LOL too true Ralph. I figured I'd be out of luck, but I had to try! 8) Corey, you are actually "hunting" with a crossbow. I'm not into hunting hogs. I go for population erradication. Which in my state is not only allowed, but encouraged.
I had one years ago, nothing like the products being offered today, CO2 canisters etc...They really are making a comeback..I remember shooting a gator years ago with my old crossbow, shot him right between the ear holes at the top of his head and it bounced off. The newest editions would slice right through one I'm sure... I have to agree with Scott I am more into land management at this point, I want to see carcasses littered in front of me... Besides some of us have moved up to forks and knives...
As long as you leave your Lamborghini and Maserati at home during your night time jaunts you will not have a problem Terry. They are low profile and built like a Sherman tank, they either bounce off or you go totally over them. I was counting how many I have hit over the years which is about six so far and none of them ever came close to rolling over the hood. I had a deer do it once, the worse experience I had was hitting a deer at 65 mph and it wedging itself under my truck and tangling up with my steering column. I immediately was going left with no control of my direction, not very fun...
Stu if you can break away one morning or afternoon while you are in the area I will give you the $5 dollar tour. Things are picking up with our very warm winter but I'm sure I can work out a visit for a fellow Skybox alumni....I am a 45 minute drive NorthEast of Ft. Myers on County Rd 74 East in Charlotte County. If your into Bass fishing I'll show you the honey holes, I have guys driving 5 hour roundtrips from Tampa every two weeks to fish out here. Saturday they caught (and released) 69 bass with eleven over 7 lbs. I don't fish, when I am out here I only see work and what has to be done. chamberlainralph@hotmail.com
I haven't been bass fishin' in years but I sure are tempted to head your way Ralph. BTW we haven't been getting that many days in this "warm winter" up here.
Just let me know and I will point you in the right direction 8) We have 500 acres of reservoir areas and miles of connecting canals. We also have an estimated 7,500 alligators swimming in those fishing holes. I have told the investor more than once that we could always turn the property into an Eco-Park if farming doesn't work out...
Corey, my son (FlBucks on the contest) bow hunts deer...but not with a crossbow...uses (what's the term...compound bow?) His wife bagged one a couple of months ago. He actually lives in Orlando area but goes up to S. Carolina to hunt. Maybe I should send him your way, Ralph...see if he would like to try for some of your hogs. Is it wise to hunt hogs with a compound bow? Sounds like you could get hurt.
Stu, You can, but it would be wise to carry a good secondary weapon with some punch in case you piss off the target, or his family. I'd go with a .45 semi auto in whatever style suites your taste...
If I had some spare cash laying around (I checked - $934) I might try out this .50 cal upper receiver on my AR. It's got plenty of punch to knock ANY hog down with a single round. Plus, it looks really cool!
Hogs are legal to hunt from heliocopters in Texas now aren't they...could you mount that baby on the back of your dune buggy and go for a ride in the brush?
Stu, Yes you can and yes I have. It's a fairly long story but we could just call it 'Satchmo is an asshole and he doesn't get to go hunting anymore.' I wound up with some busted ribs, but I got the Hogs. I haven't been able to go with all the wild stuff that's been going on since last Spring. As Scott mentioned, it's best to carry a backup weapon. I carry an Arkansas toothpick for that purpose. It's probably smarter/easier to carry a firearm but since I generally hunt close to Federal land (it's really easy to wind up on the wrong side of a tree line), I avoid bringing guns. I've gone deer hunting with them. I don't know if the deer hunting culture is for me.
Corey, you are a brave man if you just take a knife as your back up. (even a big one like a toothpick) Either that or your hogs aren't as mean as ours. :wink: Terry, The buggy is strictly a pavement queen now, so I don't think I'll try that. Would LOVE to hunt from a Helo tho. I suspect I couldn't hit anything from up there unless we were stationary. Some of the shots you see guys make while moving are incredible, and much harder than the average Joe knows...
Learn to control your breathing... not just holding your breath, The most relaxed and stable point is at the end of an exhale just before the inhale. That is the point to squeeze off a round. With this technique, I have made a spent .410 shotgun shell dance with consecutive shots on a berm from 100 yards with an AK-47. Now shooting from a moving platform is quite a bit harder but the same technique will make you more accurate.
All good advice Tom, and I do try to do all that. I watched a show that discussed the physics of hitting a target from a moving helo. Showed all the factors you have to account for to hit a moving target the size of a hog (which they will be, the helo spooks the crap out of them). With an automatic it's not so bad, you can "see" the bend and walk your fire to the target. These guys were doing single shots. Incredible... they were leading some of the more distant hogs by 10 yards or so.
like shooting fish in a barrell for these guys.. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/89UliEiQQyU" frameborder="0"></iframe>
I'm really not all that great but was pretty happy with this...hit 7 of 12 coins from 100 yds. (Using scope and bench rest). Thought I did pretty well but my buddy beat me...but he was shooting his .223 and I was shooting my 30.06.
ha! nah, they're pretty mean. Those ribs didn't break themselves. You can run into some real dicey characters up in those hills. I don't sound like I'm from here. Some guy with a California accent, all decked out in the latest catalog wardrobe and a shiny new side arm can draw a lot of interest from those weird asses who have more ammo than sense (or teeth). A guy with a high powered cross bow, a custom Arkansas tooth pick, rope, tin snips and doesn't say a whole lot tends to freak people out. I like it that way. I can still drop a lethal bolt from 75 yards, but I prefer to get closer. To me, the excitement is in the hunt. To be able to track and slip within 30 yards of a wild animal without it knowing you're there is where the fun is for me. Probably the scariest moment I've had hunting boar was stumbling upon a meth trailer out in the middle of nowhere. You could smell the cook. It had been used recently. I backed the eff outta there as quietly as I came upon it. Boar is one thing, some tweaker with an AK47 is a different animal, literally.