I went to the Chain Ranch down in Canton, OK yesterday morning for a couple of hunts looking for hogs. I've been there before and tested some sixgun loads on some rams last year but this was the first time I was hoping to find a hog. Wind was blowing pretty steady at about 35 miles an hour or so and the temps had risen to a point that I wasn't very optimistic. About 4:00, I was really beginnning to second guess the idea of leaving my jacket at the camp due to the amount of wind. It was getting pretty cold. 50 degrees seems warm until you have a gust of 50 mph wind hit you! I hunkered down in the blind to try and hide from the wind and would peek up and over every now and then to see if anything was moving in the field that I was watching. A few minutes after 4, I peeked over and there were pigs everywhere it seemed coming out of a treeline. I didn't even pick up the binoculars to get a better look as I was afraid they would not be sticking around long. If I've learned anything over the past 5 years or so of hunting these boogers is that they are never still, NEVER. I was using the 375/06 JDJ topped with a 2.5x8 Leupold shooting a 225 grain Hornady spirepoint doing about 2550 from the 15.75" barrel(including arrestor brake) with a sling built for me by Rob Leahy of Simply Rugged Leather. I quickly decided which pig I wanted to take and it seemed like forever before another pig wasn't standing behind it or in front of it! The entire time, this pig is going all over the place and I'm trying to follow it in the scope and keep pressure off of the trigger but keep my finger ready to break the sear as soon as possible when a clear shot presented itself. Milleniums passed it seemed, technically, more like 45 seconds, before it was clear(ish). I had actually surprised myself keeping the crosshair in the right place the entire time and when the little shoat moved from the front, I tripped the trigger that felt like it weighed 15 pounds at the time. At the shot, pigs evacuated the area in the utmost hurry! The one I shot at took off like a rocket, I started to doubt the shot until it turned about 8-10 yards into the run and I could see BRIGHT red behind the shoulder of the left side(the entry side) and a blob on the right as he turned to run into the treeline at about 80 yards. I walked down to where he was standing to see if I could find sign of the hit. There was blood everywhere. I've killed a lot of animals over the years with all sorts of firearms but never seen a blood trail of the likes of this. It was amazing. There was an old feeder stand that he ran past about 5 yards into the run. 3 of the 4 legs had blood spots about 4 inches in diameter on them dripping down. Bear in mind that they were about 2 feet high and they were about 3 feet away from where he ran past. Blood was squirting out of this thing like a water hose. When I walked to the treeline, on the way, I found internal body parts laying on the ground. Parts of lung tissue, and about a third of the liver was laying in the sandy soil. Blood was from the ground up to 2 feet high in the brush and was splattered about 3 feet wide in the woods. I knew then that he wasn't going far. I remembered right then why I love hunting pigs so much! Nothing like shooting pigs!!!! I walked back to the blind and figured I'd give him a few minutes before looking just in case the hit wasn't as good as it appeared and I didn' want to risk jumping him. Went back about 30 minutes later and walked into the treeline, it was really thick cedars, and they are tough to navigate and look while holding a 1911 without poking your eye out so I decided that I would just look about every 50 yards in the Cedars. It wasn't hard to find the crossings due to the blood on everything. Stevie Wonder could have followed this trail! About the 3rd crossing, I noticed that trail actually came back out towards the field that I was standing in. He crossed the old sand road breaking 1" limbs off the cedars in the process. I looked across the road and it looked like a plane tried to land in sand without putting the landing gear down. This pig was doing about 60 miles an hour the last time I saw it in the trees and it plowed about 6 feet of sand when it died before it came to a stop. She weighed about 240 pounds, not a monster but just about perfect

Sort of neat to see. In the process of looking through the cedars, like I mentioned, this thing broke cedar limbs off that were about the size of your thumb when it would hit them it was running so fast and the entire bottom of the tree would be red from the pass by. Amazing amount of blood loss! All in all, the pig covered right at 130 yards in just a few seconds. This thing was a black blur when it took off! The shot entered just behind the left shouder, angled back and exited a little lower about 4 inches behind the right shoulder. It actually blew tissue out of the entry hole that you can see in the picture just behind the left front shoulder. There was a huge wad of "internals" hanging out of the exit also that was sucked through when the bullet exited. Usually when that happens on the exit it seems blood trails are tough to come by but not this time. The "power" of this pistol is amazing to say the least!! When I skinned the pig this morning, the entry hole was 2-3 inches as was the exit. I'm very impressed with the accuracy of this gun and the power is definitely sufficient. Recoil is mild in my opinion which is pretty surprising. Just figured I'd share. I highly recommend calling Mason Banta at the Chain Ranch if you are in the area and feel like having a good time. Good guys! My buddy scored yesterday morning. He had seen a few really good ones and the ones that I ran off from the area when we came to pick him up Wednesday night, one of them was a monster but it was too dark for him to get a shot so he just sat and listened

He shot a smaller one yesterday morning with a 444 marlin at 100 yards. That is a gun that I think is definitely underated, it is very accurate and hits like hammer! Sorry for the long post.....

