Some friends and I decided to go out and blast away some animals for a fun extended weekend.
I have no real problems hunting and if its moral because I have had deer destroy pickups on highways and Turkeys destroy windshields on back roads.  But I would rather kill ugly animals, that are not rare and that taste good.  As a result it was time to go out and hunt some Russian Wild Boar and a few Rams.  So I called up Roelof, Paul and Carl and we found a place that would meet our needs High Adventure Ranch on the south east side of Missouri sounded like a good place.  You can find more information about
them at : http://www.highadventureranch.com/boar.html

They had the largest elk (in physical size and herd size) that I have ever seen, and a lot of guys where picking up trophy sized elks while we where there.  We stayed in the cabins and meals where provided.  I may have to go out here every couple of years because being away from phones, cell phones, TV, Computers was pretty relaxing, Also at night we went through a lot of Scotch and beers.

(My Jacob’s Four Horn Ram from High Adventure Ranch)

After a few days the guys started calling HAR (High Adventure Ranch) the extended barn yard.  And while that may be a little cold it was a little accurate.  So it was a very large game reserve and was fenced - so its the type of hunting where you can be pretty sure that after a day you will get something, and can even pass up the first one you see - so while the one you want may get away - you will come across other animals.  Here is my stance on it, after driving all day to get there and then taking days off work and paying to get cabins and everything I like the assurance that there will actually be animals to hunt and unless you really suck bad you should be able to go home with something.

The guide was a really cool guy that got us where we needed to go and made sure no one was going to accidentally shoot anybody - actually pretty professional about the whole thing.  I also like the fact that they took the animal out of the field for you, cleaned the animal for you and processed it for you.  Go to HAR with a large cooler full of beer and leave with fully vacuum packed and labeled meat in your cooler.

However since you pay for what you kill you will want to watch you shots because if there is a pack you may have to shoot between a couple of very expensive (in my case rams) to get the animal you wanted and can afford.  So it makes for some marksmanship skills and timing when animals are moving through trees, in a pack and in the rain.  All that aside I will probably go back again a few times.  As a matter of fact I think it will be a perfect place to take my son on his first hunt in a few years. 
P.S. the food served at HAR is very good and typically Elk, boar deer, and buffalo.

  (Roelof was shooting a Rigby 416 and got him in the eye)

Roelof was the first guy on the line to hunt when we went out the first day.  Now Roelof is from South Africa and we had really talked up the size and aggressiveness of these Russian Wild Boars so he brought an Elephant Gun; literally he used a Rigby 416 (400gr bullet),

Now here is something about Roelof - don't piss him off - he is a crack shot.  As you can tell by these pictures there are a lot of tree's, and the hills are pretty good.  When Roelof came upon the boar it was on a line directly in front of him and facing directly towards him, although the boar was far enough away not to notice him.  Roelof leans over to the guide and says I want to mount his head, so the guide assumes that Roelof was going to wait for the boar to turn sideways so he can get a clean shot without destroying the head he wishes to mount.  However Roelof just guessed at the range and shot the Rigby 416 directly into the boars left eye.  It was an amazing shot and the bullet was about the same size of the boars eye so there was no margin for error.  Anyway it was a magnificent shot and really put the pressure on everyone else to make sure they got their game on the first shot as well. 

  (Paul's Pig had some of the craziest teeth I've ever seen)

Next on deck was Paul and the funny thing is Paul and I both brought the same exact gun and the same exact caliber a Remington 710 30.06.  We had different scopes (Paul's being a Leopold and mine being Nikon and having a bipod).  Paul's boar was definitely the ugliest of all the animals and its teeth looked like it came out of an alien.  I think I had nightmares about this damn thing.  Also if you look at the picture you can see that the hog puked its guts up through its nose when it was shot.

  (Here I am with a Russian wild boar 1 shot from 30-06 did the trick)

My time up to bat wasn't that exciting I dropped it on the first shot and have been eating pork sausage since.  Actually there where 3 Russian Wild Boars in front of me but they where on the other side of a tree line and I really could not make out one boar from another any of the other ones so I decided to go after the largest one I could make out.   A chambered a Remington 165gr accutip and lined up the shot then carefully squeezed the trigger (because I have greatly reduced the pull weight on this rifle).   The boar tumbled down a hill and we all went up to the boar expecting to see some really large tusks on this guy.  the first words out of my mouth "hey where the hell are the tusks"  Then I hear Carl say "good going you got nipple chops", and then Paul followed up with "Wow a Russian Wild Sow" and that pretty much summed it up.  The guide asked if I wanted it mounted and I told "hell no it don't got no teeth".  All in All I feel pretty good about the shot and in hindsight the meet has been excellent (probably because it was a sow).  Next time I'm getting one with tusks so I can have better pictures for the web site darn it!

  (Carl went after the biggest one of all with a pistol)

The exciting hunt was Carl's hunt.  After a morning of dropping 300 pound Russian Wild Boars Carl was a little board and wanted something more exciting.  Carl decided to go after the 600 pound full blooded and pissed off Russian Wild Boar and to do it with a pistol.  So we tracked the boars for a while and the wind kept shifting so they would catch out sent and change direction.  However we had blood on our boots from the pig cleaning station, and one of the large sows must of been hungry because she headed straight for us.  The guide really had no choice but to put his fingers in his ears and lay flush on the ground and hope like hell Carl could shoot the Boar before the boar came up and started eating out guide.  The fact Carl was using a pistol could not have made the guide feel any better about the whole situation.  It all turned out very well though because I don't remember which was larger the pistol or the boar.  On a side not notice the size of the tusks (this is actually a sow not a boar) so Carl ended up with Russian Wild Sow Nipple Chops. 
P.S. The hand cannon Carl is using is a Smith & Wesson X-Frame .460 S&W Magnum, shooting 460 and Barnes 200gr XPB. Ammo was Cor-Bon, ~2300fps.

(Roelof wanted a black buck but settled on the this Hawaiian)

Since Roelof traveled so far he decided to pick up a second animal on the 2nd day of hunting, He really wanted a black buck but just couldn't talk the guide down to a price Roelof wanted to pay for a animal he wanted to take home.  It was actually pretty comical and I thought Roelof almost had the guide talked down there for a while.  Roelof finally decided he would go out and get a 1 full curl black Hawaiian ram before the rains started.  It was a pretty good shoot Roelof was in the tree line and the ram was on an open plane.  The only problem is the black Hawaiian was hanging out between a couple of Elks that all where grazing on the plane in the early morning.  Roelof used his Browning in 270 WSM this time and got off another good shot and picked off the Ram. 

(Here I am with my Jacob’s Four Horn Ram we tracked in the rain for 3 hours.)

So after lunch Roelof went to bed and took a nap while the rest of us went after my Ram.  I probably wouldn't have gotten the ram if I would have gotten a Russian wild boar with some proper teeth.  Regardless we ended up tracking this thing for 3-4 hours in the rain and by the time I found the 4 horned ram I was ready to kill something.  I learned the difference between water proof and water resistant.  I am very glad I had flip up lens covers on my scope and I found out my Nikon Buck master is actually fog proof.  I was a little nervous because when the guide gave me the OK to chamber a round and take point I noticed I had water running down my barrel.  So I gave the rifle a good shake and prepped my shot before water could started pooling up again.  Took the ram 1 one shot a "trophy shot" which translates into a nasty gut shot because I wanted to mount the animal and with the conditions didn't want to place a shot anywhere near the head.

Overall it was a fun time the meat they processed has thus far been excellent, and I will most likely be heading back in the next few years.