Heeerrrre Piggypiggypiggy....

[TXGunNut]

or "Hawg Meets Hawkeye and Goes Bye-Bye". Just got in from a whirlwind tour of S Texas; took my sister along for Christmas with my brother in Houston, took her to Galveston to drop her off at her timeshare condo. Then we all had a nice walk on the beach and some great seafood (Fish Tales) and visits with old friends....but y'all are probably more interested in the hunting leg of this odessy. :bigsmyl2:
My brother and I left Houston Sunday as the storms were moving in and got to his lease barely in time for an evening hunt so we grabbed our gear, pulled the Willys out of it's container and headed for the stands in a light drizzle and 15-20 mph winds. I've always believed that deer sit tight in rainy and windy weather such as this but I was wrong. We saw lots of deer moving about and even though they were a bit nervous in the wind. I was holding out for a nice hog but had a great time testing my new binocs and observing deer behavior. My brother was holding out for a trophy so we went back to camp without pulling a trigger. Supper wasn't working out so we had some excellent seafood in a little café (Gumbo's) in Refugio.
Monday broke cooler and a little drier but we both slept in. We knew it was going to be a good day when my brother saw eight deer (or maybe it was seven) while he was sitting on the outdoor crapper in 40 degree weather. :shock:
Poor guy didn't have a (camera)phone let alone a rifle but the deer paid him no heed, some passing within 20 yards.
The parade continued while I was making coffee and I got a few pics (to be posted later). One young five point (I call him Ace) was especially photogenic.
After a windy breakfast we went out to check, fill & repair feeders. At one feeder Ace showed up and refused to leave, obviously impatient for us to get some corn on the ground & leave. Ace is a very promising 1 1/2-2 1/2 year old buck with a wide skinny rack and no brow tines, two points on one side with a pincher plus a point on the other side. I even shot a video of his antics. He eventually wandered off but was back at the feeder before we got out of sight. I'm sure he told all his buck buddies he ran us off from HIS feeder, lol.
Deer were still moving so we headed for the stands as soon as we got thru with our chores. I wanted to hunt a stand designed for hog hunting and my brother was in a stand a few hundred yards away. I had a book to read because I knew the hogs would show up late, maybe even after dark. A little doe showed up & hung out with me for awhile and some ducks in a pond nearby kept up a steady chatter to keep things interesting. The wind finally died around 4P and things changed a bit. My little doe got nervous and left and the ducks got quiet.
Suddenly a big hog darted out of the trees 100 yds away, looked around quickly and nervously and then ducked back in to the cover before I got a shot. I was disappointed but I figured he was just a little early; feeder wasn't set to go off for another 15 minutes or so. (Note to purists: you hunt your way, I'll hunt mine. Feeders are in integral part off the hunting game in that area.)
Feeder went off and I was ready. Hog wasn't in any big hurry so I just assumed a comfortable shooting position and waited. While I was waiting I heard a shot from my brother's direction, since there were few hunters afield I just smiled and waited my turn. Finally a smaller (I thought) hog showed up in an opening behind the feeder. I waited for a shot and when the hog presented I took it and my Ruger Hawkeye in 35 Whelen drew it's first (since I've owned it) blood! It sent a HT'd RD 360-230 from the right side of the hog's chest headed for it's left hip. Not my favorite shot but the hog spun around, dropped and kicked a few times before laying still. Ten minutes later a cute little button buck strolled by and I enjoyed watching him while I waited to see what happened next.
I was waiting for the "big" hog to show up when my brother drove up. Thought it was a bit odd as it was still light but then I saw he had a deer loaded up. He'd shot a nice young 8-pt with a badly injured front hoof, had heard me shoot and decided to head my way a bit early. I listened to his story and then deadpanned; "want some pork to go with that venison?" He knew my freezer was full but I'd told him earlier that if I shot a decent hog I'd let him have it. He asked me if I had some lying around.

