“Think, ‘hog control,’ not hunting.”

That was the key message in the email sent out to our group by way of introduction from Rod Pinkston, CEO of JagerPro Hog Control Systems and, along with Winchester Ammunition, our host for two nights and days.  JagerPro specializes in two things, nighttime hog depredation with advanced thermal imaging equipment, and hog trapping. We had been invited to experience a little bit of both.

Our group consisted of myself, freelance writers MD and Julia Johnson, and Brian Lynn from Outdoor Life.  Mike Stock, the Winchester marketing representative who put the whole shindig together, was along as well.

The plan for the visit was centered around two nights of depredation hunts with Pinkston’s thermal imaging scopes, mounted atop AR-platform .308 rifles from Lewis Machine and Tool (LMT).  I’m still pretty new to the AR rifles, so I can’t offer a lot of explanation about what really sets these rifles apart from others in the genre, but I can say they’re a pretty cool piece of machine-work.

Ammunition for the hunt was provided by Winchester.  We’d be trying out their new Razorback XT.  The .308Win load is topped by a 150gr, lead-free bullet (gilding metal) that is specifically designed for delayed expansion so that the bullet can penetrate the thick, mud-caked hide and heavy cartilage of these tough beasts.  The JagerPro guides questioned the choice of 150gr,  but Mike was confident that the bullet would perform.

The proof would be in the pudding.  All we needed to do was to find some hogs and put the bullets to work.

Jager Pro does their best work at night. 

I sort of knew that going in, of course, but what I didn’t think about was that these guys aren’t hunting.  This isn’t sport.  This is eradication, and it’s business.  To the farmers whose crops are being destroyed by the porcine raiders, it’s a matter of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  To the guys at Jager Pro, it’s a matter of pride and a sense of responsibility to their customer.  They don’t play in half-measures and they don’t work for half the night.  This is a game of sunset to sunrise.

So I shouldn’t have been surprised that, after my arrival on Monday afternoon, there was no time for rest.  We spent a little time sighting in the rifles, ran out to a local Mexican joint for dinner, and hit the field.  Sleep would come later… much later.

Mike, Brian, and I hit the road with guide, Lance Hopper.  MD and his wife, Julia would ride out to another location with guide, Chris Monhof.  The guides had been scouting all day, and had a couple of prime properties to get started.  Unfortunately, the weather-guesser had lied again, and the rain that was supposed to taper off by early evening only intensified.  So had the wind.

By 22:00, the wind was driving the rain sideways across the peanut field.  Lance had spotted a small group of hogs earlier, but the wind shifted and they took off before we could make a stalk.  Once the weather turned harsh, we knew the odds of spotting more pigs were getting slim.  We stuck it out anyway.  The results were predictable.

At around 05:30, we rolled back into the lodge.  The rain had turned into an old-fashioned downpour as we sipped “nightcaps” and recounted the fairly uneventful night.  Exhausted, I was good for one drink and then turned in for the day.  Sunrise was a hazy glow through the window when my head hit the pillow.  I’d been going strong for well over 24 hours.

After a couple of hours sleep, I spent the afternoon riding with Rod.  I’d asked him if he could show me some of his traps, and talk a little about trapping as a depredation method.  He had a new design for traps and an approach to trapping that was producing some pretty amazing results.  In some cases, he was able to catch the entire sounder of hogs.  The majority of trappers are lucky to get a handful of juveniles, while the more mature and experienced hogs shun the traps.

We checked out a trapping site, and stopped off at the fabrication shop where they were assembling some trap parts based on his specifications.  The parts weren’t ready yet, though, so I didn’t get to see them at work.  I’ll have to catch up with that later, I suppose, but you can read about it on the JagerPro website if you’re interested.

Back at the lodge, we made it just in time to be served a phenomenal, down-home, Southern dinner.  There was enough food for three times as many people, and it included chicken-fried steak, collard greens, black eyed peas, and corn bread.  Dessert was apple cobbler and ice cream.  With a belly full of all that, it was a surprise any of us could get away from the table.  How we’d make it through another night in the field was a mystery to me.

We rolled back out as the sun was dipping behind the pines.  We’d be working an 1800 acre farm that had been seeing a lot of hog activity. The plan for the evening was for Mike and myself to ride with Lance, while Brian would head out with Rod.  MD and Julia were forced to pull out early due to unexpected circumstances.  Chris had an errand to run, but would be back out to scout some sections that we couldn’t see.

The moon would be completely full, but the skies were still heavily overcast and spitting rain.  The wind died out for the most part, though, and we were all pretty hopeful for a very eventful night.  In my mind, I was imagining scenarios from some of the Jager Pro videos off of YouTube.  We’d see groups of eight or ten animals and let the Razor Backs fly!  In the morning light, we’d be posing with piles of dead peanut thieves.

If you want to limit your success on a hunt, invite a bunch of outdoor writers.

