The hogs have been pretty active on my property this year. I saw my 8th hog of the season yesterday.
Grabbed my M77.mkII in 22-250, shooting Winchester JHP Varmint (4000fps) and stepped out on the deck.
From about 120 yards, seated, I took aim at it's head and squeezed off a round. It moved just a bit as I fired and the bullet actually took off it's nose and half of it's upper jaw and eyes, sending it frantically running in circles so fast I couldn't confidently take a second shot because I only had 1 round left in the rifle and I didn't wanna miss and have to open the safe for more ammo, leaving it to suffer for minutes.
So I set off running, like a friggin soldier attack an enemy position, carrying the rifle, racking up the next round, stopping every 20 yard to glass it, to see if I could get a clean shot to finish off this poor miserable creature, but it was still frantically running around so a offhand shot after running would still not be a clean kill until I got about 20 yards away from the hog.
At 20yards I took careful aim at it's centermass and squeezed off my last round.
22-250 4000fps JHP have a lot of energy, apparently. The bullet struck it in the chest as it was facing mostly towards me so most of the energy of the bullet went down into it's abdomen, splitting it clean in half and exploding internal organs over a 3' circle. It continued to flinch for about 10 more seconds, the organs on the ground pulsating, and finally, mercifully, expired.
That was my first really gruesome hog kill. Normally the first shot dispatches them from 120 yards and leaves a tiny hole in an instantly dead hog. I normally shoot prone from 120yds with a bipod, making a hog kill a piece of cake - but because my first shot missed the lethal target zone and I had to get close to finish it... Damn - I'm glad I dind't have my kid with me - it split open in an explosion of guts like some horror flick or video game - would have given the kid nightmares for weeks...
I walked back to the house, leaving the hog for the vultures, and sat down at the dinner table to eat. Spaghetti. Yum.
My wife said to me; "Why two shots?" and I explained the first didn't kill it outright and I used a second shot to be humane. She asked if it was dead now and I just laughed; "Holy CRAP is that thing dead now, and HOW!" She jokingly remarked that my "Groundhog Cafe for Vultures" is now open for business again.
"Yup," I said; "and today we're serving SUSHI." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Grabbed my M77.mkII in 22-250, shooting Winchester JHP Varmint (4000fps) and stepped out on the deck.
From about 120 yards, seated, I took aim at it's head and squeezed off a round. It moved just a bit as I fired and the bullet actually took off it's nose and half of it's upper jaw and eyes, sending it frantically running in circles so fast I couldn't confidently take a second shot because I only had 1 round left in the rifle and I didn't wanna miss and have to open the safe for more ammo, leaving it to suffer for minutes.
So I set off running, like a friggin soldier attack an enemy position, carrying the rifle, racking up the next round, stopping every 20 yard to glass it, to see if I could get a clean shot to finish off this poor miserable creature, but it was still frantically running around so a offhand shot after running would still not be a clean kill until I got about 20 yards away from the hog.
At 20yards I took careful aim at it's centermass and squeezed off my last round.
22-250 4000fps JHP have a lot of energy, apparently. The bullet struck it in the chest as it was facing mostly towards me so most of the energy of the bullet went down into it's abdomen, splitting it clean in half and exploding internal organs over a 3' circle. It continued to flinch for about 10 more seconds, the organs on the ground pulsating, and finally, mercifully, expired.
That was my first really gruesome hog kill. Normally the first shot dispatches them from 120 yards and leaves a tiny hole in an instantly dead hog. I normally shoot prone from 120yds with a bipod, making a hog kill a piece of cake - but because my first shot missed the lethal target zone and I had to get close to finish it... Damn - I'm glad I dind't have my kid with me - it split open in an explosion of guts like some horror flick or video game - would have given the kid nightmares for weeks...
I walked back to the house, leaving the hog for the vultures, and sat down at the dinner table to eat. Spaghetti. Yum.
My wife said to me; "Why two shots?" and I explained the first didn't kill it outright and I used a second shot to be humane. She asked if it was dead now and I just laughed; "Holy CRAP is that thing dead now, and HOW!" She jokingly remarked that my "Groundhog Cafe for Vultures" is now open for business again.
"Yup," I said; "and today we're serving SUSHI." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
