Jim uses the Sidewinder with a thermal optic to go after Texas Predators and hogs at the end of the day.
I was down in Texas earlier this month, on a 9-day hunting trip at a site in Southwest Texas and another up in the central North region. The environments of these two were very different, with the Southwest being arid and more desert scrub brush ecosystem geared to ranching, and the north was more agricultural with farms and water sources.
One of my objectives for this trip was to get in some night hunting, and I’d set up my Western Sidewinder .30 with an ATN thermal scope. I’d go after predators down in the desert region and hogs in the north, and figured this rig would do great on both.
First up were the ranch hunts down near the border, and I spent the days after javelina. But at night I headed out with the call and night time shooting rig, for 3-4 sets before calling it a night. Normally when predator calling I’ll hunt most of the night making a new set every 15-30 minutes, but after long days of hunting on my own needed to get some sleep!
The first night on my first set I was sitting at the base of the truck with a large open field in front of me, backed by a stand of mesquite and creosote thickets. I’d been calling for about 15 minutes when a fox came charging in, and held up at about 65 yards. He didn’t appear to want to come in closer, and was stalking back and forth but not moving closer. I had a front facing angle and when he stopped. I raised the Sidewinder, lined up the crosshairs and sent a .30 caliber slug fly. The fox popped up in the air. Turned and ran. He didn’t look hurt as he ran, but I had a good hold and it sounded like a solid hit.
I gave it a few minutes then hiked out to see if I could find spoor, locating a few drops of blood between where he’d stood and the scrub line. Walking up I looked behind a large bush, and there he was piled up lights out. Collecting my game, I hiked back to the truck, reorganized, and moved on. I shot two more fox that night before returning to a hot dinner, shower, and my bed.
A few days, and several great hunts later, I drove 6 hours north to hunt a property surrounded by cotton fields, pastures, and comparatively a lot more water. This was prime pig terrain, and spoiler alert, I spot and stalked with great success during the daylight hours. But one afternoon I asked to be dropped off at a blind at about 5:00 pm, and be left until 9 or 10 that night. It was my last night before the 16 hour drive home, I was tired, had shot a few hogs already, but thought I’d give the night rig a tryout before calling it a trip!
I got to a blind that was near a waterhole and a feeder, and settled in. I had my headphones and an audio book, water and snacks, layers of cloths in my pack to keep me warm as it cooled down, and I was content to sit and watch. Good thing because for the next 3 hours absolutely nothing happened.
As it got darker, I shut off the audio book and started listening to what was happening around me. Eventually I heard some grunts and squeals from the direction of the thickets, giving me a heads up there were some pigs in the area. After a while a decent sized boar stepped out with two other pigs, and when he broke a way a stood facing me, dropped the crosshair between his ears, squeezing off the shot when he stood still for a few seconds. It was nice having a compact bullpup design to maneuver in the tight confines of the blind. The slug slammed home and this was another piggy down!
I’ve got to say that the Sidewinder matched up with a good thermal optics offered impressive performance. The accuracy was dialed in, the terminal performance was perfect, though I didn’t need it on this hunt, having fast follow-ups in SA is a great advantage. One of the really impressive aspects was how quiet the operated. I could easily see using this as a suburban pest control rig, and with the number of coyotes I hear in my area, see a lot more use in its future!
I used the Sidewinder and a couple of the other guns from the Airguns of Arizona portfolio on this hunt, so stay in touch and I’ll keep them coming!
