Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Whether plinking or chasing big game, tell us about your day outdoors!
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Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by Ranch Dog »

I guess I might as sell everything else I have as I cannot seem to put this rifle down! We are one!

I went out to about an hour before dark to make sure the sprinklers shut off on the guest house back yard. As I rounded the corner on the breezeway, I could see that a large sounder of hogs was moving behind that house and across the stumble of a food plot. I spun around and hustled the short distance back to the house, grabbed the SMLE, and hustled back. As I rounded the corner I could see that they were just about into the brush, but a large sow turned around to make sure her little ones were following. I took the shot, standing off-hand, and the 180-grain PPU knocked the crap out of her. All four feet off the ground and dumped her in a pile. 109-yards! Seeing her & trigger pressure maybe one second! My wife was watching from the house and was impressed!

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Social distancing has allowed me not to worry if all I'm wearing is boxers!
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by klr »

Great offhand shot, impressed the wife, all while wearing your boxers. Epic story! +guns
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by horseman »

E-gads, look at the legs on that thing.....you decide.. :lol: "Swingers" huh, got any ticks in Texas?... 8-)
Nice shot! I like the looks of that gun. :t
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by larryw »

And the boxers are plaid??
Hey Michael, you better watch out, Col. Sanders is looking for those legs!!
Ha,ha,ha...
Hey??? Everyone took me to task for my plaid jammie bottoms & hat a year
or two ago??
Hey, anyone secure enough in his own skin to rock his plaid boxers, on his own land
with a scoped rifle in his hand is ok in my book.
A day late & A dollar short? Story of my life +guns
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by GasGuzzler »

It's too early for ticks and the rest I approve.
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by Ranch Dog »

Got walked out to go to doc, sounder of hogs in yard. Didn't feel right shooting them with pants on! Will catch up with them next time.
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by Ranch Dog »

And another with the 303 about an hour ago.

Been another one in between the last report.

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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by Ranch Dog »

Dang, this is ridiculous, I need to switch rifles! Kilt another yesterday evening.

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It was a beautiful evening, so I grabbed my SMLE and told my wife I would be out back. I had only gone up pole line ROW about a hundred yards when on the wind I heard a hog get out of its bed. I got a measure of its pace, again on the wind, and moved out to flak it on a seismic ROW that it was going to cross. I arrived about 15 seconds ahead of it. The grass is quite high, just the tips of its ears sticking up above it and gray shadow through it. Through the weaver, I got just a bit of "razorback," so squeezed the trigger. Perfect! Down at 75 yards.

I continued back to check an overgrown food plot, not planted in two years, as I thought that with the wind, the hogs would be in it. I arrived at this 1½ acre diamond-shaped plot, nothing. Fifteen seconds later, a huge hog stepped out of the distant point. Again the growth is high, so I'm only looking at ear tips and the hump on the back. I decided to close the distance to a mott of three live oaks out in the plot. That went well until I realized I would never get there. There was a blanket of old dry leaves on the ground, and with the sunset, the wind was breaking. It would be impossible to continue. About that time, four more large hogs entered the plot, but I think they had heard me as they barked a warning. Not wanting to lose the shot, I raised and shot at my target hog, he had spun to face me, but it looks like I missed the 80-yard shot. It is what it is.

I went back and called my hound. I knew where the dead hog was, but I like letting my hound find them. This sow was an "eater," so I dressed it "Refuge" style. I call it "Refuge" because of the NWR hunts I do. I don't like leaving good meat behind, so I remove the hams and backstraps without gutting or skinning the animal. I "knuckle" the joints, all with my 2.6" Gerber pocket knife. If it is a large hog, after I filet the backstraps out, I will "knuckle" out the last two ribs on each side and remove the tenderloins.

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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by klr »

Well done. So how do you cook that meat? It looks like a good candidate for a smoker.
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Re: Still out there with the SMLE Scout

Post by Ranch Dog »

klr wrote:Well done. So how do you cook that meat? It looks like a good candidate for a smoker.
We do it a couple of way. Wife said one ham is going into a crock pot for pulled pork.
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