This was an opportunity of a lifetime for T-Bone Outfitters. I received a call from Ident Marking who was called by Silencerco about pig hunting. The guys at Ident have some good hunting spots, but this is not the time of the year for them. So Ident, being the helpful guys they always are, referred Silencerco to T-Bone Outfitters.
Silencerco's objective on this hunt, other than slaying hogs, was to get video of some new products they will introduce at SHOT Show next month. Once the ball got rolling MOD Armory was involved and provided some night vision gear to the Silencerco staff. This was a group effort from multiple vendors and everyone involved really put their best effort and gear forward to make it happen.
When Mike from Silencerco arrived I was very surprised to meet Morgan Wade and Rob Wise, two pro BMX riders who have participated in events around the world to include the X-Games. I was shocked to say the least. We started off the afternoon with a little bit of traditional Texas BBQ in our bellies and then headed to the first property to call some coyotes.
We called for about four hours without much luck, but Rob did say he thought he say a mountain lion when he got up to reposition himself, but it slunk away into the brush before he could get a shot. He said he was sure it was a cat. I asked if it had a tail and what color it was. He said yellowish orange and it had a long tail. I'm pretty convinced it was a mountain lion. Anyway, I digress. We started to leave the property with about 20 minutes of legal game hunting light. We were about 500 yards from our trucks and 6 doe start darting across the field we are walking through. I tell Mike I have one tag for this property and to take his pick. He raised his 300 blackout SBR with a new 7.62 silencerco on it, steadied his aim to make the roughly 80 yard shot. He squeezed the trigger and we all heard a low pop and watched the deer hit the ground. Then....it stood up again and took off. It was a solid shot with a 125 grain barnes bullet. I was amazed how my ears weren't ringing and how pleasant the shot was.
We picked up blood and trailed the deer about 300 yards into the mesquite brush. We crawled and pushed out way through thorns and briars all while keeping on the trail. We eventually found her, but she was still alive! One more shot to the nugget to end her suffering and we started the drag out. This was Mike's first whitetail deer!
After the drag out I realized we got turned around in the mesquite and wound up in a different field then we started in. I started the trek down the county road to where my truck was to make the recovery a little easier. On my walk to the truck I was almost ran over by a sounder of hogs. This property has not produced hogs in almost a year and here they were. Grunting at me as I walked by, unarmed, on the road. I got the truck, loaded the deer, went to their truck, field dressed the deer, called a landowner to let them know we found hogs by their house, geared up night vision and rifles, made the stalk to the hogs, and then the Iphone that I record with dies! I try to swap phones with Rob, but in the process he had to unzip his pocket and we were only 30 yards from the hogs. I thought he was going to do it slow, but nope, ZIPPPPPPPPP. The hogs were on a full sprint! Mike and Morgan try to pick a couple off on the run, but luck was not in their favor. This was a group of about 15 hogs and we watched them run away. So we loaded up and took care of the deer and headed to the golf course and orchards.
The golf course was just to get some video. We started our rounds at t he orchards and the night drug on. The hogs just weren't moving. I almost started to get nauseous because these guys needed video and Ident vouched for me saying I have hogs to shoot. We drove on through the night scanning every little last nook and cranny of property I have access too. The hogs just weren't moving! We were getting pretty frustrated and bored around 4 AM and decided to shoot a rabbit with a pistol. Just as Mike started to hang his pistol out the window and hog popped out from behind a huge mound of rotten pecans. It knew we were there, but didn't really know what to do since we were blocking his normal path. He skirted around an old cattle pin and that gave us time to get out of the truck and get in position for the shot. Morgan and Rob were asleep instead of being on watch so had to fumble with rifles to get them from the back seat. This happened so fast we weren't able to get video. Mike made a great 40 yard shot on his first pig and while it was on the move! He connected with a 125 grain barnes 300 blackout using Silencerco's soon to be released 7.62 suppressor. I could hear the bullet connect and watched the hog run about 50 yards and pile up. He was a 190 pound boar. Mike was taking a lot of photos and video and I didn't want to get in the way so you will have to wait for Silencerco's video to see most of the pictures.
