Latest Articles

Every now and then I run across somebody doing something extraordinary. Someone serving others without being asked, and at personnel expense in time, energy, money, or all of the above. This is a story of sacrifice. First and foremost, those that shoot and hunt with Black Dagger have given much. They are veterans. Most have been wounded in combat. Many of them have been wounded severely. Dave Winters founded Black Dagger Military Hunt Club (MHC). Dave is himself a 20-year Air Force veteran and is currently a government civilian. Dave’s son-in-law was a wounded in combat and now assists others with PTSD. As you can see, Mr Winters has good reasons to care about those who have paid a high price for freedom. 

Read on...

SHWAT™ arrived at the Wild Hog Roundup in Center, Texas, on Saturday, April 6 in the form of long-time Special Hog Weapons and Tactics™ writer Dr. John Woods and me, Brian McCombie, SHWAT™ contributor and NRA Field Editor.  So far, we’ve hunted two solid days, and the score stands at Hogs 2, SHWAT™ 0. In the spirit of understatement, we’re holding out for a come from behind win, like Louisville did over Michigan a couple of nights ago at the NCAA Basketball National Championship.

Wulf Outdoors Sports, the premier outdoors retailer in East Texas with stores in Center and Athens, sponsors the Wild Hog Roundup.  To really bring out the hunters, Wulf and it’s sponsors have again put together $28,000 in cash prizes to hunters (tactical and old school!), dog hunters, and trappers, all with the goal of knocking back a booming—and destructive—wild hog population.  The Roundup started the evening of April 5 and runs through April 13. 

About that $28,000... Keep reading to find out what you should know about it. The hunt isn't over yet, and if you can't make this one, maybe the next...

By Natalie Foster at A Girl's Guide to Guns

It all began with an email from Nathan Dudney of Dynamic Research Technologies. We had met a few months earlier on a rainy April day at a Starbucks in Memphis. I was on my range tour trip for my website, GirlsGuidetoGuns.com, and he was in town for work. Over coffee that spring day, Nathan introduced me to DRT and its revolutionary new line of ammunition. The email was an invitation to head to West Texas, which just happens to be my home turf, to shoot some wild hogs. The event solidified over the next few weeks and before I had a chance to think about it too much, I committed. 

I was a total newbie and, honestly, a little apprehensive about killing anything...

It's a wrap - 2012 has just flown by, and SHWAT.com is now a year old!  In that year you've seen SHWAT launch from obscurity and - many thanks to you - grow dramatically.  We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have.  We've been privileged to bring you stories from top names in the industry like Bill Wilson, Founder of the legendary Wilson Combat, Fred Mastison, tactical trainer and founder of Force Options USA, NRA Field Editor Brian McCombie and others. We've reviewed guns and gear, shared stories of hunting, given practical advice and tips on tactical hog hunting, done night vision videos, run silencers and so much more.  

To wrap up the year, we've picked a handful of stories we think you'll be excited to read and put them together here.  Check them out, you'll be glad you did!

This is a one of a kind read that you'll want to bookmark and read again from time to time.  It's written by our great friend Mark Craighead, Founder of Crossbreed Holsters.  Without Mark's enthusiastic support, there would be no SHWAT™, so every reader owes him their thanks.  Tragically, Mark passed away last week, and we will forever miss his infectious wit and laughter. But a piece of that is preserved in this story, and he wrote it so you could laugh out loud with him.  Enjoy...

As a recent Hog Hunting Junkie (HHJ) and founding SHWAT supporter, I'd like to tell you my story. Consider this like a Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Hi My name is Mark and I've got Hog Hunting Addiction. It all started when I went to SE TX on a hunt for Ruger Adventures Television...

Having now shot over 1000 hogs with calibers ranging from .223 to 9.3x62, I feel I've learned a little about shot placement and what hogs do after being shot.  I’ll share with you my observations based on years of real world hog hunting.  Caliber, bullet, shot placement, your range to target, the size of your target – all these factor into killing and recovering your hog. 

On top of that, factor in a hunter's experience.  I have inexperienced hunters/clients wound hogs all the time under conditions that would have been easy for me or any other experienced hunter. Conditions and shooter skills really have to be taken into consideration here.  If you want to find out how I assess what it takes to kill and recover a hog, keep reading.

The Trijicon ACOG is a real world, battle tested and proven tactical optic.  It's used by no nonsense warriors whose lives depend on good gear, sound tactics, and keen competencies.  Fortunately for the civilian market, these workhorses are available to the rest of us.  As is obvious by my previous articles, I'm a fan of mixing the tactical world and the wild hog hunting world.  I think they have a great crossover, that skill in one arena pay dividends in the other.  On that same theme let’s talk about the use of traditionally tactical optics for use in hog hunting. For this entry, we’ll look at the ACOG.  More specifically I want to talk about the Trijicon ACOG 4x32 w/ 4.0 MOA RMR Sight.