[TXGunNut]

I told him I probably did. ;-) He'd heard me shoot, hadn't he? I told him I was waiting for a big mostly white boar but another hog had showed up while I was waiting and I'd shot it while I was waiting, lol. We checked out his little buck, loaded up my gear and headed for the feeder to pick up my hog.
We've all heard about "ground shrinkage" where a game animal "shrinks" after it hits the ground. This hog was sorta like that, just different. It wasn't huge, just a lot bigger than I had thought. :-) First clue was when I realized he'd done a 180 after I shot him. I hadn't checked him out with my new binocs after he dropped as I was waiting for the "big hog". As we drove up I finally realized he was a big boar, with a scrotum the size of a big grapefruit he was obviously a big boy, lol.
We got out and looked him over, and things got a little quiet. My brother was a little apprehensive and he said "no offense but thanks.....but no thanks". The boar was about 200 lbs (350 "reality TV" hunting show lbs) and pretty nasty. He was covered in burrs, a few fighting wounds and about 15 lbs of mud. I understood, after getting a look at him I wouldn't want him in my freezer either. Hogs are "shoot on sight" in most situations on this lease and only the good ones make it to the cooler and eventually the freezer. I don't like shooting critters just for sport but hogs are a nuisance in most parts of Texas and any reasonable means to reduce their numbers is good range management.

[oldblinddog]

Some of the best chops I ever ate came from a hog like that. He weighed 268 on a certified scale after he had been gutted. He hung off either end of the tailgate on my Chevy truck and took 4 of us to load him prior to gutting him. My buddy shot him in the ear with his .280 Remington.

[TXGunNut]

Just in case y'all are curious, my Ruger M77 Hawkeye in 35 Whelen is a rifle I stumbled across during my 35 Whelen "Ellie Mae" project. It's a stainless/composite "bad weather gun" topped with a Leupold VXII 2-7. It likes the same loads that Ellie Mae likes and due to weather conditions and space restrictions (my hunting rig stayed home, drove to Houston in my car and rode to the lease in my brother's Tahoe) the Hawkeye got the nod for this trip.
This trip was especially satisfying, it was the conclusion of my 35 Whelen project. Something over ten years ago a bit of rifling in my first hunting rifle, a Winchester 670 in 30-06, let go. The 670 was a rifle that was there when I learned to shoot, load and hunt and was all the rifle I could ask for, and more. When the rifling let go I decided to retire her and move on. It took awhile to find a replacement for her but I finally found a suitable replacement, a beautiful (and accurate) Super Grade. The new 30-06 is a J-word rifle so I'll say no more about it.
A few years back I started casting and soon heard about the 35 Whelen, quite simply a 30-06 necked up to 35 (actually 36) caliber. Since I'm a fan of the 30-06 and 35(36) calibers in general it was a natural choice. I sent the 670's barreled action to JES, ordered a stock from Boyd's, glass-bedded it, installed a new Leupold scope and went to work finding a load for big hogs. The guys over on the NOE board decided to supersize one of Ranch Dog's 30 cal designs to 35 cal and is seemed especially well suited to the 35 Whelen. After no small amount of experimenting I came up with a load I'll call load #12. It consists of a HT'd RD 360-230 at around 2250fps. I figured it was the ultimate Texas hog-hunting load.
I shot a couple of nice deer with this load in Ellie Mae a few weeks ago but that wasn't the boolit test I was looking for. The only reason (other than good food, company and whiskey) that I went hunting after Christmas was because I wanted to try this load in a big hog and as it turned out my bad weather backup rifle was the best rifle to take the trip.
As some of you know, big hogs can be tough to put down. My load in the 35 Whelen and my "backup" rifle were up to the task. As mentioned earlier the RD 360-230 entered the left side of his chest headed for his right hip but never exited. The hog spun around but never left the spot where I shot him. He collapsed, kicked a few times and laid still. I simply cannot ask for anything more from a rifle, load or boolit.
Next project, 300 Savage.

[geargnasher]

Good times, and great pork-harvesting tool you had there!

It's up to the landowner, but if I have my way pigs get their hide split down the back and the backstraps, hindquarters, shoulder roasts and occasionally the tenderoins cut out and the rest drug off into the brush. No guts or hacking through pelvis or ribcage, lots of bone and bulk in the cooler saved. If other pigs don't eat all the remains up the next night, the buzzards will soon enough. It's a little wasteful and I save every scrap of meat I can off of a deer, but for pigs it's a different story and I feel about as bad about wasting a few pounds of wild pork as I do about throwing out a stale box of Twinkies. I'd a lot rather eat ham steaks or butt roast & veggies than venison.

Gear

[TXGunNut]

Some of the best chops I ever ate came from a hog like that. He weighed 268 on a certified scale after he had been gutted. He hung off either end of the tailgate on my Chevy truck and took 4 of us to load him prior to gutting him. My buddy shot him in the ear with his .280 Remington.

