boar hunting questions ?

[hellerodsyahoo.com]

Silent Sniper-- I had killed a fair amount of Pigs when is was free (in-laws ranch/central Cali. coast)they where considered a pest/ crop destroyer. Great fun, biggest lesson learned: focus on a single pig!!!! Wild pigs usually run in groups and beginers usually get so excited that they won't consentrate on just one animal. Just remember to pick out one individual pig and focus, focus, focus, even after the shot, forget the rest and stay on your pig ONLY!!! "ONE IN THE HAND, IS WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH' I don't mean to be contrary,but I have had several wild pigs take more than one shot to birng them down, they can soak up a lot of lead even with a well placed shot because of their armor plating(cartilage) under the hide. just my two cents worth Lee

 

[relicshunter]

I would ask to get in closer. Maybe use a lighter load so the kick is less. You may not feel the kick when hunting, but the flinch response could throw off your aim. Study the anatomy link that was put up, the vitals are lower then deer. I had a small boar get up after a shot and think about charging, then ran a few feet and dropped. It is unlikely, just be ready. Only one hog I have killed had a shield. It was European looking, and had a 1 1/4 thick shield. A 12 gauge shotgun slug made it through barely!

 

[ronrryan]

I live in Fla, my cousin came from Maine to shoot a pig. He is the best offhand shot I have seen in fifty years of deerhunting. 1st shot was about 40 yards head on very slight quarter, the pig was about to turn into thick stuff, shot was a bit high, into spine, pig swapped ends, ran quickly. Cuz had my 12 ga Rem 870, hit him four more times pretty quick all in the body except the last coup behind the ear, kicking hard to the end. We were pretty impressed, but if the first shot had been better I believe it would have been all over. Good smoke, Ron in FL

 

[longrifle346]

With all due respect to previous posters, considerable experience hunting Florida feral hogs and a couple of footraces have led me away from "boiler room shots". Sows are one thing but I've seen/had too many bad experiences with that shield on anything resembling a respectable boar. Accuracy is everything and heavy quartering away shots where you can come in from behind and avoid that plate are great but neck and ear shots have proven alot more lethal and most are DRT. Hit a big boar in that 4" thick shield, and I promise you some are that thick, and you might need your track shoes....

 

[laufer]

feral pigs and russian boars are not the same for killing.
has anybody tried double .54 ball on feral pigs 100lb+?

 

[FishDFly]

With all due respect to previous posters, considerable experience hunting Florida feral hogs and a couple of footraces have led me away from "boiler room shots". Sows are one thing but I've seen/had too many bad experiences with that shield on anything resembling a respectable boar. Accuracy is everything and heavy quartering away shots where you can come in from behind and avoid that plate are great but neck and ear shots have proven alot more lethal and most are DRT. Hit a big boar in that 4" thick shield, and I promise you some are that thick, and you might need your track shoes....

I kill, skin a lot of hogs each year and work with a hog trapper. I have never seen a 4" thick shield on any hog, my best hog to date is a touch over 390 on scales. Most feral hogs running in the woods will not go over 225 or so.

Your recommendation of shot placement is correct.

If you study hog anatomy, you will find that a hog's heart and lungs are further forward than on a deer, thus you need to shoot a hog further forward than a deer.

Boar hog shields, if you castrate a boar hog, the shield will disappear over time.

 

[FishDFly]

feral pigs and russian boars are not the same for killing.
has anybody tried double .54 ball on feral pigs 100lb+?

I have to ask, why are feral pigs and russian boars not the same for killing?

Pure strain Russian hogs are only found in 3 or 4 states in the U.S. A pure strain Russian will not exceed 225 lbs which has been documented by Texas A&M Agrilife.

Folks say big boars are not fit to eat which is not correct.

I use to hunt coons at night to make extra money. I spent a lot of time with the buyer, sitting and listening to him.

He processed deer and hogs during deer season. I asked him about the old wives tale about boar hogs not being fit to eat. He said if you shoot a boar hog and it stinks when you walk up to it, leave it lay. He said that the boar was running sows and the meat was tainted from the glands.

When you shoot a feral hog, there are glands in the ham, there is a gland that is buried on the back side of a hog's ham ... under the fat ... between the muscles ... that you need to always remove. If you don't you will know it.

Like most glands ... it is nasty tasting. In my experience, this is the most overlooked gland on deer or hogs. Even piglets have this gland in the hams. Remove this gland and your hams or sausage will taste much better.

