Guest post by Jonathan Owen, CEO of SHWAT.com There are numerous ways to hunt wild hogs, and here at the Spike Box you’re welcome to sit in a blind and wait to see what happens. What’s about to happen now is the polar opposite. It’s dawn in West Texas and my hunt partner and I are on hog patrol.
Spike Box is a 94,000-acre working cattle ranch where wild hogs compete with the cows for wheat. In my numerous trips here, I don’t recall ever seeing so many cows. They don’t seem bothered by the hogs or us, but the quiet of the morning is about to be briefly shattered. In one of the few places where the wheat remains tall and lush, we’ve spotted hogs from the truck and we’re rolling on them, guns shouldered, pointing out the windows. Our guide calls this “Rodeo” and it’s about to wind up! My hunting partner is Ed Ryan of Remington Defense, whose prior career was as a Marine Corps sniper instructor. Remington is taking much of its military weaponry to the commercial market and Ryan brought the toys. I’m about to pull the trigger and send some supersonic Remington Premier Match .300 Blackout OTM into some pigs. Five pigs if you’re counting.
The AAC upper on this rig will play a big role with me over the next several days. In addition to the EoTech .300 Blackout holographic weapon sight with its dual super/subsonic reticle, I’ll add a DBAL-D2 from TNVC for night hunting. We roll fast into the field, our guide Tyler Pounds at the wheel. He knows what he’s doing. He first worked as a cowboy on the ranch, covering countless square miles on horseback. It seems he knows every rise and fall of this pasture as he guns the truck toward the hogs.
Instantly, the hogs know the game is on, breakfast is done and they take off running. Tyler gets us parallel to the running group, and I can imagine jumping out of the truck and wrestling one to the ground like a steer wrestler. Note I said “imagine,” and that only for a split second as I attempt to get a sight picture. The truck jolts and lurches at speed making aiming consistently pretty tricky. I don’t know how fast we’re moving, probably slower than it feels. Tyler veers right and left, left and right as the hogs try to make it to cover.
We’re clear of cows now, barreling along with the pigs. They appear and disappear in the wheat that is almost as tall as the biggest hogs in the group. Time for the hog patrol to do its job, so I pull the trigger. Again and again I pull the trigger, connecting, missing, connecting again. It’s happening so fast that I can’t remember how many rounds I shot or what my hit ratio was like. I used less than a magazine is all I can say for sure. The parallels to helicopter hunting are pretty legit! That, and we shot four nice wild boars—all approaching 200 pounds. We took out an 80 pounder as well with Ryan scoring on an additional wee little pig. As I recall, it was five hogs for Jonathan, two for Ryan with both getting credit on one of those pigs. Don’t let the story fool you. The truth is, Ryan is the better shot and demonstrated that during the rest of the trip, not mention hitting that really small running target from a bouncing truck. Hat tip to the Marine.
When it comes to .300 Blackout, I’ve been a bit skeptical, mostly because we all want the subsonic variety to kill like supersonic. A number of makers are working on such things, but I’ve yet to be impressed. However, I definitely like the supersonic variety from Remington. The Remington Premier Match .300 Blackout OTM uses a Sierra Match King bullet, and it certainly did its job on those boars. Every hog hit with it went down. The first one I shot dropped right in its tracks. None made it far from where it was shot.
The AAC upper ran as expected. We moved the upper around on some R4 lowers and a personal gun, illustrating why we all love the AR platform so much: mix and match and get to work. Or play, if you prefer.
There’s a lot more to be said about what Remington is doing with its defense line, and what’s available to those of us who can’t buy on government contracts. Lots of us have wanted to get our hands on these and in many cases, you can now. But we’ll save that for another day. In the meantime, consider me sold on Remington .300 Blackout supersonic ammo and hog hunting rodeos at Spike Box Ranch. You ought to give those a shot yourself! Jonathan Owen, CEO of Special Hog Weapons and Tactics, started pulling triggers in the 4-H Shooting Sports program. Soon, he was teaching air-rifle marksmanship and gun safety. His introduction to hunting after college was frozen season of absentee deer, leading him to conclude he was a shooter, not a hunter. That led to a civilian fascination with all things tactical. Later, when introduced to the dynamic world of tactical hog hunting, all that changed and Special Hog Weapons and Tactics was born. Today, Owen is a highly regarded industry professional who loves both the shooting and hunting aspects of the firearms community. A writer, photographer, videographer, storyteller and consultant, he loves bringing new experiences and gear to anyone who’ll pay attention. This material is adapted from Special Hog Weapons And Tactics. Copyright ©2015 SHWAT.com.
When I read comments like the above, I have a heavy heart, because its becoming obvious,”hunting” is doomed. Why not use traps or poison if the object is to eradicate a feral pests. When I shot a woodchuck that was raiding my daughters garden this spring, I didn’t call that hunting, its extermination! When the fox got into the hen house this spring, and killed two birds, and I waited two days for the fox to return, I don’t call that hunting. I’m removing a pest.
I have hunted most of my 62 years, taken deer from treestands and stalking, a couple with deer drives also. I have hunted black bears with hounds, taken two bull moose, and two wild boar. All fair chase, all legal and ethical. I will teach my grandson to be a woodsman, not just a killer. He will learn respect and admire the wild creatures we will hunt. There will still be hunters here in Vermont, when everybody else has forgotten how.
I get a kick out of the “hunting ” shows on TV, these Sportsmen get all dresses up in camo, get driven to a elevated blind, sit in a comfortable chair, and shoot deer over bait. Thats not deer hunting, thats deer shooting! Why do they even bother to wear camo?
Sounds like you “boys” had lots of fun. Just please don’t confuse this with, or call this “hunting”
Whether you like it or not, what they did–chasing or coursing–is a style of hunting. It’s considered ‘unfair’ by some sportsmen because of the sheer technological advantage of motorized vehicles, but whether the advantage was hunting from horseback with a lance/spear, bow and arrow, or rifle, man has always sought the advantage when taking animals. Many native American tribes used traps and corrals, in addition to chasing/coursing on horseback. Not everyone used stalking or stationary (camouflage) hunting.
I used to do this with buddies in high school. However, we’d shoot lots of rabbits not hogs. I’ve killed plenty of hogs. Would love to try this way now. The key would be the driver.
Could someone please tell me how the .300 Blackout or .300 Whisper differs from the 7.62×39 Russian short ?
I can shoot 7.62×39 for 21-23 cents per roud versus 90cents to $2 round in the Whisper or Blackout.
Can the new cartridges be defended ballistically ?
This is why I’ll never go to the Whisper, or blackout. Not worth my time, if U can’t afford to shoot it, everybody don’t have that kind of money to play!
If cost is the primary criteria in determining practicality, then obviously there are much cheaper (5.56/.223 or 7.62×39) alternatives. If power is the issue, then there are much more powerful, common cartridges (.308, 30-06, or even 12 gauge slug) However, if reliability, ‘suppressability’, and flexibility are also important, then .300BLK is a perfectly fine choice for those using the AR-15 platform.
Is .300BLK a bit of a niche cartridge? Sure. But it seems to have a place in the hands of many AR-15 shooters.