This is the second time I`ve attended Gary Reeders Handgun Hunters Challenge at the Wilderness lodge in Tennessee and this year Kim Ralston (aka Kral) also signed up for the four day event. That Thursday Kim locked onto a mouflon he spotted and for three days he stalked that elusive critter, un-guided, until he made a 60 or so yard one shot kill with his Magnaport Stalker in 44. A true handgun hunt..... I, on the other hand, have wanted a javelina for the past 30 years and the way I looked at it was if I did not hunt one in all the times I`ve been to the south west odds were slim that I would ever get the chance. So I had Wilderness locate a good male and carried my scoped FA`s 41mag anticipating a 50 plus yard shot. I was sitting on the rim of a rock covered valley with my back against a tree while the guide made a push on the javelina. He weaved back and forth as he closed the distance and while I won`t say he was charging he sure as heck was popping those teeth until at 6 feet all I could see through the scope set at 2X was hide when I pulled the trigger. To my surprise it was a perfect shot with the critter dropping one foot from my leg.... Man that was exciting....Later that day while sitting in a elevated box blind and armed with the FA`s 41 using a handload with a 210gr A-frame over a Taffin powder charge, giving the Swift bullet a MV of 1745fps and my Gallagher five shot 475 using a 325gr XTP handload I felt well armed for any boar. What I spotted next, at 285yds, was a well armored tank in the form of big, old black boar.. I climbed down from the blind and made my way across the field to around 80 or so yards and sat down with my cross sticks and lined up on the boar. He was moving from left to right when I commenced firing placing 5 A-frames from his nut sack to the final shot in the shoulder that put him down. However, when I walked up on him there was still plenty of life so I put a 325XTP from my 475 that ended the hunt. Of the 60 or so boar I`ve hunted I put this one in the top three with the thickest gristle shields I`ve seen. You will see a deformed recovered A-frame from the shoulder shot that lost 85grs from the original 210 weighing 125grs. The shield was tremendous..... After dinner on Friday night Gary held his get-together that includes a raffle where he gave away close to $5000 worth of prizes. Kim won one of Reeders bowies while I won a compact skinner while in the company of our very own Randominator and friends. We had a good time.... I`am sure Kim can give more detail about his mouflon hunt...

Way to go James! Keep feeding them lead till they can't take anymore. That Javelina had heard of the infamous James and just wanted to get a closer look.

Good times with nice guns.

awesome job boys!

Congrats to both of you! Sounds like some exciting hunts!

Sounds like a real good time with like minded friends. I hope to get a chance to join some of you on a hunt in the future. Congrats.

Good to see you again James and great to meet and spend some with you and Kim. Always entertaining.

What? The 22 kit gun has been replaced by the 475?

Looks like a fantastic time with some great fellowship, firearms, and game!

Well done, gents. That looks like just plain fun.

I wanted to go but extremely bad timing wouldn't allow it. Glad yall had fun.

Congrats! on a great hunt. Enjoyed the pics and read.

James, thanks for posting the pic. The HHC is a great gathering of Handgunners from across the US. I had a great time and met some great folks; a few from this forum. Lots of pretty eye candy spread out, as well (which can be a bad thing). Now I'm wanting another custom. If I can find time in the future, I'll try to do a write up of the hunt.

Great write up, James!

Nice story james, sounds like you guys had a great time. Kim, nice job on that mouflon. Its always great on a ranch hunt to lock onto one animal andaccomplish that goal and james, sounds like you a bit of excitement. Thats a helluva hog!!! Great shooting guys!

Oh James I see that you also encountered one of those armored hogs. Did you talk to Eric about while there? He has some stories about what didn't make it through the shield on some of those old boars.

Congratulations guys! One of these days, I'm going to join y'all on one of these hunts.

The HHC was a good time with good people. I'm new here but it was good to see James again and meet Kral. They both put in a great deal of effort in collecting their trophies. This is a great place to learn and look forward to some great information. Thanks in advance.

Great pics and story. Looks like a really fun time.

Welcome! Glad to see you join HH.

James, great adventure and nice hogs. You are the king pigman of handgunners!

Sounds like a really great hunt and lots of fun! WTG guys.

Looks like another great time . Lots of great looking irons on the table.

James, next year my friend, next year. Awesome javelina. Karl, very nice ram. Its all about the good times and memories.