The "Other" white meat

[Guest]

Recently 4 of us went hog hunting in SW Texas for 3 days. Our total kill for the 3 days was 28 hogs.

Here are "some" of the hogs that were killed.

Here are the rest, inside the walk in cooler.

A great time was had by all.

Don

 

[4ked Horn]

WELL... What kind of distance, guns, conditions, outfitter, cost.

There is a story in there just waiting to come out. Let 'er rip.

 

[littletoes]

Sometimes some of these guys just like to tease us.

They know we can't hunt, so they rub it in by throwing us a scrap once in a while!

 

[Guest]

4ked horn,

Thought you would never ask

Distances were relatively close with the longest shot taken at around 175 yards.

Rifles/bullets used.

Steve (From Nebraska) was our FREE Hog Hunting Contest Winner and he used a 25-06 and 101gr EXP Groove Bullets.

Dave (dave7mm) used a 270 and 113gr EXP Groove Bullets.

I used a 7mm mag and 127gr EXP Groove Bullets.

Dave had one double on hogs and I had three doubles. The hogs were lined up broadside. The bullets exited on all the hogs. None were recovered. The doubles were in the 75 to 100 pound range. Steve had a quartering away shot on a 175lb hog were the bullet entered just behind the left rump and exited out the right front leg.

The smallest hog weighed around 30 pounds and the largest was around 250 pounds, both killed by Dave.

Steve, a buddy of mine from Columbus, Ohio killed 6 hogs using his 300 win mag and factory ammo. I should say he only had one complete pass through. We tracked one of his hogs for 1/4 mile through the thick brush the next morning and then the blood ran out (stopped bleeding). We never did find that hog and had 6 people looking

We stayed at the Venado Grande Ranch, located about 35 miles south of Uvalde, Texas. This was my third trip to the ranch.
http://www.venadogranderanch.com

Cost: Total cost for the 3 days was $658 which included prepared meals, lodging, license and semi-guided hog hunting. One can kill as many hogs as they want without any extra charges. A lot of places that have hog hunts allow one or two and then charge extra for any additional hogs.

The weather cooperated the first night - yes we hunted in the dark. We didn't have any clouds at all the first night. The second night we had overcast skies until around 10pm, then it cleared. The last night is was clear. We generally went out 2 hours before sunset and hunted till midnight. The first night was the warmest, it only got down to around 55, the second night it got down to 45 and the last night it finally cooled off to 35. When I left home it was 12 below zero so 35 to me was just right with a hooded sweatshirt.

We all had a great time and made some new friends.

Don

 

[Varmint Hunter]

How are hogs hunted at night?

Over bait? Moon light? Artificial lights?

Do you use lighted reticles? How do you see the distant hogs in the dark?

Just curious. I've only hunted them in the day.

VH

 

[Guest]

We booked our hunt as close to the full moon as possible. We didn't use any artificial light of any kind. Dave had a scope on his rifle that has a lit reticle, mine doesn't. I used a Swarovski 2.5 to 10 X 42 Scope and I could see just fine, all night. Dave used a Schmidt & Bender scope and had no problems seeing the hogs. Steve used a Leupold scope and had all sorts of problems seeing the hogs after dark. The 2nd and 3rd night the ranch Foreman (Ray) gave him a spotlight, with a red lens, that attaches on top of the scope tube. It worked because he shot and killed a couple of hogs using the spotlight.

Next year I will be taking my 300 win mag. On top of it sits a 4 to 16 X 50 PM II Schmidt & Bender scope. I have yet to see a scope or binocs that utilize light better then that scope - but I haven't compared it to a US Optics scope, yet.

Dave and myself use very WIDE crosshairs in our scopes. The WIDE crosshairs don't disappear in low light like those thin ones in Steve's Leupold.

Oops, almost forgot. They spread corn out in the roadways (dirt roads on the ranch). The hogs, deer, birds, rabbits and even coyotes come out to eat the corn. Most sit in wood box blinds. I set-up my swivel bench and used a Pop-up cloth blind over the top of it - supplied by the ranch. All blinds have feeders within 150 or so yards. Some, for archery hunters are set-up within 30 yards - we didn't hunt those.

Its a riot, everybody should go hog hunting.

Don

[ 02-16-2004: Message edited by: Shaky ]

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Thanks - Sounds like fun

VH

 

[qkshot]

SHAKY, was that $658 for all three or apiece
also that sounds like a blast was there any provisions for long distance shots (would they be possiable if you wanted to)

by the way good job


I killed a wild russian boar a couple years ago at a game ranch cost 400$ for one i think that would be worth the trip for as many as you want how many did you see in all

and why no hunting in the day were they shy!

 

[Guest]

Steve,

The pricing is per person, for 3 days. Everything is provided. The only thing one has to do is pull the trigger. Other then that everything else is done for you.

Personally I saw 23 hogs the first night. I watched them for what seemed like 2 hours but in reality was about 15 minutes. I had 9 deer between me and the hogs so I couldn't get a clear shot. I had one doe that wasn't more then 30 FEET in front of me for at least 20 minutes. I removed my hat and waved it when she looked my way. She bobbed her head around a bit but never ran off. Finally, after 15 minutes or so the right lane of the roadway cleared and a clear shot was presented. I wanted the left lane cleared because the larger hogs were in the left lane but I took what was offered and killed 2 smallish (75lb) hogs with my first shot. Later in the evening I had 6 hogs come out of the brush on the opposite side of where I killed my first 2 hogs. I had 2 of them lined up and dropped them both with one shot at 175 yards. About 30 minutes later a saw a coyote trying to grab ahold of one of those hogs and drag it off. It was all I could do to keep from laughing. A 20 lb coyote dragging a 75lb hog. I figured, I already had 4 dead hogs on the ground so I may as well kill this coyote as well. It was quartering away so I shot it just ahead of its rump, exiting the offside front leg. It belly crawled about 30 yards and expired.

I don't recall the total number of hogs I saw over the three days but it was around 50 to 60.

If you wanted to shoot long range there are a few blinds, near the back of the property, where shots up to 800 yards would of been possible. Since we hog hunt mostly in the dark, because that is when they are most active, we chose to hunt blinds where the shots wouldn't be more then a couple hundred yards. The blind I was in the last night overlooked a grassy field that was 200 yards to my left, 300 to my right and 175 straight away. That is the largest area I covered in any of the blinds I was personally in.

We are going to a different ranch in Feb 2005 that has food plots that are 500 to 600 yards across, so I am told. While there we will be mostly hunting during daylight hours since, I am told, the hogs come out a lot during the day time. This other ranch is 12,000 acres.

It is a lot of fun.

Don