An Evening Stroll

After dinner this evening, I decided to take a walk and see what there was to see. As spring has been bumping up against summer around here the past week or so, I was dressed as much for chasing elephant in Miatengwe as for anything Coleman County has to offer…climate and vegetation being similar. Shorts, gaiters, culling belt, binos, double rifle…yep, if I stumbled across an errant Ndlovu I’d be kitted out just fine…

The wind was still ripping as it’d been all day, a recipe for skittish animals. As proof, a hog sprinted across a flat 150 yards ahead of me…and there was NO way that he’d either seen or winded me. He was just LEAVING.

Since he’d headed west, I’d do the same. I waited a few minutes, then made my way across the same flat. Stepping across a dry wash, I made my way toward the side of a rocky ridge ahead of me. Following a game trail through the mesquite and greenbriar, I slowly worked my way toward the top of the ridge. Two thirds of the way up, I heard hogs in the thick stuff to my north and downslope from me. Quickly easing forward, I found another trail coming up from below…and hog sounds approaching.

Slipping the safety on my SIACE .45-70 double, I watched several hogs working their way up the slope through the tangle of oaks and greenbriar. As the wind was in my favor, I let them come to about 30 steps and them put the right barrel thru the top of the lead pig’s head, dropping it on the spot. The second hog, likely a sister to the first, wasn’t sure what had just happened but was determined to get clear of the wrath that had just descended on its littermate, and charged past it up the slope. Swinging with the moving hog, I fired the left barrel as the second pig’s head cleared the brush and watched it fall. Break the gun, dump the empty cases, reload…listening to the rest of the bunch trying to put a zip code between me and them.

Easy, peasy, Japaneazy. Except now I had photos to take and a green hell between me and my subjects. I got it done, but when finished I looked exactly like I HAD been hunting Miatengwe…and the wait-a-bit had taken their toll! Fair enough…blood for blood…Africa OR Texas.

Mark

Good shooting!

Great story!

Living the dream

Good story. Great gun!

Nice.

Outstanding firearm and story! My 303 British Scout and I were in the wilds of India yesterday!



I hope to travel to coastal Pakistan (LRGV) later this year and take a nilgai!

Isn't it interesting how hunting allows us to be many places at the same time? In northwestern Zimbabwe, I could have sworn I was in the Texas Hill Country. The other morning, I could've sworn that the air had the dry, flinty smell of Matetsi. And the tools that we carry sometimes help to complete the picture...

Good looking Scout, by the way. What action is that built on? And good luck down in Pakistan when you go after that blue bull!

Mark

great story

Mark, it started life with me when I found a very beat-up truck gun, a SMLE #4 MKI.



It took a considerable effort to get the barrel cleaned out, but when I finally shot it, I could not believe the sub-MOA performance. I sent it to a gunsmith in NE that has done a bit of work for me along with a layout of it being a modern scout rifle. In particular, along the lines of my Savage 10FCMs (308 Win & 7.62x39).



It remains a .75 MOA five-shot shooter out through 300-yards.

No collectible SMLE was harmed with this work!

Ranch Dog, when I saw the pic of your "Indian" pig, I started to mouth off and say that for shooting a .303 you should have had an SMLE (and preferably a Jungle Carbine!).

Then I looked closer at the pic and immediately thought "Savage"...but they don't chamber a .303. Then I saw the stripper bridge and thought...NO...I gotta ask!

The Enfields were always wicked fast...glad to hear that yours is a lazer as well!

Mark

Cool hunt and awesome rifle!

SIACE rifles are soooooooooooooooooooooooo nice! Thanks for taking us along on your mini safari.

Thanks Choctaw!

Yep, she's a handsome filly (especially the wood)...but I swear the Italians have some of the strangest ideas when it comes to firearms embellishment. This rifle is a case in point...

This is their "Alaskan" model. OK, fair enough...there's even what I assume is a dall sheep engraved under the receiver (the engraving is far better than I could do, but a far piece from being Bulino quality). So, "Alaskan" and "dall sheep"...I'm with them so far. But nobody of my acquaintance hunts sheep with a .45-70. And certainly not with a double rifle! Carve a big Russian boar on them and I'd completely understand...

Regardless, the little cannon shoots both tubes where I look and the recoil is negligible compared to the big Nitro Expresses so it's a fun package to tote around!

Mark

Absolutely awesome 218! Funny about the dall sheep. Even a bear would have been a better fit. You reckon that thaey have been to AK? The rifle would be perfect for moose in the timber.

RD, I think you likely nailed it...with all the best intentions (and likely never having been to Alaska) SIACE let their "art department" loose. I hadn't considered bear or moose, but either would have been more appropriate!

Nice shooting 218!!! And thanks for the journey!!

That's good stuff. The first one is giving you the crazy eye

Sorry about that.

That pic was the most "gentle" of the ones I took. That big cast slug slamming into his skull just above his eyes popped both of 'em out of their sockets...and exited behind and below his left shoulder!

Mark