David2011
01-08-2014, 01:17 AM
Warning to sensitive readers: I'm shooting my hunting rifle at higher velocties than I care to try to develop cast boolits for so I confess to using Ballistic Tips in my 6.5x55. I do use CBs in the revolver, though.
My Hunting Story:
Thursday (Jan 2) afternoon in West Texas. Got to the stand. It's a 6 foot square platform that's 6 feet high with a steel railing. Not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was mild, as in cool but not real cold. Had my full hunting gear on- insulated bibs and hunting coat, but didn’t need to zip up to stay warm. The hood was up to prevent sunburn on my face. In fact, I kept going in a cycle of nodding off and waking every few minutes I was so comfy. I woke up just as a herd of piggies and a sow were leaving the feeder 140 yards to the east. Drat, no time for a shot. No prob, they’re headed for the other feeder 110 yards to the south. While they’re out of sight behind the brush between the feeders I rearrange for the optimum position on that feeder. The rail around the stand lets me settle in almost as well as if on a bench. After the settle down to their feeding the sow, about 200-225 lb, offers a good side view of her head so I shoot. Thwump! Good hit. She spins and falls. I’ve learned to rack another round as soon as I shoot and get out from behind the scope so I can see what else is going on. Sometimes one will look around trying to figure out what’s going on. I didn’t quite understand what was going on but saw another pig that appeared to be wounded running off to the right of the feeder so I shot it. Heard the bullet hit again. The big sow seemed to be squealing some so I shot it in the head again. In retrospect, it was unnecessary. Decided to stay in the stand and see what else might come in. The sun was setting. I packed my stuff and got down to ground level expecting my buddy to be coming to pick me up soon. He didn’t and I got bored so I decided to do some dry fire trigger control practice so I unloaded my rifle and settled in underneath the stand to practice. I’ve been told many times about the sensitive hearing of hogs but this one walked into the view of my scope while I was dry firing. Bad Karma on its part. As usual, it moved around rapidly for a couple of minutes and then settled down on the corn- right behind a small yucca or palmetto that was just a single fan of leaves. I couldn’t tell which end I was seeing until the head came up a little and the ears came out from behind the leaves. I waited a few more minutes and decided to shoot through the single small plant. The hog wasn’t moving from the treasure trove of corn that it had to itself. I knew it was close to the hog and didn’t expect significant deflection so I used the ears as a guide for where to shoot. I later saw that it hit between the eyes and exited the back of the head. I never saw a hog quit quivering and jerking that fast.
After that I sat back down but kept hearing noises in the brush behind me. Of course, when you stand up to look you never see anything but it wasn’t just the wind so I got back up on the platform. About 30-45 minutes later at least two sows and a bunch of piggies came in, eating around their dead buddy. They didn’t care. They would eat it, too if they were really hungry. After they settled in I shot the biggest one and it ran behind the brush to the right only about 10 yards away. I heard the bullet hit and it was definitely wounded. The remainder ran away back and to the left to a tree line 100-150 yards away. They slowed down as they got close to the tree line and I shot the fifth one of the day. The bullet hit and it ran in a small circle after the hit but ran off into the brush. All of this was in about 1-1/2 or 2 hours.
After the fifth pig I went and checked on those I shot earlier. I went to the east feeder first. The sow appeared to be about 250 pounds and very dead. At the south feeder the sow was a little smaller, about 200 pounds. As I approached, I heard the second pig squeal and try to run. Apparently the hit to the sow went through and wounded the little one. It looked like it only weighed about 20 pounds. I drew my Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt and shot it again, this time with a cast boolit. They work just as well as expensive HXPs on hog head shots. It squealed at the hit. Placement was not perfect since it was trying to run. A shot to the ear stopped the squealing. Tough pig!
David
My Hunting Story:
Thursday (Jan 2) afternoon in West Texas. Got to the stand. It's a 6 foot square platform that's 6 feet high with a steel railing. Not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was mild, as in cool but not real cold. Had my full hunting gear on- insulated bibs and hunting coat, but didn’t need to zip up to stay warm. The hood was up to prevent sunburn on my face. In fact, I kept going in a cycle of nodding off and waking every few minutes I was so comfy. I woke up just as a herd of piggies and a sow were leaving the feeder 140 yards to the east. Drat, no time for a shot. No prob, they’re headed for the other feeder 110 yards to the south. While they’re out of sight behind the brush between the feeders I rearrange for the optimum position on that feeder. The rail around the stand lets me settle in almost as well as if on a bench. After the settle down to their feeding the sow, about 200-225 lb, offers a good side view of her head so I shoot. Thwump! Good hit. She spins and falls. I’ve learned to rack another round as soon as I shoot and get out from behind the scope so I can see what else is going on. Sometimes one will look around trying to figure out what’s going on. I didn’t quite understand what was going on but saw another pig that appeared to be wounded running off to the right of the feeder so I shot it. Heard the bullet hit again. The big sow seemed to be squealing some so I shot it in the head again. In retrospect, it was unnecessary. Decided to stay in the stand and see what else might come in. The sun was setting. I packed my stuff and got down to ground level expecting my buddy to be coming to pick me up soon. He didn’t and I got bored so I decided to do some dry fire trigger control practice so I unloaded my rifle and settled in underneath the stand to practice. I’ve been told many times about the sensitive hearing of hogs but this one walked into the view of my scope while I was dry firing. Bad Karma on its part. As usual, it moved around rapidly for a couple of minutes and then settled down on the corn- right behind a small yucca or palmetto that was just a single fan of leaves. I couldn’t tell which end I was seeing until the head came up a little and the ears came out from behind the leaves. I waited a few more minutes and decided to shoot through the single small plant. The hog wasn’t moving from the treasure trove of corn that it had to itself. I knew it was close to the hog and didn’t expect significant deflection so I used the ears as a guide for where to shoot. I later saw that it hit between the eyes and exited the back of the head. I never saw a hog quit quivering and jerking that fast.
After that I sat back down but kept hearing noises in the brush behind me. Of course, when you stand up to look you never see anything but it wasn’t just the wind so I got back up on the platform. About 30-45 minutes later at least two sows and a bunch of piggies came in, eating around their dead buddy. They didn’t care. They would eat it, too if they were really hungry. After they settled in I shot the biggest one and it ran behind the brush to the right only about 10 yards away. I heard the bullet hit and it was definitely wounded. The remainder ran away back and to the left to a tree line 100-150 yards away. They slowed down as they got close to the tree line and I shot the fifth one of the day. The bullet hit and it ran in a small circle after the hit but ran off into the brush. All of this was in about 1-1/2 or 2 hours.
After the fifth pig I went and checked on those I shot earlier. I went to the east feeder first. The sow appeared to be about 250 pounds and very dead. At the south feeder the sow was a little smaller, about 200 pounds. As I approached, I heard the second pig squeal and try to run. Apparently the hit to the sow went through and wounded the little one. It looked like it only weighed about 20 pounds. I drew my Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt and shot it again, this time with a cast boolit. They work just as well as expensive HXPs on hog head shots. It squealed at the hit. Placement was not perfect since it was trying to run. A shot to the ear stopped the squealing. Tough pig!
David