There’s a lot of talk about the destructiveness of wild hogs.  But in East Texas, Wulf Outdoor Sports has been doing something about the problem for a few years now, and for 2012 has upped the ante considerably—to the tune of $28,000 in cash prizes for hog hunters participating in this year’s Wild Hog Roundup!   The hunt team that kills the most feral pigs over the course of the 10-day tournament walks away with a cool $10,000. Last year’s event also offered a $10,000 Grand Prize to the team that killed the most pigs.  That money went to the Pig Thrillers, a local Shelby County Team that bagged 154 hogs.  There was also $500 awarded each day to the team that brought in the most hogs before noon.

Sun Tzu in The Art of War:  “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.”  Whether or not you view wild hogs as your own enemy, land owners and agriculture officials certainly do. An old sage hunter echoed that ancient warrior wisdom when he told me years ago, “Know the quarry you are about to tangle with so you are familiar with the steps of the dance.”  I wish somebody had told me about that back at my senior prom. There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing hefty hogs charging humans, proving their status as dangerous game.  It's safe to say, you're better off, and your odds of a successful hunt are better, if you have some practical knowledge on the wild pigs.  I dug up my masters degree in wildlife science and contacted some authorities on wild hogs to put together this brief knowledge base for you.

A military tactic as old as warfare itself, the ambush combines concealment and surprise to overwhelm an unsuspecting enemy.  Applying the ambush to hog hunting can give you a big tactical advantage.  But how to set it up?  In the battlefield, you create the appearance of something your target values to lure them in..  The same applies when hunting hogs, so baiting becomes a key tactic.  A wild hog’s nose is at least the equal of a deer’s, and some hunters swear it’s even better.  Any tactical hunter who’s had a hog scent him, and immediately pound the ground at a dead run, knows all too well that hogs have great snouts.  While hogs count on this fine sense of smell to ID their next meal or you, it can also be their demise.

By my standards it was too dark to shoot.  By the guide’s rules it was time to engage the target. Add to that the nasty cold drizzle. A 1-inch tube optic would have been frustrating, trying to keep the glass clear long enough for a shot. The guide whispered “See that pig with the white collar?”  Sure enough there was a porker out there in the 150-200 pound class that wore a white center stripe that looked like it had on a scarf.  I got down on one knee and looked through the Smith and Wesson MP15-PC rifle’s sight, a holograph EoTech with a 3x magnifier. At the bark of the .300 Whisper muzzle exit, there was heard a decidedly hard thump downrange.  This EoTech setup just works, and I'll detail it for you here.

Like the wild hog population count, the world of hog hunting has exploded over the last few years.  Once the exclusive domain of the traditional hunter, this phenomenon is now catching the attention of tactical professionals and enthusiasts.  There is a whole set of competencies that can add adrenaline to the challenge of hog hunting, not to mention significantly adding to the number of targeted pigs successfully put down. Especially for civilians, I believe that hog hunting offers one of the best opportunities to practice tactical skills with a firearm. Let's look at maximizing your success on a group of feral foes.

Angelia Boykin of Laurel, Mississippi is not your usual southern belle.  You might say she's more of a southern sniper in her camo gear.  I have known Miss Boykin for many years now and have written a number of stories for various outdoor magazines on her hunting exploits. Sitting in a sniper training tower with an Accuracy International .308, motive meets the moment.  I plant it every year for deer hunting, but now I find that the hogs have moved in and just destroyed the field,” says Boykin. 

“The pigs have rutted up the field so bad now that I can hardly even drive the food plot tractor over it. I have to put the tractor in low range gear to keep from tearing up the equipment. I knew for sure that I had to make a plan to take care of the pigs.”

If you’re wild hog in eastern Alabama, you should most definitely fear the night, especially any night that AJ Niette is out hunting.  Niette, a retired engineer, prowls the agricultural fields near his home in Smiths Station, Alabama, night vision equipment at the ready, looking for the nocturnal pigs. Farmers here are hard hit by the destructive hogs, which root up their fields and destroy their crops.  They routinely ask Niette if he can trim back the rampant hog populations.

Niette’s equipment starts with a .223 AR-15 rifle custom-made by DoubleStar Corporation of Winchester, Kentucky.   It’s topped with a D-760 Gen 3 Standard 6x Night Vision Scope.  Also in his kit is the a Flir 307 H Series thermal imaging camera, doubling as a spotting scope.