First hog of 2020

[Chopperdrvr]

Finally couldn’t take all you guys getting out hunting and I was finding excuses to stay home. I decided to take advantage of what looked like the last day of decent weather for a while on Monday and made a last minute decision to head to a friends farm where the pigs had been hitting one of my feeders pretty regularly. In my haste to get going, and my increasing absent mindedness, I forgot to bring extra batteries No biggie, I have fresh batteries in the thermal and I didn’t expect to be out very late so off to kill piggies. I got into the stand by 6:00 pm and sure enough, I spotted a hog headed for the feeder. I got everything set up for the shot and turned on the dvd. NO RESPONSE!! I looked at the remote and the light wasn’t coming on. No time to change batteries so I tried to improvise. I turned on the record feature of my Pulsar that I use for spotting and tried to record the shot with my left hand while I shot with my right hand. It worked! ……Except, I missed getting the shot recorded. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, I drifted off the hog and then got back on him immediately after the shot. No problem, I’ll just use that. But….now I have an AVI file that won’t work on my Mac and I don’t have a video converter. Ok, I’ll just take pictures and use that. Took several pictures before leaving the carcass for the buzzards and headed home. After getting home I discovered that the camera didn’t take any pictures. AAARRRHHHGGGG!! Sometimes it just isn’t worth hunting on Mondays. I somehow convinced my wife to go back to the farm the next morning to get some pictures before the buzzards and coyotes got to work. Luckily it started raining just as I got back to the truck and only stoped yesterday so the hog was still in one piece.


Lone boar taped at 230#. 6.8 SPC Franken rifle with (Name shall not be spoken) 18” members only barrel shooting 115 gr Fed Fusion MSR. IR Hunter II 35mm thermal with Pulsar XP38 Trail for spotter TBAC Ultra 7 suppressor.

 

[Ratdog68]

We HATE it when the gear takes a dump on us. At least you were able to dump him. Congrats. And, tell the wife unit: "Good Girl" for helping find/photo the beast.

 

[Wellbornpapa]

I can sympathize with you, my batteries have been giving me fits too. Good thing that 6.8 didn't need any batteries.

 

[der Teufel]

As my memory gets lazier, I find my need for lists increasingly increases.
Gnarly lookin' ol' boar, nice going!

 

[J BAR K]

Good looking boar! Congratulations! Looks like he might have some cutters on him too. Good hunt

 

[desmond]

Great kill on a big boar. The harder I try to simplify my hunting the more gear I bring. Good job.

 

[erForman]

Great kill on a big boar. The harder I try to simplify my hunting the more gear I bring. Good job.

I got so much crap in the back seat of my truck that I could live in it for months!

 

[pruhdlr]

Great hog down sir.
Interested in your thoughts on the Fed Fusion 115gr in the 6.8.
I acquired a bunch of them and been wanting to shoot them at the range for accuracy. I have a 10.5" and a 18" that I could use them in. Hoping they will be accurate in the 10.5". I shoot 85's in my 18" night hunting (thermal) gun. ---- pruhdlr

 

[diggler1833]

Yep! Nothing like going through a two minute mental checklist, only to discover you forgot something the moment you step into the field.

 

[Chopperdrvr]

Great hog down sir.
Interested in your thoughts on the Fed Fusion 115gr in the 6.8.
I acquired a bunch of them and been wanting to shoot them at the range for accuracy. I have a 10.5" and a 18" that I could use them in. Hoping they will be accurate in the 10.5". I shoot 85's in my 18" night hunting (thermal) gun. ---- pruhdlr

I tried them years ago when they first came out and found them to be the most accurate factory load in both of my rifles at the time. I used them during deer season for that year and had horrible results. I shot four deer that year and lost two of them and barely found one after a 4 hour search. Now these were all shot in the traditional heart/lungs kill region on broadside deer. The two deer recovered had the same size entry and exit wounds with zero blood trail. These were 100 and 205 yard shots. By the way, the Fusions shot almost 1/2 MOA consistently and I really wanted them to work but I get physically sick when I shoot a deer and don’t recover it so I just didn’t want to take that chance anymore. Since then I have switched to the Barnes 110 TSX and have killed over 15 deer without losing a single animal. Other people have reported much better results than I have had and love them but with other options I will use up the rest and probably won’t buy any more. The reason I was shooting them that night was that I was expecting a sounder of smaller hogs to come in first and I was going to try for a double on some smaller eating size hogs and I know the fusion will stay together and pass through. It performed well on this boar because I had a head-on shot that traveled from just behind the head at a slightly downward angle into the body and had no chance to exit.

 

[pruhdlr]

Understood sir. Thank you for your response. ---- pruhdlr

 

[gshock]

Good boar down!! And first for 2020! Nice rifle setup. Trijicon and the Ultra 7. I have an Ultra 7, really like it!