PRB load for deer and hog 54 cal.

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rj morrison said:
they are practically bullet proof. range should be kept to 50 at max.

You are wrong. Plain and simple. They aren't creatures possessing mythical powers of strength and stamina. They aren't Cape Buffalo or Rhinos. They are pigs.

They die quickly with a bullet in one of numerous locations or a knife for that matter. They can hurt you if you are careless but so can a bunch of other critters.

Heck, we catch them, hobble them, take pictures and let them go and we haven't been eaten yet.
 
"or a knife for that matter"

There is a fellow in Texas that makes spears to kill hogs after the catch dog(s) have done their job.

In Texas they are shooting them from "helicopters" with 12 gauge shotguns with buckshot which would seem to have less energy than a .54 ball.

Folks take elk and moose with .54s, that should be enough for a hog.
 
I was taught that hogs and boar are not the same thing... even when talking about feral hogs..., and the hogs I was taught were not a problem, but with some of the boar species out there that folks import at hunting preserves, you had to be a bit better with shot placement, but they would still go down.

LD
 
Loyalist Dave said:
I was taught that hogs and boar are not the same thing... even when talking about feral hogs..., and the hogs I was taught were not a problem, but with some of the boar species out there that folks import at hunting preserves, you had to be a bit better with shot placement, but they would still go down.

LD

Male hogs are called boars, females are sows and a group of hogs is called a sounder.

Hogs with the pure Russian genetics were first imported into Florida and Texas for a source of food. They are generally black in color and have a different shaped head than a feral hogs. Contrary to popular belief, they do not weigh more than 200 pounds. Hogs with Russian genetics (males and females) get lumped together and are called Russian Boars.

Hogs can be a major problem when the are rooting for grubs.

The man who traps for me covers a 3 county area and catches a lot of hogs. I asked him how many honest 300 pound hogs he catches each year and he said maybe one. Most hogs will weigh around 100 to 150 pounds in the wild.

Hogs internals are further forward than a deer.

Texas has passed some very specific laws regarding hogs. To turn them loose for hunting, only male hogs can be turned loose. Trapped hogs have to be killed on the spot or taken to a state certified receiving station.

Hogs are very smart, if you hunt them they will move or go nocturnal. They become trap shy and become un-trappable.

To counter nocturnal hogs folks here have gone to night vision equipment and silencers.
 
blackpowderscout said:
They are the same thing....Sus Scrofa. Same animal.

That is like saying all breeds of chickens are the same, is it not?

Are all breeds of cattle the same?

Cattle are cattle, but all are not the same and a bull is a bull but they are built different depending if they are Angus or Beef Master.

The biologist's in Texas Parks and Wildlife do differentiate between Russian genetics and feral hog genetics.

Texas Record of Exotics have two (2) separate divisions for awards based on tusk size, one for Russian Boar and one for Wild Boar. They do discriminate between the two.

Moo and a .54 hole makes for a dead hog.
 
Rifleman1776 said:
Having had a seemingly dead "dropped in its tracks" boar get up and absorb several 44 mag hits before sending us up a tree, I do carry a back-up sidearm (heavily loaded 45 Ruger Blackhawk).

Read previous posts. That doesn't/can't happen. Yer story tellin'. :wink: :rotf:

It's only for the inexperienced that I relate last year's event. The uninitiated need to know that, while hogs aren't Cape Buffalo, large ones can inflict serious harm when threatened or wounded.
 
Your hogs are smart comment reminded me of what happened to a rancher that we hunted with in TX. He had several tripod mounted stands of the type that are popular down there. One was set real close to a feeder to cater to bow hunters. The hogs figured it out and dug around one leg of the tripod till it fell over!!
 
Where corn feeders are set up close to deer blinds, the hogs will look at the blind to see if the windows are open as soon as they show up.

Friend of mine has a Master's in Agriculture and has owned a feed store for many years. He said hogs are the smartest critters in the woods.

I had one last year which became aggressive after some time, he would posture at me. He learned some how I was not am immediate threat. I changed
what I did as a routine and he no longer lives with us.

In the 80s I hunted with one of the top hog hunters in Texas. He hunted with dogs.

When we went into to kill a hog, first off he said, do not kill my dogs. He said, you see that tree, that is yours and that tree is mine. He said stay out of my tree if things go to hell. He said the dogs will separate things out.

I asked him how bad are hogs and he picked up his pants legs and showed my the scars.

He said that everyone wants to be charged and make an "African" story, but he said actual charges and harm are rare.

I carry a small center fire rifle as a truck gun and it works just fine.

I asked my hog trapper if he worried about hogs since he does not carry a gun. He said in all his years that he had only had one negative experience in 30 years.

When a hog is shot, if it runs, it will run in the direction it is facing.
 
blackpowderscout said:
Heck, we catch them, hobble them, take pictures and let them go and we haven't been eaten yet.

Why do you let them go??? :youcrazy:

Even if you're not going to eat them, don't let them go. Like you said, a knife is a good answer.

However, I agree with you on the hogs. A hog is a hog. The older males get a cartilage shield whether they are feral or the dreaded fire-breathing Russian murdering boar.
 
On another trip to Texas we took a guy along who was pretty sure he was going to be risking his life. He shot one that was facing him and it ran towards him. It died before it got very close. He excitedly told us the pig had charged him. Knowing it was going to become tiresome, one of guys shot back "how much?" We didn't hear that story again!
 
Since we are trading hog stories I have only had two bad deals with them. Once I shot a nice sholt and the sow swiped me flat of my but so she got a face full of buck shot before she got me again. I didn't want to kill her I just wanted her youngun for the pit. Another time I was crawling through a thicket with only a long bow and a boar bluff charged me a couple of times. The brush was so thick that I couldn't draw my bow so it became a very expensive spear at that point. So those critters can be very rude but most they will run if they figure out you are around.
 
I have never had a hog go over 50 yards ever and every caliber from 22LR -7mm weatherby mags. Compound, recurve and muzzleloaders. All these ran up a tree story makes me laugh. Hogs are damn near blind sure they can smell great but see no. Usually what people brag about being charged is nothing more than the group or single hog running after a shot goes off. They are just scattering. I have never ever not once been charged and I have killed well over 150 hogs. And I am hunting ground level in swamps where they are up close and personal.
 
Funny in that many biologists with PhD's refer to the various forms of Wild Boar as sus scrofa, but refer to the domesticated pig, aka "hog" as sus domesticus or sus scrofa domesticus. So some of the scientist view the two as different enough to use different scientific terminology.

In vernacular terms a lot of people refer to types of domesticated pigs as hogs, and will call male domesticated pigs boar hogs, although this is actually redundant..., while referring to a male wild pig simply as a boar, or sometimes wild boar.

And yes, as a corrollary, a teacup poodle and a bull mastif are both canines, and can even be interbred and produce fertile offspring, but they are very different animals. :wink:

LD
 
marmotslayer said:
I never encountered one that smelled great!!
Ok ya got me I was referring to their sense of smell. But worded poorly thanks for the correction.
 
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