Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Game hunting and large prey. Deer stalking, hunting with hounds. Boar, pigs etc., large prey, culling, hunting large feral animals.

Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Rod_outbak » 03 Dec 2018, 7:16 am

It was ~43.5 degrees here yesterday with a strong breeze; not really all that enjoyable.
Kinda like living in a fan-forced oven.

Being a Sunday, and it being the worst drought ever experienced, there isnt much going on, and so a pretty quiet day.

After I'd had a cuppa mid-afternoon, I wander back into my office.
As I go to sit down, I see a freaking Micro-Pig; trotting towards the corner of the house!

He's roughly heading in the direction of where I had a sprinkler running earlier; I suspect he's going to find a cool spot to weather the baking heat.
Roddy's brain goes to mush...
Do I let loose the venerable Ruger Precision? (.308) - seems a tad overkill for such short range..
Do I let loose the trusty Exploding Rabbit Gun? (also .308) - also seems a tad overkill.
Do I fire up the Krico .243? - Hmm....
Does the new CZ 455 get to claim it's first porcine scalp (.17HMR) - havent yet finished the NV scope sight-in - but likely good enough for this.
Do I fire up the Tikka 7mm? (hasnt been sighted in since the scope rail replacement, but not likely to be a problem at this range.
Do I simply flash up the venerable Marlin 336? (.30-30) - still got that overkill dilemma happening...
Or do I go for broke and blood the .45-90 High-wall? (SERIOUSLY overkill, but has a fantastic giggle-factor if I hit him)

Decision, Decisions...

I know!
The likelihood of the short-range engagement results in me tottering out with the .45ACP loaded with CCI shotshells.
Roddy stalks out towards the area where the sprinkler was running, with the stealthy agility of bull in a china shop.
After carefully checking out the area, there's no sign of the Micro-Pig, and Roddy stops to scratch his head.
Where did the little bugger go?
As I'm about to turn back into the house, I look over at the base of the little Olive tree, and here's Mr Micro-Pig; watching me with some interest.
It looks like he's made himself at home in the dripper puddle that irrigates that line of trees.
Probably ~10 metres away.
Oh; What the heck....pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession.
Mr Micro-Pig utters a squeak, and trots off towards the fence to make his escape.....
...and collapses at the fence!
Woo-hoo!

This whole concept of pig-shooting while still inside your own garden; HUGE thumbs-up!

It's the little things....
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by JSS » 03 Dec 2018, 7:32 am

What a tough choice you had there Rod, i reckon you made the right call in the end, same one i would of made too :thumbsup:
I have to say i'm completely jealous of your backyard hunting trip!! interesting that those little shot shells are that effective at 10 meters, i've been meaning to give them a try for s**ts & giggles, now i'll have to grab some for sure.

Maybe you should keep the sprinklers on and put some tasty bait out, you could make it a regular hunt. I can just picture it now, sitting on the porch in a deck chair, beers in the esky on one side, 45 on the other.........perfect hunting trip :lol: :drinks:
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Daddybang » 03 Dec 2018, 8:15 am

Theres not much better than being able to drop a pest without leaving the home paddock!!!
Nice work. :lol: :thumbsup: :drinks:
This hard living ain't as easy as it used to be!!!
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by bigrich » 03 Dec 2018, 2:28 pm

If ya reckon it’s like living in a fan forced oven rod, maybe you should hang the deceased micro pig of the clothes line for two hours in a oven bag. You could probably do the crackliing on a bit of tin shed. :lol:
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Rod_outbak » 03 Dec 2018, 3:14 pm

Yeah, After I nailed him, I went inside and stuffed around in the house for maybe another hour. By the time I walked out to drag his sorry arse a bit further away from the house (and into a good field of fire for any additional pokking), Micro-Pig was as stiff as a board. I reckon he would have indeed turned into Biltong in a matter of a few hours of that blast-furnace.

We(overseer & I) were discussing things just after I nailed the pig, and we decided we could likely cook dinner out on a piece of tin outside at present...

Last time I sighted this little guy, he was with another 5 or so, in a little mob that has been hanging around for a few weeks.
Pretty sure I pokked their Mum about 5 weeks back, so maybe they see me as a bit of a father figure...
Kinda keen to catch up with the rest of the kids before they stop viewing me as their dear old Dad...

Geez; I'm a kind soul...