We’d set up on a high spot in the middle of a huge field.  The evening turned into night, and still, we sat waiting.  Every once in a while, Lance would get up and glass the field with the “heavy”, a large version of the thermal imaging scopes.  Eventually we sort of started taking turns scanning the area.

I took my turn somewhere around 22:30.  Have I mentioned how cool this thermal imaging stuff is?  If you’ve never seen it, the scopes show images based on their heat signatures.  The hotter an object is, the whiter it appears.  The cool thing to me was that almost everything had some sort of heat coming from it, whether it was a longleaf pine or a sand road.  All around the field edges, I could see the shining white bodies of dozens of deer.  Some were feeding.  Some were bedded in the peanuts.  Some were just sort of meandering.

But none were hogs.

Then I spotted something different.  It had the sort of distinct, rounded back profile that could be a hog, but it wouldn’t turn broadside so I could get a clear look.  I got a little excited, and panned around for a moment to see what else was out there.  When I came back around, it had moved a little.  I still couldn’t tell, so I called Lance to take a look.  It was a ‘possum.

Since he already had the scope in hand, Lance took a spin.  I watched as he slowly scanned in 360 degrees, and then he stopped suddenly.  His posture changed as he peered into the scope to verify what he saw.  He lowered the scope and then raised it again.  Then he turned to us.  “I’ve got two hogs,” he said.  “They’re probably 600 yards away, a long walk, but I think we can get to them.”

The stalk was on.

Stalking at night, under these conditions, is a really different experience.  You follow single-file behind the guide, who is carrying the “heavy”.  Since he has the spotter, he’s the only one who can see what you’re stalking.  It’s a weird feeling, because for all we knew, we were just walking toward the darker line of trees on the horizon.  The guide watches the hogs and their body language, stopping when they get alert, and then moving as they feed.  When he stops, we stop.  When he goes, we go.  A few hundred yards like this seem like miles, and at every stop we cringe, waiting to hear that the hogs have winded us and left the field.

They didn’t leave the field, but Lance started getting nervous as we got closer.  Despite the heavy cloud cover, the full moon was still lighting the place up pretty well.  Out in the open as we were, we’d be somewhat backlighted.  He finally called a halt, and signaled us to set up our shooting sticks.  It was on.

I put my rifle up on the sticks, and struggled into position behind the scope.  With these thermal scopes, the trick is to put your eye fully into the eye piece housing.  This housing is pliable rubber, but putting my eye into it flies in the face of years of shooting with traditional scopes.  Get too close, and you’re gonna get bit.  Not so with these, but it took a conscious effort to stay in proper shooting position.

The next trick was identifying the target.  At first, I couldn’t find it at all, and then the hog was just a glowing blob.  It was only after my eye adjusted that I could recognize the profile.  I couldn’t see the second hog at all, but my job was to shoot the one on the left.  Mike would be responsible for the one on his side.  Lance would shoot backup.  You don’t want the hog to leave the field, if you can help it.

We were to shoot on a countdown from three.  Lance started counting, and I took up the slack on the two-stage trigger.  At one, I felt myself tensing, and when I should have pulled the trigger I jerked the whole rifle.  Despite hearing Mike’s gun going off, I backed off and took a quick breath before bearing down on my hog again.  It hadn’t quite realized what was happening yet, and I was able to send a round behind the shoulder.  The hog dropped on impact.

I still heard shooting, so I scanned to see if the other hog was running into my field of fire.  I couldn’t see it, but as I passed across my hog, I saw that the damned thing was back on its feet.  I fired again, and realized that Lance was shooting too.  I think my second shot was a miss, but on my third shot the hog rolled, feet in the air.  I breathed a sigh of relief, but kept the scope on him.

Sure enough, the bloody thing was back up and pushing for the woodline.  Lance was shooting, and I sent a couple more rounds at him.  He seemed to drop, and then was up again.  I lead him across the nose and sent one more.  At that shot, the hog dropped out of sight.

“He’s down,” I heard Lance say.  “But keep an eye on him.”

I stayed in the scope for a bit longer, until Lance finally said to put the rifles back on Safe.

“That was a little longer shot than we usually take,” he said.  “But I thought we were gonna get busted any minute.”

Usually, the shots are inside of 100 yards.  They’re often in the 60 to 70 yard range.  Lance walked off the distance as we moved to check on our animals.  We reached my hog at 215 paces.  Mike’s hog had been about 30 yards or so to the right of mine, but there was no sign of it.

Because I thought we were so close, I’d imagined my hog would be in the neighborhood of 125 pounds or so.  As it turns out, he was quite a bit larger.  I’m still waiting on an official weight (Lance sent him whole to a taxidermist).  No wonder he took so many hits from that .308 to bring down!  I’m fairly certain that I hit him at least twice in the body, and Lance was pretty sure he’d made at least two hits as well.  I think that my last shot went in just ahead of his eye and out through his nose.  At any rate, someone’s shot did… either mine or Lance’s.

