Mellon Creek Outfitters provides hunts on the O’Connor Ranch (100,000 + acres) in Refugio County, Texas, along the Gulf Coast just up from Corpus Christi. Recently, a group of us gathered at the ranch, as guests of The Freedom Group and Trijicon, to hunt hogs and doves. Now, dove hunting is great fun, but it takes a backseat for me when there are hogs available. James Guthrie felt the same way.

At my request, Carlos Martinez had arranged for me to hunt with a Dakota Model 10. I hadn’t specified the caliber and he provided one in .25-06, shooting Remington’s 120 gr Core-Lokt bullet. The rifle was topped off with Trijicon’s TR-20 scope ( 3×9 power) that features a small illuminated dot at the center of the crosshairs. Guthrie was shooting a DPMS AR, in .30 Blackout, also using Trijicon optics.

Our plan was simple. We cruised the ranch until we spotted hogs. Then we would dope the wind and make our stalk. Of course, we had to keep a weather eye out for rattlesnakes, too. That Gulf Coast country can grow some serious rattlesnakes.

In the last few years, the hog population on this ranch had sort of gotten out of hand so we had our work cut out for us. Needless to say, we got a good chance to test out the rifles, calibers, and optics. All worked well and we did manage to stack the hogs. In fact, we even took three pigs down in the marshland, right along Mission Bay. Salt-water pigs?

Along the way, we had an opportunity to look at some really impressive whitetail bucks and lots of Rio Grande turkey. Looking for a great Texas hunt with no high fences? Contact Jimmy Brown at Mellon Creek Outfitters.