~~ Austin's official Western U.S. hunting trip thread ~~

[LJ]

Okay. I will not deny disease control, but I highly doubt that this little gun expo has anything to do with desire to control disease. And the cotton tails?

 

I'm also having difficulty figuring how "You are an idiot." is a proper rebuttal or if it even actually responds to something. Perhaps you have sort of affliction that does not belong here.

 

Because your response was ignorant. It's like taking care of rats. Feral hogs are a major issue in the U.S. and it isn't something really brought to the attention of the general populous.

 

Plus I think it's hilarious you compare roasting a 200lb feeder lot hog to a 200 lb free range sage hog.

 

He went there to have fun shooting. Feral hogs in New Mexico, just like Ohio, are being asked to be eradicated. They have no season and no harvest limit. He is a sportsman enjoying something he does while partaking in DNR control efforts.

[HotCarl]

Yep, flew out with my .17 and .22-250. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Just make sure you read the TSA's rules regarding transporting them, AND, your airline's own rules. I flew Continental, and they only allow 11lb of ammo (which really isn't much at all), and they have specific requirements for cases.

 

The only thing I got dicked on was they dumped some of my .40 ammo. Their rules stated that ammo could be stored in magazines so long as the magazine opening was covered in a secure case. So, I loaded up 2 of my G23 mags with ammo, and put those mags into a Blackhawk dual mag holder (they snap closed). I followed their rules to the 'T', and they still dumped it out. 26rounds lost, so I'm not that upset about it.

 

The TSA baggage check guy didn't even bat an eye when I handed him the gun case. I asked him, "Is that it? " He's like..."That's it. We'll page you if we need you."

 

It was painless, really.

 

 

My brother was going to take his carry piece (M&P .45) to florida but he read somewhere that his had to be in a specific gun case for air travel and must be labeled that it is a gun. We both thought this was a bit strange, if you were going to steal anything from a plane Im guessing the big black box that says "GUN" would look pretty good. Was this true when you traveled?

[lowridns1020]

My brother was going to take his carry piece (M&P .45) to florida but he read somewhere that his had to be in a specific gun case for air travel and must be labeled that it is a gun. We both thought this was a bit strange, if you were going to steal anything from a plane Im guessing the big black box that says "GUN" would look pretty good. Was this true when you traveled?

 

It does not have to be labeled that it is a Gun, it does have to be locked with TSA approved locks, the one he is using actually uses the TSA master key. You do however have to announce to the baggage check that it is a firearm, and that they are unloaded. Your best bet for hauling pistols would be some type of pelican case, most people know what gun cases look like. The one austin is using could almost double as one of those hard golf club cases.

Austin- looks good. Now get out and shoot some more. :bangbang:

[stangsn95gt]

this thread makes me want to fly out there and join you right now, sounds like a blast

[RedRocket1647545505]

7/5/06 = Day 4

 

I slept.

 

 

 

7/6/09 = Day 5

 

 

Rabbit #8 = Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun - 597mag

note- BOOM! Head shot! (.17 to the back of the head)

http://i31.tinypic.com/358s11c.jpg

 

Rabbit #9 = Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun - 597mag

Note - I think this was a ~125yd. shot per the range finder

http://i30.tinypic.com/33zd9vb.jpg

 

view of truck from rabbit #9

http://i26.tinypic.com/dfu804.jpg

 

Rabbit #10 = Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun - 597mag

http://i31.tinypic.com/20fdx6a.jpg

 

Rabbit #11 = Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun - 597mag

note- shot this one twice. Once in the mid section, and then one to the back of the neck. Both from ~100yd.

Side note - I <3 the .17HMR

http://i26.tinypic.com/259fqe8.jpg

Edited July 7, 2009 by RedRocket

[Putty]

You heartless animal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mail PETA

[1veryfastvr4]

:)

[RedRocket1647545505]

Rabbit #12 = Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun - 597mag

note- I think I shot this one a couple times.

http://i28.tinypic.com/27xii5x.jpg

 

Rabbit #13 = cottontail

shooter - me

gun -597mag

note - didn't feel like taking a pic

 

I thought about it.........

http://i29.tinypic.com/2q21z43.jpg

 

And damn these things are big. I think it's a brahma bull

http://i31.tinypic.com/e8qweg.jpg

[evan9381]

My brother was going to take his carry piece (M&P .45) to florida but he read somewhere that his had to be in a specific gun case for air travel and must be labeled that it is a gun. We both thought this was a bit strange, if you were going to steal anything from a plane Im guessing the big black box that says "GUN" would look pretty good. Was this true when you traveled?

