Hogs In Hell

A Rare Trophy You Have To Earn The Hard Way
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Mark, Christophe, and the trackers were jubilant after finally
scoring on this giant forest hog. Mark carried his Freedom Arms
revolver in a Barranti Leather Northwest Hunter rig.

Editor’s note — this is the last story Mark submitted shortly before his passing in Africa in June 2024.

When I told my wife I’d like to go back and hunt for giant forest hogs in the Central African Republic (CAR), she gave me the evil eye. I had it coming, and she had every right to ask, “Have you lost your mind?” You see, I had hunted in CAR a couple of times, spending 19 days before I had a crack at Lord Derby eland. I came home with severe intestinal bacteria of some sort, sicker than a dog, losing 15 lbs. and looking like death warmed-over. My friends thought I had cancer and was dying. It took several weeks to recover fully.

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This 10" Freedom Arms Model 83 performed perfectly in the harsh
environment in CAR. The revolver is topped with a Leupold 2.5-8x scope.

Welcome To Hell

On top of that, Karen had learned the country had six coups since 1960 with a tumultuous past of violent conflict and political instability. Incidents involving landmines and other explosive devices were common especially in western CAR. Rebels, militants, and armed groups were widespread and well-known. The terrorist groups acted more like a criminal gang than terrorist, burning villages, torturing men, women and girls, further committing atrocities. As they say, “It’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there!”

Back in the day, CAR was a true mecca for big game. The country was blessed with a plethora of desirable, highly sought after species including four of Africa’s Big Five. Sudanese poachers have wiped out a huge population of game. Market hunting, selling meat to local villages, has also contributed to the population decline. Add an influx of cattle by armed herdsmen from Sudan or Chad and you have serious problems. With all this, there are still a few resilient, audacious outfitters offering adventurous hunts in very remote locations. The stars must have lined-up perfectly when Karen agreed and said she would come along.

We were hunting with Eric Marav’s Central African Wildlife Adventures. The enormous, remote hunting area is situated in the southeastern portion of the country covering over 2 million hectares. The hunting area is best described as a mosaic of equatorial rainforests blending with a vast rolling plateau of woodland savannah. Freshwater streams meander through the forest galleries contrasting with dry, burnt landscape nearby. Our main camp was located on the banks of the Koch and Siriri Rivers in a picturesque setting. This is truly wild Africa, and hunting is very difficult — but so rewarding.

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Bog-Pod’s shooting rest came in handy during Mark’s hunt.
Anything to enhance shot placement will benefit the shooter
and lessen the chances for wounded game.

Monsters In The Mist

My primary goal on this hunt was to take a giant forest hog with a handgun. There were other species on my “wish list” including central African savannah buffalo, harnessed bushbuck, red river hog and whatever else we might encounter. The Freedom Arms Model 83 in .44 Magnum was my primary choice and an Encore in .375 JDJ was along as backup.

Hunting in CAR can best be described as excessive walking in extreme heat. It’s just part of the deal. We drink plenty of water and keep on walking. You will not see game around every bush but when you do, it’s heart-pounding excitement!

Christophe Morio, our professional hunter, is one of the hardest working, dedicated professional hunters in Central Africa. He has an impressive background with giant forest hogs along with other game including the buffalo. I felt pretty confident we would be successful if I kept up my end of the deal.

The first morning, a haze covered the sky as we hiked from one salt lick to another, searching for fresh tracks. It doesn’t take long for the sun to burn through the mist and well before lunchtime, the heat cranks up unmercifully. We didn’t find any tracks worth pursuing, or see much game, but we sure did get our exercise in for the day.

It was slow going for the first few days. Long hikes were the norm. Before I knew it, day five was on us as a death march-like pace ensued to check more salt licks. Suddenly Christophe stopped abruptly and threw up his binos. Feeding in an open area on lush grass was a herd of a dozen or more central African savannah buffalo. I couldn’t believe my eyes!

