Girlfriend shot her first wild hog

[Gator6x4]

Better not let Oscar know your girl friend shot his brother,

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddy: You seem to get a lot of them, what all you do with them? Are they good eating then? I know they are pests down your way but seems to me they would be pretty tough meat?

Mark

The small ones, under a hundred pounds, are very tender and they taste great. Unlike deer or most other wild animals, pigs don't need any seasoning or flavors to hide the wild game taste. You can take one of these little guys and put him right on the grill and enjoy some great tasting meat. What's interesting to me is that it doesn't taste like domestic pork. The flavor is unique. It's very lean, full of flavor and quite tender.

The bigger ones can be a challenge to cook, especially the boars. Most of the ones I've shot over 100 pounds in body weight end up being made into sausages. I take it to a meat processor and they do a nice job of it. We are going to build a canning room/garden shed that will also have a dedicated area for processing meat and making our own sausages sometime in the future. It's just a matter of finishing projects that are already started.

The best part about shooting the bigger hogs is that their gut pile is too big for the coyotes to run off with, so the next day or two, I usually get the opportunity to shoot a few of them, which is something that I really enjoy!!!

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

Not to threadjack, or turn this into a gun forum, but I wanted to ask a question:

We had been thinking about adding another .22LR long gun, but were also considering an upgrade that would be good for reaching further out with more power for varmints, etc., do you recommend the .22-250 caliber as a good next step?

Have you been having the same problem with finding ammo that we have been going through with the. 22 rounds?

What model do you have, and what, if any other would you get instead, if you could?

Thanks,
Thomas

PS: Again way to go!

I really like the .22-250 for varmints and long range shooting. Mine is a Winchester with a bull barrel that I got a good deal on awhile ago, which is why I bought it. I'm not a fan of Winchester and wouldn't buy another. My favorite brands of rifles are Browning, Remington, Ruger and Sako. These are all brands that I either have or have used on hunts. I've used others, but wouldn't recommend any of them. Of those brands, the higher end ones are more then worth the money. Take Remington for example. The 700 BDL is what I have and night and day nicer over the 700 ADL or any of their other brands. The cost for a new BDL is $800 where the ADL is $600 and you can get a 770 with a scope for $400. Once you work the actions, compare them next to each other, it's pretty easy to see the advantage over the others. Same thing with comparing one brand to another. Cheaper isn't better in my opinion.

Having said that, I'm looking at getting Karen a .243 for Christmas. Having looked at everything out there, I think the Browning A bolt is the best rifle for the money out there. I have one already in .338 mag that I really like. My .30-06 is a bit big for her and she is afraid of shooting it. The .22-250 has a light enough recoil that she is comfortable shooting it. It's a bit light for big game over 100 pounds. It will work alright on our small whitetails, but the shot has to be perfect. With a bigger caliber, the chances of a clean kill increase dramatically. 50 grain bullet versus 100 grains. My .30-06 shoots 168 grain bullets, which I think is perfect for mid sized big game 400 pounds or smaller. That's just my opinion.

Comparing the .22-250 caliber to the other varmint rounds on paper is what led me to buying it. It's super fast, flat and hard hitting. Ammo used to be pretty cheap, but still not as bad as some others. .223 is still quite a bit cheaper, and maybe a better choice for affordable shooting. I don't like to shoot, and a box of ammo will last me a year or more easily, so it's not that big a deal paying a little more for what I believe to be the best caliber for long range varmint shooting. Here, I have several options on where to buy it, and all of them carry it. Its popular enough to be there, but not one of those calibers that people are stocking up on.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Yesterday, on the way to my brother's house, I was going through an area of cattle pastures and grain sorghum fields. I looked out ahead of me and saw a dog in the middle of the road, looking toward the cattle. As I got closer, I could tell it was a coyote checking out the cattle to see if there were any small calves. As I got about 200 yd from him, he turned and ran into the sorghum field. My guess is he is making a meal of mice in the sorghum, but checking out the cattle just in case a calf might be available for a big meal. One thing I noticed was how healthy the coyote looked. His fur was perfect and thick and his tail was fluffy like a foxes tail. It was obvious he wasn't missing too many meals.

 

[EddieWalker]

As an added bonus to the fun of getting out in the woods and bringing home something that we will enjoy eating is Karen is really enjoying all the comments she is getting from her friends at work. Here in East Texas, a lot of people like to hunt, but not a lot of them have a place to hunt or get to hunt very often. We are fortunate that we can walk out the back door and have the chance of seeing something. Hogs are pretty common here and there seem to be more here every year.

While at work, she received tons of compliments on getting her first wild pig after seeing the pictures on FB. They also loved seeing the video on youtube and telling her how great she did dropping it like that!!!! Having all that positive feedback adds a lot to the experience for her. To say she is hooked is an understatement. She is off to the store right now to stock the deer blind with snacks for us to enjoy while sitting in the blind, and this afternoon she said she is going to clean the blind.

She really is a keeper!!!

Eddie

 

[EarPlug]

Take a look at the 6.5 Creedmore round. Low recoil, simular balistics, twice the bullet weight. Watch TNT Outdoor Explosion tomorrow night on the Pursuit Channel (Direct TV channel 604) and see me take a couple of Texas hogs with the 140 grain A-Max load.

 

[Fastowl]

.243 is a great caliber for lower recoil, enough knockdown for things like white tail and hogs. Ammo availabilty is generally good (243 and 270 seem to have been some of the easist to find during the latest 'shortage') and won't break the bank like some calibers. I have taken many deer and hogs down here with a 243 with no problem.

I too like the A-Bolt; I have had one for about 17 years in 300 WM and find it extremely accurate and a good action. It is a good value, perhaps that is why Browning brought it back. That being said two have my sons have purchased the lower priced Marlin XS7 and Weatherby's Vanguard Series 2 in the last couple of years (308 and 270) and both are fine rifles, good accuracy and a bit easier on the pocketbook that the A-Bolt, especially when you can catch them on sale. My one son got the Weatherby last December for $415 at a shop here in Texas.

Just one opinion of course.

 

[k0ua]

My wife has a .243 in a Remington 700, I also agree, it is one of several low recoil rounds that is quite effective on whitetails, but sure is easy on your shoulder.

James K0UA

 

[charlz]

You probably don't need the range but I got my son a 7mm-08 for deer hunting. I was looking for best performance with lowest recoil. It is very similar to the 6.5mm calibers but more available. He shot a muley buck with it last fall at 250 yards and I was surprised at how much damage it did... at least as much as my .30-06. I got in in a Remington 700 youth model that comes with spacers to adjust the length of pull so he can grow into it. Recoil is there but mild compared to say an -06, but it is a little loud.

 

[RobertN]

A nice combo would be 22-250 for light varmint, 250-3000 for bigger varmint to deer size. Both are exceptional classic cartridges.

The 22-250 was originally a wildcat derived by necking a 250 Savage(250-3000 Savage) to .22