Yes, I love shooting (and eating) wild hogs. Quite frankly I prefer good wild pork over farm-raised pork, venison or even beef. It's hard but I've learned to drag off hogs like this one and feed them to the coyotes and other hogs. I consider wild hogs to be excellent game animals and great eating but the reality is that we need to shoot every one we can, even if we don't want the meat. I've shot and eaten bigger boars but this one simply wasn't edible.

Twinkies get stale?

[TXGunNut]

It's a little wasteful and I save every scrap of meat I can off of a deer, but for pigs it's a different story and I feel about as bad about wasting a few pounds of wild pork as I do about throwing out a stale box of Twinkies. I'd a lot rather eat ham steaks or butt roast & veggies than venison.

Gear

It's hard to drag a big hog off to the brush but I've done it. I've also paid to process an inedible hog and processed one myself that I wish I hadn't. Life's too short and hogs too plentiful to butcher & process a nasty hog. I know some folks will disagree but pulling the trigger on a hog is a management, not a dietary, decision.

[35 shooter]

Glad to see it all came together for you with your whelens. Congrats on the hog and the earlier deer you got with Ellie.

That 360230 boolit turned out to be the most accurate one for my brothers h&r whelen.
It's good to see it turning in great field performance.

[TXGunNut]

Awesome field performance; a bit too much for TX white tail deer but big medicine for big hogs, as intended. I was pretty sure your brother's rifle would prefer the 358009, guess I was wrong about that. Has he done any good (hunting) with it?

[35 shooter]

He was ready to hunt elk with the 358009 this year, but there was some land developement going on very close by his hunting grounds...kind of messed things up for this year.

He came to visit not long ago and i sent him home with some 360230's. He hit a load on the first range trip with 52 gr. of aa4350. He shoots the same load with the 358009.

I've got to give aa 4350 a try one day just to see how mine likes it....sorry for the drift.

[TXGunNut]

Don't apologize, Buddy. I scored some AA4350 after we talked about it, still haven't tested it. I saw some deer very close to some very aggressive development west of Houston Sunday, tell your brother to get in there and bring home some meat!
Glad his rifle likes the 360-230, it is indeed a very good design. Almost uncanny how it fits the 35 Whelen case so well.

[35 shooter]

I forgot you had the aa powder Mike. Lol, you'll probably get the chance to try it before i do.
That load is under an inch @ 100 yds. so far for my brother's rifle.

We're supposed to have some good hog hunting within an hours drive of me. I need to get in gear and give it a try.

[castalott]

Twinkies get stale?[/QUOTE]

I have heard that the shelf life of twinkies is determined by the life of the shelf...

[Blanco]

The only good Hog is a dead Hog

[oldblinddog]

For those that don't know (or never heard it), if you do consume wild pigs trichinosis is still alive and well, just as it always was, and the meat must be cooked well done. I bring this up because trichinosis has been virtually eliminated from domestic pigs and many people no longer cook pork well done as was the practice in the past. (Sorry if this is thread drift.)

Congratulations on a successful test of the Whelen.

[Blanco]

I shot a couple of 180 / 200 lb hogs on my fil's lease last year. We roped the carcasses and pulled them to the side of the road. They were so nasty not even the buzzards would touch them.

[TXGunNut]

Lemme see if I have the patience to post a pic or two. Oops, don't hurt your neck, lol.

[TXGunNut]

For those that don't know (or never heard it), if you do consume wild pigs trichinosis is still alive and well, just as it always was, and the meat must be cooked well done. I bring this up because trichinosis has been virtually eliminated from domestic pigs and many people no longer cook pork well done as was the practice in the past. (Sorry if this is thread drift.)

Congratulations on a successful test of the Whelen.

Yep, what he said and other nasty bugs as well.

[TXGunNut]

I shot a couple of 180 / 200 lb hogs on my fil's lease last year. We roped the carcasses and pulled them to the side of the road. They were so nasty not even the buzzards would touch them.

Other hogs will eat them. One of the nastiest pigs I've been around hangs out a few hundred yards from camp where gut piles and bones are dumped. Sure would like to pop him but I don't like to hunt that close to camp.

[oldblinddog]

Sounds like he is providing a needed service...

[TXGunNut]

Sounds like he is providing a needed service...

He's competing with the coyotes. I heard him confronting something one night and he sounds ferocious.

[rondog]

If you need any help eliminating hogs, let me know! I'd love some of that action someday. Not terribly interested in the meat, although that's a nice bonus, the "management of pests" aspect appeals to me. Like shooting rats at a dump.

Throwing away a box of Twinkies though, that's sacrilege!