Utilizing sparse clumps of brush, we eased our way closer. When we worked our way inside of 100 yards, one of the trackers spotted the bull on the left side of the herd. His reddish coloration shining in the early morning sun was a beautiful sight! We sneaked a little closer and set up the Bog-Pod shooting rest.
Christophe let out a call as the bull turned broadside. The .44 Mag. was resting in the cradle of the Bog-Pod with hammer cocked. As the bull stood perfectly broadside in the morning sun, I slowly tugged the trigger. The shot interrupted our early morning solitude and to everyone’s surprise, the bull dropped in his tracks! Buffalo Bore’s 305-grain ammo performed like a champ and we all were elated. Before the photo session was over, sweat bees by the millions swarmed around our faces. They didn’t sting but will dive into your nose, mouth, eyes, ears and ultimately drive you insane. Regardless, it still didn’t distract our jubilation over this magnificent bull.

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The Harnessed bushbuck is the smallest of Africa’s bushbuck
sub-species. It is a beautiful spiral horned antelope and this
ram was an old warrior, well past his prime.

Brokeback Bushbuck

The next morning, we continued our pursuit of giant forest hog. We bumped into a harnessed bushbuck partially hidden by the thick bush. One peek through the binos revealed this guy was an old warrior well past his prime. The old male had a broken horn on one side and a chunk out of the other horn. I quickly switched guns and grabbed the .375 JDJ Encore. As the ram started walking a little over 100 yards away, I picked out an opening and waited. As he entered the window of opportunity, I squeezed off a round and we were headed to the salt with the smallest of the bushbuck species, one of the most beautiful spiral horned antelope.

Our luck with finding giant forest hogs was lacking. We did accidently come across a sounder of red river hogs but initially couldn’t seal the deal. The trackers followed the spoor for quite some time before we eventually spotted the hogs feeding leisurely, unaware. Christophe and I slipped closer. We spotted the boar vigorously rooting up ground behind a little tree. With a good rest, I executed one of the biggest blunders in my hunting career. When you get excited and rush your shot, things often go south! The bullet hit the tree, and it was the end of the game. A total train wreck on a prime opportunity! It was the last time we saw red river hogs.

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The unique giant forest hog is the largest species of pigs in the world.
Mark took this monster with a Freedom Arms .44 Magnum shooting
Buffalo Bore 305-grain ammo.

Dinner at main camp was relaxing and a time to reflect on the day’s hunt.

King Of Bacon

The giant forest hogs are the largest living pig species and can weigh well over 400 lbs. They are not an easy animal to hunt as they are both shy and wary. They have a massive head with a long snout and below the eyes are gigantic warty growths. They weren’t discovered by science until 1904. I’m pretty sure a fairly large number of giant forest hogs are taken as targets of opportunity — encountered while hunting other game. There has been less than a handful taken with a handgun.

It was later in the evening and we were meandering along the stream, a quiet time of day without any wind. The trackers were in front looking ahead. As luck would have it, Karen happened to look behind us in a slough jutting out from the stream. She poked me in the back and pointed at the black object mostly hidden in the tall grass. At first, I thought it was a big rock until I saw his tail swish back and forth. I snapped my fingers getting the attention of the trackers and Christophe.

When I pointed at the black object in the grass, Christophe took one glance through his binos and immediately set up the tripod. The Freedom Arms .44 Mag. came to a rest as I tried to steady the crosshairs of the scope. When the hammer fell, the hog flinched and took off. We raced over the stream, and I tried my best to put another round or two in this monster.

After a good bit of excitement, we had a giant forest hog with a revolver. It was a perfect ending to another wonderful hunt in Africa! We all were soaked in sweat and ecstatic!

As we departed on the charter flight out of camp, troops were assembled on the dirt runway, training for a conflict with poachers. Once we reached Bangui, French Special Forces were seen everywhere. Our plane was surrounded by armed military personnel and a jeep with a .50 caliber mounted in the back. Apparently, they were guarding the plane — at least that is what I was hoping. As we taxied down the runway and took off for Paris, my wife said, “I hope you don’t want to hunt here again.”

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