ElevenBravo
Active Member
- Messages
- 524
Finally back from a very wet and stormy hog hunt in Texas. Was chased by a storm coming out of Wyoming that blanketed Denver in 2 feet of snow, then ran into a string of Texas thunderstorms that culminated in rain, wind, hail and tornado warnings.
As I like to say "I kill everything I shoot, but the wife kills everything she sees". Mrs. 11B shot a 92 pound hog at 90 yards, 2 piglets with 1 shot at 100 yards, and cored out a rabbit longways with her .308 at 100 yards. All on her first day. She took out 2 more hogs the next day. One of them had some unusual fur, it wasn't hairy like other hogs, this had muttonchops and curls. We're getting this one mounted.
Here's what I'm puzzling over: I normally use my Tikka 300 WSM, but decided to take my Ruger Scout in .308 Win for this hunt, mainly because the Tikka does way too much damage at close ranges, the scope is too powerful for close up work, and the barrel is too long in the dense brush where I hunt. The Scout is loaded with handloads using Hornady 150gr InterLocks.
So I'm set up in the swamp and run into this 215 pounder with some big ol'cutters at about 5 yards. As soon as I see him I'm wondering if I should have brought the Tikka instead. But this is exactly what the Scout is for, and put one directly into the hog's boiler room. The hog just looks at me as if to say "OH NO YOU DIDN'T JUST SHOOT ME WITH YOUR LITTLE POP GUN", then trots off a short distance as if he didn't even get shot at, and stops. The muzzle blast didn't even scare him. So I put another one in his chest. He didn't seem to like that much and trots off about another 20 feet, then sits down. I put a third round in his chest and he finally keels over.
So I'm wondering if 150gr Hornadys are sufficient for a hog this old/size even at such close range. None of the rounds exited the other side. The entire left side of his chest was completely shredded, but I'm wondering if he would have gone down from just a single shot.
As I like to say "I kill everything I shoot, but the wife kills everything she sees". Mrs. 11B shot a 92 pound hog at 90 yards, 2 piglets with 1 shot at 100 yards, and cored out a rabbit longways with her .308 at 100 yards. All on her first day. She took out 2 more hogs the next day. One of them had some unusual fur, it wasn't hairy like other hogs, this had muttonchops and curls. We're getting this one mounted.
Here's what I'm puzzling over: I normally use my Tikka 300 WSM, but decided to take my Ruger Scout in .308 Win for this hunt, mainly because the Tikka does way too much damage at close ranges, the scope is too powerful for close up work, and the barrel is too long in the dense brush where I hunt. The Scout is loaded with handloads using Hornady 150gr InterLocks.
So I'm set up in the swamp and run into this 215 pounder with some big ol'cutters at about 5 yards. As soon as I see him I'm wondering if I should have brought the Tikka instead. But this is exactly what the Scout is for, and put one directly into the hog's boiler room. The hog just looks at me as if to say "OH NO YOU DIDN'T JUST SHOOT ME WITH YOUR LITTLE POP GUN", then trots off a short distance as if he didn't even get shot at, and stops. The muzzle blast didn't even scare him. So I put another one in his chest. He didn't seem to like that much and trots off about another 20 feet, then sits down. I put a third round in his chest and he finally keels over.
So I'm wondering if 150gr Hornadys are sufficient for a hog this old/size even at such close range. None of the rounds exited the other side. The entire left side of his chest was completely shredded, but I'm wondering if he would have gone down from just a single shot.