Argo Amphibious Hog Hunting AATV

Originally Posted By: Gman757Originally Posted By: BAYSTATE YOTEWow,Gman, that looks like a blast!!

It is S.....fun shooting at those runners and as you can see I don't mind going thru the ammo. Can't kill hogs with the rounds still in the magazine.

Originally Posted By: SkyPupThe crickets are chirping in January? Yikes!

No kidding.....and the mosquitos were biting too.
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Yeah, when them little ones take off in every direction under the sun, it's about impossible to find one to shoot at, let alone hit them, even with the lights on! Trying to find them in dark gets interesting.


Sounds like ours won't be chirping in the morning, we're supposed to be down around 28 up here near the Georgia line in the morning. Had to fire the Thermacell up Saturday night. Thought it was cool enough the skeeters wouldn't be out, but sure enough about sundown here they came!!
 

Here is the latest Argo project. I had to figure out a way to camo this thing up for hunting and I just finished it up today.

I used Ram mounts and hooks so everything comes off or folds down as needed. It can be set up in a just few minutes. It's nice to hunt out of an ATV and have everything close at hand .... not to mention being off the ground away from the snakes and fire ants.

I am beginning to think I have too much time on my hands these days.
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The framework is 1/2 inch PVC painted with camo paint.

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Might be easier to drape some of that camo over you and not open the front part. Might limit your shooting to directly in front only. Or only have the front piece come up so high? And use it as a gun rest. Still looks like the best hunting toy I've seen.
 
Originally Posted By: skinnyminnyMight be easier to drape some of that camo over you and not open the front part. Might limit your shooting to directly in front only. Or only have the front piece come up so high? And use it as a gun rest. Still looks like the best hunting toy I've seen.

Thx Skinny..........

This will be used for close range hog hunting on feeders and I normally know the direction they are coming in from by my game camera pics. I wanted the back to be higher than my head so movement could not be outlined against the sky in daylight. I made the sides high also in case one comes in beside me before dark. I sort of had a ground blind in mine when I put it together. Once it gets dark I just unhook the sides and let them fall and loosen the front too and can lower it all the way down or to any level and tighten the Ram mounts.

I field tested it tonight and the sides definitely need to be a little lower for thermal scanning right at dark. I plan to install another set of hooks a few inches lower. Other than that it worked pretty well and I had it set up in just a few minutes. The only problem is the hogs no showed.
 
That thing is really cool and practical! With a high lift jack and a land anchor you could get almost anywhere! Nice video too! What kind of scope is that?
 
Originally Posted By: rpc55That thing is really cool and practical! With a high lift jack and a land anchor you could get almost anywhere! Nice video too! What kind of scope is that?

I use IR Defense Mark II Scopes.

http://www.irdefense.com
 
Originally Posted By: Gman757Originally Posted By: rpc55That thing is really cool and practical! With a high lift jack and a land anchor you could get almost anywhere! Nice video too! What kind of scope is that?

I use IR Defense Mark II Scopes.

http://www.irdefense.com




Wow nice stuff. Do they have rangefinders that work at night in them too?
 
Today was Argo maintenance day and I think there will be plenty more. I had to grease bearings, lube chains and also tighten the two center idler chains. This thing is basically a plastic boat with wheels, a metal frame in the bottom and lots of bearings and chains.

I am still happy with my decision to get it but I am thinking it will be somewhat maintenance intensive.

The front passenger area is just two sections of plastic.....a lower floor board and a firewall (not). Once they are taken out the internals are exposed for access. I can tell you after a few minutes of running this thing puts out some heat. It feels good on cool days but it could get a little uncomfortable on a hot FL summer day.

You can see a brake caliper on each side in these pics and when you turn you are just locking one side and skid steering the unit left or right. There is very little steering input required and over controlling is easy if you are not careful on the handlebar.

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Originally Posted By: crittr gittrGman that thing looks to pretty, now go get some hog blood on it.
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I haven't been hunting much due to a sore back but I got out tonight and started catching up on the hogs a little. I hit 2 plots in the Argo for a deer hunter that asked me to take out some hogs for him. I got 2 off of each plot and will go back and hit them again soon.

The first plot I hunted was in the corner of a thick field and I didn't bother to camo up the Argo. I only put up the front and rear pieces and one short span of camo cloth on the west side to shield me from the setting sun. I stopped in a road 50 yards from the feeder between some brush just before sunset. The pigs hit the plot while it was still light and the sow was hanging back in a woodline. I could just see a glimpse of her in the thermal once in a while so I just waited until she decided to join the pigs.

There was a lot of thick stuff to shoot thru so as soon as I had a good opening I put her down. I hit her hard on the first shot but she was a tough old sow and was growling like crazy when I approached her to finish her off.

She was a big sow for my area and my guess is she was about 225 lbs ??

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Last week I had a landowner ask me to kill the beavers out of his farm pond since they keep clogging the spillway. The dam was getting damaged in heavy rains and it was also causing flooding in his hay field.

This sounded like the perfect job for the Argo since I figured I might end up going into the pond at some point to see if I could get a shot at one. I unloaded and headed to the pond right after dark and decided to just sit a while to see what developed.

As it happened I only had to wait about 30 minutes before I spotted one headed right for me. I was just sitting in the Argo with my thermal scanner and this beaver came all the way across the pond right to me. Not only did the beaver swim right to me but it got out of the water on the edge of pond so I got a nice chance to shoot it. BANG!!!



 
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Just a little update on the latest Argo projects for anyone following this thread.

I added a Silent Rider exhaust mod to make it a little quieter at night. The unit is removable...I can just remove the 3 mounting bolts and Ram mount brace and the unit slides out of the coupling that is welded into the stock exhaust.

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I also came up with a Ram mount vertical gun rack design using parts from a UTV gun rack I had bought for the unit.

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Originally Posted By: TnslimThat is the nicest hunting rig I've ever seen. Excellent job on the additions you made.

Thanks.... I enjoy rigging stuff. Mostly boats until I got the GC and the Argo for hunting. The Argo is proving to be a very versatile vehicle but the ride is a little rough without a suspension system. I get a sore lower back if I get too crazy with it.

 
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