Left early Friday morning for Johnston County, North Carolina. Got there in the early afternoon, headed to the range on the property to sight in a Smith & Wesson .460 XVR that I was testing. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to dial the revolver in prior to heading to NC. Just got a box of CorBon 395 grain WFN loads. With my limited amount of ammo, I got it dialed in at 50 yards, which was probably the maximum distance I would be shooting. I also checked the zero of my custom .475 Linebaugh Ruger Super Redhawk.

The range.......



I was scheduled to sit in a stand over a bait pile that night. The outfitter has lights rigged i certain area making it possible. For this hunt I chose my .475 with a red dot. After 9:00 pm, two hours into my hunt, the hogs started moving, but never made it to the lights as they may have been winding me. But, another group showed up near 10:00 and I picked the biggest one, put the rod dot on its shoulder and squeezed. The hog squealed and headed off into the brush. It was a sow that went 175-lbs, that piled up within 30 yards with a double lung hit.

And here she is........



I hit the same stand early the next morning and the cool weather had us out most of the day trauling for hogs.

That evening, I tried a different stand over a feeder. I poured out some more corn, dumped a gallon of concentrated cherry KoolAid on top of it and tried a couple of attractants as well. I really wanted to blood that .460. I actually brought some Game Ears with me as the .460 is so bleeding loud. Night was falling right around 8:45, so I was hoping to get one before.

Thought I heard some grunting around 7:45 pm and quietly put the Games Ears on and cranked them up to full volume. I turned back towards the feeder and there are four hogs feeding there! Not big, but I'm not that picky, so I turned the Game Ears off, picked one out under the feeder, put the sights on his shoulder and squeezed......BOOM, but the hog didn't really react and moved off a bit, so I shot again. Then he took off into the forrest. Meanwhile, the other pigs kept eating! That .460's like a howitzer going off. Very strange.

Since I wasn't sure I even hit hog number one, I picked another, put sights on his shoulder and squeezed. Same thing, no real reaction, just moved off a bit so I hit him again, and he took off along with one other hog.

One hog remained despite all of the racket. Just kept eating. So, I whistled at him, yelled at him, called him names......nothing, just kept eating. So, I put the .460 down, put my camera in my pocket, my flashlight in another, and climbed down. I walked within 10-ft of the eating hog, when he looked up with a mouthful of KoolAid and corn, and decided it would be best to leave.

Here is hog with the hearing problem.......



I called the outfitter and told him I had some traking to do. He showed up and we started. No blood on the ground at all. Very strange. But, we found some at the edge of the clearing heading down into the swamp. We tracked a blood trail down to the water's edge and I went one way and the outfitter went another. After some traipsing around in the swamp I heard a hog and followed the noise. I saw him and he was obviously sick, so I pulled my Model 29 and shot him and he took off running, so I shot at him again. Now the race was on. I jumped into a section of water and went in to my waist -- camera and cell phone submerged, so I pulled the memory card and stuck it in my dry breat pocket and continued the chase. Caught up with him again and took another shot -- he's still running, so I shot at him again. I have two rounds left and I catch up with him on dry land and he turns towards me, and starts popping his jaws at me, so I shot him again and he took off again! Damn, what a tough bugger! Now when I catch up to him he's really sick and I have one round left, so I carefully aim behind his ear and squeeze. He falls over in the water and starts paddling. It was finally over.......except for dragging his bullet riddled carcass back out of the swamp in the dark.......aaaahhhhhh, I love hunting!

Got him out of the swamp, and he weighed all of a hundred pounds and he was as full of holes as a piece of swiss cheese. The initial shot was true and was a double lung shot behind the shoulder. Sadly, the only picture I have was taken with a cell phone as my camera is deceased -- sacrificed in the name of hunting. I am tweaking the photo and will try and post it.

The other hog I shot was lost, but such is life.

Here is a photo of the back of the bunk house.



Here's the lake in front of the bunk house -- and yes, it's full of fish!



The staff was great, the hunt takes place on 2,000 acres and the hogs are free ranging. The price is right and the best part is that it's close to home.

Contact details are as follows:

Hog Heaven Outfitters
www.hogheavenoutfitters.com
Call Milton Turnage at:
(252) 560-5082

I highly recommend this outfit!

Sounds like fun.
I wonder if after the first shot if you had just been patient and waited say ,maybe a half hour,would the hog with a double lung hit bleed out either internally or externally?I am asking only because I have never hunted hogs and there is a huntable poulation of them maybe 6 or 8 hours drive away,and I would like to try them sometime.It might have saved all that swamp bustin you had to do.
dorson

What kind of damage did the 460 do to the Hog with the double lung shot? Sounds like a good time.

He might have left the county had I not gone after him. He was hit well but didn't seem to know it and I gave him a good 10 or 15 minutes before I found him, and then he bugged out and the shooting and brush busting started. I am not sorry in the least that I had to chase him hrough the swamp as it was the most fun I have had on a hunt in a long time.

Damage was minimal considering the shot placement. The hog I shot the first night in roughly the same spot had soup for lungs.

What a good time! At least you got to squeeze the trigger a few times. The swamps down there can be deep. Looks to be knee deep and you can hit chest deep immediately. Carolina has some good hunting though.

Sounds like a neat hunt.

Sounds like they are one tough animal.How are they for eating?The thought of fresh wild pork in the smoker sounds pretty good.
dorson

Damm Whit, You had one hell-of-a-hunt.....Had a similar situation on the hog before my last 2.To bad about your camera and phone.Does your 475 SRH have a new cylinder??James

They're very lean, so you just have to cook them slowly. It's the best pork you'll ever have!

For some reason. the phone survived and the camera din't! I could live without the phone! Ah, but it was well worth it.

Yup, it has a custom made five-shot cylinder. It has served me very well!

Did you do an autopsy, or are you speculating on the double lung hit. Most are very suprized at how far forward and small a pigs lungs are. Never heard of one surviving a double lung hit like that one, but they are certainly tough on marginal hits.

I've killed a lot of hogs -- one of my favorite game animals to hunt. I did perform a necropsy (I always do), and I did get both lungs. He was sick when I saw him in the swamp for the first time when I began tracking him, but you know when that will to live kicks in, there's no telling how far they will get. He was just pumped up and not ready to give up the ghost!

That's one of the best hunt stories I've read in a long time. Congrats on your kills.

I just realized that I was so bent on figuring out what makes these hogs tick, that I forgot to say "congrats"! That was a good story, that I really enjoyed.

I too have killed truck loads of pigs and I am always looking for more answers. I think they are the toughest game, pound for pound, in North America. I would put a 125# sow against any 250# whitetail for damage resistance, perseverance, and tenacity.

Thank you sir, I really appreciate that!

Thank you! I agree with you that they are tougher than nails! I have had them go bang flop on many occasions, but every now and again, they just don't quit......and it makes for one hell-of-an exciting hunt!

What bullets were you using in the 460?

Congrats!Wish I knew you were coming to JC it's only 45minutes from the barn and I sure would have enjoyed meeting another member.