|
When Julie, my wife, over heard me talking with a hunting buddy about
going hog hunting in Texas she expressed an interest in going also.
Julie bird hunts with me all the time but never expressed an interest in
bigger game. I jumped at the chance to get her ready for our Texas hog
hunt. Since most of my rifles carry a pretty stout kick I decided to do
some research and come up with a new 'outfit' for Julie's first hog hunt.
With over twenty years of shooting my Thompson Center Contender
for deer and antelope I was drawn to the new TC Pro Hunter and chose the
.25-06 (a caliber I always wanted to try myself). It didn't take long to
find what I was looking for, a TC Pro Hunter with the camo 'flextec'
stock, recoil reduction system and SS fluted barrel. Now all I needed
was scope to top it off. I have Burris scopes on every rifle and handgun
I own but decided on the Nikon Monarch 4x16 for Julie's rifle. The
optics are crystal clear and I really like the left side turret paralax
adjustment. It makes the scope very easy to tune to individual eye sight
and with the push pull knob you can lock in your adjustment easily.
Now that I had the rifle and scope it was time to select a bullet for our
hunt. I selected the Nosler 110gr Accupoint bullet for our hog hunt and
loaded a range of power based on researching reloading for the .25-06
on-line. With one session of testing I had a load that shot a 3/8" group
at 100 yards. It was interesting to see the groups change with just a
few grains of powder difference. With 100 rounds loaded I had Julie
practice off the bench to get her started. Her immediate confidence was
evident with a big smile when she shot a nice 5 shot 1.75 " group off
the bench.
Getting Julie used to shooting sticks was another story.
After going through the routine of setting up the sticks and position to
shoot off a knee, I left her to practice shooting from 50 yards to 175
yards at various angles. After several practice sessions she got pretty
good with the rifle and sticks. We headed to Texas from our home in
Colorado in mid January, Julie with her new TC .25-06 and me with my TC
Contender in .35 rem. This was our first hog hunt and we had a great
time. Hogs are plentiful in Texas and the outfitter we went with was a
great fit for our group. We butchered the hogs the same way we cut up
Elk or Deer. The meat is lean and very good. We have had roasts and loin
steaks on the grill so far. We've booked another hog hunt for January
2009 and added three more friends to go with our current group. Any time
you can go on a hunt (for $350.00), shoot two animals each and be 100%
successful you can't help but want to go back the following year.
|
