Big Teeth & Big Bodies Need Big Bullets

By Denny L. Vasquez

Like most of you, I miss being able to get out in the field when the hunting season is over. Sure, I do my off season scouting, stand repairs, work on my hunting load development, equipment repairs, etc.. However, these aren’t the same as the good old adrenaline pumping excitement that is generated when that dream buck steps out from behind a bush, or that elusive dove sails over your head into the cover in which you are hiding. Actually, I guess that the off-season can get sort of boring. So I decided to do something about it when several of my friends suggested a Russian boar hunt.

Many people talk about Russian boars being the toughest of the swine family to hunt. After all these formidable animals have done a lot to earn their reputation for being ornery critters. And to use an old country saying, I jumped at the suggestion hook, line and sinker.

At first these tough animals sounded like just the thing that we were looking for to provide a little excitement and challenge to a boring part of the hunting year. However, my research while preparing for this hunt has shown that outside of a few high fenced game preserves, there are almost no pure Russian boars in the wilds of the North America today. Over the years, most of the strains of Russian boars that were imported into North America have intermixed with wild feral hogs. Though it is true that many of these hogs do have some Russian characteristics, they are no longer pure Russians. Several game biologists from around the country have verified this fact for me.

The hogs that you will find rapidly populating the countryside are members of the Suidae genus. They are omnivorous mammals having thick, stout bodies with a bristled skin. Other characteristics are a long broad nose or snout, cleft hooves and they can be found in a wide variety of colors. All of the breeds of hog that are encountered today come from the European wild boar, Suidae Scrofa, or a crossbreed of this and the Asiatic wild boar, Suidae Indicus.

After consulting with the game and wildlife department here in my native state of Texas, I decided that, based on the quantity of wild hogs available, the south Texas brush country would be our best bet for a good hunt. The size of the hogs that we could expect to encounter would range from small shoats to sows approaching the 600 lb. mark. As it turns out the biggest one killed by one of our party was 468 lbs. on the hoof. Now my friend that is a large animal by anyone’s measuring stick.

After carefully researching the different ranches that offer feral hog hunts, we decided on one which is about 4 miles south of Benavides, Texas, in the famous south Texas brush country. Or a short 6-hour drive from my home northwest of Houston.

In the past I had been accustomed to traveling to south Texas several times a year to visit my ex-wife’s relatives, therefore, it was a mild surprise to see the rain-swollen rivers and flooded fields that we came across on our trip down to the ranch. I was seeing water in places that I hadn’t seen water in over 10 years. One riverbed, the San Bernard, usually only held a trickle of water, but now it was about 30 feet across, so I was beginning to get worried about not being able to hunt when we finally got to the ranch.

However, the water began drying up the further south that we went as it turned out that the heavy rains had not come that far down in the Lone Star state. This was indeed welcomed news, after all, none of us relished having to slop around in the mud all weekend, especially since the temperature was predicted to be in the 30’s or 40’s at night. These low temperatures, the 10 to 30 mile an hour winds and the water would have made for some miserable hunting conditions.

The ranch we had chosen to hunt is 6.5 miles wide and 4 miles deep, so once we reached the ranch’s western gate, we still had over 4 miles to go before me made it into camp. As we drove through the ranch I noted the typical south Texas brush country topography that consists of mild rolling hills that are interspersed by various creek drainages. As I found out later, this ranch is divided by 3 main creek drainages that separate the ranch into 3 nearly equal sections. Cactus, heavy brush and the ever-present mesquite trees that were everywhere cover the lower hillsides and creek bottoms that have not been cultivated. Most of the hilltops were partially planted in young, tender and juicy corn plants. With over 5800 acres of this new growth corn, it is easy to understand why so many hogs had decided to call this place home.

As we arrived in camp, our guide was there to greet us. He showed us around the camp and reviewed a map of the ranch’s layout with us. Then we all climbed into his pickup for the .50¢ tour of the ranch itself. With an operation of this magnitude, our “tour” lasted over 4 hours and we only got to make one pass. After a short rest and a bit of lunch, it was time to set out to try and locate our quarry.