I'd also like to hear more about the "Willys in the container".....

[popper]

There is NO shelf life for Twinkies.
I was in El Campo last week looking for dove, not very many but lots of deer & pig tracks. Fields were pretty dry but no fliers (well, I did get one) in the overcast. Lots of 'V's too. SIL said he saw turkey prints also. I'd be glad to help with the eradication on your next trip, need to do some terminal performance testing.

[TXGunNut]

If you need any help eliminating hogs, let me know! I'd love some of that action someday. Not terribly interested in the meat, although that's a nice bonus, the "management of pests" aspect appeals to me. Like shooting rats at a dump.

Throwing away a box of Twinkies though, that's sacrilege!

I'd also like to hear more about the "Willys in the container".....

I'm a guest on my brother's lease, most of the guys keep their ATV's (and other supplies) in steel overseas shipping containers. Very secure storage; keeps rodents and two-legged varmints out. My brother doesn't like ATV's so he found a 56 Willys for his lease transportation. Mesquite trees and sloppy roads discourage use of even heavy-duty 4X4 trucks on the lease.
The meat of most smaller pigs is very good indeed but the best management plan is to kill as many pigs as possible. I've had to drag a few off to feed the coyotes but I prefer to eat what I shoot when possible.
I'm pretty sure there are hog-hunting opportunities closer to Denver but quite a few places offer day hunts around here and further south. Nail Ranch near Albany has some good hunt packages and you get to see some pretty awesome deer and scenery while bumping around the ranch in the guide's truck.

[w5pv]

We were raised on wood hogs and worked them all through the year,kept the boars cut and fed them a little corn to keep them close but some time in the late sixties the state said they belonged to them and no one could own hogs that were termed wood hogs,the marks that were registred at the court house went bye bye and now the russian boar has inter bred with them and have made a very tough pest to get rid of.I have never killed one of the super hogs but people tell me that you cannot skin them like you could a pineywood rooter and btw the way you told if one was fat enough to butcher you picked him up by the ears and if the rump hit the ground before the nose did it was fat enough to bucher.

[Butzbach]

We were raised on wood hogs and worked them all through the year,kept the boars cut and fed them a little corn to keep them close but some time in the late sixties the state said they belonged to them and no one could own hogs that were termed wood hogs,the marks that were registred at the court house went bye bye and now the russian boar has inter bred with them and have made a very tough pest to get rid of.I have never killed one of the super hogs but people tell me that you cannot skin them like you could a pineywood rooter and btw the way you told if one was fat enough to butcher you picked him up by the ears and if the rump hit the ground before the nose did it was fat enough to bucher.

As w5pv knows, hwy 73 west of Beaumont, TX is a gauntlet of pigs. The speed limit is 75 mph and auto pig collisions (mostly at night) are a mess. I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but here in TX it's us against them and it's best to think of them as rats at this point. That is a shame because they are intelligent tasty creatures. There are just too many of them. The wife unit and I were driving to Austin yesterday to help our daughter move and saw a sounder of brindle colored pigs just off of 73. There were two 250 lb sows and four 75-100 lb piglets. It was unusual to see them in the daytime.

[Hickok]

I have only killed 4 wild hogs, so I am a novice at hunting them, but I can still remember the first time I saw one in the woods. My first thought was "Black devil." Nasty looking thing, seeing one for the first time!

Man what an odor they have! A dog with asthma could trail one!

We have a few in southern WV.

[mjwcaster]

Intelligent they are.
Tough also, shot placement counts for much more than horsepower in my experience.
We learned while spotlighting, if you think you saw something to stop.
Turn the truck and light off and wait a minute.
Then get ready to shoot, flip the light back on.
You would only have a few seconds to take a shot before they took off.
The hogs had learned that a light meant bad things and it surprised me how small a piece of grass they could hide behind.
Give them a minute or two and they would stand back up, but would bolt as soon as the light came back on, so you had to be aimed at them before turning the light on.
Fun shooting.

[Hickok]

MJ, sounds like a good try-out for something like a .300 Blackout and a hi-cap mag! Nice short little rifle you could get out of the pick-up window quickly.

Here in WV, part of a beginning hunter's training is how to shoot out of a pick-up truck window, using the mirror for a rest![smilie=1: You always want to have nice big mirrors on your pick-up!:lol:

(There are some things you just can't learn from reading a book!)

