Ranch Dog
04-28-2004, 06:48 PM
I decided to get up early and head to the woods to get a turkey before the season closes this Sunday. The birds are pretty scattered this late in the season and if you can get them interested in coming to a call, it still is going to be a pretty long range proposition. Jakes might still come running but the good gobblers just don’t believe it. I’ve had pretty good luck listening to a gobbler as he parallels the creek or river and getting ahead of him for the intercept. I came up with a turkey load for my 444P using the Lee C430-310-RF and BL-C(2). It produces 1450 FPS at the barrel; a 2” kill zone out to 100 yards, and is very accurate. I’ve been getting some practice with it shooting “egg eaters” the last month or so… skunks, raccoons, etc.
Well, I hit the woods just before the crack of dawn and went to one on my favorite stands to wait for daylight, a tripod on Hondo Creek. This stand looks over a great creek crossing one way and up a sendero the other. There is a deer feeder on the sendero that I run a mix of corn and milo or chicken scratch and leave operating year round. The grass is tall and wet and the snakes are active so it makes some sense to get up off the ground and wait for daylight.
As it started to turn light in the sky to the east, I could hear gobblers up and down the creek. I decided to just sit tight, not call, and see which way they might want to work along the creek. I did notice that I couldn’t see the feeder any more because of the new spring growth. I started moving branches back and forth with a stick to see what would need to be trimmed back and saw that a very large feral hog walked under the feeder.
Because of the branches, there just wasn’t going to be a way that I could shoot from the tripod. I started slowly down the ladder and put a sneak on him. I got up to 53 yards and that was it, nothing but open country between him and I. I was also able to use a fence post as a rest and put the cross-hairs right on his head.
At the shot, I dumped him right in his tracks, head first into the ground. After a few seconds, I looked down on the ground to pick up my brass and when I looked up he was running away from me up the sendero. He had already covered another 50 yards and hit the brush on the edge of the sendero.
Well heck… this was a large boar hog and I would put him right about 300 pounds. My turkey load isn’t much on 444 standards but at 50 yards it still has about 1240 FPE behind it and it took the critter right off it’s feet. This is more energy than you would get out of a 44 Mag pistol and similar performing loads have bitten many large critters.
There wasn’t any blood, hide, or bone… nothing. The tracks in the sendero where easy to find but not in the brush. I went and got the Ranch Dog and she was ready to go as she had heard the shot. She works a blood trail and was a little put out with my performance.
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/hog vs. 12d.jpg
Check out this hog's foot vs. my 12D!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/444 trail dog.jpg
My Dog is very put out with my performance!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/APR Hog Woods.jpg
My dog is still mad and now won't even look at me!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/Texas Flowers.jpg
Trailing is a tough chore in South Texas. It might have pretty flowers but there still are a lot of torns!
We spent two hours looking for any type of clue and never found one. I was pretty bummed out. I don’t have much country any more and really don’t do much killing. When I do shoot at something, I want it down. I do have a load of game and haven’t hunted my hogs into night only hunting. I expect to see hogs anytime.
I spent the rest of the day working on my stands and campsite. It was a great day spent not talking to another human being… just my dog.
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/deer camp summer.jpg
Deer camp in the summer.
I did find myself looking at the skyline often, looking for the tattle tale sign of buzzards circling… nothing. I left the place at 5 p.m.
Michael
Well, I hit the woods just before the crack of dawn and went to one on my favorite stands to wait for daylight, a tripod on Hondo Creek. This stand looks over a great creek crossing one way and up a sendero the other. There is a deer feeder on the sendero that I run a mix of corn and milo or chicken scratch and leave operating year round. The grass is tall and wet and the snakes are active so it makes some sense to get up off the ground and wait for daylight.
As it started to turn light in the sky to the east, I could hear gobblers up and down the creek. I decided to just sit tight, not call, and see which way they might want to work along the creek. I did notice that I couldn’t see the feeder any more because of the new spring growth. I started moving branches back and forth with a stick to see what would need to be trimmed back and saw that a very large feral hog walked under the feeder.
Because of the branches, there just wasn’t going to be a way that I could shoot from the tripod. I started slowly down the ladder and put a sneak on him. I got up to 53 yards and that was it, nothing but open country between him and I. I was also able to use a fence post as a rest and put the cross-hairs right on his head.
At the shot, I dumped him right in his tracks, head first into the ground. After a few seconds, I looked down on the ground to pick up my brass and when I looked up he was running away from me up the sendero. He had already covered another 50 yards and hit the brush on the edge of the sendero.
Well heck… this was a large boar hog and I would put him right about 300 pounds. My turkey load isn’t much on 444 standards but at 50 yards it still has about 1240 FPE behind it and it took the critter right off it’s feet. This is more energy than you would get out of a 44 Mag pistol and similar performing loads have bitten many large critters.
There wasn’t any blood, hide, or bone… nothing. The tracks in the sendero where easy to find but not in the brush. I went and got the Ranch Dog and she was ready to go as she had heard the shot. She works a blood trail and was a little put out with my performance.
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/hog vs. 12d.jpg
Check out this hog's foot vs. my 12D!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/444 trail dog.jpg
My Dog is very put out with my performance!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/APR Hog Woods.jpg
My dog is still mad and now won't even look at me!
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/Texas Flowers.jpg
Trailing is a tough chore in South Texas. It might have pretty flowers but there still are a lot of torns!
We spent two hours looking for any type of clue and never found one. I was pretty bummed out. I don’t have much country any more and really don’t do much killing. When I do shoot at something, I want it down. I do have a load of game and haven’t hunted my hogs into night only hunting. I expect to see hogs anytime.
I spent the rest of the day working on my stands and campsite. It was a great day spent not talking to another human being… just my dog.
http://cuero.nodial.net/~lindareamy/images/deer camp summer.jpg
Deer camp in the summer.
I did find myself looking at the skyline often, looking for the tattle tale sign of buzzards circling… nothing. I left the place at 5 p.m.
Michael