 

i got my case at vances, and it was like $30. it even comes with a cable you can attatch it to something (like a car seat rail or something solid). its either steel or aluminum...weighs about 3-4lbs. has a key lock on it. go up, tell them you have firearm, unloaded, sign small piece of paper (3x4 max) reiterating this, put back in suitcase, signed paper on top of it, take to TSA. fly. get from baggage claim, continue with vacation

 

like i said, i was honestly suprised how easy it was to check in my handgun while flying. i had absolutely 0 delay/hassle at CMH and JAX. i wouldnt bat an eye to do it again

[darksrt4]

haha your hunting in my back yard there Austin! I know afew guys at the facility that your dad is working on. I am not a hunter by no means but when I am out that way i always help with the coyote round up!

Happy shooting!

[Scotty2Hotty]

This thread made my day. I've been dying to get out west into Wyoming and the Dakota areas to do some mountain ram, and elk hunting.

[LJ]

This thread made my day. I've been dying to get out west into Wyoming and the Dakota areas to do some mountain ram, and elk hunting.

 

I'll go with you. Just name the date.

[Drewhop]

This thread is full of win.

[04r1]

This thread made my day. I've been dying to get out west into Wyoming and the Dakota areas to do some mountain ram, and elk hunting.

 

September!!! I already have my vacation time locked in :bangbang:

[RedRocket1647545505]

7/7/09 = Day 6

 

My scope finally arrived. So I wanted to take it to the range to get it sighted in. It'd give me a chance to shoot the 12FV as well, which I haven't shot in almost a year.

 

The wind was wreaking havoc on those little 17gr. bullets. Groups weren't as good as they normally are (.5-.75"). Todays groups were well over 1".

 

The 12FV was solid as a rock, though. Nailing an 8" gong at 400yd was cake. I managed to hit it a few times as well with the .17, so long as the wind calmed down for a few seconds.

 

No pics though. I forgot my camera.

 

 

7/8/09 = Day 7

 

Woke up about 4am to try my luck with calling in a coyote for the purpose of murdering him. I got a bunch to howl back at me, but that was about it. I never did get any to come on in. I think my calling skillz need some work. I did see one though running along the side of the road. I tried to catch up to him, but failed at that too.

 

So, I defaulted to rabbits. However, I only had my .22-250 with me. It turned out to be a bit overkill for rabbits. :bangbang:

 

Rabbit #13 - Cottontail

shooter - me

gun - 12FV (.22-250)

Note - 100yd shot. wasn't expecting this

http://i29.tinypic.com/23tmp2u.jpg

 

A piece of rabbit #13 on a bush about 10ft away

http://i31.tinypic.com/2cijd1.jpg

 

'nother chunk

http://i29.tinypic.com/288797s.jpg

 

Rabbit #14 - Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun - 12FV

note -~200yd.

http://i25.tinypic.com/25khchg.jpg

 

Rabbit #15 - Jackrabbit

shooter - me

gun -12FV

note - Aimed for it's head. Hit its head. It's now missing most of it's head.

http://i25.tinypic.com/wmhz4j.jpg

[Putty]

Poor bunnies!

[RedRocket1647545505]

Poor bunnies!

 

They deserved it.

[Alex L.]

Exploding rabbits, nice! :bangbang:

[99crb600]

looks fucking sick austin..this is seems like a week at casey x20,000!

[Rustlestiltskin]

Poor bunnies!

 

They deserved it.

 

Exploding rabbits, nice! :bangbang:

 

LOL awesome thread Austin. You better be having a blast for all of us back here. You should try using the .416 on the bunnies just to see some explosions.

[RedRocket1647545505]

Final update: I've been busy killing shit but just got back into Ohio this morning so I figured I'd update this one last time.