[TXGunNut]

I've been doing an informal study of feral pigs for awhile and have decided they a much more complicated and individual critter than the conventional game animal. Pigs vary widely from one part of TX to another and even from one group to another. Some groups or individuals are territorial, others never stop moving. Some hang out with cattle, some with deer, some avoid other critters. Some have no fear of vehicles, others melt into the grass when they detect one nearby. I think their sensory perception varies as well. They're said to have poor eyesight but I'm not so sure that is a hard and fast rule. Scent and hearing is probably quite good but some interpret what they smell and hear differently based on their experiences. Hogs also seem to respond to hunting pressure quicker than deer. They have group dynamics as well; a lone boar is very wary but a group of sows and youngsters seems a bit less vigilant...until you realize at least one of the sows is constantly scanning for danger, a job that rotates among the adult sows.
As mjwcaster points out they are intelligent and we have our hands full staying (maybe) one step ahead of them.

[krems]

The 35 Whelen draws a little pig blood...good job and nice shooting. Thanks for the good read. Living in Montana I have no clue what hog hunting is all about. Must be nice to have year round hunting. I'd like to throw a 500 Linebaugh round at one of those pigs someday!

[Idaho Mule]

TX, I really enjoyed your write-up on this, thank you. It would be a blast to hunt those hogs but I am sure glad we don't have the problem here. Now, with all that being said, if you ever need a hand blasting a few of them just give me a jingle and I would sure do my best to help you out. JW

[luvtn]

As w5pv knows, hwy 73 west of Beaumont, TX is a gauntlet of pigs. The speed limit is 75 mph and auto pig collisions (mostly at night) are a mess. I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but here in TX it's us against them and it's best to think of them as rats at this point. That is a shame because they are intelligent tasty creatures. There are just too many of them. The wife unit and I were driving to Austin yesterday to help our daughter move and saw a sounder of brindle colored pigs just off of 73. There were two 250 lb sows and four 75-100 lb piglets. It was unusual to see them in the daytime.
i worked in Del Rio, Tx for 6 months. One night coming home to Del Rio from Rock-springs I ran into a large herd of pigs. I killed 4 adults outright, one with a broke back was euthanized with my EDC. One of the sows was pregnant, and her abdomen had burst open, leaving six 8 inch piglets in the road. Luckily a 18 wheeler came by, and they duct taped my car back together. These stunk way too badly to put in the car and drive for 1.5 hours. Maybe a couple of piglets? Didn't think of it then.
luvtn

[TXGunNut]

I used to hunt with an outfitter in the Caprock Canyon area of the TX Panhandle. The road near his house was the scene of a hog vs vehicle collision at least once a week. He would wait up like a nervous mom if I was coming in late for a weekend hunt. A big hog can really tear up a car or pickup.

[popper]

You knock a long legged animal over but pigs stay in place like a really large brick. New plastic bumpers don't help much. Wonder if DOT has thought about using them for crash test barriers.

[TXGunNut]

Actually big long-legged critters like horses can be quite hazardous. Under certain circumstances the front end of the vehicle will knock the legs out from under it and the body of the horse will slide the length of the hood and come through the windshield. In the old days of more upright windshields this was known to happen, pretty gruesome.
I heard when that tollway east of Austin was first completed the S end was populated with hogs and driving at night was hazardous. I like the idea of using them for test barriers but I'm pretty sure the bunny-huggers would oppose it. And then there's the stinking mess to clean up. I think I'll just keep knocking them over with boolits, I like my bumpers the way they are.

[RPRNY]

Actually big long-legged critters like horses can be quite hazardous. Under certain circumstances the front end of the vehicle will knock the legs out from under it and the body of the horse will slide the length of the hood and come through the windshield. In the old days of more upright windshields this was known to happen, pretty gruesome.
I heard when that tollway east of Austin was first completed the S end was populated with hogs and driving at night was hazardous. I like the idea of using them for test barriers but I'm pretty sure the bunny-huggers would oppose it. And then there's the stinking mess to clean up. I think I'll just keep knocking them over with boolits, I like my bumpers the way they are.

I used to live in Dubai before it git all super fancy. You see a few cars or SUVs with a camel through the windshield and a car full of dead people all squashed up, you don't forget it.

[54bore]

I shot a couple of 180 / 200 lb hogs on my fil's lease last year. We roped the carcasses and pulled them to the side of the road. They were so nasty not even the buzzards would touch them.

I totally gave up on pork years ago, I make my own wild turkey breakfast sausage, 100 percent lean ground wild turkey with a prairie sage seasoning. Not only does it taste amazing it's actually good for ya!