Big Bore Hunting

[Nomadic Pirate]

As I was slipping around deep gulches I heard the unmistacable sound of hogs crushing Kukui nuts just over in the next gulch, I made my way around the finger and stalked 4 nice hogs to about 22 yards, I set my sight on the biggest saw but i was shaking so hard that couldn't keep a stady aim with my DAQ .50 pistol, I slowly repositioned so I was able to rest the pistol on a Limb, I was aiming at the top of the spine just behind the scull, once I sqezed the trigger hogs whent crazy and started climbing out of the narrow gulch, but the big saw was there, just doing a huge death dance, the 222gr Hollowpoint was just devastating.



Entry hole









Exit hole

You mean this one ?,.....thanks


I had to bring it to the top of the page

[jonny.177.22]

whoa! nomadic pirate, where do you live?

[JakePtehSniper]

Idk, but wherever he is, I wannalive there

[Earl of Squirrel]

I believe he's in Hawaii.

[Nomadic Pirate]

As I was crossing the dry creek bed in the predawn gathering light I heard some porkers, but the where in the thick tangled Brazilian pepper patch, so I made my way to a trail that slowly climbs a ridge but goes along it at the same time, all of a sudden I notice I real nice black Boar crossing towards the ridge top abot 35 yards from me, the moving critter didn't give me a chance at a shot and right after him was a good looking Saw, as I reached the crossing I took up the game trail they used and slooowly followed them.

Once I reached the ridge top and very carefully peeked over I saw some beautifull hunting grounds, terrain was a bit more open mainly old growth Guavas, I dropped in on the other side and started to still hunt, I could hear hogs moving around but couldn't get any visual, i was on a trail parallel to the ridge top when i get a glimpse at a silver hog coming directly towards me on the same trail, because of the vegetation i wasn't able to kneel down for a more comfortable shot, so as the hog disappeared momentarely behond a bend i raised the 707 Ultra and trained it to the spot where the porker would round the corner roughtly 20 yards from me, as soon as it did I took a shot at the forehead,....lights out !!!!


I thought this was a very good shot considering the circunstances, the 707 Ultra shooting the 71gr roundball is devastating on headshots

[dk1677]

Another great shot Manny!

[Ricochet808]

Jesus Manny, you are a firing squad. Every time I see these bigbore kills it makes me want to get one. The killing power on these Airguns is just impressive.

[Nomadic Pirate]

You should get one, they sure are a blast 

[-Mischief]

I think Manny needs his own forum on here! Nice!

[Nomadic Pirate]

I dropped to the ground as soon as I saw him !

He was about 60 yards away and facing away, i waited for him to round a corner behind and embarkment and than quickly close the gap, the rounding of the embarkment was painfully slow, one inch at a time, it didn't matter, he saw me before I did, and quickly disappeared in the thick brush,...man those peacocks have excepional eye 

that was one of the biggest males I'd ever seen, a tru trophy.

as I kept making my way I spyed a hen feeding on a Guava tree, 40+ yards away I had her in my crosshairs for quite a bit but choose not to shoot, i could hear the male s booming away around and stiil wanted to bag one, once she left the tree I resume my still hunting, i got to a good place wher I had a pretty decen view so I decide to lay in the dirt and see if one of them Peacock would come my way, as I'm lying there I hear noise in the tall grass behind me, so I turn around laying on my back with the rifle across my cest, a hen comes out the tall grass about 25 yards away, i didn't give her a chance to sound the alarm or take off, i shot the 71gr roundball at the center of her cest, and she whent down immediatly, I missed the peacock I wanted by I had no choice at that point..

[dk1677]

Nice one Manny!

[Nomadic Pirate]

C'mon, anybody else ??  

[Mebits]

Manny, their intimidated!

Seriously, though, one of the big bore merchants ought to give you an editor and have you blogging for them. Your stories capture the imagination. Even folks like me, who are unlikely to run into any boar or peacock any time soon, have to be thinking, "I think I need one of those! Maybe two!"

M

[Nomadic Pirate]

Late afternoon was fast approcing when I finally found what I was looking for, The heavy full of fruit Lilikoi vine was dropping them by the 100s.

Lilikoi, or in the western world "Passion Fruit" is a favorite by the wild hogs, it's good for the hunters too since the porkers to get the goodies out step on the pretty hard skin making it pop, than not so good the nectar out, and this, gives them away  

I had my 909s set up with the ND3 so I was prepared to wait into the night, I found an advantagious position, since the Vine was dropping fruit at the bottom of the gulch I set up about 30 yards up the steep slope, I made sure I had a big tree to sit against and s low branch to rest my rifle on if I had a chance to shoot.

