The Hog Blog

Well, by the time you see this, many of you will have already seen these press releases.  But I found it worth mention anyway.

First, Browning Arms has announced the release of their new “X-Bolt” rifle.  The new design is intended to build on the success of the very popular “A-Bolt”, with a handful of key improvements. 

Taking a cue from Savage’s “Accu-Trigger”, Browning has rolled out the “Feather Trigger” on the X-Bolt to provide an easily adjustable trigger pull… offering the user a custom-quality trigger pull on a production rifle.  In addition to the adjustability, the trigger angle has been optimized for even better performance. 

The X-Bolt will also offer a bolt unlock function.  Like many bolt actions with tang safeties, the current A-bolt rifles require the safety to be disengaged before the bolt can be opened for loading or unloading.  While this offers only minimal risk, I have never been really comfortable releasing the safety with a round in the chamber… especially with other people around.  The bolt unlock button alleviates this minor discomfort and adds a new level of gun safety. 

The X-bolt will also come equipped with the new, Inflex Technology recoil pad that will reduce felt recoil and muzzle climb by directing the recoil forces away from the shooter’s face.  I know that one of the few alterations I had to make to my A-bolt was to add an after-market recoil pad.  The recoil wasn’t terrible, but a good pad goes a long ways toward reducing flinch. 

Additional new features include an innovative new scope mount that incorporates four screws into the bases instead of two for further stability, and a rotary magazine that will feed cartridges straight up into the chamber, directly inline with the bolt which should make for cleaner, faster cycling…especially when combined with the short, 60-degree bolt throw. 

The short-action X-bolts will weigh in at around six pounds, five ounces, while the long-actions will come in right at seven pounds.  The rifle will be chambered for calibers from .243 Win to .375 H&H.  MSRP will run from $799 to $1049, depending on caliber and configuration.

The other big news may come as a welcome surprise to Winchester fans. Read the rest of this entry »

The empty ice chest rattling in the back of my truck all the way home reminded me that, sometimes even the surest thing isn’t guaranteed when it comes to hog hunting.

When I first started planning this hunt with Deedy Loftus, at Bryson Hesperia Resort, her confidence was pretty danged high that we’d be on pigs right away, and it would be a great opportunity to blood my new rifle.  In fact, she was so sure the hunt would be over quickly, she practically apologized for how easy it was probably going to be.  

The weird, early rain, and the super-abundance of acorns changed the tune a little bit.  The week before our hunt, Deedy was less optimistic.  She told me the hogs were still there, but they weren’t as consistent as they had been.  It might be a tougher hunt.

Boy, was she right!  (Deedy is right a lot, when it comes to “her” hogs… it pays to listen to her.)

I won’t go into a blow-by-blow report on the hunt, as you won’t find it very exciting if you weren’t there.  Suffice it to say that the hunting was tough, and the pigs we did see never presented a shot opportunity.  We saw ample evidence that there were plenty of pigs there, but they seldom showed themselves in the daylight unless we went into the really thick brush to push them out.

There were a couple of factors that I believe were really working against us.

First, the amount of food available was an issue.  There were, literally, carpets of acorns on the ground.  In a couple of places, the trail was like walking on crunchy ball bearings.  With this much food, the hogs didn’t have to venture out into the open to eat. 

Even if the acorns weren’t as plentify, there was very little other food available to draw the hogs into the open.  The barley fields were all cut and dry, and at this time of year there’s very little green vegetation.  The other food sources, like wild oats were pretty much done for the year.  What few stands there were had no seed heads, and the stems were either trampled or eaten by cattle.

There’s not a lot of water in the area, but there are enough sources to keep the hogs scattered.  With the moon waxing past the halfway mark, there was plenty of light at night, so the hogs also moved primarily under the cover of darkness. 

So the hogs had food, shelter, and water all in fairly small areas.  This allowed them to stay secluded and safe… and to cause my brother and me to come home without pork.

But not killing hogs did not ruin the trip.  We still managed to have a great time down there.  Deedy, and her daughter/assistant guide Karin are great hosts and really a lot of fun to hunt with.  They both know the place extremely well, and there’s no question that the both of them have done their homework on the animals there. 

The resort itself is really top-notch, and I wouldn’t hesitate to bring my family down for a long weekend.  The cabins are all nicely appointed, cozy, and efficient.  They all have a kitchen with a cook-top stove, microwave oven, sink (of course) and a dishwasher.  They’re also all outfitted with basic kitchen utensils, silverware, and dishes.  Each unit also has a charcoal grill outside.  All you really need to bring is the food you want to cook.