GS

Way to go Glenn! Great story and pics!

X2!

Congratulations, Glenn. Those Pachmayrs make a big difference in the shootability of an Encore, don't they?

Great story, nice shooting! Congrats on the nice pig!

Congrats on a nice pig and hunt! That hunt shows just how tough one'nem critters can be....

Very nice and thanks for sharing!

Thanks guys!

Ken, I think I actually feel more recoil with the pachmyers rather than the soft rubber ones that came on it but the "feel" of it and the trigger reach is drastically improved as you mention. Its MUCH easier for me to shoot this accurately now. Thanks for discussing that with me a while back. Told you that was all the push I needed to go grab some.......

They are tough little creatures, without a doubt. This load is not a max load in this cartridge as you know but I just was trying to work up a load and it shot well on the first try so I just left it there to see how it would perform. I don't know that trying to squeeze out an extra 75-100 fps would help at all. I don't know what I was expecting when the round went off, but I'm sure if I placed it through the shoulders, he probably would have dropped either there at the shot or surely wouldn't have run as far. But, I figured it was safer to put it low behind the shouder until I knew just how well that bullet would hold up at the higher velocities. I've heard its really destructive and it definitely held up to that reputation. So, even though she did run, I think it was the right choice because I didn't even waste any meat

I really was surprised at the size of the hole that was left when the bullet was entering the cavity. The hole in the hide was normal entry hole but that is where the normalities stopped. It almost appeared like the bullet was trying to come apart but the exit hole was one hole and I couldn't see any evidence of any fragments that went astray so I really think the bullet pretty much held together. Any ideas from you guys that shoot these guns more often. I'm just now getting back into the single shots after about 4 years and this is the largest caliber in a single shot handgun I've ever shot anything with so I don't know if this type of damage is typical or if this was an isolated incident and related to bullet construction. I'm wanting to try the 260 Accubond and will do that prior to next deer season. Thanks for looking.....GS

Thanks for the story and pics. That sounded like quite a hunt. Congrats on a great hunt and a nice pig.

Larry

Great story, great pictures.

Please don't apologize for the long post. Those of us sitting up to our private parts in snow have a hard enough time even going shooting this time of the year, much less hunting. Great job, great story and great pic's. And it always amazes me at just how far a dead critter can run. Got any more stories,

Vicariously,

Craig

Perfect day. You were right about the 444....
PS- wish I was there.

Congrats on the hog, Glenn! (Hogs are all different. I dropped a 200 pounder last winter with a .204, 35gr Berger hp at about 90yds (no exit). Hog dropped at the shot and never moved. Heart was mush. Was calling 'yotes when the hog walked out. Not my choice of 'hog guns', but it was what I had....)

Wish you were here too James! We'll have to make that happen at some point. You need to get out of the North for a while anyway

Sheriff, I know what you mean. We've dropped them in their tracks with shoulder shots and 9mm 127 grain +P+ Rangers from a Glock 19 because it was all we had and they walked up to 15 yards. That one was about 250 or better if my memory is working today.

I bet that 204 felt like it was getting electrocuted

Take care and have a great New Years!

I've dropped them in their tracks with a .22 and had them run 100 yards with a 45-70. Tough critters.

Very nice write up Glenn. I agree, there's nothing like hunting hogs with a handgun...keep pounding them! Yes they are tough, even from a fatal hit they can cover some ground in a hurry.
I think because hogs are so compact & more muscled than a deer of the same size that a bullet is going to react different when hitting them...kind of like comparing Fermin to Hoover!!

Dick

Good job! How do they really taste?

Not really sure but you'd have to use a steak knife on Fermin!!

Dick

Less than 150lbs, not too bad, larger than that it's a 'coin toss'. Most of the guys I hunt with around here leave the 'bigger ones' for coyote bait.

As to Fermin, it'd probably be like eating a boot sole boiled with chili's.

Good looking pig.

Nice work!! Congratulations on a job well done, and nice pig!

congrats on the nice porker

good shooting!!

Nice work Glenn. Glad she makes big holes in critters for you.

Thanks Bill, I think it likes my house better than yours, it told me so

Nice critter! Congratulations.

As to the damage you mention. Did the bullet hit bone (rib?) on the way in?

On the issue of tissue in the entrance/exit holes, I'm thinking the internal tissue was more likely "pumped out" by the running action of the pig over the 150 yds prior to the crash landing.

You mention that you found tissue along the path the pig took along with lots of blood. Makes sense to me that both blood and pieces of internal organs would be pumped out both holes due to the vigorous running.

Just a thought.

That's only because it has more friends in your safe than I have in mine