I'd being sitting there for awile, sitting on the ground in a thick pitch black dense forest is quite unerving, no real protection and you know that porkers are all over in the night Hours.

Than I finally heard the unmistakable sound of the hog stepping on the Lilikois, I placed the ND3 on it He kinda flinced, I think more for the sligth clik of the laser, but than settled down to munch on the delicious fruit, it took about 2 minutes before he gave me the shot, and when he did I put the crosshairs between the eye and the hear and squized the trigger, ...lights out.


I was shooting a modified 180gr Air Venturi Hollowpoint, and it surely did an awsome job.




I had a camera mounted on the scope, but not enought light to capture any footage, but the sound his there, you can hear the young boar thrash after the shot

[Butcher45]

      Coyote hunt back in 2009...... I visited the office of a local timber company to request permission to hunt on their land.  Their policy when giving permission to hunt their timberland is to allow a hunter access to four of their properties, and there are many to choose from.  Most of these properties are fairly large.  

     The property I hunted today was one of the smallest properties available.  However, it looked like a real good spot, with very dense timberland that could be covered nicely in an afternoon's hunt.  It is relatively close to a bit of isolated farmland, so despite it's small size I decided to include it as one of the four properties I chose to put on my permit (they actually cut me some slack, and allowed me five properties).

     My strategy with this area was to call at low to medium volume depending on the terrain surrounding the location I made a stand, setting-up numerous stands lasting 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. These stands wouldn't be to far apart from one-other, so as to make the most of this relatively small area.  

     Against my better judgment, I decided to go hunting by myself today in prime Cougar country, as the hunting partner I have been planning to go calling with lately is out hunting bear this weekend.  Sometimes I just HAVE TO HUNT!

     I arrived at the gate sometime after 9am.  I made my way up the closed-off logging road, and soon chose an area in some pretty thick woods to make my first stand.  Breaking out the Circe MVP-4, I selected the low volume voice (sqweaker) and called for about ten seconds.  After waiting about 10 minutes, I then called again for another ten seconds.  

     After another 10-15 minutes of hearing and seeing nothing, I decided to head out to find a more promising location.  

     A bit less than 1/2 mile down the road, I came across this clearcut.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote011-1.jpg

     This location seemed ideal in my eyes.  I was facing south in a NNW wind when looking at the clearcut from the logging road.  So I got my decoy out of my hip bag (Turkey feather tied with some fishing line to a fold-out stick), stuck it into the ground, and set up on a berm alongside a treeline overlooking the clearcut about 30 yards down the road from the decoy.  
     After taking some time both to settle into my position, and study my surroundings, I let out a medium volume distress for about ten seconds using the Primos Cat Nip (a bite-type handcall).

     After only one minute (if that), I detected movement about 150 yards away on the far ridge of the clearcut.  I immediately got that hunters rush, as I realized it was what I was after: a coyote!  I could see that it was a high-bellied critter, and figured that if it was a female, it was likely a dry one.

     The coyote made it's way into the clearcut, and stopped to survey it's surroundings about 35 yards in, and about 115 yards from my stand.  "Don't....move" I told myself, trying as best I could to settle down.
 
     My heart was about to burst out of my chest, as I knew that the coyote was definitely on a direct course towards my location.  There is a grass road that comes out of the clearcut that meets the logging road at a 45 degree angle about 30 yards to my right; so I had set up accordingly should a coyote come from the clearcut.

     Making it's way further in, the coyote again stopped to look around.  It was now about 75 yards out.  I took a quick inventory of the wind: slight crosswind from my left.  I was OK for now.  
  
     Venturing further into the clearcut, the coyote stopped once again to survey the surroundings at about 50 yards from my stand.  If the coyote took another couple of steps, it would be under the berm on the other side of the road, and out of my line of sight.  

     I had to make a decision.  

     Do I dare move the rifle from my lap, and take the shot?  If I did, it would be necessary to stand up if the coyote saw me and ran, and I was pretty sure it would have done both.  Then I would only have a moving shot without a rest: there was no time to grab the mono-pod.  Not a high-percentage (ie airgunning) shot.  

     It was at this time I recalled a word of advice I had read on the PredatorMasters forum just before heading out that morning.  A poster named Vent-O-Later had responded to a newbie's request for guidance, with the words "be patient....if you see one come in, let it come on in".  

     So that is exactly what I did.

     The coyote continued on it's path, and out of sight behind the berm in front of me.  The berm was between the grass road coming from the clearcut, and the logging road that was in front of my stand.  I knew the coyote was now on the grass road.  I took this opportunity to put the rifle to my shoulder, take a breath or two, and prepare myself.  

