TEXASLAWMAN
Lone Star Boars Owner
LSB TURKEY BUZZARD PRESERVATION SOCIETY
SUS VENATOR CLUB
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Well I finally got to get back out and visit Alex (Kit Kat Kid) with T-bone outfitters up in Wichita Falls last night it's been to long! Our mission was to test the new 90 grain Federal Gold Dot bullets in the 6.8 special on hogs.
We arrived at our first destination just after dark. A large well maintained commercial pecan orchard. It had been below freezing all day now it was 29 degrees and dropping with freezing rain and a 20+mph north wind. It was a spectacular sight all the trees grass everything looked silver coated in ice. The moon would not be up for several hours, it was raining and foggy at the same time needless to say IT WAS DARK! Even the mtm thermal hit a wall at about 200 yards.
But it did not take long to spot our first targets three hot spots under a pecan tree about 200 yards upwind. The stalk was on! Every foot step in the ice covered grass made a sound like crunching glass beneath our feet. Our sounds and scent were covered by the blistering cold wind in our face, the branches cracking from the ice, and the sleet hitting every thing made a constant rattle. We got to shooting range and I was switching the pvs-14 to my rifle when I hear Alex say the pigs just climbed the tree. Huh!?!? Turned out we had made this miserable trek for a family of coons!!!!
We pulled up to the county road about to go check on the next spot when I spotted a group of ten hogs coming towards us they crossed the road not 50 yards upwind and passed right by the truck totally blinded to our presence by the sleet and wind. They ran almost to the exact spot where we had just stalked the coons. Alex and I gave each other that here we go again look and the stalk was on. At 40 yards we stopped hit the IR illuminators Alex would start right and I would star left working our way in. Fire on one 3-2-1 boooom! I had picked a large Obama boar facing me he went down but immediately got back up, I hit him again and his rear dropped but he recovered and took off in high gear. He turned back the other direction and I was about to hit again when Alex dropped him. He was still alive so I gave him the final mercy shot so five 90gr gold dots for my first 200 pound hog not a good start. Alex had better luck with his he had killed two sows one shot DRT's with the gold dots so I still had hope.
We loaded the hogs and hit the road only to make it about 100 yards when a group of 14 hogs crossed not 30 yards in front of us. By now the moon is up and the haze had blown out so we could actually see. They went right to the orchard we had just left! Again the stalk is on and the now familiar crunching sound of ice under my feet got my heart racing. At 50 yards same 3-2-1 fire my first hog a 230 pound sow dropped in her steps DRT. A second hog ran by he took a shot flipped and rolled DRT. Then a pair of piglets came by the first one went down the second took three shots before he stopped. (To be fair the holes were huge I don't know how he kept going.). On Alex's side most of the hogs ran right at him he rolled the closest one right as he past him, and a second one right after that they were both DRT. We again loaded the hogs and moved on.
Our next stop is a huge open field where they dump all the rotten pecans in one big pile. There were hogs all over it!!! The grass in this field is normally waist high but now it was knee high solid ice. The rain and sleet had stopped and there were no cracking tree limbs to cover our noise only the howling wind. At 40 yards the sentry boar made us and alerted. So with a quick 3-2-1 it was on. I hit the sentry boar center shoulder he bolted full speed I hit him again, a third, fourth and finally bullet number five he went down. My next two target's rolled to a stop DRT. The first boar was still alive and took a sixth final shot he was about 200 pounds. Alex had about the same results two average size hogs went down DRT and a large sow took 5 hits to stop at close range.
It was 2am and we had already killed 15 hogs so we decided to call it a night. In all I don't know what I think about the gold dot while some dropped DRT most of the large hogs took multiple shots which in return lowered our kill count. There were a few complete pass through wounds but the exits were not much bigger than the entrance wound on most. A few exits were nice. Also the thud on impact is no where near what the 120sst is. I will shoot a few more hogs before my final judgement but at this point I still say the SST is king. And the gold dot is ok. Pics and video soon.
We arrived at our first destination just after dark. A large well maintained commercial pecan orchard. It had been below freezing all day now it was 29 degrees and dropping with freezing rain and a 20+mph north wind. It was a spectacular sight all the trees grass everything looked silver coated in ice. The moon would not be up for several hours, it was raining and foggy at the same time needless to say IT WAS DARK! Even the mtm thermal hit a wall at about 200 yards.
But it did not take long to spot our first targets three hot spots under a pecan tree about 200 yards upwind. The stalk was on! Every foot step in the ice covered grass made a sound like crunching glass beneath our feet. Our sounds and scent were covered by the blistering cold wind in our face, the branches cracking from the ice, and the sleet hitting every thing made a constant rattle. We got to shooting range and I was switching the pvs-14 to my rifle when I hear Alex say the pigs just climbed the tree. Huh!?!? Turned out we had made this miserable trek for a family of coons!!!!
We pulled up to the county road about to go check on the next spot when I spotted a group of ten hogs coming towards us they crossed the road not 50 yards upwind and passed right by the truck totally blinded to our presence by the sleet and wind. They ran almost to the exact spot where we had just stalked the coons. Alex and I gave each other that here we go again look and the stalk was on. At 40 yards we stopped hit the IR illuminators Alex would start right and I would star left working our way in. Fire on one 3-2-1 boooom! I had picked a large Obama boar facing me he went down but immediately got back up, I hit him again and his rear dropped but he recovered and took off in high gear. He turned back the other direction and I was about to hit again when Alex dropped him. He was still alive so I gave him the final mercy shot so five 90gr gold dots for my first 200 pound hog not a good start. Alex had better luck with his he had killed two sows one shot DRT's with the gold dots so I still had hope.
We loaded the hogs and hit the road only to make it about 100 yards when a group of 14 hogs crossed not 30 yards in front of us. By now the moon is up and the haze had blown out so we could actually see. They went right to the orchard we had just left! Again the stalk is on and the now familiar crunching sound of ice under my feet got my heart racing. At 50 yards same 3-2-1 fire my first hog a 230 pound sow dropped in her steps DRT. A second hog ran by he took a shot flipped and rolled DRT. Then a pair of piglets came by the first one went down the second took three shots before he stopped. (To be fair the holes were huge I don't know how he kept going.). On Alex's side most of the hogs ran right at him he rolled the closest one right as he past him, and a second one right after that they were both DRT. We again loaded the hogs and moved on.
Our next stop is a huge open field where they dump all the rotten pecans in one big pile. There were hogs all over it!!! The grass in this field is normally waist high but now it was knee high solid ice. The rain and sleet had stopped and there were no cracking tree limbs to cover our noise only the howling wind. At 40 yards the sentry boar made us and alerted. So with a quick 3-2-1 it was on. I hit the sentry boar center shoulder he bolted full speed I hit him again, a third, fourth and finally bullet number five he went down. My next two target's rolled to a stop DRT. The first boar was still alive and took a sixth final shot he was about 200 pounds. Alex had about the same results two average size hogs went down DRT and a large sow took 5 hits to stop at close range.
It was 2am and we had already killed 15 hogs so we decided to call it a night. In all I don't know what I think about the gold dot while some dropped DRT most of the large hogs took multiple shots which in return lowered our kill count. There were a few complete pass through wounds but the exits were not much bigger than the entrance wound on most. A few exits were nice. Also the thud on impact is no where near what the 120sst is. I will shoot a few more hogs before my final judgement but at this point I still say the SST is king. And the gold dot is ok. Pics and video soon.
Last edited:
