hog hunting advise needed

[Victor N TN]

Don't shoot them in the head. Don't shoot them in the head. Don't shoot them in the head.
Low behind the shoulder and you've got plenty of load. Get close. A pig can take a lot of punishment. BTW, I've killed about 250 with a recurve bow and wooden arrows blazing along @ 175 fps over the last 40 years. Oh yeah, don't shoot them in the head....

When we were raising and killing Hampshire hogs on my parents farm, a single 22lr from a single shot rifle would do the trick. But ONLY if you can be directly in front of the hog and aim for a sunken spot directly between his eyes or slightly above. I have been told that an ear shot directed straight through would do the same thing. My 44 mag Winchester '94 has been on many wild hog hunts with me. I have never had one I shot get away. The straight on head shot has never failed me. Most don't even squeal more than once. The smaller the hog the easier the shot and the more tender the meat.

Edited to add:
If you use the straight on head shot. After the hog goes down, if he / she is laying on his side still kicking like he's trying to run away leave him alone. That's a natural nervous reaction.

Good luck.

[TXGunNut]

I've had issues with the head shot; well-aimed hits with a 45 Colt and a 30-06 did not work well for me. The 45 Colt was a pretty mild load and a second well-aimed shot to the same point did the trick. The 30-06 was a very close up and personal shot with a j-word so it was likely a bullet failure. Take a look at a big boar's skull sometime. Its hard and slanted like the windshield of a sports car. Some boolits will punch thru, some won't. I'll avoid that shot in the future.
There's more than a grain of truth to the stories about big boars with thick gristle plates and aggressive attitudes, it's not just a story we tell the tourists. I have it on good authority that hogs in the southeast are meaner than our TX hogs.
Your choice of weapons sounds good to me but I know next to nothing about flinging sticks. Boolits and loads for your 44 should serve you well, I'm going just a little hotter in my 45 Colt but that's just because it's load that works for that gun & boolit. If you haven't chosen your levergun yet I can recommend the Guide Gun in 45-70 or a 336 in 35 Rem.

[bikerbeans]

skeeter, if you have time and want to tinker with it, a lot of the serious pig hunters here favor a wide meplat boolit for hogs, and just in the posts on this forum I have seen some rather devastating results from such boolits.

This is a 310gr GC from Oregon Trail, I will be developing a load for my .44 with this boolit:

I shot a 125 pound feral hog with that boolit, Oregon Trail True Cast, and it was DRT. About a 50 yard shot with a 44 cal Wildcat rifle (44 Bodeen) with an MZ of 2,200 FPS.

BB

[skeeter1911]

The lever gun I have is an older Marlin 336 in .30-30. Not sure what I'll stoke it with yet as far as factory or reloads. I have some lead boolits ~165 grain something or others in .30. Can't recall the brand or mold # at this time. It was recommended to me here when I first signed up for this site and was looking for something for hunting deer. Pretty sure it would work fine on pigs too. I'd like to add a levergun in .44 mag (already have dies & mold) or .45-70 (would need tooling to load), but it's down on the wish list right now, unless I stumble across something cheap somewhere.

[TXGunNut]

Your Marlin sounds like a good choice, looking for one like it for my next project.

[Cosmiceyes]

When I "BING"ed California pigs images this was there. I don't know his person or pig. Just thought it was a big pig shot with a pistol.

[Cosmiceyes]

See post #26

Post 9 picture is from Alabama, Fox story is here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/05...than-hogzilla/

[Changeling]

Victor N TN, It's really nice to see someone tell it exactly how it is. I was raised on a farm also and did all the killing of the hogs we butchered. I shot them between the eyes or in the ear with .22 LR solids. They usually just dropped right there! The average weight of these hogs was about 250 lb give or take. That was the size my dad wanted us to buttcher at.

Now I'll say right up front that I have never killed a wild hog yet, maybe there is a difference, but I really doubt it very much.

[Griz44mag]

The hog from post 9 is real, the hog was that big. The hog was not "wild" though. It had been purchased from a farm where it was considered a pet.
Farm raised hogs get that size with lots of food and not a lot of exercise.

Check it out on SNOPES .