     Sure enough, the coyote came up from the clearcut's grass road onto the logging road, turned my direction, and HEADED STRAIGHT FOR ME AT ABOUT 30 yards max!

     This is the view of the green grass road coming out of the clearcut.  I was sitting on the berm along the treeline to the right of the intersection.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote012-1.jpg

     Being set-up on the slight berm, I was now just a little bit above the coyote.  It was very slightly quartering towards me on it's approach with it's nose to the ground, so I didn't have the frontal chest shot I was after.  No moving head-shots for me.  

     Now it was close enough to catch my scent, and about 12-15 yards away.  I was about to BLOW A GASKET waiting for it to cross my path before putting the scope to my eye, which would have put the coyote no more than 15 feet in front of me!  

     Then the coyote seemed to suddenly sense something it didn't like. It may have decided that the decoy it was headed for wasn't really a meal, or very likely may have smelled a footprint I had left in the road while deciding where to set-up.  Maybe it smelled ME.  Whatever it was that the coyote sensed,  it caused it to change it's plans immediately.  

     The coyote took a very sharp, decisive turn to it's left, and started to trot towards the treeline up the berm I was sitting on.  It was only a few yards from cover.
  
     It was now, or never!

     I figured that at such close range, my making any noise at all could possibly send the coyote off on an all-out run.  Instead, I gambled that the coyote would see the movement of my rifle in it's peripheral vision, and stop to take a look.

     Focusing my aiming eye on the coyote, I quickly raised my Leroy-tuned SamYang 909 .456 air rifle, and got it in my crosshairs as it was about half-way up the berm.  Right before it got it's nose into the thick cover, it stopped on the berm and looked right at me, giving me a full-on broadside shot at very close range.  

     The words that a friend of mine used to describe the importance of immediately taking advantage of a shot opportunity on game the very instant it presented itself, rang true thru my head as if he were right there next to me shouting in my ear.........RIGHT NOW!!!

     !!!BLAPTHWUMP!!!  The coyote then ran into the thick woods.

     I immediately reloaded my bigbore air rifle, and ran to the last spot I saw the coyote; looking for any signs of blood.  Upon entering the timber, I found blood after about 5 yards.  I then gathered my thoughts.  

     I said to myself, "OK self, that shot was just a little farther back than I wanted (correct shot placement on a broadside coyote is "on the shoulder"), but it was still only a little bit behind the shoulder/armpit, so it definitely took out the lungs.  There's blood here, so take it easy, and see how the trail is looking".

     The blood trail was a steady one, so I made sure to take my time, and mark the blood spots by sticking branches into the ground where I saw blood.  Wanting to give the coyote time to die, and not prematurely jump it from it's deathbed, I made certain to do this very quietly, in a slow, methodical fashion.  

     After following the bloodtrail for about 60-70 yards I heard what I thought could be the coyote thrashing around another 30-40 yards or so ahead, just over a ridge that was past a small saddle in the woods.  So I held tight, and waited for what seemed like an eternity (probably about 10-15minutes).  I later realized that the sound I heard was not the coyote.

     After having not heard any more thrashing about for awhile, I continued to slowly follow the bloodtrail for another 40 yards or so, until I saw a pile of fur before me.  It was indeed my dead-as-a-doornail quarry: my first coyote (a dry female) and BY FAR my greatest hunting achievement to date.  Taken by myself, with a handcall, and a .456 air rifle.


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote004-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote006-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote001-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote010.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/FirstCoyote015-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/TrophyandPrize011.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/TrophyandPrizeSkull008.jpg


Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked!

[uncle paulie]

NP, glad to see you put some make-up on for the photo-ops! LOL

pv

[Johnny Quest]

 Great story and photo's Butcher... I could feel the excitement... I love varmint hunting and have never done the bigbore thing.. We have a ranch covered in hogs, coyote, Chupracabra dawg, and no tellin what else.. I have just always used my powder burners to hunt them..
 I think its time for a big bore now..   You and Manny's stories have convinced me that I can kill the 400lbers without a problem...

[Nomadic Pirate]

Nice write up Chris, enjoyed it.

[rofocale2011]

very nice !!!, could you post some pictures of your DAQ .50 pistol ?

[Butcher45]

Predator Hunting with Mojo Critter, Game Sling, EPP/UG's, and Butchers' Game Calls.....all did the do on this hunt 1/30/2011.  



