I wanted to share the results from yesterday's hunt. The plan was to ride the buggy around quietly and use it as a platform to see and shoot as long as possible. The hogs weren't moving and it took us a long time to actually see one. When we did, it was only about 200 yards away. We started the buggy, trying to see if the hog would move to the next pasture, and then we could ambush it from the other side, roughly a 700-750 yard shot. Man, was I excited.
The hog was moving along the edge of a palmetto patch, and started heading to the open pasture. It paused briefly, looked towards us and started running full speed across the clearing. They normally don't do this, and we saw that it was going to get to the thick woods on the other side before we could maneuver for the long shot. So I dialed for 300 yards and waited to see the hog pass through what I estimated was that range. When I saw the hog at my designated point, it was quartering away from us, and still running at full speed. I took the shot (led about 3 feet) and I saw the hog spin to the left and fall down. Right then I heard the SMACK of the SMK hitting it hard! The hog tried to get up, but just fell on its other flank. It never moved again. I lasered it at 319 yards. We called it a day as the heat was starting to become unbearable and rain loomed.
We did a little postmortem while we skinned and quartered it. The entry wound on the left flank was caliber sized, slightly caudal to the diaphragm, dorsal to the midline. The exit wound was tennis ball sized, through the ribcage, slightly cranial to the diaphragm, dorsal to the midline. The bullet path crossed the spleen, pancreas, inferior vena cava, liver and right lung. The damage to the liver and lungs was impressive, with profuse bleeding that lead to the quick onset of death.
Overall, I was disappointed about not getting a long shot, and when I did take a shot at the 319 yard mover, I didn't lead enough and hit too far back. The positives were I got to test the terminal ballistics of the 300 SMK (favorably impressed, compensated for poor shot placement), and I got the Lapua's first kill.
Now for some pics:
Hog as we found it. That is the exit wound, a little bit of duodenum hanging out. The bloody grass is where it first fell, and tried to get up, falling over to the position in the pic.
Close up of exit wound.
I'm the one with the hat... LOL. He almost made it to the thick stuff on the right of the pic.
Exit wound at skinning.
The hog was moving along the edge of a palmetto patch, and started heading to the open pasture. It paused briefly, looked towards us and started running full speed across the clearing. They normally don't do this, and we saw that it was going to get to the thick woods on the other side before we could maneuver for the long shot. So I dialed for 300 yards and waited to see the hog pass through what I estimated was that range. When I saw the hog at my designated point, it was quartering away from us, and still running at full speed. I took the shot (led about 3 feet) and I saw the hog spin to the left and fall down. Right then I heard the SMACK of the SMK hitting it hard! The hog tried to get up, but just fell on its other flank. It never moved again. I lasered it at 319 yards. We called it a day as the heat was starting to become unbearable and rain loomed.
We did a little postmortem while we skinned and quartered it. The entry wound on the left flank was caliber sized, slightly caudal to the diaphragm, dorsal to the midline. The exit wound was tennis ball sized, through the ribcage, slightly cranial to the diaphragm, dorsal to the midline. The bullet path crossed the spleen, pancreas, inferior vena cava, liver and right lung. The damage to the liver and lungs was impressive, with profuse bleeding that lead to the quick onset of death.
Overall, I was disappointed about not getting a long shot, and when I did take a shot at the 319 yard mover, I didn't lead enough and hit too far back. The positives were I got to test the terminal ballistics of the 300 SMK (favorably impressed, compensated for poor shot placement), and I got the Lapua's first kill.
Now for some pics:
Hog as we found it. That is the exit wound, a little bit of duodenum hanging out. The bloody grass is where it first fell, and tried to get up, falling over to the position in the pic.
Close up of exit wound.
I'm the one with the hat... LOL. He almost made it to the thick stuff on the right of the pic.
Exit wound at skinning.
