Boaring - Larry Weishuhn

“Know what time it is?” asked Luke Clayton. I reached for my cell phone to see. Before I could

do so said he, “It’s hog killing time!” Then added, “It’s cooling down nicely at night. We can

hang the meat overnight, then cut it up when get back from the morning’s hunt.” Luke

continued, “I’ve got some ground pork from about a 40-pound shoat I shot a couple of days ago

in the smoker. Using wild plum wood, to give it a bit of smoked flavor. Will take it out of the

smoker in about 30 minutes. After that ’ll start a pot of chili before we head to the woods for

the afternoon’s hunt.”

I knew all I needed to know about Luke’s wild pork chili with pinto beans. It is absolutely

delicious.

I know there are some serious chili afficionados who think adding beans to chili is bordering on,

if not actually sacrilegious! But has my friend says, “They’ve got their way of cooking chili and

I’ve got mine!” To be honest, I add beans to my chili as well. It was how I was taught to do by

my grandfather.

“I’ve already cooked beans with salted bacon there in the cast iron skillet there on the stove.

We’ll add those along with bit more appropriate seasoning after I brown the meat.” A short

time later Luke put all the chili ingredients in a large cast iron pot. “It can simmer while we were

in the woods. By the time we get back, the chili should be ready eat.”

Our game plan was for Luke to hunt one of Becker Bottoms’ late winter food plots, planted with

triticale and turnips. I planned to do a bit of slip hunting, checking a couple of other food plots,

planted primarily in triticale. These food plots were and are primarily planted for whitetail deer

but they are frequented and fed upon by wild hogs. Luke’s primary goal was to shoot an “eating

hog” with his .308 Win CVA Cascade SR 80 “Scout Rifle”, loaded with Hornady’s 165-grain

Interlock American Whitetail ammo, one weighing up to 80-pounds or so.

Me? I was looking for a big boar, with long upper and lower tusks! Over the years I have taken

several such tusked boars and I desired to take yet another.

Older boars are often found by themselves, although they frequently visit sounders, comprised

mostly of sows and pigs, in hopes of finding a receptive sow. On occasion I have found several

bigger older boars desiring the favors of the same in estrus sow. More about such encounters

shortly.

On this particular hunt I was hunting with my Taurus Raging Hunter .454 Casull handgun topped

with a 2.5-7x28 Thompson/Center long-eye relief scope circa late 1900’s. That scope along with

those manufactured by Simmons Optics during that time frame were and continue to be the

finest and best handgun scopes ever made. They are unbelievably rugged and tough and have

very forgiving eye relief, the distance you have to hold a scope far enough away from your eye

to see the full value of the scope’s view. These remain far better than any of the newer

handgun scopes I have used in recent years.

Heading toward the “hog woods” I recalled wild boar hunts done years ago, going back to when

Taurus first released their Raging Bull .454 Casull double-action revolver. At the time I was

Hunting Editor for a magazine called HANDGUNNING, a sister publication to SHOOTING TIMES

where I also served as the hunting editor and wrote a column titled, “Lock, Stock and Barrel”.

My load of choice back then, interestingly like today, was and is Hornady’s 240-grain XTP

Custom loads. Back then I also served as the wildlife biologist/manager on several ranches

scattered throughout Texas and Colorado. One of our ranches was in the Wild Horse Desert in

far southern Texas, so named because of the great number of wild horses that lived there duing

the early and middle 1800’s.

The Cordoniz Ranch was managed primarily for bobwhite quail hunting, but the property was

also home to some outstanding whitetail deer, and, no lack of wild hogs. It adjoined a 400,000-

acres ranch which did not allow hunting. Among other things, it served as a huge reservoir for

whitetail deer, coyotes and bobcats but especially wild hogs including many older boars with

sizeable, razor-sharp tusks.

These were fun to hunt, but also challenging.

Those of you who have hunted older boars know their shoulders and vitals are covered by a

thick, tough cartilaginous shield, usually over one-inch thick. I have seen that shield stop all

sorts of broadheads, as well as sizeable rifle and handgun caliber bullets.