This is the first coyote I have called in and killed using the game calls I invented myself.  I alternated between my Excruciator voiced to JackRabbit/Fawn Distress, and Magnum Sqweaker call for I'd say 8-10 minutes.  I had taken a good look at the ridge above me before calling (always study your surroundings BEFORE you begin calling), so I noticed a stump on the ridge that I was sure hadn't been there before at about 50 yards.  So I turned my scope up from 1.8X to 5.5X to get a real good look-see.  As I raised the rifle while fixating on the new stump that was mesmerized by the Mojo Critter decoy, I thought I noticed the stumps face moved at a slight angle, responding to my movement.  No time for the mono-pod (someday it will prove worth bringing hehehe).  I had hoped he was a bobcat, but hey I'll shoot a coyote every chance I get.  I put the crosshairs on his chest, managed to keep them there, and let one fly.  

Upon impact, the coyote yapped like crazy as he spun around like a top for what seemed like about two dozen lightning-fast spins.  He stumbled off, and out of sight just as I had finished reloading.  

I went to get after him, and heard a warning bark about 150 yards uphill over another ridge as I was
going over the first ridge.  "Oh that's just great" I thought to myself.  "I sure hope that isn't the coyote I shot, or I will be searching for him all day".  Was it the coyote I had shot, or another from the pack (possibly the coyote I jumped recently that I named "Marmaduke")?  

Fortunately, the coyote had only made it about twenty yards tops from where had I shot
him, but he still wasn't quite done.  I am glad I didn't wait to go after him, and continue calling as many others would do.  A finishing shot to the neck put him down for the count.  His jaw was still twitching open and shut though, so I put another one in his heart which brought no reaction whatsoever.  The third shot wasn't at all necessary, but I wanted to be certain.  It was nice having the shot count to put another shot in him without hesitation, and know that I still had more shots left to continue hunting with.

A young coyote....probably why he stuck his nose out first (at least he's the one I saw first).  At about 25.5 lbs, he was around half the size of Marmaduke......maybe a son, or cousin?  Maybe Marmaduke gave the warning bark after I shot his buddy?

The EPP/UG's worked well.  They put a much cleaner, leakier hole in the hide than the roundball did with my
other coyote.  I don't think I got an exit on the frontal shot, which is no surprise considering the slug weighs only 154grains
in .45caliber..  The neck shot exited, but I'm not sure about the final shot to the heart.  I asked the taxidermist to count the holes
while tanning the hide for my wall.  I'll be getting the head back from him to send to Jim Fisher when I can afford to have the skull done.

The following is a short video I made right afterwards that shows the location of the Mojo
Critter Decoy (on the stump right next to the 909), followed by the ridge above it that I
anticipated predators to peer-over, then the tree I was sitting up against (the second large tree
from the left when the camera is the furthest to the right), then back up to the ridge.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x65/butcher45/?action=view&current=100_0168.mp4


This location was about a mile from the gate as the crow flies, and logging roads don't fly straight and level like crows do.  
Enter the Game Sling from Clarks Custom Calls and Lanyards.  The Game Sling made getting that coyote back to the gate sooooooooo much easier.  GREAT gear to have.  I should probably rig the coyote to the sling
rightside-up, but felt I would get my leg bled on a bit more than I care for the way the wounds were.  

It wasn't foggy today...the camera lens got fogged-up (though it was at least that foggy when I was hunting up there last week).




I feel that this stand worked well because predators were forced to that ridge to take a peek, as they would have been much more
exposed coming from either side of me.  Plus the side to my right was not very navigable due to the terrain, and lack of game trails on that side.  There
was a big downhill clearcut directly behind me, so I figured they would not expose themselves there.  Seemed like a perfect set-up.  I heard a warning bark later in the afternoon last year that came from the direction these coyotes came from, so I figured there might be a bedding area up there.  I think I might have been right about that one.

You really have to put your time in to be successful calling timber/rain forest coyotes here.  Many Oregon predator hunters won't bother calling the wet side, and head to Eastern Oregon which can somewhat resemble Wyoming in some areas.  Another challenge is that this particular area is very
popular with hikers, joggers, and horseback riders so my stands often get "busted" before they begin.  
Happens almost every hunting trip if I am to close to a logging road.  I am getting more familiar
with the area to where I am thinking I can avoid the non-hunters for most of the day.  It took me a few hunts to again find the clearcut I was looking for that this stand bordered!

I got a late start predator hunting this year.  I've been rehabbing a very bad knee injury (no surgery) I
sustained in July, and was just able to put all of my weight on it going up the stairs in the
beginning of Dec.  So I was unable to do any pre-season scouting this year.  Getting out every chance I get now.  I still have
a month left to try to call in a bobcat to the 909 with my handcalls.  I think I just might get one.