It is important to note that there aren’t a whole lot of really convenient locations to go out for dinner, so you should definitely plan on bringing and cooking your groceries.  There are a couple of stores nearby, though, where you can get the basics if you need them. 

The unit my brother and I stayed in had a “master” bedroom with a queen-sized (I think) bed, and a second bedroom with bunk beds.  There’s also a full bathroom.  Linens are provided, and were clean and actually very luxuriant (not the cheesy, thin towels that seem to only get you wetter instead of drier).

There’s a TV and DVD player in the unit also, and while I don’t think you get any TV channels, you can bring your own DVDs or get one from the “library” in the resort office. 

All in all, empty ice chest and all, it was still a really good time and a fun hunt.  You’ll be hearing more from me about this place.

Yupp, as you’re reading this I’m at Bryson Hesperia Resort chasing wild hogs.  There’ll be a full report later, and there’s also the possibility that I’ll be able to pop in a time or two via satellite to update folks on the hunt.

My brother, Scott, has flown in from North Carolina to join me.  The original plan was to get some good video footage of some archery hunts, but the early rain threw a monkey wrench in that plan.  The roads are too muddy to get into the archery area with camera gear and equipment. 

I’ll still be trying to get some video, but it’ll be done on my little digital camcorder so the quality will be more of this YouTube stuff I’ve been doing.  Should be fun anyway, and I expect we’ll come home with pork in the ice chest.

Stay tuned! 

I hope this one doesn’t come off looking like a bad advertising insert in your favorite hunting magazine, but it does seem like now is a good time to think about adding a few new pieces of gear to your kit… unless, like me, you’re already well into your hunting season.  Maybe I should’ve written this one sooner. 

Oh well…

I’ve had the opportunity over the summer to put my hands on a couple of new products. 

First is the Black Hole archery target. 

I received a press release announcing the release of this new target just as my older target, The Block, was breathing its last (so to speak).  I needed a replacement, but I wanted something that would stand up to the big, Magnus broadheads I shoot from my recurve. 

Most of the targets I’d tried so far, including the Block, withstood the heavy onslaught of field points I generally sling, but when I started putting those two-blade daggers into the foam, I’d remove slices with almost every shot.  I totally destroyed my 3-D Delta deer, cutting it clean in half in the first six months I had it.  The Block held up better, but the target face was completely gone after a year. 

I received a test sample of the Black Hole early this spring, and started shooting right away.  As I’d feared, big slivers of foam came out each time I retrieved one of the broadheads from the target.  Still, the foam compressed and “self-healed” over the cut as it is supposed to do.   I didn’t shoot as much over the summer as I’d planned, but the target seems to be in pretty good shape. 

One of the things I particularly like about the Black Hole target is that it has a bunch of small aiming points of various sizes scattered across the target face, instead of the consistently spaced and sized bullseyes on some other block-styled targets.  To me, this lets me focus on picking a spot every time, rather than simply relying on spatial relationships (just aim at the center of the box) and getting lazy.  With other targets, once you figure out where the bull is, it’s easy to just start point shooting… a big mistake when you switch from targets to live animals. 

You can order the Black Hole for under $70 for a 24″x20″x14″ target, which is about par for this type of target.

The other item I had a chance to play with a bit this summer was a Konus Pro 3-9×44mm rifle scope. 

I’d initially contacted the Konus press representatives in order to try out one of their scopes on a project rifle I’d planned to put together for a hog hunt and article.  For the project, I was planning to use a rifle in the new .480 Ruger chambering, so I wanted something that would withstand a serious recoil.   Konus has engraved their reticle directly into the glass of the scope, so it should be impossible to dislodge the crosshairs…making it a good choice for a hard-kicking rifle. 

Unfortunately, the rifle part of the deal never came together, so the scope sat in the box on my desk for quite some time. 

Finally, I decided to replace the old Tasco 3-9×50mm on a Browning A-bolt 270, since the Tasco seemed to have some fogginess at higher magnification.  I used to be a big fan of Tasco scopes, but the last two I purchased sort of let me down.

The Konus is in the same price-range as the Tasco, retailing in the sub-$200 range (MSRP on the unit I tested is about $149), so I figured a comparison of these two should be fair. 

I found the clarity and brightness of the Konus to be a bit above that of the Tasco, even though the Tasco offers a 50mm objective vs the 44mm on the Konus.  I also thought the Konus maintained that clarity much better than the Tasco as I increased the magnification.  I even checked it against a couple of other Tasco scopes in my cabinet, and found that it was consistently clearer and brighter. 

