Just north of College Station, Texas is where I spent my evening on July 5th, bass fishing and having a good time with people I like to be around. After 8 good bass caught on a Spro green frog tied to 65lb braided line, I reached the magic number and we were done fishing for the day. As we sat by the trucks, we still had plenty of light and decided to see if there were any hogs around because the owner had asked us to shoot any if we saw them. These hogs cause thousands of dollars of damage on his property every year, so he asks is to shoot them with whatever we can to push them off his ranch.
This is where the first challenge came about.
Two trucks, 6 people, and only one of us brought a rifle of any sort and it happened to be me.
Now, this rifle isn't my normal truck gun, by far. I normally have my 16" R700 .223 Wylde build with me and my Marlin 81TS .22lr.
In effort to make room for my friends, the .223 was left in the safe and I kept my trusty Marlin 81TS with me in case I saw a raccoon that needed to be scared off the dumpster. Terribly under gunned for the 80-100lb hogs that destroy the ranch we were on.
So there we are, looking at my .22lr loaded with hyper velocity 36gr hollow point ammo and I decided that it was worth bringing along in the golf cart while we looked for the hogs. Sure enough, we drive up on a group bedded In tall grass about 250yds across the small creek that connects two cattle ponds.
Here's the next challenge I had, a white shirt. Off it goes, and I'm in sniper mode stalking 5 hogs ranging from... I guess 40-90lbs. Not monsters, but still destructive to crop fields. As I stalked closer and closer in this tall grass, my damn allergies kicked into gear and I'm sniffling like a puffs commercial ad.
I got to 50 yards, unnoticed, and didn't like a single shot on any of the hogs, so I decided to creep closer.
30 yards was about the same, no good broadside angles on the 5 so I decided to get down again and crawl around to the west a bit to get broadside views. When I popped up behind a small bush, 3 noticed me and I realized that I was less than 20 yards away from the group. The three had their eyes locked on me as I brought up the .22 and looked for my best shot.
A sow, the largest at about 90lbs, was oblivious to my presence and laid her head down, giving me a clean shot to the brain. A smooth trigger pull later, I saw the impact in the base of her left ear, racked another one in, and waited to see what she did. The smaller four ran off in all directions but the sow I had shot was dazed and slowly moving toward the thick timber. I took another shot, quartering away, that impacted her spine, 3-4" below her skull. This was like sending a hot wheels car through those thruster machines for the tracks, as she sped off into the woods when the bullet hit.
After she was out of sight, I checked the area and one of the smaller hogs was running back across toward where the other smaller hogs went. I made a shot on it as it passed at 10yds, hit the spine and it tumbled like a sack of potatoes..... Before springing back up and vanishing.
So I'm 3-3 on good shots, inside 20 yards each, and there are blood trails to follow. I figured I would give them time to expire and go in search of another group.
In the golf cart on the way back to my truck for ammo, we spot another group around 300 yards away in another tall grass pasture. I hoped out and started my stalk once more. Once again, getting within 20 yards thanks to the tall grass. I made a clean shot on a piglet at about 10 yards which laid him out and the others disappeared into the timber to be hunted another day.
The piglet got up when I reached for it, and made it about five yards before I had another round in him which put him down for good.
The other two were found later in a ditch, in the timber.
So I learned on this day that a high velocity .22 to the brain and spine will take a decent hog, as long as the shot is less than 20 yards.
REALLY wished I had my .223 Wylde instead, but the challenge and stalking skill to get that close to groups of 5 and 8 hogs was a great challenge.
This is where the first challenge came about.
Two trucks, 6 people, and only one of us brought a rifle of any sort and it happened to be me.
Now, this rifle isn't my normal truck gun, by far. I normally have my 16" R700 .223 Wylde build with me and my Marlin 81TS .22lr.
In effort to make room for my friends, the .223 was left in the safe and I kept my trusty Marlin 81TS with me in case I saw a raccoon that needed to be scared off the dumpster. Terribly under gunned for the 80-100lb hogs that destroy the ranch we were on.
So there we are, looking at my .22lr loaded with hyper velocity 36gr hollow point ammo and I decided that it was worth bringing along in the golf cart while we looked for the hogs. Sure enough, we drive up on a group bedded In tall grass about 250yds across the small creek that connects two cattle ponds.
Here's the next challenge I had, a white shirt. Off it goes, and I'm in sniper mode stalking 5 hogs ranging from... I guess 40-90lbs. Not monsters, but still destructive to crop fields. As I stalked closer and closer in this tall grass, my damn allergies kicked into gear and I'm sniffling like a puffs commercial ad.
I got to 50 yards, unnoticed, and didn't like a single shot on any of the hogs, so I decided to creep closer.
30 yards was about the same, no good broadside angles on the 5 so I decided to get down again and crawl around to the west a bit to get broadside views. When I popped up behind a small bush, 3 noticed me and I realized that I was less than 20 yards away from the group. The three had their eyes locked on me as I brought up the .22 and looked for my best shot.
A sow, the largest at about 90lbs, was oblivious to my presence and laid her head down, giving me a clean shot to the brain. A smooth trigger pull later, I saw the impact in the base of her left ear, racked another one in, and waited to see what she did. The smaller four ran off in all directions but the sow I had shot was dazed and slowly moving toward the thick timber. I took another shot, quartering away, that impacted her spine, 3-4" below her skull. This was like sending a hot wheels car through those thruster machines for the tracks, as she sped off into the woods when the bullet hit.
After she was out of sight, I checked the area and one of the smaller hogs was running back across toward where the other smaller hogs went. I made a shot on it as it passed at 10yds, hit the spine and it tumbled like a sack of potatoes..... Before springing back up and vanishing.
So I'm 3-3 on good shots, inside 20 yards each, and there are blood trails to follow. I figured I would give them time to expire and go in search of another group.
In the golf cart on the way back to my truck for ammo, we spot another group around 300 yards away in another tall grass pasture. I hoped out and started my stalk once more. Once again, getting within 20 yards thanks to the tall grass. I made a clean shot on a piglet at about 10 yards which laid him out and the others disappeared into the timber to be hunted another day.
The piglet got up when I reached for it, and made it about five yards before I had another round in him which put him down for good.
The other two were found later in a ditch, in the timber.
So I learned on this day that a high velocity .22 to the brain and spine will take a decent hog, as long as the shot is less than 20 yards.
REALLY wished I had my .223 Wylde instead, but the challenge and stalking skill to get that close to groups of 5 and 8 hogs was a great challenge.
