Time to Hog Hunt

Larry Weishuhn

It’s that time of the year!

Pesky mosquitos buzzed around my ears. I pulled a Thermacell from my pack and started it. I did not want to be distracted by or swatting at the aggravating little vampires. I settled back against the big oak tree’s trunk, readjusted my tripod shooting sticks and continued my vigil. Moments later all the mosquitos in my immediate area wanted to be elsewhere.

I glanced down at the Taurus Raging Hunter on my lap. Chambered in .454 Casull, it was loaded with Hornady’s 240-grain XTP Custom ammo and topped with a vintage 2.5-7×28 Thompson/Center long-eye relief scope. I knew how supremely accurate that combination could be if I did my part.

Shooting from a rock solid rest I could put all five shots within about an inch group at 100-yards. Shooting from a tripod rest in a hunting set-up I knew I could hold my shots within 2-inches at the same distance. This was a combination I had often shot at 500-yard steel targets on the Becker Bottoms Ranch. At that distance I could consistently hit the 14-inch steel target least 4 out of 5 times, and, often five out of five times. Not a dista

nce I would ever shoot at animal, but certainly a good confidence builder.

The afternoon goal was to take a particular old black boar that had been seen numerous times in the area I hunted. The ranch for the past several weeks had been trapping wild hogs, of which there seemed to be an endless supply. During the past couple of weeks, they had removed over a hundred. Seemed like as soon as one sounder was trapped and removed, another showed show up.

The big black boar was “trap shy”. He would not go near or into the penned trap.

I have long loved hunting wild hogs, regardless of their size or sex. However, I do admit I love the challenge of hunting older boars with big tusks. In years past, going back to about 1974, I have hunted their kind, primarily with handgun and rifle, but also many years ago with muzzleloaders. Admittedly, I prefer and really enjoy hunting wild hogs with my Taurus Raging Hunter handguns chambered in .44 Mag and .454 Casull.

Which of the two rounds I like better seems to depend upon the day. Both are supremely accurate with Hornady’s ammo, Hornady Custom and Handgun Hunter. I love the terminal performance of both the XTP and MonoFlex bullets. Old wild boar and be extremely tough to bring down and tenacious of life. Quite often their outer “shell” is covered in mud, next comes thick skin covered with bristle-like hair. Older boars under the skin have a Kevlar-like cartilaginous “shield” that covers their shoulders and vitals.  They also have extremely dense bones and fibrous muscles. Getting a bullet into their vitals requires a lot of energy but also proper bullet design. Both the Hornady XTP and MonoFlex fit in that category.

Recently, I have been taking my .454 Casull hunting more often than my .44 Mag.  Both of course do an excellent job of dispatching big-bodied boars.

My vigil that first afternoon produced sightings of deer and a black sow with six little striped pigs, possibly a sow that was off by herself having her litter when the last sounder had been trapped.

That night I called Luke Clayton with whom I do a weekly radio show which I have been doing with him for 20-years. Once the show airs it becomes a popular podcast, “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends”. I wanted to interview Luke for my personal weekly podcast “DSC’s Campfires with Larry Weishuhn” about some of his recent wild hog hunts.Luke spoke of several “eating hogs” he had recently taken using thermal optics. And, he mentioned some of his favorite wild pork recipes, which from personal experience I can tell you are extremely delicious. Neither Luke or I are into high volume killing of hogs, instead we are b selective in what we take. Like Luke I too like to shoot the occasional shoat, weighing 80-pounds or, perfect for the table.

Next morning, I was out early to watch the area where the big black boar had been seen occasionally grazing. I saw several deer, but no hogs.

Knowing the ranch had experienced an extremely “heavy” acorn crop I decided to still-hunt the woods, walking very slowly into the southerly breeze, stopping every few steps to glass the underbrush.

I had been doing so for about an hour, having walked possibly four-hundred yards when I spotted black behind a screening of low-growing brush. I felt assured it was a hog. I moved slightly to my right where I could bring my Stealth Vision 10×42 binoculars to bear on the black. It was indeed a big hog eating acorns and rooting for grubs and worms. Moving right two more steps I got a better look at the hog’s teeth. “It” was indeed “toothsome” wild hog, likely the trap-shy black boar.

Silently I set up my shooting sticks, sat down behind them where I could use my knees to rest my elbows on them to help me even further steady my shot. The distance was about forty steps. I cranked the variable scope down to 3x, then started steadying myself for a shot.

The boar stepped behind a wide oak tree trunk. When he did I cocked my double-action revolver to shoot it single-action. A couple of heart beats later the old boar cleared the tree providing a broadside shot. I settled the crosshairs immediately behind his shoulder, then gently pulled the trigger.

At the shot, the boar lurched forward. I cocked the hammer for a second shot, but he disappeared behind a wall of briars before I could do so. I knew I could simply pull the trigger, but have always preferred to shoot single-action. A moment later I heard him crash. I continued listening intently. I heard what sounded liked something kicking leaves and branches and then stopped. I headed in the sound’s direction and immediately saw a large black shape laying fifty steps away on the forest’s floor. I eased forward, hammer cocked and ready. I approached the boar from the rear.

There’s an old African hunter’s adage, “It’s the dead ones that kill you!”. I had seen the same during my years of hunting big boars. Several time in the past I had approached downed boars expecting them to be dead, when suddenly they were alive and charging. I would be ready should that happen again…  It did not!  Hornady’s promise of accurate, dependable and deadly had once again held true.

The old boar had both upper and lower “tushes” or tusks, the lower one showing about 3-inches above the gum. That meant at least that much more tusk was below the gum line.

Interestingly, unlike most older boars, this one did not have a nasty, musky odor. I decided to remove his backstraps or loins. Later they proved to have a very mild pork flavor, deliciously prepared over mesquite coals. I also took his skull; I would pull his tusks, upper and lower to put then on a plaque, not unlike commonly seen throughout Europe, where boars with large tusks are revered.

If you have not yet experienced hunting wild hogs, may I suggest you do so! And if you are a serious hunter of wild pork and not yet hunting big boars with a Taurus Raging Hunter handgun, Partner, it’s high time you started doing so!