Finally, I pulled out one of my Leupold VX-II scopes, in 3-9×40, just to see how the Konus stacked up against a higher-priced competitor.  From my unscientific perspective, and to my surprise, it measured up very nicely. 

I really had no good way to test the recoil-resistance of the scope, since the .270 barely kicks at all.  However, Konus offers a great guarantee to anyone who breaks the reticle, but since it is engraved into the glass, it seems unlikely that anyone will collect on that one. 

Another new product, at least for me, is the Magnus Stinger, four-blade broadheads. 

I’ve been shooting Magnus two-blade broadheads since I started bowhunting, about three years ago.  They seem to perform well, although I’ve yet to harvest a big game animal with the bow.  The blades are very strong, though, and hold an edge through a good bit of abuse.  I actually shot one through a board and into a cinderblock wall, chipping the cinderblock without doing any damage to the blade.  That’s tough!

Anyway, I always liked the idea of the added cutting surface of a four-blade head, and the Magnus Stinger, with the bleeder blades looked like a good match.  I sent a trial packet to my brother, and after his success on a NC whitetail, I decided to try them myself. 

I had been shooting a 140 grain head, but the closest I could find in the Stinger is a 150 grain.  It wouldn’t hurt me to go up a little, since I’m planning to use these on elk next month.  That will take my total arrow weight up to around 549 grains (draw weight is 52lbs), and can only improve my penetration. 

In target practice so far, the Stingers have performed wonderfully.  I barely noticed a difference in the trajectory or impact over the 140 grain field points I have been shooting.  I also found that they don’t plane like the two-blades when I flub my release…as long as I don’t flub it too bad.  The two-blades were really sensitive to that, which makes sense, I guess.

Anyway, the true test will come in two weeks, when I will try to slip one of these broadheads behind the shoulder of a Colorado elk.  I’ll be sure and report back on that.

Finally, I just want to mention the products from Gun Safety Innovations. 

I don’t do a lot of treestand hunting since I’ve moved to California, but it was almost all I ever did back in North Carolina, and it’s what I do whenever I go back for whitetails.  Generally, I’d use a plain old piece of parachute cord to pull my gun or bow into the tree, and that seemed good enough.  But once the gun is up there, I’d untie it.  More than once, I came real close to dropping my rifle from the stand (particularly after nodding off on a slow afternoon).  My brother actually did drop his rifle once, muzzle-down in the mud.  It cost him a deer that afternoon, but could have cost him much worse.

Gun Safety Innovations has developed and is marketing the Gunslinger, a simple but innovative piece of safety equipment, designed to keep your rifle off of the ground.  It’s basically a shock-absorbing safety line that attaches unobtrusively to your gunstock. 

It’s a great idea, but one of the drawbacks is that many of us, especially in the southeast, hunt from stands that are waaayy up in the tree, and the Gunslinger is too short for our purposes.  Not to worry, now you can get the Gunslinger Extender. 

Read more about Gunslinger and the Extender on Kristine’s blog, Hunt Smart, Think Safety.

Well, that should keep your credit card busy for a little while. 

Wow!. 

 While this was hardly an exhaustive survey, the current “Favorite Hog Rifle” poll is showing a definite strong running for Remington rifles, followed in a tie by Winchester and Ruger.

While it doesn’t surprise me at all that Remington is leading the pack (their popularity and value are legendary), I am surprised at what I didn’t see.

First, I still haven’t seen any write-ins for some of the other great gunmakers.  Weatherby, Tikka, Howa, and Sako haven’t even made a showing.  A lot of folks may not be aware that Howa and the Weatherby Vanguard are made by the same folks in the same factory.  Likewise, Sako (parent company is Berretta) produces the Tikka rifles.  With this in mind, you can find some great value in these relatively inexpensive versions of their higher-end relations. 

I’m also shocked at the poor showing of one of my favorites, the Savage.  For the price, I challenge you to find a more accurate or reliable rifle than the classic 110 or 111.  The fit and finish don’t compare to the Kimbers or Brownings out there, but for a small fraction of the price, they will flat out shoot! 

Marlin didn’t make a showing either.  I realize that there may not be that many levergun shooters left out there, but I’d have expected at least a couple of 336 users to sing out. 

I’ll leave the poll up a bit longer, just to see if anyone wants to put in a plug for their favorite.  

This whole polling feature is turning out to be quite enlightening.

