Sittin' in the Dark: Texas Boar Hunting

In my last post, I described my rifle and how much I like it because it has a muzzle brake (which makes it kick less). Last weekend, my husband and I went hunting – in the dark – and his muzzle brake proved to be a bit of a problem.

We were hunting hogs in Texas. I understood that we would be hunting “at night,” but I did not understand that “at night” meant hunting in the pitch-black with no lights. Given what I know about hunting, I thought it would be more of a dusk / low-light situation. It wasn’t; it was a hunt-all-night-into-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning situation.

We were there for three days, and on the last night we were hunting in a small, home-made blind in a wheat field. The blind was about 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep, with two folding metal chairs inside. The structure was made of plywood and metal, so if I accidentally touched the walls, it would echo and make a ton of noise. I am told it is very bad to make noise while hunting for hogs in Texas. Hogs don’t see well, but they can smell and hear everything.

On each side of the blind, there were holes cut in the walls for you to shoot out of.  The hole facing the field was about 3 feet wide and 6 inches tall.
​
5-feet by 3-feet might sound spacious. It was not. Both of our rifles have 26-inch barrels plus a muzzle brake, so our guns would hit the ceiling of the blind if we were not careful. And, mind you, it is very dark and we were supposed to be quiet. 

My husband in the blind.

To get into the blind, we had to walk in the dark through a field. On our first morning, it was 27 degrees and we sat in the dark until the sun rose (two hours later).  So, on the last night, I brought a down blanket. Yes, I carried a down blanket with me into the blind.

I was also carrying a bag with flashlights, bullets, and snacks. To be frank, I am very afraid of being hungry in nature. I brought three jackets and two pillows for us to sit on. …and I had my .257 Weatherby Magnum slung over my shoulder, in the event we actually saw a wild pig. As you can imagine, my entrance into the blind was not especially quiet.

We finally made it to the blind with all of our gear, jammed our bodies onto the two metal chairs, slid our guns through the hole in the wall, and waited.

For the hunt, we bought green-light flashlights to attach to the top of our guns to see the hogs. Apparently, hogs do not mind green lights. But the hole was too small for my gun to fit through with the flashlight mounted on top. I was flying in the dark without a flashlight.

For the next three hours, we stared into a dark field with no lights. We were told that if a hog came near the feeder, a motion sensor light would turn on. That never happened. After a few hours, our eyes adjusted to the darkness, and we were able to see basic shapes in the moon light.

Just before 10:00 pm, my husband saw a hog about 120 yards away. I, on the other hand, could not see anything. But, it was go time. He slid his gun into position, turned on his mounted flashlight, and fired. I have never been in a war, but the experience of my husband firing his .300 Remington Ultra Magnum in a 5’ by 3’ metal box felt like a war zone. The gun powder created a cloud in the green light that was completely blinding. I was extremely disoriented and could not see anything. The sound was deafening, even with ear protection. We were excited, confused, and jammed into a small metal box in a Texas wheat field.

The gun was absolute overkill for the situation; my husband had a .30-06 back at camp, but wanted to use his new toy. The muzzle brake is great for decreasing kick, but it amplifies the sound and concussion of the shot. In hindsight, shooting a .300 Remington Ultra Mag with a muzzle brake in a tiny metal building is not a good idea -- especially in the dark.

After the shot, we tried our best to collect ourselves. We had researched that wild hogs will play dead and then attack you when you get close. This tidbit of information was running through my head as we got out of the blind to go check on the hog. To get out of the blind, we were maneuvering our two metal chairs between my three jackets, two butt pillows, one down blanket, and my stash of snacks. It took a few minutes to squeeze ourselves out.

I also had to reattach my flashlight to my gun. I was walking through the field, in the dark, using my gun as a flashlight. Again, it seemed reminiscent of what an active-duty solider might experience. As we were walking across the field, toward the hog that might be playing dead in order to gore us, I was terrified. In that moment, the idea of a Texas boar hunt seemed especially ill-advised.

We searched the wooded area across the field where my husband had aimed.  There I was - using my gun as a flashlight to look for an animal in a thick wooded area that might attack me. What could go wrong?

We did not find the boar and we think it ran off when we were trying to extricate ourselves from the tiny box. It was exhilarating to experience the shot from the blind, but I am not sure that the muzzle brake was the best idea. My ears were ringing the entire time we searched for the hog.
​
My take-away from this experience is that firing a high caliber rifle with a muzzle brake in a small, metal blind will leave a distinct impression: mostly ringing ears. Also, I am not sure that I am cut out for night hunting.

---