OK, the Hunt.
H&H Hunter summed it up pretty well. If you hunt over feeders at known distances, your choice of caliber is pretty wide. We don't hunt that way, though we don't look down our nose at it.
Ours is a stalk hunt. We ride by truck and walk on foot, hoping to jump our quarry. Sometimes, if the wind and sun are perfect, and you spot a rooting herd at distance, you can sneak up close enough to have your way with the prettiest one. This is by far the exception, however. More commonly we get our shots at trotting or flat out running hogs.
Harley proved himself more than capable out to 40 yards with a Glock Model 17 Long Slide in pre-hunt sight in. I daresay, he might get the job done in a known distance, feeder situation. (Here in Florida there are game "ranches" where the hogs will come to the sound of a truck, knowing it's dinner time.....but that's not a hunt, it's a shoot.)
At any rate, Harley and Ashley spent Thursday scouting and hunting. I picked up Johnny Guest in Ft. Worth on Friday and we arrived in time for the evening hunt....no joy.
Come O-Dark-Thirty on Saturday, we woke to Wolgfgang Puck self heating espresso latte and home made Egg McMuffins. Here's Johnny in background and Harley in fore. The one with the orange trimmings is Miko the Moocher, who quickly learned that Johnny is truly a soft touch with the food destined for his own mouth.
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Then for the Safety Lecture:
Rule 1) Do Not Shoot The Dog
Rule 2) Do Not Shoot The Dog
Rule 3) Do Not Shoot at Any "Hogs" with Fluorescent Orange Collars
And out we went to the Ashley Hunt-Mobile, a vintage Army Jeep, converted for engine, suspension, Detroit Lockers and assorted accoutrement sought by juvenile delinquents world wide. Again, Harley on Left; Johnny on right. Ashley behind the wheel and Psycho Doggie in my seat (again).
Harley would be carrying the Glock 17L in a strong side paddle holster. In the vertical rack before Harley and Johnny are Johnny's 45-70 and 35 Whelen. Just over the roll bar, in horizontal rack would be my OctoBarrelled 1877 Cowboy Breakdown Trainer in 22 LR. In the vertical rack before Miko rests Death From Above, my Blaser .338 Winmag. In the horizontal rack on the windshield is my David Clay Custom Octobarreled 50 Alaskan Lever Gun. In a final horizontal rack between Doggie and Ashley lay the Claro Grade Kimber .22 bolt. There was no room left for Ashley's guns, so he resigned himself to a Hamilton Bowen 44 Mag (Ruger Blackhawk born) and Garret bone crushers in a custom Murray Leather crossdraw. If we were gonna fail, it would not be due to a lack of firepower!
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As the morning warmed up, Johnny and I traded spots, with me backing Harley up with the .338 Winmag. Early into the hunt, the whole plan came together...almost. Harley had demonstrated his ability to hit VERY well with the Glock. He was designated shooter. He was granted no access to long guns.
So, there you are, having decided to hunt feral hogs with your mouse gun. Great. Well, ummm, just what do
you do when a gorgeous, 250 lb Trophy Boar steps out of the brush at 38 yards (lasered after the fact) and begins to trot from left to right across your position? If you say, "I'd let him go", you are either a member of PETA or you've never sighted on a running Trophy Boar with a mouse gun. Harley did what I would have done. He aimed and shot....three times. All four of us agree that the first shot was a hit and it sounded like bone. I believe the second was a hit also, as does Harley.
But the boar kept going; much to your collective surprise? I held off for the last seconds and thought I'd tagged him on the stern with the .338, but he never slowed down and there's no question that one was a miss. Miko bailed and took pursuit while we searched for blood and tracks. We came up empty as did the dog, sporting a look that said, "This isn't the way it happens in training."
Sooooo. Let's do some debrief.
- Was Harley "wrong" to take the shot? I don't think so.
- Is hunting Feral Hog in stalk conditions, with a defensive caliber handgun, pure folly? I think so.
- Can anyone on this board hit a cross-running hog in the ear or eye with a handgun? I suspect some will claim as much. Harley never attempted to claim such ability.
- Where'd that first 9mm pill come to rest? Sounded like bone to at least two of us. Could it be a perfect shoulder shot which a Boar that size would shrug off? How about a rib hit with gut damage....that probably wouldn't play out too well for the next five days until that hog died kinda horribly. He may be dying still. The jaw bone? I shudder to think of that result.
But forget about the hog for a minute. Ashley and I did some calculations of the number of equivalent Boars we've seen taken off the ranch in the past four years. By our rough calc's, we put the price of taking a trophy like that at right around $10K. No kidding. (I believe H&H Hunter will back me up on this....he hunts the same lease.)
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There were no further handgun opportunities after that one and Harley switched over to rifle. He left after the Monday morning hunt and Johnny, Ashley and I made one more foray that evening. Over the course of the weekend we hit and missed much, both inanimate and organic targets.
Miko had his first brush with a Porcupine and attempted to continue hunting with a face full of quills, tail wagging. He whimpered miserably as Ashley held him down and the rest of us pulled more than 50 of the barbed mini-spears from face, eye, nose, gums and roof-o-mouth. The porcupine got away and it's suspected that Doggie has not learned from that lesson. (BTW, Mad Dog informs me that Porc Quills are like skinny balloons, that swell with body heat. He suggests cutting the ends off before yanking.)
Three hogs were taken. One was killed on Sunday (Monday?) Morning by Miko Wattah, I'm almost proud to say. Proud because he took off after a herd and jumped the slowest one. Almost proud because the slowest one was a 12 lb piglet. It was put down with a .22 due to a bad case of broken neck.
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However, to this day, some in the party claim the neck breaking is attributable to Mr. Emerson who then threw the lifeless carcass to Miko to cover his own sick blood lust. Unless clear evidence surfaces, we'll never know for certain.
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Respectfully submitted.
Rich Lucibella