Note:  I realize this is a bit redundant with the previous post on the poll results.  I will make no excuses nor offer an apology… it’s a slow day. 

Wow, the poll is still running but I’m pretty impressed at the number of Remington fans vs the other gunmakers. 

I’m a little surprised not to see some additions to the list, such as Howa, Tikka, Weatherby, or Rossi.  But, there ya go.  Me, I voted for Savage, as the 110 is probably one of the best values on the market as far as accuracy and reliability right out of the box.  Of course, I love my Brownings too.  And I also own Remington, Winchester, and Mossberg… so go figure. 

Anyway, I’ll leave it run a bit longer and see what happens. 

Check it out, and get some representation for your favorite maker.

Wow, this last poll has been great!  50 responses, and a pretty wide gamut of favorite calibers for hog hunting.

There were some interesting choices (and a couple of jokers) in the mix, which is part of the reason I asked the question.  Even discounting the .22short and the .416 Rigby (and probably the .17hmr, although I know there must be somebody out there…), the choices were fairly illuminating.  By the way, if the person who voted for the 22-250 is reading this, can you just let me know (by comment or email) if you’re in Texas?  That seems to be a real popular round there. 

As I mentioned before, I was a little surprised to see how close the .270 came to the 30-06, while the .300win mag seemed to trail more than I’d expect. 

Anyway, the responses seem to be slowing down a bit, so I figure maybe it’s time for a new one.  Check it out on the right, and let’s see where this one goes.

What is the “perfect” hog rifle?  Is there such a thing?

It’s just like me, I suppose, to ask a question that I really can’t answer…at least I can’t answer definitively.  I do, however, have some ideas and opinions. 

The first prerequisite is a rifle that shoots accurately.  If you can’t hit a hog cleanly, in the vitals, then nothing else is really very important.    The only variable in the rifle’s accuracy should be the shooter (YOU). 

Unfortunately, this doesn’t narrow the field very much.  There are a LOT of accurate rifles on the market today.   You don’t have to pay a fortune for a good centerfire that will consistently shoot MOA groups with the right ammo.

But accuracy isn’t much good if the gun doesn’t have enough power to cleanly kill the animal.  Hogs are tough, and I’ve seen some hogs absorb hits from a 30-06 without so much as a flinch.  I also know of (but have never witnessed) a lot of guys who claim instant, clean kills with much lighter calibers than I would ever dream of… stuff like the .243, .22-250, or even the .223 (5.56). 

There can be a lot of factors, but I believe that if you must err, err on the side of caution.  I prefer not only the possibility of a clean, quick kill, but also something that’s going to create a significant blood trail, in the event that the shot doesn’t go quite right and I have to follow the animal.  I also want something that will penetrate the thick bones and shoulder plate of a big boar. 

With that in mind, I generally recommend the more powerful .30 caliber rifles.  The .308, 30-06, and .300 Winchester Magnum are well represented in recent “Favorite Hog Caliber” poll for good reason… they’re effective under almost all conditions, and from big boars to “meat hogs”.  Of the three mentioned, the 30-06 is well known as one of the most versatile hunting cartridges of all time, and if someone asked me what rifle to get for hunting everything from coyotes to moose, that would be the one I’d choose. 

The .270 got a lot of votes on that poll too, by the way… and it’s a great caliber… ideal for deer and antelope, good for hogs, and acceptable in a pinch for elk.  I wouldn’t advise anyone against the .270 if they asked, but it wouldn’t be my own first choice.  There are several other sub-30 caliber rounds that would also be acceptable or even perfect, but the simple fact that they don’t spring instantly to mind tells you where I place them on my personal list. 

So with accuracy and power, what else is there?  What about long-range shooting?

Well, I’m not a fan of shooting long distances.  Most hunters have no business shooting more than 200 yards, even with modern rifles and optics.  They don’t practice those shots enough, and for the most part, they can’t tell the difference between 150 yards and 300 yards.  Almost any of the calibers I’ve mentioned so far would be fine at those ranges.

Hog hunting and hog habitat vary pretty widely across the country… even across the state of CA where I do most of my own hunting.  I’ve shot or shot at hogs at distances ranging from about 10 yards to over 225.  For that kind of wide variety, I like a quick-handling rifle that’s chambered in something that will stretch out, but won’t just punch through or blow-up on the close-range shots.  (Actually, those surprise close-ups are the reason I carry the .44mag revolver…)

If I were hunting a place with more close shots, such as the Hawaiian jungles, then an open-sighted, close-range levergun, like the Model 94 Winchester, in .30-30 would be an excellent option.  A semi-automatic carbine chambered in something like .308 or 30-06 would also be good, although I feel that semi-autos tend to encourage spray-and-pray shooting… especially in less experienced hunters. 