The weather is supposed to dial back a bit temp-wise in the middle of the week.
Cant wait; blast-furnaces are nice for only so long.
On the bright side (desperately looking for anything construed as 'bright' at present), swampy aircons work a treat when the humidity is averaging 9%...
Pretty crap when it's 60%, though more chance of rain on those days...
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Rod_outbak » 03 Dec 2018, 3:35 pm

[quote="JSS"]
What a tough choice you had there Rod, i reckon you made the right call in the end, same one i would of made too :thumbsup:
I have to say i'm completely jealous of your backyard hunting trip!! interesting that those little shot shells are that effective at 10 meters, i've been meaning to give them a try for s**ts & giggles, now i'll have to grab some for sure.

Maybe you should keep the sprinklers on and put some tasty bait out, you could make it a regular hunt. I can just picture it now, sitting on the porch in a deck chair, beers in the esky on one side, 45 on the other.........perfect hunting trip :lol: :drinks:
[/quote]

JSS,

I'm still not sure; Part of me screams that the .45-90 should've gotten a run, and part of me says the new .17HMR should've nailed him.
It was a tough call; whatever way I went....

I have arranged a recently dead pig into such a spot as to be an easy target from the house, without the risk of nailing yet more polypipe (missed a rabbit with the .308 the other day, but nailed the house supply water pipe dead-centre! Hows that for accuracy??).
I'm hopeful I get a customer fanging for some pork Biltong in the next few days...

I think I was pretty lucky that the shotshells nailed the little pig at that distance; suspect they were on the limit of their effective range, and it was just him being young and soft-skinned.
Certain that even if he'd been 12 months older, that he'd have survived long enough to run away. Mind you; if he'd been 12 months older, I'm sure the firearms choice would've been a bit different.
Every time I've used the .45ACP shotshells, I've thought they perform very similar to a .410 loaded with bird-shot.
Freaking awesome on bitey snakes, and cats in trees.
I see CCI make these shotshells in 9mm, .40Cal, .357magnum, .44 Magnum, and .45 (Long) Colt. I also note that the last 4 are made in both #9 shot, but also #4 shot versions!
I'd love to get the chance to try out the .44 Magnum version with #4 shot; I suspect they might have a bit more range and bite to them.
Unfortunately, I dont know anyone with a .44 Magnum at present.
However, I do know a few people with .357's.....hmm.
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/ ... ialty.aspx
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Stix » 03 Dec 2018, 4:30 pm

Rod_outbak wrote:
... ... ...missed a rabbit with the .308 the other day, but nailed the house supply water pipe dead-centre! ... ... ...

a .410 loaded with bird-shot---Freaking awesome on bitey snakes, and cats in trees.



Ah man you crack me up... :lol: :lol:
I gotta get up there...sounds like a dam hoot...!!! :thumbsup: :drinks:
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Rod_outbak » 03 Dec 2018, 6:32 pm

Stix,

We make pretty freaking good coffee as well...


This was my other visitor of note yesterday, though I took this shot a few weeks back(on his last visit)..

Little Eagle.

[My niece - something of a hawk fanatic - now wants to catch Mr LE, so I have placed the price of her much-loved black kitten as the trade.
Much muttering, but the desire to capture this little guy seems to have magically vanished!!]

Beautiful little gent, though the local Willy Wagtail disagrees violently. I saw Willy sitting on the back of this guy; repeatedly giving him the Peck-o-Death, while Mr Eagle contemplated whether he wanted to have a drink from the nearby puddle, or think about it some more.
Being ignored enrages Willy Wagtails even more!!

Stands just over 18 inches high, so roughly the size of a falcon. Supposed to be sudden-death on rabbits, and I've seen them take a few bearded dragons in the past as well. Supposed to be known to prefer diving on their prey from a great height.
Freaking pretty; is what he is.
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Little Eagle
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by bigrich » 03 Dec 2018, 7:41 pm

that's awesome rod, iv'e seen a lot of eagles and falcons reasonably close and they are majestic creatures. those willy wagtails take the prize for guts. i've seen them chase off crows and kookaburras, and they are not scared to follow right behind me when i mow the grass. i've got some maggies i been feeding for years, i don't try to hand feed them or tame them, but their comfortable with me. even had them tap on the front screen door when i ignored giving them a feed one day. maggies are bloody smart :thumbsup:
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Bent Arrow » 03 Dec 2018, 8:18 pm

That little eagle looks fantastic mate. Nice to have birds like that around.
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by JSS » 04 Dec 2018, 7:00 am

Rod_outbak wrote:
JSS,

I'm still not sure; Part of me screams that the .45-90 should've gotten a run, and part of me says the new .17HMR should've nailed him.
It was a tough call; whatever way I went....

