The Hog Blog

Over the couple of weeks while I was up at Coon Camp Springs, I had a lot of time to catch up on my hunting magazines.  Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, and American Hunter make up the bulk of my subscription list, and they have become the “camp library” as well. 

Once the hunters were fed, stories told, and everyone else was off to bed, I’d get an hour or two of time to myself for reading.  I could kick back with a magazine and a medicinal beverage and let my mind wander. 

The evolution of the AR.

Something that kept coming back to me as I read through so many of the articles and ads was the preponderance of new rifles that are configured on the AR platform… the so-called, “Black Rifles”… even though few of them are actually black.  You can get them chambered today in almost any caliber, from .22 to .50, and there are specialized accessories from scopes and laser sights to predator lights.  They are modularized, and many have interchangeable parts that allow most garage gunsmiths to change caliber, barrel length, and configuration in a few minutes. 

Now, personally I don’t have a lot of use for these things.  My tastes run more toward the traditional and classic… a nice levergun, a well-made bolt action, or a fine double.  Sure, there’s a “cool factor” that appeals to the more gun-crazy side of me, but even then, my tastes run toward the more antiquated M-14 and Garand.  The AR-15/M-16 just never did much for me from either an aesthetic or practical point of view. 

But hey, apparently other folks are really digging them, hence the huge outpouring of offerings from almost every modern gun maker. 

What really struck me though, as I look back over the relatively recent trend, is the huge debt that the firearms industry owes to Jim Zumbo.  His infamous posting on the Outdoor Life blog ignited a firestorm of debate and discussion about the merits of the AR platform as a viable hunting tool, and that resulted in a whole new level of interest in these military-styled rifles.  (I know an awful lot of what I read immediately after the Zumbo fiasco was the sound of apologists… magazine editors doing everything they could to show that Zumbo’s opinion did not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazines… but an awful lot was the attempt to capitalize on this hot new topic as well.)

Sure, folks were already messing around with this versatile platform, but following Zumbo’s commentary, the stage lit up.  Suddenly, hunting magazines began running article after article about the AR for hunting everything from ground squirrels to grizzly bears.  ARs went to Africa and the Arctic, and from bull elk to boar hogs.  Whitetail hunters and coyote hunters alike seemed to embrace the new products, and manufacturers have ridden that groundswell until the market is practically glutted with options. 

One might even get the idea that the AR platform is a natural, evolutionary leap for sporting arms… and maybe it is.

But to me, it’s just another semi-automatic rifle.  It’s just a gun.  I’ve written about semi-automatics before, and everything I said then applies to the ARs as well.  Not my favorite, but if you like them, go for it. 

Anyway, I’m curious.  How many of you are using, or planning to use a rifle based on the AR platform for your hunting… whether for hogs, deer, varmints, or any other species?

The events of this past weekend got me thinking about the shot I took on that sow as she was trotting fast up the hill. What did I do right and what did I do wrong?  But I want to preface this entire post with a couple of caveats. 

First of all, running shots present one of the most difficult scenarios that might ever face a hunter… especially a hunter with a scoped rifle.  It’s what is usually referred to as a low-percentage shot, which means your odds of placing a clean hit are pretty low.  As hunters with the ethical responsibility to maximize our odds of making a clean, humane kill, that makes this kind of shot somewhat controversial.  With this in mind, running shots are not the best shot option and should probably be avoided when it’s possible. 

The second caveat is that I want to be clear that I do not condone or recommend running shots for everyone.  If you have never practiced shots at moving targets, a living animal is not the right place to start.  For bowhunters, I absolutely believe the only time you should take a shot at running or trotting game is when the animal is already wounded and you need to do whatever you can to stop it.  This basically transfers over to gun hunters as well, although I think that a gun hunter can become proficient enough to make ethical shots on running game.  And that’s the point… it takes practice and skill, but running shots can be done well.

With this conversation, I recognize there’s room for a huge ethical discussion.  Many people believe that you should never take a running shot, period.  Others (like me) think that, much like long-range shooting, it’s OK under certain conditions (a practiced marksman and a reasonable target presentation).  For now, this is about all I will dedicate to the ethical debate.  We’ll save that for the comments.

I am not an expert marksman, by any stretch of the imagination.  At the same time, I feel that I’m pretty proficient, in large part because I practically grew up with a gun in my hand.  I’ve done a lot of shooting, and a good part of that was on moving targets such as running rabbits and driven deer.  I don’t think I took a standing-still shot on a deer until I was in my mid-twenties.  For hunters with this kind of background, the moving shot is simply another opportunity.  It may not be the optimal choice, but it’s a valid one. 

