After several years of applying, a buddy & I finally drew a hog hunt at the White Oak WMA in far northeast Texas the first week of February. Due to both of our work schedules & the fact that my buddy had to get back to his home in Washington, D.C. we were only able to hunt 2 of the 5 days we had available to us. My gunsmith still wasn't finished with the scout scope mount on the 9.3x62 barrel assembly for my Empire Rifles takedown, so I headed out with the .30-'06 barrel & two different 220-grain RN loads.

The first day was a great example of state bureaucracy at work. We reported to the WMA biologist/check station at 8 AM, only to be told that we'd have to wait until 10 AM to figure out what area we could hunt because the other drawn hunters hadn't reported in yet (5 groups drew tags; we were 1 of only 2 groups that paid for the tags, and the only group that showed up on opening day!). At 11 AM the area managers finally decided that no other drawn hunters were going to show up and assigned us a ~3,500-acre area to hunt (the entire WMA encompasses ~25,000 acres). That's a pretty big piece of unfamiliar real estate to chase pigs when you don't have dogs and the brush is too thick for 4-wheelers.

We were hunting by 12 or 12:30 PM that day, and found our first pig a couple of sweaty hours later. The entry wound on this small boar is proof that I have a habit of leading running targets too much.

Just over the rifle barrel you might be able to see some "splatter" from the exit wound. Just under the rifle barrel you might be able to see where the 220-grain Hornady RN impacted the tree after passing through. My handloads with this bullet (.30-'06 at ~2,450 fps) have had similar performance on white tails: caliber-sized entry wound, caliber-sized exit wound, and dead animal somewhere in between. It has worked, but also been apparent to me that this particular bullet would probably perform better at magnum velocities. So I also brought along some factory Remington .30-'06 ammo loaded with their 220-grain Core-Lokt bullet.

Late afternoon on Day 1 we bumped some pigs off their bed and killed another small boar and a good sized sow that required 4 shots before giving up the ghost (2 from my .30-'06 & 2 from my buddy's .308).

On Day 2 I loaded my rifle with the factory Remington ammo and we explored the remainder of the area we had been assigned. We bumped many, many deer and one bobcat but all the pig sign we found was weeks old. Towards dusk we tried the only area we hadn't hunted yet. And as Murphy would predict, that was the spot that was over-run with fresh sign!

We split up and started busting through thick brush & briars. With ~15 minutes of legal shooting light left I had a pit-sized sow wander into the small clearing I was in, and I got a good hit on her using the factory Remington load.

She ran 60 - 70 yards before dropping. Having shot many pigs with .45-70 and .358 Win I'm no longer surprised when they still manage to make tracks after absorbing well-placed hits from fairly heavy bullets, but I'm always impressed. Check out the exit wound on her:

It was a bunch of work for only 4 pigs but I wouldn't trade it for the world. The guy I was hunting with has been a friend of mine since we were about 14 or 15 years old. We hunted together as kids, enlisted in the Army together, and went to college together. These days it's a good year if we see each other once, so a couple of days banging around in the woods is a genuine treat.