An Army Ranger’s loadout for hog hunting

As tradition demands, when a man decides to get married his best man must take him somewhere to celebrate. We had a few ideas but finally settled on Texas. Why Texas? Well hog hunting of course. Greig had always wanted to go (so have I), and I had a Ranger buddy who lived in the area who could help set it up. So after about a 5 min conversation we settled on the idea.

The idea was to work through Thursday and catch the redeye, landing in Texas Friday morning. After getting our rental truck we grabbed breakfast from a Waffle House (I miss these from my Army days). This is where we met up with my Ranger buddy (Will). With breakfast finished we started the 2 1/2 hour drive to the ranch we had picked for the hunt.

I looked around at a few ranches, but decided on this one because they offered a different kind of hunt. Both Greig and myself have sat in blinds hunting big game, we wanted some excitement. No we didn’t get a helicopter, yes we thought about it. Instead, what this ranch offered was a wild hog hunt geared towards semi-automatic rifles. The owner would trap hogs before our arrival (a pre-arranged amount), and then release them on a smaller area of his property (40 acres). We were given an opportunity to set an ambush, and any that got past us we could hunt down.

To save cash (and reduce problems at the airport), Will volunteered to provide the firearms for the hunt. What follows is the weapons used on the hunt.

Scar 17

• Geissele Scar Trigger,
• Elcan Specter DR 1x-4x Optic
• Magpul front grip
• Harris bipod
• PWS SRX rail extensions
• Thor’s Hammer Selector Switch
• Battle Comp Muzzle Break
• Houge pistol grip

AR#1

• Olympic 16” upper and Rock River Arms lower
• Houge pistol grip
• Smith good iron muzzle break
• Magpul front grip
• Eotech optic

AR#2

• VLTOR MUR-1A upper and Bushmaster lower
• BCM 14.5” mid-length barrel CHF
• Battle comp 1.5 muzzle break (pinned and welded)
• Troy Vtac alpha rail 13”
• Wilson Combat tactical 3 gun trigger
• Magpul ACS-L stock
• Eotech optic

With our ambush set we signaled the owner to release the hogs. After traveling well over 2000 miles we were excited. It was hot (Texas hot), and we were tired, but the fatigue vanished as the three of us saw the first hog enter our kill zone. Almost at once we flipped our selectors to fire, and then Will called out, “first ones yours Greig”. Without hesitation Greig squeezed off two rounds and dropped the hog. Over the next 7-8 min the three of us systematically killed all the hogs that entered our kill zone.

Once finished we collected our hogs, we transported them back to an area setup for processing. Different than Washington, in Texas you need to process the animals as soon as you can to prevent it from spoiling (due to the heat). After processing the meat we threw it in a cooler with ice, and salted it down. Over the next couple days we drained the water and added new ice until we finally froze it for the flight home.

This certainly wasn’t the most challenging hunt I have ever been on. I find bow hunting extremely rewarding because of its difficulty. However, this was definitely a hunt I will always remember. If you have never tried hog hunting I recommend giving it a try.

Quick Tip: Determine your airlines procedures for shipping meat before you go on your hunt. My airline prohibited crushed ice, so we needed to use those blue gel packs. There was also limitations on using dry ice.