Because of a wild boar’s tough nearly impenetrable shield, I tend to take one of two shot

placements. The first is to wait until the boar quarters away, then placing a bullet aimed at the

opposite shoulder. This generally has the bullet’s path angling forward starting behind the

shield headed toward and through the boar’s vitals. The other very effective shot is placing the

bullet immediately behind a broadside boar’s ear, severing the spine.

Several times in the past hunting wild hogs mostly in Texas’ “opener” terrain north of Abilene I

found several boars tending a single sow. In each instance there was a dominant boar in the

group, what my friend, Johnnie Hudman, called “the boss hog”. I learned a valuable lesson early

on when I accidently came upon such a group. The dominant boar tried to chase any

approaching interloper away from the sow, whether it was another boar or I learned an

approaching hunter.

When I got within fifty yards of the hogs the biggest boar, the “boss hog”, spotted my approach

and charged. I immediately got into a kneeling position which put me and my handgun on the

same level as the on-coming boar. This, rather than trying to gauge the appropriate lead of fast

coming toward me hog.

I stopped him with my .45-70 single-shot handgun at twelve yards, shooting Hornady’s 300-

grain Soft Point bullet. Would he have have completed the charge? I suspect so, but I will never

know because I was not about to let him get any closer.

That experience taught me much about hunting wild hogs in relatively open country, which I

much prefer compared to hunting them in dense cover. Shortly after that experience I made a

cut-out, decoy, of a broadside wild boar from quarter-inch plywood. I painted it black to

resemble the majority of wild hogs in the area. I attached a couple of rope loops so I could hold

it on my arm as I approached sounders and especially a group of boars tending an in estrus sow.

My “boar decoy” worked well in approaching sounders also providing a solid rifle or handgun

rest when it was time to take the shot.

Approaching boars tending a sow with the decoy made for some interesting and fun moments.

In every instance when I approached such a group it provoked a serious charge by the dominant

boar. Talk about an exciting way to hunt wild hogs!

While I do truly enjoying taking and preparing dishes from “eating hogs”, I really enjoy hunting

the more challenging older toothsome boars. These boars often credited with poor eyesight. I

am convinced they can see much better than given credit. Many times I have approached old

boars, by themselves, from downwind. When one-hundred twenty-five or so yards away,

suddenly the boar raised his head, stared briefly in my direction then immediately turned tail

and ran.

There is no doubt the wild hog’s sense of smell is tremendously acute, something to always

remember when hunting their kind. I do all in my power to remain downwind of where I think

they might show up or if stalking a single boar or a large sounder.

Hunting wild or feral hogs is great fun. In several states it can be done year around. In Texas and

Oklahoma wild or feral hog can be hunted year around without a hunting license.

Their kind is continually expanding their range. When I, as wildlife biologist, am asked about

wild hogs and where they exist or might in the future, my reply is “There are them’s what

got‘um, and them what’s don’t, gonna get‘um!”

I do enjoy pursuing wild hogs and I use a wide variety of firearms although I prefer hunting

them with my Taurus Raging Hunters. I am almost exclusively a gun hunter and use a variety of

bolt-action, single-shot and lever-action rifles, as well as single-shot and revolvers. I personally

am not into hunting with semi-auto AR style rifles or night-time thermal type scopes or optics,

or shooting hogs from helicopters, although I have done so many times in years past as a

wildlife biologist. If someone wants to use such firearms, sight aids, helicoptering, or hunting

them with bow, crossbow or even spears that’s great. I am all in for them doing so. I, personally

enjoy the challenge of hunting wild hogs during daylight hours.

I wish I could tell you on the hunt I described in the opening sentences I found and shot a long-

tusked boar, but I did not do so. There will be other times. Luke however, did shoot a 50-pound,

young, not yet pregnant gilt, what he described as the “perfect eatin’ hog”.

Luke’s wild hog chili? Absolutely delicious! If you are interested in some of his wild pork recipes,

as well as a lot of wild hog hunting information and stories about hunting them may I suggest

Luke Clayton’s and my latest book, “The Poor Man’s Grizzly” available through both his

www.catfishradio.org and my www.larryweishuhn.net websites.