Georgia Night Vision Hog Hunt - Hogs Down! - Graphic

passengerseven

CGN Regular
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So my long time hunting buddy and I decided we needed to find a way to break up this coldest winter in 20+ years phenomenon that seems to have gripped most of Canada. A wild hog hunt down in the great state of Georgia in February seemed like a good idea and best of all predator / nuisance wildlife hunting can be done at night.

After some searching and a number of phone calls we set up with a guy named Joey who had access to 50,000+ acres of farmland between Douglas, GA and Abbeville, GA, knew the area and was able to act as our host for the night. Joey was, in fact, a fireman by day and during his down time a nuisance wildlife hunter; mostly hogs.

Joey set us up with DPMS Panthers chambered in .308 shooting Hornady GMX 150 grain rounds in 10 and 20 round magazines. These AR-10 platforms were topped with Jager Pro D-760-3AGM Gen3+ 6 power auto-gated night vision rifle scopes with hand selected tubes. The clarity was incredible. You could see hair on the hogs at 200+ yards. Harris bi-pods were attached to each weapon.

In order to find the hogs we would drive the farm roads, lights out, wearing PVS-7 gen 3 night vision goggles which are standard US military issue. Scanning the peanut fields we quickly found our intended quarry. We parked the truck about 700 yards from the hogs, left the engine running, and stealthily approached the hogs to within 200 yards. The hogs knew something was happening, but unsure what, they slowly began to move away as they continued to root up the fields.

Joey did the countdown for my buddy and I. 3….2…..1…….he never reached zero! We had each selected a hog for the first shot. Bang, two down. The hogs started to run but after 40+ years of shooting running deer that just made things interesting.

Head / neck shots worked best on the hogs. Even with through and through double lung shots a big boar ran 250 yards or more into the woods surrounding the peanut field. A bay dog helped us find him in the dark. There is lots of adrenaline in those hogs.

We managed to recover a total of 10 hogs with the largest being a 278 pound sow. We know more went down but were unable to find them in the surrounding woods in the dark. We suspect we tagged another 5. The meat was donated to a local charity.

All in all a great trip, we will be heading back to Georgia next year. Pics below of the big sow and our collection of others. Hope it helps take the chill off. Cheers,

P7 and Darbdarb. Proud CGN’s.

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That's one big pile of bacon. Good job guys, looks like a ton o fun and nice one on the charity donation.

Still no idea why we can't hunt with a AR platform or with night vision for that matter....
 
$500 per person per night, guns and ammo provided, butchering extra. P7 and I brought a snack but we never did stop, was a pile of fun. I am not a big fan of being guided but joey was great, can not say enough good things about him. I will not link, but pm me if you want his info, site.
 
Very cool!

What does a trip like that cost....minus travel and lodging?

The hunt runs $500 per guy, per night. No limit on hogs. Weapons, ammo and vehicle (two hunters ride in a quad cab 4x4 pick-up) provided. Coyotes are fair game as well if you happen to see them. Georgia small game license for non-residents can be purchased online for $20. Overall a great deal.
 
that warms the rest of us up just seeing it . sounds like a great hunt and a good time . i can not imagine the damage these pigs would do in a crop field .
 
that warms the rest of us up just seeing it . sounds like a great hunt and a good time . i can not imagine the damage these pigs would do in a crop field .

The statistics indicate that wild hogs destroy 10% of peanut crops and 6% of wheat and corn crops annually in the Southern US. Which is the main reason more and more states are allowing night hunting of these nocturnal feral hogs as they just don't show themselves during daylight.
 
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