Hog Blog Friends On The Hunt

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Well, the little adventure this weekend didn’t really pan out… which is just as well, I suppose. I’ve got a freezer full of meat, and a Texas trip coming up at the end of this week. But it looks like I’m not the only one who’s been out in the field lately.

First of all, there’s my friend Bruce (a friend I’ve yet to meet in person) over in Hawaii. Bruce has been living the life over there on the Big Island… hunting hogs, goats, and all sorts of birds at one moment, and then out pulling in big fish from the clear, Pacific waters. Here’s a recent report…

Went up on Mauna Kea yesterday and took a nice pig and a sheep. I shot the pig with a .270 Nosler Ballistic Tip, the third time I’ve used that particular bullet in the past several weeks to take a hog. I think it is possibly the worst bullet in the world to use on big hogs and I can back up my claim. Is there a section on your blog to post such commentary and if so, what is the protocol?

Going back up tomorrow [Friday] to try for a big ram. We’re experiencing a terrible drought and many animals have moved down into the jungles on the east side of the island. You need dogs to hunt there and that ain’t my bag. It’s also turkey season, so I’ll bring along a shotgun. I saw 50+ turkeys but was way too pooped after a tough hike at 8000 feet to stalk them. I’ll take some photos or video this time if you’re interested in them. That pig yesterday was my 46th since I started hunting here 3 1/2 years ago.

Hope all is well. I’m really enjoying your hunting site, slowly working my way through it.

There are a couple of interesting points here, beginning with Bruce’s comments regarding the Ballistic Tips…

My own experience with these bullets hasn’t been great either. On the one hand, everything I’ve shot with them died quickly, and they were extremely accurate out of my 30-06. But they were also extremely destructive bullets, and I hate meat loss. So Bruce, here’s your opportunity to tell us about your experience…

But you should know we’re going to temper our empathy for your misfortunes with a hot stroke of jealousy… 46 pigs in 3 1/2 years!

Of course, you should know that Bruce has been enlisted by several neighbors to help with porcine raiders hitting their gardens and yards. That’s the mixed blessing of being a hog hunter in a place like Hawaii, I guess. One of these days, I swear I’m going to take him up on the offer to show me around over there.

Several thousand miles away from Bruce, regular Hog Blog reader and commenter, Brian (Carolina Rig) made a trip into the South Carolina swamps for sus scrofa, and it sounds like he did great too!

Got back last night from the annual public land trip down to SC. This is the third year in a row I’ve made it down for the SC March hog season. Its relatively inexpensive for a non-resident ($40 for 3 day license, $76 for WMA permit) since you don’t have to get a ‘big game’ license. For a DIY’er its great. 26,000 acres of sandy pine ridges, oak flats, and cypress swamp bottoms offer plenty of room to get away from crowds. The crew I convinced to come down with me managed numerous sightings, and have 10 on the board right now (two guys are still down there!) Sizes ranged from 15lbs shoats to 150lbs boars.

Yummy. As always camping with friends, and wildlife sightings made the trip….including a scat trifecta. You ever seen a deer, pig, and turkey shit so close to eachother?! Got another trip planned with family for mid March with an outfitter. Taking a couple first time hog hunters….I remember my first time…I haven’t been the same since.

Oh, and one last note from the East Coast. Every week day, I try to keep up on the newspaper from back home, the Wilmington Star News. The sports pages offer a small section of outdoor reporting, and it’s how I get a regular dose of homesickness remedy (you’d think after almost 16 years, I’d be over that, right?). Right now is that slow time of year, with hunting seasons ended and still too cold for most offshore fishing… but I still check in.

One Star News feature I often enjoy is a column and blog by reporter Amy Hotz, called It’s Hotz Outside. Amy isn’t a hunter yet, but it looks like she’s getting ready to change that on Wednesday, with a feral hog hunt in Brunswick County. When I left NC, feral hogs really hadn’t come back into the area in huntable numbers, so I have to admit I’ve been reading her recent posts about the planned hunt with a touch of envy.

All this talk of jealousy… seriously, I’m glad to see folks out there doing it up, and really looking forward to hearing from more of you.

South carolina hunting

Posted March 9, 2010 at 2:58 AM

wow! I’m still dazed. Times have really changed. When I was twelve years-old, my parents trusted me enough to go deer hunting by myself, and it was a positive experience. My dad taught me everything I needed to know about gun safety, and as long as I was wearing enough blaze orange, I had free reign. Yes, times have changes, and those were the best of times. I miss the old days a lot.

Arthur

Posted March 9, 2010 at 6:40 AM

Sounds like your readers are living it up, Phillip….and having a good time doing it I might add.

I have a cousin who has been contemplating moving to Hawaii, but wasn’t sure he could do it. Maybe now, after reading this, he’ll be more open to the idea.

I could sure handle killing a few pigs and turkey in the Pacific. I’m honestly not sure I’d want to live there, though.

doccherry

Posted March 9, 2010 at 9:34 AM

First let me say that where I was hunting hogs is at 8000 feet, on the very, very dry side of Mauna Kea, a volcanic mountain just shy of 14,000 feet on the Big Island of Hawaii. I couldn’t take 3 steps in any direction without seeing hog poop, most of it fresh. The car-sized bushes ALL had pig beds beneath them and the pig trails were ground down deep with layers of fresh tracks. No other hunters anywhere and this is public land. Now on to the ballistic tips…

I loaded up some 30/06 and .270 with ballistic tips about 3 months ago, just for the heck of it, since some of my shots are long range [most, though, are under 75 yards]. The first pig I shot with the 30/06 was a lung shot, which is my preferred method of harvest since it is lethal and it wastes very little meat. I always aim just behind the shoulder since there is some good meat on the shoulder that I want to harvest. The pig was a medium-sized sow. The bullet entered on target and did not pass through. The near shoulder meat was ruined and it looked like a grenade went off in the pig’s chest cavity. The second pig was a small boar and the same thing happened—no pass-thru and ruined meat on near shoulder. The pig the other day was a smallish sow, maybe 100 pounds, and exactly the same thing happened—explosive damage, no pass through, and ruined near shoulder.

Now, what do you think would have happened if I had shot a really huge boar and hit the shoulder? I’ll bet I’d never recover that hog. I believe the bullet would explode in the cartilage shield and the hog, even if the wound eventually proved fatal, would manage to get away. Couple that with the fact that one hole leaves little if any blood to trail, and I think the Ballistic Tip may be, overall, a very poor choice for hogs.

I shot two mouflon sheep on Friday, up on the barren, higher slopes of Mauna Kea. Mouflons are maybe 90 pounds—110 tops—and are thin-skinned like deer. Neither bullet passed through and the near-side shoulders were ruined. And, each sheep managed to run about 50 yards before dropping and there was not one drop of blood on the ground to follow.

So, my assessment is this: The ballistic tips do too much damage to surrounding tissue, have poor penetration, and cost you meat, even if the animal drops in its tracks. They do not have the penetration for big boars, which I believe require a stout bullet that will pass through, leaving two holes and a blood trail.

I’m going Vancouver bull hunting on April 17/18 in the remote jungles of the Hilo Watershed. These bulls weigh up to 1400 pounds. You can bet I’m not going to use Ballistic Tips.

Aloha for now.

Phillip Loughlin

Posted March 9, 2010 at 5:12 PM

Sounds like the same kind of thing I experienced, Bruce! I’ve been told that the Ballistic Tips work better at long range, but I can’t remember the last time I got an animal to stand still while I got FURTHER away from it!

Thanks for posting up!

Hog Blog Friends On The Hunt

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