I have arranged a recently dead pig into such a spot as to be an easy target from the house, without the risk of nailing yet more polypipe (missed a rabbit with the .308 the other day, but nailed the house supply water pipe dead-centre! Hows that for accuracy??).
I'm hopeful I get a customer fanging for some pork Biltong in the next few days...

I think I was pretty lucky that the shotshells nailed the little pig at that distance; suspect they were on the limit of their effective range, and it was just him being young and soft-skinned.
Certain that even if he'd been 12 months older, that he'd have survived long enough to run away. Mind you; if he'd been 12 months older, I'm sure the firearms choice would've been a bit different.
Every time I've used the .45ACP shotshells, I've thought they perform very similar to a .410 loaded with bird-shot.
Freaking awesome on bitey snakes, and cats in trees.
I see CCI make these shotshells in 9mm, .40Cal, .357magnum, .44 Magnum, and .45 (Long) Colt. I also note that the last 4 are made in both #9 shot, but also #4 shot versions!
I'd love to get the chance to try out the .44 Magnum version with #4 shot; I suspect they might have a bit more range and bite to them.
Unfortunately, I dont know anyone with a .44 Magnum at present.
However, I do know a few people with .357's.....hmm.
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/ ... ialty.aspx


I have to say you're right, there's really no wrong choice, it would have been cool to nail him with a the little 17, but then gutting, skinning, boning and mincing him all with just one squeeze of the 45-90 would be a laugh too. :clap: Poor little porker haha
Those CCI in 44mag would be a bit of fun, i've got a couple of 357s myself so i'll grab some shotshells in the #9 and #4 once i get back home from the Xmas break (we're taking off tomorrow for the usual beach break for a few weeks) and i'll let you know how they go, i'll also grab some for the 9mm to see if they're any good in the smaller rounds just for interests sake.
Nice photo of that eagle too, he's a little ripper isn't he, it would be great to see him in action taking a bunny.

In the meantime try not to take out any more poly pipe mate :lol: :lol: :drinks:
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Daddybang » 04 Dec 2018, 7:27 am

Rod_outbak wrote:Stix,

We make pretty freaking good coffee as well...


This was my other visitor of note yesterday, though I took this shot a few weeks back(on his last visit)..

Little Eagle.

[My niece - something of a hawk fanatic - now wants to catch Mr LE, so I have placed the price of her much-loved black kitten as the trade.
Much muttering, but the desire to capture this little guy seems to have magically vanished!!]

Beautiful little gent, though the local Willy Wagtail disagrees violently. I saw Willy sitting on the back of this guy; repeatedly giving him the Peck-o-Death, while Mr Eagle contemplated whether he wanted to have a drink from the nearby puddle, or think about it some more.
Being ignored enrages Willy Wagtails even more!!

Stands just over 18 inches high, so roughly the size of a falcon. Supposed to be sudden-death on rabbits, and I've seen them take a few bearded dragons in the past as well. Supposed to be known to prefer diving on their prey from a great height.
Freaking pretty; is what he is.


Thats a beautiful photo rod!!
After 13 years of running tours on the Cape I've been fortunate to see many different birds ( and have discovered to my horror that I'm actually a closet twitcher) but have only seen the little eagle up close twice. He's absolutely sensational!!! :thumbsup: :drinks:
This hard living ain't as easy as it used to be!!!
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by Rod_outbak » 04 Dec 2018, 7:35 am

Thanks all; he is a cracker of a bird to have around.
[Though Willy remains quite terse with me for allowing this lad to visit...]

We have some weird and wonderful wildlife around this great big brown land, and because much of it doesnt advertise from the tallest tree, it's easy to forget how magical many of them are.

Cheers,

Rod.
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Re: Hunting Pork in the homestead garden...

Post by ClaytonT88 » 04 Dec 2018, 9:47 am

Handsome looking bird! Great story on the little porker too! Bit jealous, I've got to try and get some pics of the predators around the Flinders here
Easy come, easy go.

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