Not gonna lie....I love my job, but somedays are just better than others.... Recently @Patrick Rollins , Jackson (my oldest son) and I got to go to Childress TX to do a hog hunt with Ashley Emerson, designer of latest knife the ESEE Ashley Game Knife (ESEE-AGK) We left out of Dalton at 0500 on Monday and made the long drive to Weatherford TX to pick up a friend and then onto Childress the next day....We had access to nearly 25,000 acres to hunt. Given that we saw temps in the 104-108 range we knew we would be hunting over water holes. Jackson was the first to get on the board. Killing a large red boar as we walked to our stand the first hunt. We had been on the ground less than 9 minutes. Our encounter with this hog would qualify as "danger close" and he handled himself and the firearm with a calm proficiency that made his father proud. It was cool to witness my oldest son, and avid hunter, keep calm in a stressful situation and do what needed to be done. This one moment made the hunt for me. Patrick's 45/70 was the next to lay one down...once again hunting over water and the hogs continue to come in. Patrick delivered a shot that stopped the sow DRT (Dead Right There). He was shooting 500+ grain loads from Ashley's company, Garrett Cartridges Defender Ammo, which packs quite a punch. Jackson put another down later that evening. This hog had actually been frequenting camp and causing some issues...Ashley handed him one of his personal guns and Jackson shot the hog on the move at better than 150 yards. After pulling the trigger and seeing the hog go down Jackson turns and looks at Ashley and asked, "WHAT was that?".....it was a 375 H&H....and it got the job done with stunning efficiency. My job, was to capture as much content as possible...on our final morning I was finally able to put a gun in my hand. Hunting out of a blind, Jackson and I arrived well before first light. We crept into the blind and checked our field of view....then began to settle and situation into our blind....within seconds Jackson spotted a hog walking into our shooting lane....Once again, within minutes of arriving, bacon was on the ground and I was on the board....shortly after that, another came in and it was down too....then the real job began...Field dressing two large board... I have to say I was extremely impressed with the design and efficiency of the ESEE-AGK. This design was Ashley's brainchild and you can tell that the guy knows what he is doing. The ergonomics and design makes the difficult task of breaking down these beast much easier. In Ashely's hands it was stunningly efficient. Ashley has spent a lifetime designing gun parts and hunting. His practical knowledge of hunting and gun design only pales in comparison to his shooting ability. On our last day there he put on a shooting clinic for the 3 GA boys....to say this man is proficient with a gun would be an understatement. I learned a tremendous amount on this trip and made some new friends as well....Above all the memories of hunting with my son are priceless. We hope to return next year!
Those guns were works of art and no telling how much $$$ is in that case... Some hardware pics: Savage build Right hand bolt, left eject 6.5x284 Tack Driver Burris Ranging finding Scope Ashley had some killer guns for us to shoot. Built 308 with Burris Elminator rangefinding scope...very cool set up.. Ringing steel out to 622 yards was child's play. Varmit AR I built 18" Black Hole Weaponary Barrel Match trigger Jackon's Graduation gift Ziess 4x16 scope Liberty Torch QD can Ringing steel at 100, 200, and 300 with a .22 Probably my favorite and most shot gun: Ruger 77/22 Med contour barrel in .22 This gun has been worked over a little bit NiB bolt and trigger group Cut down to 18" and threaded Larger bolt knob Sling by @Jacob Peterson Liberty Kodiak TL can Stupid accurate and fun to shoot. Remington 5r Tactical in 308 AIC 2.0 Chassis Liberty Freedom Mag can Vortex Viper PST FFP 6x24 Savage 10FP in 223 HS Precision stock Burris Black Diamond 6x24 Liberty Torch QD can S&W 629-6 PC in 44mag ESEE AGK Prototype Armatus Carry sheath and dangler
Yo are going to make me go hunt some hogs now.... My .375H&H is one of my very favourite hog rifles...not because they need it.....just because it is just so spectacular.... In the year before I went to Africa I made myself hunt almost exclusively with it (where I would have normally carried my light Sako .308), shot lots of swine, a few deer and a bunch of rabbits with it !! The joy of the .375 is that dspite it's oomph...it is not decidedly uncomfortable to shoot !!!
Yes.....they are no pussy cat !! But I MUCH prefer to shoot it (in the field) than my .300Win ! I did crack a knuckle with it when I took a hasty prone shot with it, angle meant the trigger guard was able to get back and hit my trigger finger.... It always gets an audience at the indoor range though
No doubt. The 300 has a quick kick and the 375 is like a long push. Id still not want that long push prone.
.....yep......laying prone was not my first choice to take a shot with that rifle....but another shot was unlikely to present it's self anytime soon so.....
no doubt...I'd like to make it a yearly trip...loads of fun and we have a LOT of meat for our upcoming Adv Bushcraft class!!!
Just a quick clip of Jackson recapping our first evening hunt.....actually, about the first 15 minutes of our first evening hunt...this happened quick!