First flintlock wild boar

[Mountainman56]

Well I started shooting my first flintlock on Monday so naturally by today I had the urge to go hunting with it. Got it sighted pretty good at 50 yards this morning and I had a little spare time near the end of the day (I hope my boss never gets on this forum). :haha: 15:30 in the afternoon I took a little drive to the far end of the farm. I knew there is often some hogs in the outlying country where the tailwater runs. They have themselves a big mud bog there they love to waller in. This time of day they're all bedded down in the shade. Several of us have braved the mesquite and gone down there a time or two but the visibility is limited to 30 yards, usually less, so mostly they hear you or smell you long before you get up on em and all you hear is them running off into the mesquite.

The wind was right and I spent half an hour going the last couple hundred yards. I guess I must be getting sneakier in my old age because about the time I was figuring there were no hogs today I spotted what I was sure was one lying under the brush 20 yards away. All caked up with dried mud I couldn't even tell for sure which end was which. I shouldered my rifle and watched....and watched.....and that 1" barrel is getting heavier and heavier. Finally I took another step where I could see a little better and I saw an ear twitch. Turns out there was another one laying right beside the first. This one was stretched out with his belly towards me. I thought about putting one through is briscet but I figured it was possible he might go a ways and tracking them is the mesquite ain't fun so I put one through his throat. Well I managed to hit where I was lookin and needless to say he didn't go far. The ball came out through his ear on the off side.

About six more jumped up and disappeared in seconds. Naturally the ones I got a look at were bigger than the one I shot. :shake: (note to self: take your b&c revolver next time too)

Anyhow I was tickled to say the least to get my first kill with a flintlock.

 

[Vaino]

A nice description of your hunt and you certainly did "bring home the bacon". Never hunted "hogs" but am just interested in what they are. Evidently domestic hog and one or more crosses w/ something else? Is there a season and what's the bag limit? What's the high and low weights of these critters? How do they taste and how are they prepared? I take it the chops are the best part?....Fred

 

[chance]

Great hunt to me that is a trophy!!!!!

 

[rabjr]

Cool. :thumbsup:

 

[RC]

Good job! :thumbsup: great story! :hatsoff: yer HOOKED! :blah: CONGRATS MM!

 

[roundball]

Just Fantastic!

You did your home work, got it running, sighted it in, and christened it first time out all in less than a week...your Flintlock did exactly what it was built to do when called upon !

You are now officially hooked my man !!

:hatsoff:

 

[kherring]

Great hunt and story. We have hogs here to in the swamps but I have never hunted for them. May have to rethink that after some cool weather knocks down the mosquito population some. They will carry you off now.

 

[texcl]

Sounds like a fun hunt, I grew up on a ranch in south texas southwest of corpus. I used to hunt hogs with my .22 as a kid, and helped my uncle trap hogs in giant live traps, it was loads of fun. The only bad part is getting the forty zillion parasites all over you inbetween killing and rolling them in the fire. I knew there was a reason my uncle always brought us. I'm going to go back down one of these days and hunt hog and nilgai on my bros. land. I got my bro. and cousin a bear each this year, so now it's my turn.

 

[Mountainman56]

A nice description of your hunt and you certainly did "bring home the bacon". Never hunted "hogs" but am just interested in what they are. Evidently domestic hog and one or more crosses w/ something else? Is there a season and what's the bag limit? What's the high and low weights of these critters? How do they taste and how are they prepared? I take it the chops are the best part?....Fred

Yes Fred you are right about them being mostly feral "domestic" hogs. Some have Russian wild boar blood in them and after a couple generations they mostly all run to black colour. It seem any domestic hog in the wild will shortly turn to the "wild boar" features with the long snout, heavy forequarters and smaller hindquarters. As for size they run anywhere from 5 lbs. to maybe 400 lbs. here in West Texas. They get much larger in other areas where the foreaging is better. The small ones are very good eating being simply nice lean pork.

In Texas there is no season and no limits although I believe there is a license involved if you come in from out of state for a paid hunt. They are a pest and can do a lot of damage. Sometimes they get so out of control local ranchers and farmers actually hire helicopter gunners to try and eradicate them (which in the long run does little to slow them down as a healthy sow will have three litters a year...they can make them faster than you can kill em).

Got this one last year with my old mountain rifle and it's the largest I've ever shot although I've seen one or two bigger.

 

[Capt. Fred]

Great post and nice shooting!! :thumbsup:

 

[Rick Callison]

That's a pretty big one, Mountainman. I've hunted hogs a lot in south Texas, and after a hunter has skinned a couple like that, they start looking for the smaller ones! I know I do. Nothing ruins a good hunt like getting those shoulder plates off a big boar.

 

[Robert Scheffler]

Nice looking hogs you got there, I've hunted them a few times in the Cumberlands of TN. Definately a lot of fun.

 

[PreglerD]

Waidmanns Heil from Germany to this nice boar!

What cal. did your flinter have and what charge did you use?

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Great story and pic. :thumbsup: A hog that size is just right to deep pit. GW

 

[Mountainman56]

Waidmanns Heil from Germany to this nice boar!

What cal. did your flinter have and what charge did you use?

Regards

Kirrmeister

Hello Kirrmeister;

My flintlock is a .50 calibre and I was still working up a load. This day I had just 60 grains of FFFg with a .490 ball and a .015 patch. Worked find seeing as he was only 20 yards away. :wink: I'm finding my best load so far is 80 grains with an .020 patch but I'm still experimenting.

Take care and thanks for the comments.

 

[jethro224]

Grats on gettin' that new rifle blooded! :hatsoff: Sure didn't take you long.

I'd like to try huntin' them critters one of these days. All the hogs around here are in pens.