Speaking of action types, which one is “best”?

That’s partly a personal choice and partly a question of hunting style and habitat.  Back east, I was a really big fan of lever-actions.  My little 30-30 was perfect for the swamps and pocosin, where I often had to shoot fast, and have a quick back-up.  Some folks say a levergun isn’t as accurate as some other action types, but I have a .243 BLR (Browning Lever Action) that would put a quick stop to that kind of talk. 

As I mentioned, I’m not a fan of the semi-autos, although they are pretty popular in some parts of the country.  Pump-action rifles are pretty cool and useful in the same applications as lever guns.  Unfortunately, this configuration never seemed to catch on in big-game rifles, and I believe the Remington 7600 and variants is about the only option available there. 

Since moving to the West a little over a decade ago, I’ve become a big fan of bolt action rifles.  While there can still be a lot of quick action in tight quarters, we also have a fair amount of longer range shots.  Quick follow-up doesn’t seem to be as important here.  Bolt actions are also generally the most reliable and accurate under a wide variety conditions, and they’re available in a huge array of calibers and configurations.  

There are a few other choices, of course.  Single-shot rifles like the Ruger #1 and the NEF Handi-Rifle occasionally show up in the field.  However, even a well-hit hog sometimes needs more than one bullet, which puts the single-shot at a little too much of a disadvantage for my tastes.   Double rifles are pretty cool, and I’d love to have one.  However, the price and selection is a big limiting factor there.

So, with all that said, where does that leave us?  Well, in my own opinion, “perfect” is way too much of a limitation.  Perfect in the chemise or a deep, southern swamp may not be the same as perfect on a high, western ridgetop.  Even so, if I were pressed to make a choice knowing that someone might take my choice as advice, I’d go with a bolt-action rifle, chambered in 30-06. 

Since I already have one of those, though, my most recent acquisition is a Browning A-bolt, chambered in .325wsm.  That’s a lot of gun, but it will serve dual-purposes as a primary elk and hog hunting rifle. 

Here’s my newest hog-slayer, a Browning A-bolt stainless stalker. It’s a bit of overkill for hogs, chambered in .325wsm, but it shoots and handles like a dream. It’s light as a feather which will be great for trekking across the ridges and canyons, and has plenty of “oomph” when the time comes to make the shot…whether at 30 yards or 300.

What else goes into making a “Hog Rifle”?   What are YOUR prerequisites?

Well, this most current HogBlog poll seems to have caught some interest.  What is your favorite hog hunting caliber?  I’ll leave the poll running a little longer, and look forward to seeing how it all shakes out.

I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the venerable (100 years old) 30-06 is leading the race so far.  It’s one of the most popular big game cartridges of all time, and it offers a great variety of bullet weights and loads.  Personally, I’ve been shooting the 180 gr Winchester/Nosler Accubonds lately, and really think they do a great job on everything from axis deer to wild boar.  Prior to this I was using the 180gr Nosler Partitions in handloads, but I had some load inconsistencies and decided I need to learn more about reloading before I hurt myself.  Back to factory ammo for now.

Jack O’Connor’s pet, the .270 is also doing well.  Again, this is not a big surprise, since the .270 has become pretty wildly popular among deer hunters.  A large percentage of hog hunters, especially in the southeast and Texas, consider hogs a target of opportunity, so their favorite deer rifle is also their regular deer rifle.

What has surprised me, so far, is that no one has selected the .300 Winchester Magnum.  From my own experience with other hog hunters, I’d expect this rifle to take a prominent place in any such poll. 

Finally, I see some joker added the .17hmr to the list.  For those unfamiliar with this round, the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire is essentially a .22 mag necked down to contain a .17 caliber bullet.  That’s the size of a BB or .177 pellet!  It’s hardly an optimal round for killing anything bigger than a squirrel or a rabbit, but there are folks who’d use it.  My guess is, though, someone is doing a little “chain-yanking”. 

By the way, I included the .22 short in the poll, partly as a joke and partly because it was a commonly used caliber with the pig farmers I knew back in NC.  Of course, they used that gun to harvest hogs at killing time, and the shot was fired from a small pistol, with the muzzle directly against the pig’s head.  I also saw them use a ball peen hammer, but I wouldn’t recommend hunting with one of those either. 

Keep the responses coming.