Special Ops, Pig Patrol

Wall Street Journal ^ | 8/19/2011 | Kris Hudson

[cowpoke]

The men advanced in the sweltering, pitch-black night, scanning the landscape with night-vision goggles and armed with semiautomatic rifles fitted with silencers. As the party drew nearer to its wary targets, guide Jed Dreher whispered for the men to walk in single file to "decrease our profile." At 50 yards out, they took aim through their thermal-vision scopes and let loose a hail of bullets. The targets scattered, squealing and grunting, into the nearby woods. The prey in this high-tech hunt: feral pigs in pastures near Madisonville, Texas. Hunters Chuck Coiner and Frank Hahnel, clients of guide service Tactical Hog Control LLC, killed five wild porkers that June night, including a 30-pounder that took five bullets to finish off. "Those are tough suckers," Mr. Hahnel remarked after the night's first shoot. "That was awesome." Tactical Hog Control, started in 2009 by Texas ranchers Clark Osborne and Mr. Dreher, is among a handful of next-generation outfitters across the South offering a new style of hog hunting designed to appeal to hunters' inner commando. Each client on a nocturnal hunt with the two men suits up with roughly $40,000 of military-grade gear, including semiautomatic rifles like the DPMS AR-10. The men prowl bumpy pastures and farmland in off-road vehicles bristling with gun racks and infrared headlights...more

[elcid1970]

Just practice for the real thing.

[woofer]

including semiautomatic rifles like the DPMS AR-10.

That's my pig gun. Don't have the fancy night vision and infrared, though. Keep one mag with standard FMJ and another with AP in case the target has the neck/shoulder callous.

I really want to shoot from a heliocopter. Saw a video on Youtube about that.

[Recon Dad]

Sending this to my son. I think he'd enjoy this type of shooting after Afghanistan. Plus he has better equipment then they do.

[Vaduz]

Wonder how close to the border Madisonville is?.

[Big_Harry]

My pig gun is a .375-338 loaded down to .38-55 speeds(1844 fps). The bullet of choice is a cast 265 gr lead of 15 brinell hardness with a gas check. Although I shoot ear to ear, it will drill a hole through the shoulder of the biggest porker like a hammer drill through soft concrete.

Here is a 200 pound sow from my last hot weather hunt (and I do mean last; too many snakes!)

The load on the left is the pig load, the others are loaded to 2550 fps (my shoulder is getting too old for the max loads)

[ConservaTexan]

I will be checking into this ASAP. Uncle Ted is my favorite poet.

[ASA Vet]

(my shoulder is getting too old for the max loads)

Harry, get one of these. It made shooting my very light .300 mag with hot loads pleasant. No more bruised and sour shoulder.

They're only around $25-30 depending on where you get them.

[Chode]

22 in one night...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EymHKsaOpRg

[Big_Harry]

I have a live rubber pad that I use for target shooting. It takes the sting out of the vintage Neidner steel butt plate on the .375. Since this gun was built for dangerous game, (Montana hunting), I prefer a solid butt plate over a recoil pad to reduce the possibility of dragging on my clothes.

[ASA Vet]

The PAST recoil pad can be worn under regular clothing. I assume you don’t hunt in the nude.

[jdsteel]

Gee thanks. I’ll be trying to get that image out of my head now!!! ; )

[eartrumpet]

Here’s a good read on a rainy day:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=449721

[Big_Harry]

“The PAST recoil pad can be worn under regular clothing. I assume you don’t hunt in the nude.”

LOL! That would be sure to show up on Youtube!

I try to minimize the bulk under the shooting shoulder cover, and I will never wear a recoil pad under or over my clothes in the field. Besides, there are bragging rights involved when handling big recoil with no buffers ;>)