As a youngster, I followed coon hounds with my dad in the gravel hills just north of Texas Gulf Coast Plains. We mostly ran blueticks, black-and-tans and treeing Walkers. When whitetail hunting season closed, on December 31, an hour after sundown we headed to the woods with our hounds. During the winter and early spring, we hunted at least three or more nights each week. On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, we hunted cottontails and swamp rabbits with our well-trained beagles. I learned early on to appreciate our hounds’ “mountain music” and how to tell the differences between a trailing hound and one that was “treed” or “bayed.”
Hunting rabbits or racoons, we carried .22 rimfires and occasionally a single-shot .410 shotgun. Rabbits being pursued by beagles taught me about the proper time to shoot, leading and how to follow through when shooting at running game, as well as when not to shoot!
Following hounds during daylight or at night, long before the invention of anything having to do with GPS, I learned to pay attention to landmarks and sounds off in the distance to help me navigate my way back home or to where our vehicle was parked. I learned how to “navigate by the stars” for the same purpose and how to use a compass to get back where I started from.
I miss those days. It has been many years since I’ve followed the hounds.
Few people today own or hunt with coonhounds, though there are still those who hunt rabbits with beagles. These days, the closing of deer hunting seasons means it is seriously time to hunt hogs and call in coyotes, occasionally bobcats and gray fox. That said, I do not leave home without a Burnham Brothers C3 mouth blown predator call.
Recently, the Boone and Crockett Club announced the creation of a category in their record book for javelina or collared peccary. Hoooray! This grand, though small, pig-like big game species of the southwestern deserts is great fun to hunt. Javelinas occasionally respond to continually called “squals” from a mouth-blown predator call. When they do respond, they come charging in, hair standing on end, squealing and popping their jaws. Impressive, always exciting and downright scary at times! I have called in individual boars, but also entire herds. If ever you should want to hunt javelina, do not overlook trying to lure them with a predator call! It will be an adventure you will not soon forget!
When it comes to the guns of late winter/early spring, some hunters prefer to switchto lighter calibers and rounds. Me? I’m a bit different.
I hunt predators and hogs with the same rifles and handguns I use during the big game hunting seasons. To me, winter is a perfect time to learn more about the guns and now even crossbow I intend to use during the big game seasons this fall.
Although I have hunted with archery equipment I am no longer a bowhunter. When asked if I ever hunted with a bow, I generally respond, “Yes I did, but then I grew up!” That said, however, I have utmost respect for those who hunt with bow and arrows.
I simply love hunting with firearms; primarily handguns and rifles. I shoot Taurus Raging Hunter revolvers chambered in .44 Mag, .454 Casull and occasionally a .357 Mag and .460 S&W Mag. I will add a .500 S&W Mag in the near future. My hunting revolvers are topped with older Thompson-Center and Simmons long-eye relief scopes and occasionally with Trijicon SRO red-dot sights. All my revolvers love Hornady’s loads with XTP bullets. They shoot this ammo extremely accurately, and the terminal performance is ideal, killing the animal quickly and humanely.
Of late, we have seen a huge resurgence of shooting and hunting with lever-action rifles. I have owned and hunted with lever-actions for a lot of years. My current stable of “lever guns” includes my Dad’s and father-in-laws Winchester Model 94s in .30-30 Win and .30 WCF, an ancient Winchester Model 95 .30Govt06, the Model 99 Savage chambered in .300 Savage I used to take my first mule deer in 1970, still topped with the original Weaver K4 scope. I also have a modern Rossi R92s in .45 Colt and .44 Mag, and a Rossi Model R95 in .30-30 Win. Hopefully, I will soon add a Rossi R95 .45-70 Govt. All my lever-guns shoot Hornady ammo extremely accurately.
I know my limitations without the aid of scopes or red-dot sights. I’ll use my lever-actions when hunting black bears over bait and for wild hogs in Texas and at Oklahoma’s Choctaw Hunting Lodge.
Working with Jeff Rice and Luke Clayton on our A Sportsman’s Life digital TV show on CarbonTV.com and our YouTube channel of the same title, I have the opportunity to occasionally hunt on Jeff’s Buck and Bass Ranch and a few other places. For me lever-action rifles and revolvers are perfect hog guns.
During late winter and early spring, I always make time to hunt predators using my Burnham Brothers’ FREQ electronic call. My primary guns includeMossberg Patriot Predators bolt-action rifles chambered in 7mm PRC, .270 Win, .30-06, .400 Legend and .450 Bushmaster. All are topped with Stealth Vision scopes; SVT 3-18×44 and SVL 5-20×50. I really like their light-gathering abilities and their lighted reticles for hunting in poor light conditions. I shoot predators and hogs with the same Hornady ammo, save for the .400 Legend I use when hunting big game.
Hunting with my regular hunting rifles and handguns during the off-season, I become extremely familiar with both. I learn my firearms’ capabilities and my abilities with them. Frankly, I consider doing so extremely important because of the confidence gained. Late winter and early spring are ideal times to remove predators, just before fawns are being born.
When not hunting, I spend time on the range, occasionally “stretching my barrel” to shoot at extremely long-range steel targets, both with rifles and handguns. On the Cotton Ranch in northeastern Texas, we have a 500-yard target that gets shot at not only with rifles, but with handguns. Using my Taurus Raging Hunters in .44 Mag and .454 Casull, I can consistently hit that 500-yard target. Does that mean I would shoot at a hog or deer at that distance with my revolver? NO WAY! But shooting and hitting the target at 500-yards with my revolvers is fun and builds confidence.
When fall hunting seasons come to an end, it it NOT the time to put away our hunting guns. It should open the door to shooting them even more than we might have during the hunting season!