Thumbcocker
01-08-2022, 11:04 AM
Mrs.Thumbcocker has shown an interest in rifles. She has put in a lot of time on the range with the Tikka. 308 with boolits. We worked up a load with 842 powder and a Ranch Dog boolit that was 2100+ fps and was accurate out to 300 yards.
She then thought getting a hog with the rifle, she named it Freya, would be a good thing. We took a trip to High Adventure Ranch in Cook Station Missouri. This is a high fence operation that covers 3 square miles. The hogs are in a part of it. The rest is full of elk, bison, Sika deer, axis deer, fallow deer, blackbuck antelope, sheep and goats. Also a few yaks. One of whom was very friendly.
The ranch has cabins with indoor facilities and a dining hall with wifi. The staff were courteous and the food was good.
We arrived around 10 a.m. and got settled into our cabin. Lunch of elk taco soup was at noon. Around 1 we met up with the staff person who was guiding Mrs.Thumbcocker.
Talon was a well mannered young man who knew the land and where the hogs were likely to be hanging out based on the weather. We parked at the gate to the hog area and started walking in. Talon walked ahead and spotted a bunch of hogs sunning on a hillside out of the wind. He then motioned Mrs.Thumbcocker forward. I followed behind to film. The leaves were crunchy but we had the wind and moved slowly.
Talon told Mrs.Thumbcocker which hog to shoot at. He then put his arm against a tree to provide a shooting platform for her to rest her rifle on. She had been practicing using a post as a rest and using a hasty sling but his arm made a good rest. She took her time and squeezed off a perfect shot at around 50 yards. The hog dropped without so much as a squeal. She had spent time looking at hog anatomy. The hog kicked for about 30 seconds but that was it.
Talon said it was a perfect shot. We took a few pics and then another guide helped load the hog on an atv. I asked to have the boolit if possible.
The hog was boned out and packaged in bags for us to take home. They would have processed it further but Mrs.Thumbcocker wanted to use our local processor. The hog is being made into Italian sausage and brauts.
The boolit lost about 100 grains in weight but went through a leg on the way in and came yo rest under the left ear. The hole into the chest cavity was the size of my index finger so .50+ .
We hung around the dining hall the rest of the afternoon. The next morning we went down to breakfast and heard one of the cooks yelling. The one yak on the place that doesn't hang out with the other yaks had been rubbing against the side if the building. He approached us as we walked down and wanted petting. Later I spoke to the owner and told him I hoped no one killed that yak since he was pretty tame. The owner said he had bought that yak to go with the others on the ranch but he was a "yard ornament " and the owner was worried he might hurt someone.
Mrs.Thumbcocker was pleased with the adventure. She asked me "did I kill a barnyard animal ". So we reviewed the facts. The hog she killed was born on the property, had free range in a very large area, could have run away into lots of hollers inside the fence, and got to do lots of hog stuff during its life.
Contrast that with a factory farmed confinement raised hog and it was clear which hog lived better. The hogs do see people pretty regularly and there are feeders on the property but they still have a lot of room. So maybe this hog was not as free as a hog running in Texas, but he was not a barnyard pet either. He had been live trapped as a piglet and neutered (to make better meat and control population) but other than that he was left alone. They have never had to add hogs.
We have no reservations about how this hog met his end. We had a great time and got to see a lot of critters running around.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/94ddfdbe80ad20e204c893e1516323b1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/642b662151a18b40361c5a2b6dbd26ee.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/e051c8a44774ea7aa54ab8982be2f051.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/920659ce44787642a31305aa03e9137c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/f963cda67b9eef4c7c81ddd18bd244cc.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/98a225131d1c8d6d1ff26b0f2cbbb87e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/06da49a2898e3e3d8cda1d7d1e140ede.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/4e8ea95abd1530d106cac67f756f403e.jpg
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
She then thought getting a hog with the rifle, she named it Freya, would be a good thing. We took a trip to High Adventure Ranch in Cook Station Missouri. This is a high fence operation that covers 3 square miles. The hogs are in a part of it. The rest is full of elk, bison, Sika deer, axis deer, fallow deer, blackbuck antelope, sheep and goats. Also a few yaks. One of whom was very friendly.
The ranch has cabins with indoor facilities and a dining hall with wifi. The staff were courteous and the food was good.
We arrived around 10 a.m. and got settled into our cabin. Lunch of elk taco soup was at noon. Around 1 we met up with the staff person who was guiding Mrs.Thumbcocker.
Talon was a well mannered young man who knew the land and where the hogs were likely to be hanging out based on the weather. We parked at the gate to the hog area and started walking in. Talon walked ahead and spotted a bunch of hogs sunning on a hillside out of the wind. He then motioned Mrs.Thumbcocker forward. I followed behind to film. The leaves were crunchy but we had the wind and moved slowly.
Talon told Mrs.Thumbcocker which hog to shoot at. He then put his arm against a tree to provide a shooting platform for her to rest her rifle on. She had been practicing using a post as a rest and using a hasty sling but his arm made a good rest. She took her time and squeezed off a perfect shot at around 50 yards. The hog dropped without so much as a squeal. She had spent time looking at hog anatomy. The hog kicked for about 30 seconds but that was it.
Talon said it was a perfect shot. We took a few pics and then another guide helped load the hog on an atv. I asked to have the boolit if possible.
The hog was boned out and packaged in bags for us to take home. They would have processed it further but Mrs.Thumbcocker wanted to use our local processor. The hog is being made into Italian sausage and brauts.
The boolit lost about 100 grains in weight but went through a leg on the way in and came yo rest under the left ear. The hole into the chest cavity was the size of my index finger so .50+ .
We hung around the dining hall the rest of the afternoon. The next morning we went down to breakfast and heard one of the cooks yelling. The one yak on the place that doesn't hang out with the other yaks had been rubbing against the side if the building. He approached us as we walked down and wanted petting. Later I spoke to the owner and told him I hoped no one killed that yak since he was pretty tame. The owner said he had bought that yak to go with the others on the ranch but he was a "yard ornament " and the owner was worried he might hurt someone.
Mrs.Thumbcocker was pleased with the adventure. She asked me "did I kill a barnyard animal ". So we reviewed the facts. The hog she killed was born on the property, had free range in a very large area, could have run away into lots of hollers inside the fence, and got to do lots of hog stuff during its life.
Contrast that with a factory farmed confinement raised hog and it was clear which hog lived better. The hogs do see people pretty regularly and there are feeders on the property but they still have a lot of room. So maybe this hog was not as free as a hog running in Texas, but he was not a barnyard pet either. He had been live trapped as a piglet and neutered (to make better meat and control population) but other than that he was left alone. They have never had to add hogs.
We have no reservations about how this hog met his end. We had a great time and got to see a lot of critters running around.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/94ddfdbe80ad20e204c893e1516323b1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/642b662151a18b40361c5a2b6dbd26ee.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/e051c8a44774ea7aa54ab8982be2f051.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/920659ce44787642a31305aa03e9137c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/f963cda67b9eef4c7c81ddd18bd244cc.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/98a225131d1c8d6d1ff26b0f2cbbb87e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/06da49a2898e3e3d8cda1d7d1e140ede.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220108/4e8ea95abd1530d106cac67f756f403e.jpg
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk