Water Hole Boar

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  • Double Naught Spy
    Chieftain
    • Sep 2013
    • 2560

    Water Hole Boar

    Part 1, 24 April 2014 (video link at the bottom)

    I have had a hog coming all week long. At least I thought it was one hog. I never had more than one hog on the cams. It was showing up on my east feeder camera. Initially, it was coming at about the same time, but then it got wacky and was all over the board, so long as it was night. My east feeder is located very close to my water hole and I have a tripod stand overlooking both locations.

    I have showed up too late for the hog, and it was gone. I showed up and it was there, during the middle of a rain shower, and I was unable to successful stalk in for a clear shot. I could have tried shooting through foliage, but since most of the foliage was close to me, I figured that any deflection close by would result in being that much further off the mark over where the hog was, so no shot before it spooked.

    Night before last, I was chased off the stand by the storms that rolled through and all of the electrical activity. As much as I like to watch a lightning storm, I don't like to watch it from the perch of a tripod stand. About 90 minutes after I went home to safety, the hog arrived.

    So last night, I came prepared to stay the entire night. I was going to be there regardless of the hour of arrival. The weather was beautiful, cool, and in the woods, almost dead calm. Hearing armadillos at an excess of 60 yards wasn't a problem, but it was that leaf litter and such that kept me from stalking around because then everything could hear me as well. So I sat and waited.

    About 10:40, I started getting images from my food plot camera to the west. The pig had arrived. He had never arrived on the west side first, always on the east side where I was, at least according to the cellular cameras, but I figured he would come to me. A short time later, I get an image that showed 2 hogs! This was new. So far, I had only solitary images. Then, the images stopped and I spent the next hour and a half trying to remain still, 2nd guessing why I didn't try stalking over to get the hog (might have been 'hogs' by the time I arrived) and whether or not I could do it quietly enough and given the breeze outside of the trees.

    Except for being scared off, when the hog had hit the east feeder, it had stayed until the corn was gone. This ranged in time from 1-2 hours. So I felt pretty good that it would show up sooner or later. Several times I thought I heard it coming, only to be wrong. Then I did.

    Coming down into the valley of my water hole from the NW, I saw the pair of hogs. They came in and came towards me before cutting back and away toward the water hole where I assumed they would drink or use the trail next to it that leads up to the east feeder. At the closest point, they were about 40 yards away as I was getting the rifle up and sighted on them.

    They stayed together, making the little social grunts, meandering more than walking. One stopped to scratch its side with its rear leg and the other pivoted around. I was tracking the hog that scratched at this point and when its head crossed with the 2nd hog's head I was lined up for a nice head shot and I FIRED. They were approximately 50 yards away.

    The rifle went, 'CLICK.'

    The hogs did not run, but continued closer to the water hole. I knew the rifle was loaded, so I ejected the round into my hand and then did a 'quiet' chambering of a new round using the T-handle to lower the bolt onto the next round and gently nudging it out of the mag with the forward assist, not allowing the recoil spring to slam the new round into the chamber. Obviously, this is not as quiet as I would have liked, probably about like working the bolt on a bolt gun. It was enough noise that they took a left turn for the exit trail that leads to my neighbor's property that is maybe 30-40 yards from where they were.

    They were not running or even moving fast. They were now single file and walking up the trail and away from me. I got a bead on the trailing hog and my only solid shot was in the butt. I could have tried for a top of the back shot, and I thought I might get a back of the head shot, but the head was low and generally the show would have been at a very shallow angle. So the butt was it and being that close to the neighbor's property and knowing that such a shot may not be immediately incapacitating or quickly killing, I let him walk.

    I waited nearly two hours and they did not return.

    What happened? Long story short, I was using reloads. These were loaded for me by a good friend (I don't reload). I have to take some responsibility for using them as it was my choice and not a necessity. There had been some problems during the load/grouping tests where rounds would chamber, but not quite fully somehow, and the hammer would fall, but the firing pin not strike the primer. He had said they were quick work-ups for the testing and that he had gauged everything to spec for the rounds I was using for hunting. I had fired about 20 so far with no problems to date and all seemed well...until last night.

    So I lost one hog, maybe two, because a reload did not chamber properly. I am now left with a bunch of very accurate (for my rifle) reloaded plinking ammo and will be going back to using factory ammo. I had over 30 hours time, 400 miles of driving, and a lot of mental effort (planning, scheming, 2nd guessing) directed into getting that hog over the course of this week and then lost the chance because of the ammo. I should have treated it like self defense ammo where you only used what you know to be reliable and performs well in your gun for any critical shooting situation and I didn't. While my life wasn't on the line, this was a critical shot, close range, not much room for error and I had an error with ammo for which I don't know the QC and that didn't have an established performance history. And that's on me.

    Part 2, 25 April 2014, the next night using factory ammo...

    Last edited by Double Naught Spy; 04-26-2014, 12:43 PM.
    Kill a hog. Save the planet.
    My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange
  • rebelsoul
    Warrior
    • Jan 2014
    • 156

    #2
    I like a story with a happy ending. Good follow up shots, saves a lot of time tracking. Now for the miss fire, it makes the next opportunity infinitely more exciting. That little bit of doubt, in the back of your mind, makes the pulse race. If I ever quit feeling that RUSH, I will quit hunting. I once dumped a Remington 74 over a miss fire. Thanks for sharing.
    "When you have to shoot... Shoot! Don't talk." Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez a.k.a. "The Rat".

    Comment

    • Double Naught Spy
      Chieftain
      • Sep 2013
      • 2560

      #3
      I think I will just dump the reloads, LOL.

      The first shot should have been fatal given the entry point and trajectory, but the hog didn't know this. Just beyond where the hog disappeared in the video is the property line. I really did not way to be trying to track a wounded hog on the unfamiliar neighbor's place at night. Had I not pulled the shot, however, he would ideally have been hit just behind the head and likely DRT. Darned RUSH!
      Kill a hog. Save the planet.
      My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

      Comment

      • Trock03
        Bloodstained
        • Jun 2012
        • 50

        #4
        Great video DNS! I take a lot of pleasure from hog hunting. It's a good thing we can't kill them fast enough to make a difference otherwise I would get bored when it's not dove/duck/deer season.

        I've been seriously considering picking up a an N750 lately and watching videos like this make it that much harder to resist.

        TC

        Comment

        • NugginFutz
          Chieftain
          • Aug 2013
          • 2622

          #5
          Excellent story, and a great finish, dns. I believe the sound of a "Click" to be louder then the beefiest magnum, when your quarry is near. No time to get another chambered, before they take off. It also causes adrenal malfunctions of epic proportion. All that build-up with no release!

          Love the video, too. It still makes me absolutely green with envy, since we have no legal night hunts here. Keep them coming, as I can still live vicariously through yours.
          If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

          Comment

          • Double Naught Spy
            Chieftain
            • Sep 2013
            • 2560

            #6
            Glad y'all like the vids. Videography is pretty foreign to me and the video editing software is not intuitive to me at all. I will try to improve them with time...if I can just find more hogs...

            Trock03, if you have any questions about the N750, send me a note and I will try to answer them as best as possible. It isn't perfect, but it works pretty darned well for hunting in a lot of typical hunting situations. Some things you have to work around as well. So feel free to ask and I will at least share with you my experiences.
            Kill a hog. Save the planet.
            My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

            Comment

            • bwaites
              Moderator
              • Mar 2011
              • 4445

              #7
              Double Naught,

              That failure to fire was almost certainly a cartridge that the shoulder wasn't bumped back quite enough. The Grendel requires that the press "cam over" in order to set the shoulder back enough. If you don't do that, you will get close to enough, and it sometimes will work if the cartridge is slammed in by the recoil spring, but won't if you ease it in.

              glad you got him later!

              Comment

              • Double Naught Spy
                Chieftain
                • Sep 2013
                • 2560

                #8
                Thanks bwaites for the analysis. I am confident you are 100% correct and the reloader and I had a LONG chat about how he was reloading Grendel ammo by resizing as little as possible to fit his chamber and extend case life and not resizing to bring the cases into proper spec. I was surprised by such a revelation. Of course, I am not a reloader.

                So back to factory ammo for hunting, which is what I used here. We did some chrono work as well. The factory ammo is coming out at a very nice 2530 fps from my barrel with a very small SD, so I am quite pleased.

                In other news, my hunting partner took the other boar last night that was seen in the video. So my property is now back to being hog-free.
                Kill a hog. Save the planet.
                My videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/HornHillRange

                Comment

                • 81police
                  Warrior
                  • Feb 2013
                  • 286

                  #9
                  another great story & lesson for us all about using quality ammo. I always enjoy your videos, thanks for sharing them!
                  John 11:25-26

                  Comment

                  • txgunner00
                    Chieftain
                    • Mar 2011
                    • 2070

                    #10
                    Originally posted by bwaites View Post
                    Double Naught,

                    That failure to fire was almost certainly a cartridge that the shoulder wasn't bumped back quite enough. The Grendel requires that the press "cam over" in order to set the shoulder back enough. If you don't do that, you will get close to enough, and it sometimes will work if the cartridge is slammed in by the recoil spring, but won't if you ease it in.

                    glad you got him later!
                    Agree 100%. I've learned this lesson the hard way myself while chasing hogs from a helo @ $400/hour. For auto loaders the sizing die & shell holder must be from the same manufacturer and properly set up. You might be able to get away with bump sizing on a bolt gun but not an AR.
                    NRA life, GOA life, SAF, and TSRA

                    "I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."

                    George Mason, co-author, 2nd Amendment.

                    Comment

                    • mongoosesnipe
                      Chieftain
                      • May 2012
                      • 1142

                      #11
                      I recommend a case gauge for auto loaded loading http://www.sheridanengineering.com/index-1.htm#
                      Punctuation is for the weak....

                      Comment

                      • poli
                        Bloodstained
                        • Feb 2014
                        • 78

                        #12
                        Originally posted by bwaites View Post
                        That failure to fire was almost certainly a cartridge that the shoulder wasn't bumped back quite enough. The Grendel requires that the press "cam over" in order to set the shoulder back enough. If you don't do that, you will get close to enough, and it sometimes will work if the cartridge is slammed in by the recoil spring, but won't if you ease it in.
                        I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have a quick question related to the statement above. For my bold rifles I bump the shoulder back by 0.002"; would this amount be enough for reloading 6.5G?

                        Comment

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