Here in Texas hogs are hunted by 3 methods. The first method is to utilize a baited stand. This is the same principle as stand hunting for deer while using a feeder or bear while using a bait barrel. A likely place is chosen and a feeder is set up to try and draw the hogs into shooting range. The only problem with this type of hunting is that it can get very boring and the hunter usually only gets one shot or at the most two shots before the hogs head out for the next county. Once you have shot a hog from a particular stand, then you might as well move to another, undisturbed area and start again.

The second method, and probably the most exciting, is to run the hogs to bay with a pack of specially trained hog dogs. This method can cover a lot of territory in a hurry. It is of utmost importance that the hunters and dog handlers stay fairly close to the dogs during the chase as you must be able to reach them quickly once the dogs have brought a hog to bay or several very bad things can happen, the worst of which is that a very expensive dog can get cut up really bad or even killed. The good thing about running hogs with dogs is that it gives you a chance to look the hog over before deciding if you really want to shoot it or not. A disadvantage of hunting with dogs is that you have to be in really good shape to endure all of the running, climbing or crawling and still be steady enough to make a clean kill when called upon to do so.

The third and probably most popular method is to spotlight for them at night. Yes, it is legal to spotlight for non-game animals here in Texas at night. This method is so popular because it tends to provide a lot of action. You come up on the hogs rather suddenly as you ride around in the back of a truck. Then the shooting is fast and furious because they will only stay in the open for a few seconds. There is no time to pick and choose your target. You simply shoot the first hog that presents itself. Another reason that this method is so popular is that it is not all that physically demanding. During our hunt we would be using both the hog dog baying and spotlight methods of hunting.

Friday night, the spotlighting action proved to be really hot as we ran into several groups of hogs that came in every size imaginable. We each took a couple nice hogs, but the spotlighting just isn’t my cup of tea, to borrow an _expression.

The real fun, at least for me, began right at dawn on Saturday morning. We came in from spotlighting at around 3:30 a. m., so after eating and refreshing ourselves, there wasn’t really much time to rest before the dogs were turned loose at day break, which came around 6:15 a. m.

For my hunt I set out with our guide and one of the dog handlers/drivers. We planned to try our luck in one of the creek drainage’s that I had described earlier. I started to load my gun as we let the dogs out where both a major and a minor drainage system joined. Almost immediately, the lead dog sounded out as she took off right down the middle of the wettest, muddiest and nastiest part of the larger drainage system with the rest of the dogs hot on her heels. My guide said that we had better hurry and catch up to them or we could lose a dog. So as I continued trying to load my gun, we took off running after the dogs.

As it turned out, this big boar really knew his business. He led us through some of the thickest tangles of undergrowth to be found in the area. Then we had to detour around a slough in which we had sunken knee deep into the mud around its edges. As we pulled ourselves out of the mud and resumed the chase on the other side of the slough, we heard this awful howling from up ahead. My guide turned to me and smiled as he said that they finally have it cornered. The howling is one of the ways that the dogs have of aggravating a hog.

After about 400 yards of hard running, the hog had turned up hill. So spurred on by the sound of fighting coming from near the top of the creek bank, we ran, slid and pulled our way to the top. At this point the brush line in this drainage system was about 75 yards up the side of a very steep and muddy hill. We finally reached the top only to be greeted by a gruesome sight, once we cleared the last line of brush.

On the damp ground, near the edge of the cornfield, lay one of the dogs. It was obvious from the blood and hair strewn about, that several more dogs might also be hurt. As my guide knelt to see how bad the dog was hurt, we heard a truck horn. Looking up, we were just in time to see the hog disappear into another drainage system, on the far side of the field, with the remaining dogs in close pursuit. My guide removed the dead dog’s collar before we started to trot across the field. I was glad that I had remembered to bring a canteen along.

One of the other drivers had seen the hog being chased by the dogs and knew that they had come from our direction. So he had used his horn to signal us that the hog had come toward him.

