , can be shot to pieces and still keep moving!
I once had a little black bear do the same thing after five hits with a .338 Mag through the torso. He just would not stay down!
That bugger was getting holed by what looks like .75 caliber plugs of splayed out lead and stays on his feet through for good hits, amazing !
Great adventure and nice going! MD

I was thinking the same thing. If I were to shoot a hog that big and that close I would anchor him with the first shot through both shoulders and make the second shot a double lung if possible. Either way keep shooting until he stopped moving. On a charge with a brown bear the preferred tactic is not to shoot them in the center of the chest but rather pull of to one side and break down a shoulder to stop the charge. That way you will live long enough to kill them before they kill you. My B&C brown took three shots from a 338 to go down but I kept him in a area the size of a two car garage doing it. I too saw a tough Alaskan black bear take take 4 rounds from a 375 H&H before he went down. Mountain goats I have no experience with. I also have zero experience hunting those tough Texas hogs so my comments might be out of place here comparing them to bears.

Congratulations David B on your hog hunt!

[deerhuntsheatmeup]

FWIW,

I have seen large hogs shot in the blade/shield of the front shoulder. The ammo needed to shoot thru both front shoulders of a hog this size would be very specialized. My worst fear was of the cast bullet blowing up upon impact, hence the boiler room shots barely behind the front shoulder. Also, in the pic of the hog with my rifle, you can see that the hogs middle is close to 20" as the barrel is 30" long. The hog took a round right between his front legs, while laying down, that exited his back and took out a spine plate, he was still alive.

One other thing, watching guys jump and laugh and high five after a kill on TV turns my stomach. I knew I was not gonna wait and watch this hog die slow, I had to man up, and cut into his heart to put him out. I had a reverent moment after that, from death comes life for others. Sounds corny, but that's the way it was.

Merry Christmas,

Barvid

[RMulhern]

Barvid

Call me and Doc when the pork chops are ready!!

Glad ya had a good hunt! Nice 'porker'!!

Oh...I had a 2nd grade teacher that was uglier than that 'porker'!!

[deerhuntsheatmeup]

No chops Rick, sorry! Only meat not going into the sausage grinder is the shanks, they for me! Slow roasted, nothing but salt and pepper!

Merry Christmas! Barvid

[bobw]

Fine looking boar Barvid and it sounds like you did some good shooting. It also sounds like you need to save those Gould bullets for whitetails. When the Gould bullet is cast out of harder alloy the nose tends to fragment so your alloy gave you expansion instead. Guess I'd be looking atleast a 400 gr bullets next time though. Happy Holidays and well done. bobw

[mdeland]

I don't know anything about hog shooting either but I wonder about ear holing him at 50 yards broad side and standing? I've heard that's how Eskimos and interior Indians kill bear with small caliber rifles. MD