The below was given to me to soak feral swine over night by some folks in Southern Lousiana to be done prior to cooking:

1. Place meat in an ice chest with a layer of
ice, layer of meat and layer of ice, layer of
meat and layer of ice.
2. Place the following in the ice chest:
A. Liquid from a 6 pack of cokes
B. Liquid from a 6 pack of 7UP
C. Half gallon of cheap wine
D. 6 pack of cheap beer
E. Couple of oranges, peeled and quartered
F. Couple of apples, peeled and quartered

Let the meat soak over night in the above, then place the meat in a smoker and smoke until done.

They said this conconction draws the blood and game taste out of the meat, it does leave the meat with a light color and no blood.

It does work. If anyone knows how to cook, it's the Cajuns.

 

[Supercracker]

The below was given to me to soak feral swine over night by some folks in Southern Lousiana to be done prior to cooking:

1. Place meat in an ice chest with a layer of
ice, layer of meat and layer of ice, layer of
meat and layer of ice.
2. Place the following in the ice chest:
A. Liquid from a 6 pack of cokes
B. Liquid from a 6 pack of 7UP
C. Half gallon of cheap wine
D. 6 pack of cheap beer
E. Couple of oranges, peeled and quartered
F. Couple of apples, peeled and quartered

Let the meat soak over night in the above, then place the meat in a smoker and smoke until done.

I've eaten some fairly large boars just by deboning and soaking in a iced Brine solution with a little bit of pineapple juice. Draining the water and adding ice til it stops being bloody.

 

[FishDFly]

"I've eaten some fairly large boars just by deboning and soaking in a iced Brine solution with a little bit of pineapple juice. Draining the water and adding ice til it stops being bloody."

I believe the acid in the pineapple juice and brine from your recommendation is doing what the concoction which I listed is doing ,not much difference on the pH scale. The pineapple juice is interesting, will need to give it try.

 

[BrownBear]

I kinda wonder how much time of year and diet have to do with it too. When I was a kid we used to life trap feral pigs and javelina once the prickly pears had ripened and the pigs had been on them a few weeks. Then we'd top them off for a couple of weeks with corn, and skim milk if the cow was producing faster than we could drink it. I don't recall ever having a bad bite, no matter what part or how we cooked it, boar or sow, big or small.

A cousin shot a big boar during the rut and before the prickly pears were ripe. As I recall it took several shots, so the thing got pretty revved up before it died, too. Here's a question for you: How far can you spread 300 pounds of chorizo among friends and family? That's what we had to do with it.

 

[Supercracker]

IMO, and you know what those are like.

The majority of the bad table fare reputation big pigs have gotten is from people killing them with dogs. When you kill a pig with dogs it will be at the end of a long frantic chase and usually during an intense life or death fight. So for the 15 minutes or so before it's death it's whole system will have been dumping adrenalin and all kinds of other hormones into it's system full blast. That's what tastes bad and what you're getting rid of by the soak.

When you plug one properly with a gun it should drop in it's tracks. So there'll be a lot less hormones. Unless you cap a boar who's following a sow in heat around.

 

[BrownBear]

...at the end of a long frantic chase and usually during an intense life or death fight. So for the 15 minutes or so before it's death it's whole system will have been dumping adrenalin and all kinds of other hormones into it's system full blast.

There's a lot to that. Two years we brought a steer in from pasture to be slaughtered, and the goshdarned thing figured out what was going on, jumped a fence, ran a quarter mile up the lane onto the highway and got hit. Just broke the right hind leg down low, so when the excitement was over (driver wasn't hurt), we finally got around to putting it down. Went ahead and hauled it to the butcher.

Darn thing was about as tough as a boot and had an off taste, in spite of a month of loving care and good corn. We ended up unwrapping and thawing all the meat and having that ground for burger, and I swear even that was tough. If it ever happens like that again, I'm gonna dig a hole and push the steer into it.

 

[bdhutier]

Oh yeah, the .50 w/65-70gns will absolutely do the trick. A bow stand would be good, because it gets you closer for a better sight picture. Point of impact is your key. Like Texcl said, if you can hit the kill zone well, even a .22 works fine.

There isn't a whole lot of difference between most feral and farm pigs. You don't see Farmer Bob packin' a .30-06 to put up the bacon, do ya? :grin:

 

[George]

If you study hog anatomy, you will find that a hog's heart and lungs are further forward than on a deer, thus you need to shoot a hog further forward than a deer.

Here's a link showing the anatomy.
http://www.texasboars.com/anatomy.html

Spence

 

[John Wasmuth]

Way to many people think that a mountain howitzer is needed to kill wild pigs. No difference in the required killing power between a european wild hog and a feral hog. A hog is a hog. I use my .32 Crockett more than anything else.

 

[flyfisher76544]

Lived in Georgia for close to 16 years now chasin' these hawgs all over....I have never found one with a 4 inch shield. 50 cal with 75 grains of 3F knocks them in the dirt with no issues. Heck the centerfire crowd pops em with .22's!!!!