We were about half way across the field when the driver met us in his truck. After our little run, it was a welcome relief to be able to ride across the field instead of having to run across the plowed furrows. Once on the other side, the trail was easy to follow, as at the brush line of this new drainage system, we found a lame dog in the bushes. My guide hollered back at the driver to come and take this dog to camp as we plunged into the thick brush, determined not to let this hog get away.

Even though this new drainage system was not quite as wide as the first one, the brush was thicker and the sides of the creek bed were much steeper and muddier than before. In fact, in some places the sides were so steep that we had to walk single file right down the middle of the creek bed itself. To make matters worse, we could hear the dogs up ahead, but we were unable to spot them.

After about 20 minutes of a slow trot, or more like an exhausted walk, we found a sand bar where the hog had turned to fight. There was more blood and hair strewn about as the area was really torn up. Luckily, this time, there were no dead or hurt dogs left lying about.

About this time another hunter and his guide called to us from up near the top of the creek bank. We could see them through a small hole in the overhead foliage. It turned out that it had been their driver that we had met in the field earlier. Upon hearing about what had happened, they had decided to load up their dogs and set out to find us to see if they could be of any help. My guide asked them to run up ahead to the “cut through” and lay in wait for the hog to come by because at this point we didn’t care who got the boar we just wanted him gotten.

As we once again took up the chase, he explained that this creek bottom would hit a solid rock wall in about 500 or 600 yards. The only way out was up and over the left side, through the “cut through” or to back track down the creek bed once again.

A short while latter we heard shouting and a shot up ahead. We both thought that the other hunter had gotten “our” hog. But just as suddenly, we heard the dogs coming back our way. My guide yelled for me to climb as high as I could as fast I could. So I pulled and pushed myself up the side of the muddy creek bank and wedged my foot up against a tree root for support. My guide had done the same on the other creek bank and he shouted across to get ready as we would probably only get one fast shot.

As I propped my gun up on my knees I could hear snorting and grunting coming our way from up the creek bed. So I lifted my Cimarron Arms Winchester in .45 Long Colt to my shoulder in preparation for a hasty shot before the big boar could get past us. Shortly there after the big boar appeared around a bend in the creek bed that was about 50 yards away and man was he a big one, bigger than any I had ever seen back on the farm.

It is funny how certain instances of time seem to stand still. I swear that he looked up at me and that I could see recognition in his blood shot eyes at the same instant that I put my gun to my shoulder and fired at the joint of his neck, behind the ear. He appeared to flinch from the shot and started trying to climb up the opposite bank, right toward my guide. At the instant he turned my guide fired but the hog kept right on going up the side of the hill. This is where all of my practice with the replica carbine really paid off.

I was able to quickly place another round in behind his shoulder, which along with my guide’s second shot, finally slowed him down a bit, as he dropped to his front knees. Then I put another round through his ear just for insurance. The big old boar hung on the bank side for a few seconds before he slowly rolled over and slid down the muddy embankment only to come to rest in the middle of the creek bed.

After a while, we heard the other hunter and his guide yelling for us to let them know whether or not we were O.K. They had come running up, unnoticed by us, during all of the commotion. After being assured that we were indeed O.K., they threw us a rope that we would later attach to a truck bumper and use to haul this monster boar out with. My guide didn’t want to field dress him there in the creek bed, as he wanted to note the live weight for his records.

Once back at camp, this huge boar weighted in with a live weight that was just slightly over 450 pounds. He was by far the biggest of the six hogs that I took on the hunt. One of his lower tusks was broken off at 3 inches and the other was 6 1/8 inches long. Needless to say, he was a big animal. After skinning, quartering and putting him in the big walk in cooler, I allowed myself the luxury of taking a hot shower before laying down a bit for well-deserved nap.

By the way we also killed several rattlesnakes during this same hunt. My largest was over 6 feet long. These Texas “worms” were almost as much fun to hunt as the hogs had been, though no less dangerous.