 

7/9/09 = Day 8

 

I didn't do much on this day. Took my dad's Remington 7400 (in .270win) to the range to make sure it was still hitting Minute Of Hog. It was.

 

7/10/09 = Day 9

 

Hog Hunt v.2.0

 

Like I said, I decided to switch guns to something that was a bit more reliable. I decided to use my dad's Remington 7400 chambered in .270win w/ irons instead of an optic. I figured that oughta knock the shit out of them, especially at close range. We cleaned up the LR-308 and got all the freaking sand out of it and decided we'd give it another shot. It's super tight from the factory so I racked the BCG about 300x to try to loosen it up a lil bit. My dad chose to use it this time since he stays in the front seat of the truck; away from the sand.

 

Anyways, we spent most of the day getting our shit in order for the evening hunt and generally relaxing and resting up since it was almost certain that we'd be up all night, again.

 

Around 5pm, we packed up and headed to meet our buddy, Abe, who was bringing along his younger brother, Dave, this time instead of his friend John. I knew full well what to expect this time around. I brought my 12FV as a backup/long range weapon, and had my G23 strapped to my side with 2 spare mags, all loaded with 180gr of FMJ goodness . Should something malfunction, AGAIN, I'm dropping the rifle and going to my trusty Glock, which I KNOW won't fail me.

 

 

Anyways, onto the important stuff:

(also, pics are from my dad's camera. I forgot my memory card in my laptop )

 

First kill of the night = coyote

shooter - Dave

gun - CZ 550 American in .308win

note - 200yd shot using only the lazerbeam.

http://i25.tinypic.com/2r4tytw.jpg

 

About 2am, we made it to our 3rd spot of the night. Abe told us to get out of the truck and to walk up over this hill to see if we could see anything with our binoculars (which work surprisingly well at night...). As soon as we all got out of the truck we heard some pigs squealling. Oh hell yes. We walked up over the top of the hill and there in the middle of a crop circle was a pack of probably 35 hogs. Abe told us to get ready and to hold on tight because he was going in hard after them.

 

We all got back in the truck. Abe was driving and manning the spotlight. My dad was in the passenger seat with the LR-308. I was standing behind the cab with the 7400 locked and loaded with a couple spare mags in my pockets and a G23 strapped to my side, ready to do some work should I need it to. Dave took up the position beside me behind the cab.

 

Abe took off. Within seconds we were beside the pack, who now had taken off running. I drew the 7400 down on the first hog I came to, a small one, and cracked one off. That hog dropped, squealling like crazy. I turned to aquire my next target, another small one. I cracked a shot off, missed, and took another shot; direct hit. It, too, fell off from the pack squelling like crazy. By this time, everybody else was shooting as well. I heard some more hogs squealling and my dad yelling, "HIT!". He was going for the bigger hogs that ran towards the front of the pack. I wasn't paying too much attention to what Dave was doing, but having a bolt action gun, he wasn't doing too much shooting due to reloads being a bitch in that environment. I acquired my next target, a rather large hog that had fallen towards the rear of the pack. I squeezed the trigger and.....nothing. I looked down at the bolt on the 7400 and it was stuck open. I tried to rack it but it did nothing. So I dropped the mag, cycled the action and threw in another fresh mag. Still nothing. So, I laid it on our packs and drew out the Glock. :bangbang:

 

I pointed it at the big hog which was still there and fired. It slowed down and started squealling. I had managed to hit it. So, I shot it a couple more times, just for good measure. I then proceeded to shoot a few more smaller hogs (with the G23) before the pack decided to split up. We were approaching the end of the field and turning around to catch up to the main pack. During the turn, there was a large one running out in front of the truck which my dad then shot with the LR-308. It's hind legs dropped to the ground and it was pulling itself along with just it's fronts. Musta been a spine shot. Anyways, he didn't suffer long because when he got within my killbox, I fired off a few .40s at him. . He dropped for good.

 

We then looped around the other side of the irrigation pivot that the hogs were running beside. We caught up to the remainder of the pack we'd been chasing and I shot at some more small ones. I hit another 1 or 2, and then Abe proceeded to run over them to make sure they stayed down. The 2 small remaining hogs slowed to a walk about 75yd in front of us and Abe came to a stop. These were Dave's. Abe told him to take his time because they weren't going anywhere. Dave shot, and dropped one and the survivor ran into the weeds. That was the end of our hog run.