“OK,” you say.  “That’s fine for you lifelong hunters.  What about the rest of us, or those who grew up in places where we couldn’t shoot whenever we felt like it? ”  Read the rest of this entry »

A recent discussion on Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors forums got me thinking about this topic, and I remembered I’d started writing this quite some time ago. With little else going on (even the Lead Ban stuff is slow right now), I figured why not dust it off and finish it up?

I’ll preface this with the acknowledgement that I’m not a big fan of semi-autos for hunting (I have enjoyed plinking with both semi and full-auto firearms, they’re a kick in the britches to shoot).  I own a couple, and use them from time to time, but I much prefer my bolt and lever-action rifles.  That said, I don’t have issues with someone else using them, as long as they’re used safely. 

Semi-automatic rifles offer one really obvious benefit to the hog hunter, so I’ll start with that…  rapid follow-up shots.

Hogs are tough critters, and they can absorb a marginal hit from even a large-bore rifle with nominal obvious or immediate effects.  In the thick habitat where they are often found, getting an anchoring shot into a wounded pig can mean the difference between a lost animal and bringing home the bacon.  You’ve got to knock them down before they get into the brush, drop into a deep canyon, or disappear into a swamp.  

With a bolt action, single-shot, or even a levergun, loading that second round almost always requires the hunter to lose the sight picture, and then reacquire the target before shooting.  A semi-auto shortens that process, and while a big-game caliber will usually require some recovery time, the skilled hunter can be back on target and firing quickly. 

The quick recovery time and rapid follow-up shot is also useful when hunting driven game.  This is one reason you’ll find semi-autos so popular in the South, where running deer with hounds is still a widespread practice.  It’s much easier to follow-up and adjust your shots on a running animal with the semi-auto than with any manually operated action.  (I know that with practice and skill, there are marksmen who claim to be just as fast and accurate with bolt guns and lever-actions… but in reality, most hunters don’t have that level of ability.) 

From this, it would seem that the autoloaders have the upper hand.  Why isn’t everybody shooting them?  Read the rest of this entry »

I know, I’ve said before you really don’t need a howitzer to kill a hog.  A well-placed bullet from a reasonable caliber (preferably quarter-bore if not bigger) will do the trick on anything from a roaster to hogzilla.  I’m really partial to my .30 calibers, and as much as I love my .325wsm (8mm), it’s a bit more than necessary most of the time.

Of course, you don’t want to go under-gunned either.  Not only is there a potential risk of getting hurt by an angry, wounded boar, there’s also the ethical consideration of making as quick a kill as possible.  You want a big enough gun to allow reasonable margin of error, in case your placement isn’t as precise as you’d like.

Well, poking around on YouTube this afternoon, I think I found something that offers as much “reasonable margin of error” as you can ask for.

Oh, you have to love the name of this monstrosity… the 600 Overkill!  It’s the “Rogue” from Bijou Creek gunsmithing, a real company making real firearms.  No idea what something like this would cost, much less what it would cost to feed… but oh, buddy!  What fun it would be to roll out onto Tejon with something like this in my hands!

As I may have mentioned before, one of the blogs I read on a regular basis is Dave Petzal’s Gun Nut blog.   Mr Petzal, and occasional guest blogger, Phil Bourjailly (shotgunning) offer some great info and opinion about all things guns… but particularly sporting guns. 

So anyway, I checked in yesterday and saw this sucker! 

That’s right, it’s real. 

Chambered in .600 Nitro Express, this is truly a hand-cannon!  It’s created by the Austrian company, Pfiefer Waffen, and can actually be purchased if you have about $16,000 dollars laying around.  Actually, that price is a bit cheaper than some double rifles in the same caliber, so I suppose it’s quite a bargain. 

Fully suited for anything from REALLY big hogs to brontosaurus, it’s a revolver fit to make Dirty Harry drool in envy.  If you should see one and get a chance to shoot it, odds are it will make you drool too… brain damage can do that to a person.  Personally, the S&W .500 was as much handgun as I ever care to shoot, so you can have at it. 

Apparently this thing is also available in .458 Winchester, for the less manly masochist. 

So, should you choose to run out and pick one of these things up, let me know.  I’d love to hear about it… from a great distance.

In the meantime, I’m still daydreaming about this beauty from the SHOT Show a few years back.

Speaking of the SHOT Show, only eight more days until the Media Day at the Range where I’ll have the opportunity to put my grubby hands on all kinds of more traditional firearms.  If there’s anything new out there you’d like me to check out, let me know!   I will, for sure, be looking at all of the new offerings from Winchester, Browning, Sako, Beretta, and probably Smith and Wesson (I LOVE their Elite Gold double-barrel). 

I’m also hoping to get my hands on the new bolt actions from Mossberg and Marlin, as they should be the perfect thing for the economy-minded hunter. 

So sing out, and let me know if you want me to check out anything in particular.

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.