Hog hunting

[doubleset]

The hogs are cornered with dogs.

Ah ... Now that would make a huge difference.

 

[Stykbow]

I killed one hog here in Tennessee with a BP rifle. Wasn’t harder to kill than any deer I’ve shot. Thing is we give some game an almost mythical reputation for toughness. I’ve read stories of deer that took 5, 6, or more shots to kill. That was the exception, not the rule. I expect it’s the same with hogs.

 

[rpatmuck]

I have enjoyed hunting hogs many years with my black powder rifles. All shots were head shots with round balls from .45 to .54 caliber. I always used the most accurate load and used a rest to fire from when I could. If I felt I could not make a clean kill I did not fire. The largest hog might have weighed 200 pounds but most were 75 to 125 pounds. All hogs fed people instead of the buzzards. Texas is where I have always hunted and now that I am 78 I cant see open sights any more and refuse to put a scope on my muzzle loading rifles. I have more close calls with rattlesnakes than anything else. Just be safe where ever you hunt.

 

[doubleset]

I expect it’s the same with hogs.

Well, people are talking here about killing hogs in a variety of (often not very clearly described) circumstances and in weights ranging from 75 lbs. to 400 lbs or more. With those kinds of differences you can expect to see similar variances in the stories about how easily the task was accomplished.

 

[SciAggie]

I always used the most accurate load and used a rest to fire from when I could. If I felt I could not make a clean kill I did not fire.

That about sums it up.
They are not mythical, but they can be tough - and dangerous if wounded. I’ve never had a deer turn on me and pop its jaws, ready to fight. I have had a hog do that. It was only once. As others have said, most hogs I have killed either dropped on the spot or ran 25 yards or so.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

You guys are killing me….

 

[TrapperDude]

Since 2000 i've shot a few hundred wild hogs, mostly using inline guns. However, i've killed about 20 using conventional muzzleloaders: Except for two or three, they were killed using patched round balls.

Hogs are not built like deer. Wild hog anatomy:

View attachment 134182

Shoot a hog standing broadside behind the crook in the front leg-heart shot. A lung shot hog will often run 200 yards. A high shoulder shot with a big round ball is good, it disables the central nervous system.

Be careful of shooting hogs behind the head. Often a hog shot behind the head will go down like poleaxed, lie there awhile, start moving around, get his feet under him and book. Few years ago i hunted with a man who had never hunted hogs, told him not to shoot a hog high behind the head. But he did it anyway, shot a 200 pound boar at about 25 yards. Hog dropped on the spot and soon started crawling. That hog was shot with a 150 grain bullet from a .270 Winchester rifle. Told him to shoot it again



i crawled up and put a round ball from my .50 in this sows ear:

This hog was facing at about 60 yards, Round ball hit his snout:

I got a 117lb. sow with a .357 Magnum Ruger GP100 at about 15 yards in some heavy brush. I'd set up along a trail that had some relatively fresh looking tracks and dung. I had to wait until she stepped into an opening in the brush, and I couldn't tell exactly where the top of the shoulder was because of the patterning in the fur breaking up the outline of the shoulder and brush obscuring the lower part of the foreleg.

My shot ended up being just behind the upper shoulder as a result, but it did break the spine and cause a rapid expiration, with no running. It was a clean kill, with minimal suffering, and the meat was delicious. That was some of the best ham I'd ever had.

 

[doubleset]

So a lot of these hogs being shot are about in the weight range of a lot of white tail deer (or certainly a lot of mule deer)? If that's true, then it's easier to understand how a .45 BP RB could be fine for them.

 

[gustrolland]

My son did some hog hunting in both Texas and Tennesee about 10 years ago. My only comment here would be "A .45 BP rifle for southern hogs?" He took one down with a 30-06 where the first shot was on target, but the hog turned and was charging him when he put the second one into it at very close range. They were both BIG hogs. And they sure tasted good. I'd solicit a lot of advice and accurate stories from BP hog hunters before undertaking that adventure. Maybe think of using a double rifle?

A few years back I and two other gents flew to Texas to hunt pigs with doubles. Had a good time and got some good meat.

 

[Eutycus]

I'm guessing wheel weight lead would be the preferred lead to make the round ball as opposed to "soft lead"?

 

[Eutycus]

I know a Green Beret who supposedly went hog hunting with only a only a knife and he was in his shorts (only). Anyway that's the story his mother tells but I'd like to believe he had on at least a pair of shoes as well .One does not go barefoot in South Texas Brush.

 

[2 shots]

Hog hunting. WE TALKIN IN THE WOODS OR BARS ??

 

[TrapperDude]

Hog hunting. WE TALKIN IN THE WOODS OR BARS ??

In the bars, it's called "hoggin'," not "hog hunting."

 

[toot]

anything goes good with BACON!!

 

[2 shots]

guess it depends on where you are. sadly there is only on kind of hog to hunt in n.y. so we are hunting

 

[Okie Hog]

For many years i field dressed and gave away wild hogs, refused to leave hogs for the coyotes and buzzards. Many hogs were also skinned.

Then people began to complain, and they ordered hogs by sex and weight. Some expected me to haul hogs to the processor. At 80 years old i said enough and left dead hogs for the critters.

Today a few folks get field dressed and skinned hogs. One couple gets a large hog about once a year: They come and take an intact hog, clean and field dress it themselves. They save internal organs and make some fine eating stuff.

 

[jefair1]

This is a Texas hog my friend got 2 years ago. It broke the 450 lb scale we had.

 

[LME]

It doesn't take much to kill a hog as long as you shoot it in the right place. When I lived in the home place in the country killing hogs took place every year as soon as it turned cold. Cold weather kept the flies away. We used a .22 Cal. rifle. Some of the hogs were over 300 pounds and they dropped like an anchor. I realise that hunting is different and if I were to use a M.L. rifle I would use a Cal..54 or more. It would help if you made a marginal shot.

 

[doubleset]

... We used a .22 Cal. rifle. Some of the hogs were over 300 pounds and they dropped like an anchor.

Are you talking about shooting them at a distance, or walking up to them and shooting them in the head as part of your domestic hog harvest?

 

[LME]

Are you talking about shooting them at a distance, or walking up to them and shooting them in the head as part of your domestic hog harvest?

When you kill raised hogs on a farm you are right next to them. We put the rifle right behind the ear and they drop in their tracks.