 

We spent the next hour or so trying to round up all the hogs we had killed. I know I personally hit 7-8 of them (I had the best position in the truck of anybody), but I think a few got away or we just didn't find them once they dropped in the tall grass. While we were rounding up the hogs we'd killed, I shined the spotlight on an access road to the field. Low and behold, a couple small, dumb ones trying to find their pack. Dave was standing beside me and I told him to drop them. He put the laser on the bigger of the two and shot. It started spinning around in circles biting at it's ass. Dave had attempted the infamous Texas Heart Shot. The other piggy took off. Dave shot the bigger one again and it dropped.

 

In all, we found 10 hogs; the most Abe's ever killed in one night. It must have been my presence. :bangbang: In total, I had fired 3 rounds from the 7400, and 27 from the G23 . Hitting a target thats moving at 30+mph while you're bouncing through a field at 30+mph is hard.

 

So, onto the pics:

 

http://i25.tinypic.com/2qm22ko.jpg

 

Check out the tusks

http://i28.tinypic.com/muuaad.jpg

 

This dude (Abe) is well over 6ft. tall; just to give you some size perspective. I'd say this one weighed 250lb+

http://i29.tinypic.com/vmq2dj.jpg

 

Aaahhh Piggah Aaaaaahhhhhhhh........

http://i26.tinypic.com/110ds29.jpg

 

 

....More pics coming

Edited July 13, 2009 by RedRocket
proof read and spell checked

[RedRocket1647545505]

The kill pile

http://i26.tinypic.com/246upms.jpg

 

Myself, Abe, Dave

(my dad's camera fucking sucks )

http://i25.tinypic.com/zthox5.jpg

 

Father and son hog massacre:Popcorn:

http://i29.tinypic.com/690w3o.jpg

 

I decided to see why this sow was so fat...

http://i30.tinypic.com/a4tpih.jpg

 

C-C-C-C-C-C-C-Combo!!!!!

http://i30.tinypic.com/2d9d4lj.jpg

 

We shot 2 total pregnant sows. If you figure each sow had 5+ piggahs in her, then we took out a total of 20+ hogs. Not bad for a little over an hours work. :bangbang:

 

 

...still more to come.

[koolrayz]

This thread made my day. I've been dying to get out west into Wyoming and the Dakota areas to do some mountain ram, and elk hunting.

You want a living room that looks like mine?

 

 

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc122/koolrayz/PDR_2537.jpg

[RedRocket1647545505]

After the hog rundown, we drove around some more fields in hopes of finding the 2nd part of the pack that split off. We never did. I did, however, spot to small sets of eyes about 100yd off the access road. I told Abe to stop and my dad jumped out with the LR-308. Abe told us that they were badgers, which are legal to shoot in Texas. Anyways, my dad starts walking towards them while Dave and I are in the bed of the truck shining the spotlights on them. I told my dad to step back so we could shoot them, but his ears must have still been ringing too much from the hog roundup to hear me. He proceeded to walk up about 20yd from the first one and blast it. He took a few more steps towards the 2nd badger, took aim, shot, and missed. Well, Mr. Badger apparently didn't like that too well because he took off running straight towards my dad. My dad, now in a frenzy to kill this thing before it tears off a piece of his leg, starts lighting off round after round of .308 towards it as he's trying to run backwards, away from it. The badger had moved in too close to use the scope, so he just had to point and pray that he hit it. Finally, about 3 feet before the badger had got to him, he sunk one in him. Abe, Dave and I were absolutely falling on the ground from laughing so hard . I'm still not sure what exactly he was thinking by getting that close to a badger. Those things are known to be vicious.

 

Badger #1

-He was making a gurgling sound when I walked past him ~5min after my dad shot him. So I put a .40 in him to make him quit.

http://i29.tinypic.com/hsv18z.jpg

 

Badger #2

-Not to be fucked with

http://i31.tinypic.com/2cyiczt.jpg

 

 

...Days 10 and 11 coming up

[TimTaylor751647545500]

So badgers are a nuisance too I'm assuming?