David and I took my old boss Gary out hog hunting, since he had never done any kind of big game hunting before. We went to the Haun Ranch near Victoria to hunt wild hogs at night.

We had the ranch to ourselves, so made the rounds checking various feeders. We would drive into the pasture, then sneak up on the feeders on foot. After a couple of hours, we made it to our last stop. We drove in and began a quarter-mile stalk in the dark. Although there would be a full moon that night, it hadn't risen yet.

We slowly worked our way back. After a few minutes of walking, we heard something moving directly in front of us. It was close. The adrenaline pumped. I could not see anything because we were under some trees and it was very dark. I decided to use my flashlight to light it up. A hairy beast looked back at us from 10 yards. It was a raccoon.

We continued on back to the far end of the pasture. Visibility was poor so we moved to within 50 yards of the feeder to get a clear look at it. Just then Gary pointed out a large dark spot in the grass about 25 yards out. It moved. It grunted. We settled into kneeling positions to steady our aim. The hog darted back and forth rooting around. Finally he stopped just long enough.

Gary settled the illuminated crosshairs on the shoulder of the hog and built pressure on the trigger of the bolt-action .308. It was not an easy shot, despite the close distance. We could barely see the black hog in the dark, even through the scope. The hog moved quickly and unpredictably. But perhaps the biggest challenge was the effect of adrenaline from the rush of getting up close with a potentially dangerous animal on his turf in the dark. Suddenly you think about the 21-foot rule, those razor-sharp tusks, and all those stories about hogs absorbing entire magazines of ammo and still chasing people down. There was nowhere to run and no tree to climb, only the blanket of darkness which was about to be stripped away by a bright muzzle flash.

BOOM! The shot broke. There was an audible thump of bullet striking flesh. The hog let out a wail and ran about 20 yards, where this picture was taken.

The 175gr Black Hills match hollow point round went through both shoulders leaving an exit hole about the size of a silver dollar.

We declared victory, grilled up some steaks, and called it a night.

Be sure to remember this New Year's to resolve to do more hunting and shooting!

-Mike
512-657-9111