As you can see from this pic, we were sucessful!
I'm on the left, with the biggest hog taken this time, a 190# sow. I had decided to use my S&W 629 Classic 6.5 inch, and this was the first big game animal I've taken with a handgun. I'd tried many times before, mostly deer hunting, but always wound up using a rifle to fill my tag. I didn’t even bring a rifle on this trip <G>
Anyway, there are a lot of hogs on the Langley Ranch and I heard and saw hogs in the brush twice, without having a clear shot. I was hunting from a low ladder stand, along a trail, in a spot where I wouldn't be able to see a hog unless it was within about 20 yards. The third time I heard hogs coming, and they are ALWAYS moving, no standing broadside shots here ... a big hog broke out of brush directly in front of me, headed right at me, leading 3 or 4 smaller hogs. I could see the long snout, and bristly hair down it's spine and thought it was a nice boar. I laid the front sight on it's head, which was bobbing up and down as it trotted through the brush, and fired. The hog went down in it's tracks, and was bleeding heavily. It was also thrashing around, and finally got it's feet under it and stood up, and I put another round (of my 44 Magnum handloads using a 270 grain Speer Gold Dot bullet over a stout charge of H108 powder) into the side of it's head, which dropped it for good.
Later examination would show that that my first shot hit the hog in the snout, dead center and straight forward from the eyes. The second shot hit just below the ear. These hogs are TOUGH!
My younger son Cody was next to connect. He was carrying my first edition 629 Mountain Gun on his hip, and his Buffalo Bill commemorative Winchester 30-30 carbine. A group of hogs came in behind him, stopping in some thick brush. He couldn't get in position to use his rifle so he drew the Mountain Gun and went for a head shot. He was sure he'd hit the hog, but it ran off, and he found some blood. The chase was on…
Cody and Mr Langley started trailing the hog, and I soon joined them. My role was to try to herd the hog toward them for a finishing shot. The hog came into the open and Cody put a 170gr 30-30 slug through it's ribs, and it took off again ... it was running through the brush at an angle to me, until it saw me and turned and charged me! I drew my 44 and with the hog coming at me as hard as it could go … I attempted to put a bullet in it's brain. I fired with no apparent effect and jumped out of the way as the hog passed within 3 feet of me.
It stopped in some heavy brush and Cody put another 30-30 slug in it, that put this 155# hog down for good, another sow. Further examination found that the initial hit with the 44 Sixgun hit low, and broke the hog's jaw, the second shot went thru the ribs, a pass thru that caused heavy bleeding. The third hit was mine, I didn't miss after all, my bullet went into the hog’s neck, about 2 inches right of center. A 44 Mag slug in the neck at nearly contact distance had absolutely no effect on this hog. The final hit was a 30-30 bullet between the eye and ear. It's the hog on the right in the pic below.
While we were chasing Cody's hog, my other son Matt, shot his hog. Matt isn't an avid hunter and wanted to use a rifle with a scope, so he used my Remington 700 LTR with a 3.5-10x Sightron scope. No drama here, a 165gr .308 bullet to the head and this 134# boar hog was a bang flop, dead right there.
This hunt was special as my boys hadn't seen each other in over 2 years. Cody is a junior at the Air Force Academy, and Matt finished his 4 year hitch in the Air Force last summer and is now a contractor supporting the war effort from Nellis AFB in Las Vegas.
The last hog of the morning was shot by my friend's wife. She was using a Remington 788 in .308 and had never taken a hog before. She passed on the first couple of shots she had, as she wasn't comfortable with taking a running shot, and had never hunted where she didn't have a solid rest. She finally did shoot, and connected with a 138# sow. But it wasn't a fatal hit, she shot low and broke a front leg and grazed the chest. We were loading the other hogs onto the (Kawasaki) mule when this hog came by and Mr Langley told me to shoot it if I got a chance. This pic is typical, and I took a running shot at this hog at about 25-30 yards through similar brush.
The hog seemed to stumble at the shot, but didn't go down. Cody and Mr Langley took off after it, and Cody administered the 'coup de gras' with the 629 Mountain Gun. Here she is with her hog, in the picture below. Later when skinning this hog, we found that I had indeed hit this hog, the 270 gr Gold Dot hit the ribs on the near side and was embedded in the front shoulder on the off side. Another very tough Texas wild hog.
Matt had to fly back home the day after the hunt, but Cody was able to stay a few more days and we put a pork butt from one of these hogs on the smoker yesterday. It made some mighty fine pulled pork sandwiches.
and the next time I saw him he was real pleased with cast bullets and hogs.between me retiring from the army then working for a defence contractor ect I never had the chance to go on my hunt with him.it is sad I heard that he passed away last year.