We tried to trail the other pig, but besides a set of running tracks in the muddy road, we found no sign of it.  There was no blood, and the tracks appeared to be running normally (no dragging feet or stumbles), so we think he managed to escape unharmed.  Either that, or he was simply bulletproof.

We loaded the boar and went back to our glassing point.  There was a lot of night left, and the conditions seemed perfect.  Nevertheless, we never saw another pig in our field.

Somewhere around 04:00, Mike decided we’d had enough.  I couldn’t argue.  We’d sit it out another half hour or so, and then pack it in.  As we waited out the clock, a single shot came from the other field.  A moment later, it was followed by one more.  Then there was silence.  Brian and Rod had just whacked a hog.

We gathered up the gear and headed out at 04:30.  It was near 06:00 when we finally made it back to the lodge.  We conducted a short photo session (thank goodness for auto-focus cameras, because I doubt any of us could see straight enough to focus manually).  There was a lot of goofiness and laughter as we set the animals up for pictures, but we finally got it done.

I wanted to do a post-mortem on the big boar, to see how many shots actually connected (we were pretty sure there were at least four in the body), and what these new Winchester bullets did.  A boar like this would be a real test for any bullet.  None of the shots had passed through, except for the shot through the nose.  The mud-caked hide was enough to stop some bullets by itself, and I could only imagine at the thickness of the boar’s cartilage shield.  I was eager to get the skin off and see what we could find.  Lance wanted to get him to the taxidermist, though, and let the professional handle the caping.  I was way too tired to argue, as he loaded the boar up and took off down the road.

Update:  10/14/2011 12:40 – Just got word from the taxidermist in Georgia.  The boar weighed in at 276lbs, live weight. 

The big hog had taken three hits to the body.  Two had passed clean through, side-to-side.  I still can’t believe we didn’t see any evidence of exit wounds, but it’s hard to describe how dense and mud-packed the hide was on this animal.   A third shot had quartered in (probably while he was running away) and passed through the entire thoracic cavity to lodge in the off-side leg bone.  The recovered bullet had expanded fully and still had all of the petals (no shearing, even when lodging in the large bone).  That’s pretty good bullet performance.  A fourth bullet had glanced off of the shoulder, and the fifth was the aforementioned shot through the nose.   

Brian’s hog was not a tiny thing either.  It was a good 140lb boar, and they’d hit it twice.  The first shot, from about 83 yards, had gone in behind the last ribs and quartered forward into the animal.  I opened up the skin and separated the off-side shoulder.  After some digging, I found the spent bullet lodged in the boar’s shield.  It had passed through about a foot and a half of hog, and mushroomed perfectly without losing any petals.  That’s not too bad, although I was a little surprised that the lead-free bullet hadn’t completely blown through.  Another testament to the toughness of hogs.  The pig had been dying, but not dead.  Brian’s second shot had gone into the head and exited, so I couldn’t check that bullet.

All in all, the whole thing was a pretty extraordinary experience.  Shooting hogs with thermal imaging optics definitely ranked high on the “cool” meter.  Because of the way the whole thing played out, it wasn’t really all that different from spot and stalk in the daylight.  We found the animals, moved on them, and made the shots.  The fact that it took place at night certainly gave us some advantage, although I think an identical stalk could have been done with the sun up.  Of course, had we come up on an entire sounder, the cover of night would certainly have been a necessity to get close enough for multiple kills.

I’d like to shoot a couple more hogs with the Razor Back XT ammo, before I make any huge pronouncements, but the fact is that both hogs we hit were very dead.  The big one soaked up a lot of lead copper, but I’m pretty sure the first hit would have been fatal over a short time.  There wasn’t much blood, but with a well-placed shot, you don’t need a lot of blood trail anyway.

I would be very interested in seeing a similar bullet for the 30-06 in 168 or 180 grains.  I get the feeling that would be a hog-slaying combination!  Mike said that more calibers would be on tap after the initial rollout.  I’m looking forward to it!

I also saw the perfect use for the AR platform on this trip.  When you need a lot of firepower, these rifles are designed to deliver it.  The recoil is barely noticeable, and you can put a fair number of shots on target in a short amount of time.  If you’re trying to take out as many animals as possible in a single engagement, this is definitely the way to go.  And honestly, shooting these rifles is just kind of fun anyway.

Overall, it was a great trip and a learning experience.  I’m really thankful to Winchester Ammunition for sponsoring this trip, and for allowing me to be part of the whole thing.

I’ve got some more to say about Jager Pro and what they’re doing in upcoming posts.  I think I’ll be digging into trapping and depredation a little more in the near future as well, and Rod Pinkston and his guys are definitely in a league of their own.  Stay tuned!

More about the Razor Back XT:

The Razor Back is the first round completely designed with the hog hunter in mind.  The bullet is lead-free, so that it can be used in every state (CA DFG certification is in the works).  The initial release will be in 150 gr .308 and 64 gr .223, and is intended to make the round available for the growing AR market, as well as traditional rifles in these calibers.  More calibers will be added to the line after it is rolled out.

The design of the bullet provides a deep, hollow point in a beveled profile to control the expansion.  Full expansion is intended to occur shortly after impact, so that the bullet can penetrate the thick hide, big bones, and cartilage shields that hogs are known for.  On this hunt, I didn’t see any pass-through body shots, but it was apparent that the bullets were hitting hard and delivering plenty of energy. 

For the depredation hunter shooting at night, and for the sport hunter who may shoot at first or last light, Winchester has developed a powder that delivers a reduced flash.  This allows the shooter to stay on target and not experience the night blindness that sometimes comes with a bright muzzle flash.  Since we were using thermal optics instead of night vision, I couldn’t tell first-hand what the muzzle flash was like.  I wish I’d had the opportunity to video some of the shooting, but the hogs and weather just didn’t cooperate to provide enough opportunities. 

The Razor Back XT will become part of Winchester’s “black box” line of ammunition, but should be priced significantly below the E-Tip and XP3 loads.   They should be available for the 2012 hunting seasons.

I just read Michael Waddell’s paean to the AR platform over at Petersen’s Hunting, along with the comments.   While the column itself read like a marketing piece for AR-styled firearms (particularly Remington’s R-15 and R-25 models), it raised some great points.  Chambered in realistic hunting calibers, these can be good hunting rifles.

Personally, I resisted the trend to bringing more of these tactical-styled rifles into the field because… well, because it seemed so trendy.  Besides, I love the classic look and styling of a nice bolt or lever gun much more than the high-tech, military ordnance.  It’s pretty much the same reason I favor my side-by-side shotgun over the nifty semi-autos, despite the advantages a more modern gun would offer.  It’s about the look and feel.

But to turn that around, that “look and feel” is exactly why some people really do love the AR platform (and, illogically enough, why some people have such a visceral, negative reaction to them).  As I’ve mentioned before, there’s the “coolness factor” that comes with the sharp angles and gadget-friendly design.  And, of course, there’s the available firepower of a semi-automatic and a high-capacity magazine.  I have to confess that there’s something about occasionally pouring a hail of fire downrange that I find kind of satisfying… even more so if that hail of fire is reasonably accurate.

But the reason Waddell’s column got me thinking about this topic again wasn’t so much his praise of the AR platform as it was the comments that followed the column.  Some of them were pure vitriol, and based as far as I can tell on nothing more substantial than the appearance of the AR-styled rifles.  One guy, for example, suggested that anyone who showed up at his elk camp with an AR or tactical-style rifle would not be welcome.  Several others agreed with him.

I do understand, at least in part, where some of that may be coming from.  My first experience with an AR-armed hunter was on a deer drive back in NC.  This was back when the civilian version of the AR-15 was first released… way before the industry saw them as anything more than a tiny, niche market for survivalists and military wannabes.  His rifle was fresh out of the store (I sold it to him a couple of weeks earlier), chambered in the standard 5.56mm and outfitted only with the factory sights.  I don’t even know if he’d even taken it to the range yet.

Anyway, on a typical drive, the dogs are cut loose on a track or in an area with heavy deer traffic, and the standers are placed in areas where the deer are likely to run.  Ordinarily, safety dictates that standers on the ground are armed with shotguns and buckshot, while rifle hunters are placed in elevated stands.  For whatever reason, our boy with the AR was on the ground.  When the dogs ran a deer past him, he reacted in the worst possible way… spray and pray.  It was as if he believed that accuracy was completely secondary to putting down a solid field of fire.

The bullets made one heck of a racket coming through the brush and buzzing overhead.  In the time it took me to realize what I was hearing and dive headlong into a ditch, he’d expended the entire magazine.  The next racket I heard was explicit cursing coming from other standers as they converged on his position.  As I was still a relative youngster at the time, I didn’t join in out loud, but I was certainly relishing the lambasting this idiot was taking.  Only later did I realize how lucky we all were that no one was hit in the fusillade.

With that experience in mind, I can understand the perception that some people have of hunters carrying these military rifles.  The potential for misuse is high, and it’s easy to imagine that potential when someone (especially someone you don’t know) is carrying a semi-automatic rifle with a 15 or 30 round magazine.  A lot of people believe having the capacity to spray and pray will encourage that sort of behavior.  It’s the same justification that leads many parents to start children off with single-shot rifles and shotguns.

But the truth is, looking back on it all, that was a fairly isolated incident.  It was one idiot who probably would have been just as unsafe with a more traditional rifle… or even a shotgun.  (Bearing in mind that, at this time it was very common to see deer hunters armed with semi-autos like the Remington 742 rifle and 1100 shotgun, the Browning BAR and Auto-5, and the Winchester models.) While the whole thing definitely shaped my opinion of ARs as hunting weapons for a long time, I fially realized that it had far less to do with the rifle than with the “trigger nut” (the nut that pulls the trigger).

These days, with a mature perspective, it simply doesn’t make sense to condemn the ARs and tactical rifles.  In many cases, they absolutely have a valid place in the field… especially when you consider that many of our “traditional” hunting rifles are directly descended from military designs.  They are functional, and with modern design and chamberings are more than adequate for any game you might choose to hunt.  Of course they’re not for everybody, but that’s true of many firearms.

The one thing that is for sure is that the firearms industry has embraced the platform.  It represents a way to expand the line beyond the traditional, and allows crossover between the hunting market, the sport shooters, and the military firearms afficianados.  These guns aren’t going away, and for the folks who don’t like them, I’ve got bad news… you’re going to be seeing a lot more of them as time goes by.

Personally, I think Albert tends toward the bigger end of the caliber spectrum due to an innate drive toward self-destruction, because he really favors guns that kill on both ends when it comes to killing hogs.  I’ll generally trade the recoil of a monster like the .338 or .375 for the milder .30cals (30-06, .300winmag, etc.), and feel that’s plenty of killing power for any hog on earth.  But I also feel, and quite strongly, that there’s no such thing as “too dead”, especially when you’re dealing with an animal that can come back and make hamburger out of you PDQ.  (And I must admit to a certain masochistic thrill at shooting those big bores myself.)

So anyway, I strongly recommend that you go over and have a look… especially if you’re debating what to do for a new hog rifle.  Here’s how it begins:

Robert Ruark said “Use Enough Gun.” Peter Capstick said, “Use enough gun, but not more than you can handle.” To which I add, “Use enough gun, but not more than you can handle, and make sure you can shoot it.”

When it comes to hogs, I’m going to say something that will land me in a heap of trouble with certain parties that I run with. You can take them with anything, so long as you do it right. That’s correct, anything from the lowly 22 short to a 557NE. The catch is knowing where to put your shot. I suppose it’s the same with all game. It all boils down to three things: Shot placement, shot placement, shot placement.

In terms of practicality though, there are upper limits on the size of a hog with relation to each caliber selection. There are basically six categories; the 22s-24s, the 24s-25s, the 26s-28s, the 30-338, the 35s- 375 and the over 40 crowd. Using commercially available ammunition as our standard, the 24s and 25s should be limited to small sub 70 lbs hogs. The 26s through 28s should be kept to the 150s and lower. The thirties and 338s are good for up to 300lbs and less while the 35s, 40s and bigger can handle just about anything. These are arbitrary numbers of course and I’m sure that arguments to the contrary can be sighted ad-nausea, but these are recommendations based on actual hog taken by myself and others, and for the sake of starting arguments.

All the preceding is assumes that you are using good quality bullets constructed to take the kind of abuse intended for big game. Hunting pig can be as easy as picking flowers, to a worse case scenario that might degenerate into hand to hand combat where the odds are definitely not in your favor. Spending a few dollars more for premium bullets is mighty cheap insurance. Just ask Cliff McClure of McClure Farms here in Parrish Florida. He has a twenty-three stitch memento from a Thanksgiving Day hunt that went awry.

You can read the rest right here.

Nope, there’s always got to be a little something more.  So imagine my pleasure when I was fooling around over at the Gun Nut blog and saw this beauty!  A 2-bore, blackpowder rifle!  Hell, just the recoil would take down a small hog. 

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?

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? ” 

Holly really brought that home this weekend.  She, correctly, opted not to take a running shot because she didn’t feel like she could make it cleanly.  Despite the fact that she’s coming along pretty nicely as a wingshooter, there’s a huge difference between a shotgun and a scoped rifle.  Just because you can kill a bird with a shotgun doesn’t necessarily mean you’re equipped to shoot a running hog with a single projectile.  But the essentials are the same.

Just like wingshooting, you want to send the bullet to the place where the animal is going to be… not where it was. 

A lot of people think that, because a rifle bullet generally moves so much faster than a shotgun pellet, there’s no need to lead an animal with a rifle.  The truth is that even at speeds approaching 3000 fps, a trotting animal can cover a significant amount of ground before that bullet arrives. 

In the example of my hog from the weekend, I aimed a few inches ahead of the animal’s chest.  She was at a solid trot, but not a dead run.  The range was “guess-timated” at around 150 yards.  The bullet I’m shooting travels in the neighborhood of 2800 fps.  The bullet impacted about three quarters of the way down the sow’s body… almost three feet from where I’d aimed.  Even figuring for human error, that’s a big difference between point of aim and point of impact… and it was almost a foot from where I’d expected it to hit.  If I’d aimed at the heart/lung area, I would have missed the pig completely. 

In retrospect, I should have drawn my lead out to the pig’s nose, which would have given me a perfect hit behind the shoulder, but I just didn’t think she was moving that fast.  Underestimation is the marksman’s bane.  To be brutally honest, it was nothing short of luck that I got a quick kill on that hog… and luck is not something a hunter wants to rely on. 

So how do you prepare for this kind of shot? 

The time-honored, backwoods solution is the target-in-a-tire exercise.  You fix a target, usually a piece of cardboard or plywood inside of an old tire, then roll the tire down an incline and try to shoot the target (with a safe backdrop, of course).  You can choose to draw a circle or tack a store-bought target onto the board, but for general practice I think it’s just as good to have a plain backboard to shoot at.  Most big game animals don’t have a bullseye painted on their bodies, so it’s valuable to learn to pick a spot to shoot on a homogenous surface without lines or concentric circles. 

Anyway, this is a hard exercise to beat if you have the place to do it safely.  The rolling tire not only presents a variety of speeds over ground, but it will bound and bounce as well.  It’s tough, but when you learn to hit it consistently you’ll be entering into a whole new realm of marksmanship.  Not only that, but it’s just a ton of fun… like skeet shooting with your rifle.

A variation on this exercise, as any aspiring quarterback can attest, is the swinging tire.  Set up the tire and target the same way, but hang it from a tree with enough rope to swing widely (and again, with a safe backdrop).  Start it swinging, and take your best shots.  Of course, as any clays shooter knows, once you figure out the rhythm, it’s pretty easy to consistently make the shot.  Even so, it’s valuable practice.

I don’t know of many organized shooting ranges that have moving target setups, but if yours does, you’re at an advantage.  I have seen moving targets on law-enforcement ranges, but most civilian sites don’t allow it.  You can set up a rolling target with a wagon, pulleys, and ropes, but this is kind of cumbersome unless you have a place to leave it.  If you do, I highly recommend adding this to your target practice regimen.

In some European countries you actually have to demonstrate some proficiency at moving shots in order to qualify for your hunting license.    There’s even a competitive shooting event called the “Running Boar”, where a boar target is mounted on tracks, and drawn across the range at varying speeds.  The competition has spawned a heavy-barreled rifle,designed specifically for this kind of shooting… which leads to another topic, selecting a rifle for moving shots.

To start with, keep in mind that most modern hunting rifles are designed for precision shooting on stationary targets.  The weight distribution is centered or back, to facilitate steadiness and to absorb recoil, while the barrel is usually thin and lightweight to facilitate quick pointing.  Unfortunately, nothing about this design makes it easier to swing the rifle on moving shots.  In fact, the super-light rifles make swinging and following through somewhat tricky.  Guns designed for shooting at moving targets usually have the weight forward to provide momentum as the gun swings through the target (compare a skeet gun to a turkey gun). 

I guess that was a long way of saying that if you’re hunting with a modern hunting rifle, you’re already at a disadvantage when it comes to moving shots.  This emphasizes the need for practice with the rifle you’ll be using in the field.  If you plan to do a lot of fast action hunting, you may want to select a rifle that is designed more for that kind of work.

First of all, if moving shots will be your primary M.O., it might be a good idea to get rid of the scope.  Iron sights, either open or peep, will allow you to acquire the target quickly, and to use your off-side eye to help track the animal and its surroundings as it moves.  You’ll never raise an iron sighted rifle to find the magnification turned too high, or to find the glass smudged or fogged, because there is no magnification or glass to deal with… and when running shots are the norm, the less you have to deal with, the better.

The second best option to no scope, is a scope with long eye-relief and nominal magnification.  An example of this would be the “Scout” scopes, which are designed to be mounted forward of the action.  This arrangement enables the shooter to keep both eyes open while sighting, much as he can with a peep sight.  Low magnification also provides a wider field of view, which is critical when you’re trying to find a moving animal and keep it in sight.   

Several of the electronic sighting systems, such as the holographic and “red-dot” sights also offer quick acquisition and plenty of precision for running game.  I’m sure they work well, but I’m not a big fan of anything that requires batteries to function.  That’s one more open door for Murphy to slip through, and do we really want that?  But of course, that’s really my personal bias.  On the flip-side of that argument, of course, our military relies on those things for combat use…so maybe they’re not so bad.  You’d have to make that call for yourself. 

Now, past the optics, how do you select the rifle (we’re not talking about shotguns right now)?

A little while back I did a post about semi-automatic rifles for hog hunting.  As I mentioned then, I’m not crazy about semi-autos, but really, one place where they do shine is on moving targets.  It’s not unusual to miss the initial shot on a running animal, or to make a marginal hit.  The rapid, follow-up from a semi-auto certainly can be a benefit… although I’ve also seen where this ability encourages a “spray-and-pray” approach to marksmanship.  But in the right hands, it’s probably one of the best options for running shots.  (You won’t find many of them on the market any longer, but a pump-action rifle is another great choice for fast pointing and shooting.)

The double-rifle is also very well suited for fast action.  Many of them are designed for dangerous game, which as you might imagine, means you need to get on target fast, and have a quick follow-up as well.  If I had to choose between a double and a semi-auto, I’d take the double any time.  Unfortunately, even a cheap double rifle is likely to set you back four or five figures, which puts it out of the reach of many sport hunters. 

Back east, when I wasn’t using my shotgun for running deer, I often went to my Winchester .30-30 lever-action, or my Browning lever-gun.  Both of these rifles are configured with straight stocks instead of the pistol-grip design common to most rifles.  The straight stock allows a quicker mount, and is specifically designed for quick shooting.  The only time I ever doubled on deer was with that .30-30. 

Even with these choices, there’s no reason you can’t become proficient at running shots with a scoped, bolt-action rifle.  It just takes practice, knowledge of your limitations, and a rifle that is up to the task. 

Personally, any time I can, I’ll wait for a standing shot.  I prefer an unaware animal, peacefully relaxing over a meal or in repose.  I’m extremely confident in a shot like that.  The running/trotting shot isn’t one I would ever choose. But it is one I’ll take when it’s presented as it was on Monday morning. 

I’ve done a bit of second-guessing since that morning, and no matter how I slice it, I still would have taken that shot.  It didn’t work out perfectly, but it did work out.  Sometimes, no matter how hard we work to perfect our skills, that’s all we can ask for.

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? 

There are two key issues that come up whenever someone mentions hunting with semi-automatic rifles… accuracy and reliability.  While both of these are primarily problems of perception as much as they are real issues, they bear some discussion.

The standard argument about the accuracy, or lack thereof, in autoloaders stems from the fact that the bolt doesn’t truly “lock”, as it does with a quality bolt action.  Theoretically, this allows some play and inconsistency when the round is seated in the action, which translates to less consistent accuracy from the rifle.  I say, “theoretically” because this is an area where I have to rely on the gunsmiths and engineers for technical expertise.  My practical experience hasn’t been so conclusive.

I own two semi-autos, a Remington 742 in 30-06, and a Browning BAR in .308win.  When it comes to accuracy, I have to admit I have issues with the Remington.  With the ammo it likes the best, I’m generally happy to see a two-inch group at the bench.  Certainly, that’s good enough for big game hunting at reasonable ranges (out to around 200 yards or so), but that doesn’t instill much confidence in the gun when I have bolt actions that will shoot groups a quarter that size. 

On the other hand, my BAR will give me groups I can cover with a half-dollar with cheap, milsurp ammo.  With quality ammo, like the ETips, it prints even tighter.  That’s on par with most bolt-actions.  I’ve shot other semi-autos from various manufacturers that run the gamut on accuracy, from laser-like to shotgun spreads.

Reliability is a very real concern.  When you’re hunting with a firearm, one thing you absolutely count on is for the gun to go “bang” when you pull the trigger.  This can be a big deal when you’re after something that might turn around and come after you, like wild boar.  While hogs hardly qualify as “dangerous game” on the scale of Cape Buffalo or lion, you don’t want one to get a hold of you either.  A working rifle can help you avoid that eventuality.

The semi-auto action is driven by the gases generated at the shot.  In order to push the bolt, the gas has to flow through narrow valves.  If these valves are occluded by powder residue, oil, or other foreign materials, the gases will not generate enough pressure to work the bolt, and the rifle will jam.  Some semi-automatic rifles are notoriously sensitive to this problem, while others may function flawlessly for a lifetime.  Again, referring to my personal experiences, my Remington is very finicky and requires regular maintenance to avoid jams, while the Browning seems to be nearly military-grade in the abuse it will tolerate. 

Of course, different hunters have reported different experiences, and I don’t presume to speak for every autoloader in the field.  A lot of folks swear by their semi-automatics, and I’m certainly not in a position to cast aspersion. 

With that in mind, what are some good semi-auto options for hog hunters? 

1. Browning BAR - I list this one first because of the semi-autos I’ve personally hunted with and shot at the range, this is my favorite.  The BAR comes in a wide variety of chamberings from the diminutive .242 to the elk hunters’ favorite, .338 Win Mag.  They’re consistently accurate and reliable, with a long-standing reputation.  While I like my .308, if I were shopping for a hog rifle, I’d suggest something in .30-06 or .300 Win Mag. 
2. Remington 74 (740, 742, 7400, and new 750)- I’ve listed this one second due to its popularity, particularly with east-coast hunters.  It’s available in all major big-game chamberings.  In addition to the .30-06, you can get this rifle chambered for .35 Whelen, which is a fun load for moderate-range hogs.  The new Model 750 addresses some of the reliability and accuracy complaints with a redesigned gas system and bolt assembly.
3. Benelli R1 - A relative newcomer, the Benelli looks to be a real contender in the semi-auto market.  I’ve only used this one at the range, but it is fast and reasonably accurate.    The gas-operation really softens the recoil.  I could see where an R1, chambered in .300 Win Mag would be a great addition to the hog hunter’s arsenal.
4. Bushmaster 450 - A few years ago, there was this huge uproar in the shooting and hunting communities regarding the so-called “Black Rifles”, which pretty much includes anything based on the military rifle platforms like the AK-47 or AR-15.  The controversy, which should have amounted to a tempest in a teacup, swirled as many hunters declared that the “black rifles” had no place in the field, but it didn’t erupt into full flame until hunting writer, Jim Zumbo, put that opinion in writing on his blog.  I won’t catalog the whole, sordid tale here now, but out of the furor came  whole slew of hunting rifles based on the AR-15 platform.  Most of these were varmint and predator guns, chambered in their native, military caliber, 5.56 (.223), and as such, were regarded by many hunters, including myself, as too light for serious big game hunting.  The manufacturers addressed this concern in short order, developing AR actions chambered in calibers from .308 Win to .50 Beowulf.  Bushmaster found an even better approach, working with Hornady to create the Bushmaster .450.  This is a serious thumper, throwing a 250 grain bullet at 2200 fps.  For moderate range (200 yards or less), this ought to be ideal hog medicine. 
5. Remington R-25 - Remington’s attempt to capitalize on the recent AR craze, this is actually a pretty nice rifle.  It handles well, and in my limited range experience, it was fairly accurate.  I’m not real comfortable with the pistol-grip configuration, so it was slow to shoulder, but once I had it on my shoulder, target acquisition was quick and solid.    For the hog hunter, good caliber options are limited to .308 Win and 7mm-08.  This rifle is also available in .243 Win, but I don’t generally recommend that round for most hog hunters.  It works, I’ve used it, but bigger is better when you’ve got the choice and may find yourself shooting at the big boys.

I’ll toss in a mention of a couple of others that come up regularly, the Ruger Mini 30 and the Deerfield Carbine.  These rifles are variations on the Ruger Mini-14, a very reliable and well-made semi-auto.  However, there are limitations that should be considered.  First of all, the Mini 30 is chambered in the relatively puny, 7.62×39.  While this bullet generates the energy equivalent of the 30-30 Win, there’s little viable hunting ammunition for this chambering.  It will kill a hog if it’s well-placed and close enough (100-150 yards, max), but it’s an unnecessary handicap when there are so many better calibers available. 

The Deerfield Carbine is chambered in .44 Rem Mag.  While the .44 magnum is an authoritative round in a handgun, it’s not much of a rifle round.  Used under the same constraints of a handgun, close range and careful shot placement, it will work just fine.  The question is, do you want a rifle that is only useful under handgun conditions?  I can see it being handy for the houndsman, or possibly for the treestand hunter, though.  The Deerfield is no longer in production, but they can be found on used racks around the country.

Accuracy has generally been reported as an issue with the Ruger semi-autos, and the three I’ve shot (two Mini-30s and a Deerfield Carbine) definitely wouldn’t be winning any marksmanship awards.  With iron sights, it was all I could do to keep the .44 in the kill zone at 100 yards (which is a long shot for the .44 anyway).  At 50 yards (more reasonable), I was able to hold about a three to four inch cluster.  The Mini-30s were a little better at 100 yards, using the back of a truck as a rest, but still spread the bullets a bit randomly. 

So the options are out there.  Shop carefully, and think hard about what you need versus what you want.  I will continue to recommend bolt actions to new, western hunters, but it is good to know that there are some great options out there for the semi-auto hunter as well.

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!

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.

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.

The venerable Model 70 is back, and it’s being built in the USA! 

Winchester Repeating Arms has announced that the Model 70 will be updated for 2008, and will be built at the FN Manufacturing factory in Columbia, South Carolina.  The new design will include the “pre-64″, controlled-round feeding that made this model so reliable for so long, and will incorporate some improvements intended to create a new classic on the foundation of the old.

The biggest change is the new “MOA” trigger.  While the M70 had a reputation for pretty good triggers, especially the trigger geometry, Winchester has introduced some improvements.  The result is a super-precise, three lever trigger that should remove all creep, take-up, and over-travel.  Trigger pull is adjustable from three to five pounds, but with the enhanced geometry and a wide trigger piece, the pull should feel like half of that.

Improvements have also been made to the three-position safety, and the barrels will be hammer-forged.  The forging and mounting process are intended to provide MOA accuracy out of the box. 

I couldn’t help but notice the “disclaimer” in the press release, though.

This results in 1 MOA accuracy for three-shot groups using properly managed barrel, quality match ammo and superior optics under ideal weather and range conditions.

Other improvements include a blade-type ejector which should help eliminate short-stroking problems, and Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pads to cut back the bite of the heavier calibers.

The new M70 will be offered in several configurations, from fancy grade walnut to the Extreme Weather SS.   With the exception of the Super Grade, all models will be available in a selection of popular calibers, including most of the WSMs.  The Super Grade will only be available in 30-06 and .300 Winchester Magnum.  MSRP will run from $999 to $1199. 

I’m hoping both of these rifles will be available at the SHOT Show in February, and that I’ll have the opportunity to at least send a few rounds downrange to get a feel for these new features.  Of course, it would be even cooler if Browning/Winchester would send me on a hog hunt with these new offerings. 

Ahh well… a boy can dream.