Cont.
Silencerco's objective on this hunt, other than slaying hogs, was to get video of some new products they will introduce at SHOT Show next month. Once the ball got rolling MOD Armory was involved and provided some night vision gear to the Silencerco staff. This was a group effort from multiple vendors and everyone involved really put their best effort and gear forward to make it happen.
When Mike from Silencerco arrived I was very surprised to meet Morgan Wade and Rob Wise, two pro BMX riders who have participated in events around the world to include the X-Games. I was shocked to say the least. We started off the afternoon with a little bit of traditional Texas BBQ in our bellies and then headed to the first property to call some coyotes.
We called for about four hours without much luck, but Rob did say he thought he say a mountain lion when he got up to reposition himself, but it slunk away into the brush before he could get a shot. He said he was sure it was a cat. I asked if it had a tail and what color it was. He said yellowish orange and it had a long tail. I'm pretty convinced it was a mountain lion. Anyway, I digress. We started to leave the property with about 20 minutes of legal game hunting light. We were about 500 yards from our trucks and 6 doe start darting across the field we are walking through. I tell Mike I have one tag for this property and to take his pick. He raised his 300 blackout SBR with a new 7.62 silencerco on it, steadied his aim to make the roughly 80 yard shot. He squeezed the trigger and we all heard a low pop and watched the deer hit the ground. Then....it stood up again and took off. It was a solid shot with a 125 grain barnes bullet. I was amazed how my ears weren't ringing and how pleasant the shot was.
We picked up blood and trailed the deer about 300 yards into the mesquite brush. We crawled and pushed out way through thorns and briars all while keeping on the trail. We eventually found her, but she was still alive! One more shot to the nugget to end her suffering and we started the drag out. This was Mike's first whitetail deer!
After the drag out I realized we got turned around in the mesquite and wound up in a different field then we started in. I started the trek down the county road to where my truck was to make the recovery a little easier. On my walk to the truck I was almost ran over by a sounder of hogs. This property has not produced hogs in almost a year and here they were. Grunting at me as I walked by, unarmed, on the road. I got the truck, loaded the deer, went to their truck, field dressed the deer, called a landowner to let them know we found hogs by their house, geared up night vision and rifles, made the stalk to the hogs, and then the Iphone that I record with dies! I try to swap phones with Rob, but in the process he had to unzip his pocket and we were only 30 yards from the hogs. I thought he was going to do it slow, but nope, ZIPPPPPPPPP. The hogs were on a full sprint! Mike and Morgan try to pick a couple off on the run, but luck was not in their favor. This was a group of about 15 hogs and we watched them run away. So we loaded up and took care of the deer and headed to the golf course and orchards.
The golf course was just to get some video. We started our rounds at t he orchards and the night drug on. The hogs just weren't moving. I almost started to get nauseous because these guys needed video and Ident vouched for me saying I have hogs to shoot. We drove on through the night scanning every little last nook and cranny of property I have access too. The hogs just weren't moving! We were getting pretty frustrated and bored around 4 AM and decided to shoot a rabbit with a pistol. Just as Mike started to hang his pistol out the window and hog popped out from behind a huge mound of rotten pecans. It knew we were there, but didn't really know what to do since we were blocking his normal path. He skirted around an old cattle pin and that gave us time to get out of the truck and get in position for the shot. Morgan and Rob were asleep instead of being on watch so had to fumble with rifles to get them from the back seat. This happened so fast we weren't able to get video. Mike made a great 40 yard shot on his first pig and while it was on the move! He connected with a 125 grain barnes 300 blackout using Silencerco's soon to be released 7.62 suppressor. I could hear the bullet connect and watched the hog run about 50 yards and pile up. He was a 190 pound boar. Mike was taking a lot of photos and video and I didn't want to get in the way so you will have to wait for Silencerco's video to see most of the pictures.
Cont.