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/hogzilla.asp

The boys father took the website down which showed pics and had the story of the hunt when it was confirmed that the hog was not a wild hog.

[helice]

When you fill your hog tag and the butchering is done, saw inside the skull of your hog. Under that exterior armor plate bone is a bunch of spongy bone. That spongy bone acts like a shock absorber for the hog's brain. If the boolit misses the brain the critter has a good chance of coming back to life on you and they are usually not in a very good mood when they do, probably because they have a migraine.

[Changeling]

Is that supposed to be in farm raised hogs also? Not knocking what you are saying, just never experienced it. Like I said maybe wild ones are different, maybe!

[Digital Dan]

Had no idea shootin' hogs in the head was a bad idea. Amazed...

[DougGuy]

They sure don't get back up from a close range head shot with a 1911 I can tell you that much from experience.

[TXGunNut]

Had no idea shootin' hogs in the head was a bad idea. Amazed...

I've had poor luck trying to penetrate the skull between the eyes. Some bullets do better, an ear shot is definitely a better "head shot". I've had a couple where that was the only shot presented, up close and personal, just not a shot I consider optimal.

[JesterGrin_1]

Personally I try and hit the lower shoulder so I have a good chance of a lung/heart shot and if I am lucky take out either one or both front legs so they do not run. As for some reason they always run into the thickest and thorniest stuff there is. And in South TEXAS there are LOTS of thorns lol. Not to mention having to look out for those pesky little Rattle Snakes of 6' or more lol.

Sorry to say I have never hit one with a pistol of any kind. But I am sure a good 255Gr-310 Gr will work well. If you hit them correctly.

I have only used a .35 Whelen once and my Trusty Wheezer Marlin 1895GS in 45-70 with the 350Gr Ranch Dog or the Hornady 350Gr RN. When I used the 45-70 Forget about it. The game is all over but the cleaning.

Sorry I have also used a 30-06 with the Sierra 165Gr HP/BT of which AMAZED ME. I hit the 300 pounder at about 40 yards and Blew part of its heart and lungs out of the other side and yet it still ran for about 50 yards. It was not fun to retrieve lol. And I will never go through what I did with that Hog again lol. I will back strap it and maybe take the hams and leave the rest for the Buzzards and Coyote's lol. Ok yes I would set up to maybe take a Coyote or two or?

[kweidner]

[QUOTE=Cosmiceyes;2288421]Think we could get some let loose in the hills east of you? Maybe even in the reeds on the river? Their more fun than deer.
Here's a picture of a big one from Northern California.


That hog was killed in Alabama in a high fence IIRC. Quite the stink for awhile if it was legit. It is. I found the fox news coverage on it. http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/05...than-hogzilla/

[kweidner]

Oops should of read whole thread someone beat me to it.

[303Guy]

What is being discussed here is a well placed shot failing to penetrate into the brain. My main concern is the margin of error. There is none. A wound is one thing if it heals but a broken jaw (and there's a lot of jaw there), is a killing shot but not the same day. I used to be able shoot a tick of a hair and I've done those stunts on running animals but I sure wouldn't bet on it. I stopped taking head shots after I jaw shot an animal. The shot went just a little low because I didn't make proper allowance for bullet rise and fall from line of sight I saw where it went so I was able to find it and shoot it in the shoulders. It would have starved to death.

[Indybear]

Lee 310 GC (.431) + H110 21.5 + CCI 350 + SRH = several 50 yard plus very dead Florida pigs for me. More accurate and much faster kills than the classic 240-250 SWC load..... As others have stated heart or lung are the way to go and stay away from head shots unless you can put it in the ear.

[2wheelDuke]

I didn't know any better about head shots. I hope reading this doesn't change my luck.

On my first hog trip, I bagged my 1st sow with a 12ga slug in the side of her head. She dropped like a rock. I saw a boar bedded down later on, drew my .44 and put a factory JSP between his eyes since he was facing me. He was DRT.

I did have a .44 to the side of the head fail to kill instantly on a boar that I spined with an arrow. I wasn't sure if it was just nerves, so I gave him a follow up shot.

I hit a sow in the head with a 10mm on the next one that I dropped with an arrow, and that quickly put her out of her misery, but she was pretty much done for with a broadhead through both lungs.