29 Jan 13

Late yesterday afternoon, on a ranch down here in south FL, I shot and killed a 125lb wild pig, using my LaRue/Aimpoint (T1) and Surefire (X300)-equipped XCR-M, with 168gr Cor-Bon DPX (308).

We were ten minutes into an all-afternoon hunt. I was perched high on a swamp-buggy, along with my guides and several dogs. Dogs suddenly jumped down and ran off as they caught scent of hogs. We stopped and waited to see what the dogs might scare-up. I stood-up atop the buggy and strained to see signs of movement.

Suddenly, an all-black pig burst out of the underbrush and ran, full speed, right-to-left, across our front. Range was sixty meters, and the ground over which she was running was uneven and overgrown with tall grass, so she periodically disappeared beneath foliage, only to reappear, seconds later, still running.

My rifle was up and on target quickly, as I knew I had only two or three seconds before she vanished in the undergrowth. I picked-up the red-dot on her mid-section and tracked as best I could.

When my shot broke, I could not hear the impact, as the target was too close, but it felt like a good hit. Staying in my Aimpoint and continuing to track, I caught the link and again picked-up the dot. As the animal was still running, I started to doubt the accuracy of my first shot. No time for such contemplation! I started to tighten-up on the trigger once more, just as she slowed to a stop and keeled-over! My second shot never broke.

My first shot had indeed hit her, just behind the shoulder, demolishing her heart. After the impact, she ran another ten meters. Bullet went through-and-through, but, from the size of the exit-wound, it was obvious that it had expanded normally. By the time we got to her, my pig was DRT.

Having hunted pigs down here for the past ten years, my experience has been that windows are always short, usually less than five seconds. The animal is almost always running, and they are tough! A 308 round should be more than adequate for an animal that size. And yet, when she continued to run after being struck solidly, my pig did not slow down, nor display much discomfort, until the very end!

Ranges are between twenty and seventy meters, and a good, military rifle with zero-magnification optics represents the ideal weapon for the job, in my opinion. In any event, I love the opportunity to hunt such magnificent, cunning, and nimble game with the very rifles with which we train for serious purposes so intensely.

It was a wonderful day. I’ll have another opportunity on Thursday!

/John