I like to shoot them right behind the ear = no tracking
I like to shoot them right behind the ear = no tracking
Most of the big ones I killed north of Guthrie Tx had some kind of cartilage shield. A few were very impressive. In that area it seemed a majority of the hogs were very big 200 pounds and over. I rarely shot one under 150 pounds. And yes I found bullets in them. Not necessarily because of the shield though. A lot of hogs are just shot at out there with no intentions of recovering them.
Yes Sir. Not sure where that is in the state. I grew up on the Red River near Gainesville. Started in on the hogs in the early 90s.
Moved out near Abilene in 2010s.
I have got to where I dont even get up after shooting anything that I can identify as a boar before touching the round off. I dont clean boars no matter the size anymore. No reason to as the pigs are EVERYWHERE.
On one 160 acre place we have, I hunt it 2 to 3 nights a week except the months that is too hot to sit in a box over bait. Trap all I can and the neighbors hunt 2 or 3 times a year with Helicopter. I cannot tell that we have put a dent in them.
Ranch dog told me years ago that they give the Boars a pass and just shoot sows. Claimed that thins them down better. I guess the boars leave when the girls are gone.
I got 7 or 9 with one shot earlier this year.
We leave most of them for the buzzards anymre. Can only stack so much in the freezer and neighbors freezer.
Planting peanuts or Milo is a waste as you will lose it all to the pigs.
That night vision scope was $500 and high powered illuminator was $150is by the time I got extra batteries, charger,etc. I figured it would be the best $650 that I ever spent......hasnt slowed them down one bit.
Maybe I sould take Ranch Dogs advise and let the boars pass.
I hope the bullet works for Wolfdog. I have my doubts about expansion, but I saw a thread where he was getting really good groups with it. I moved to hollow points. They really are no harder to drop than deer.
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Last edited by Elpatoloco; 01-03-2024 at 01:44 PM.
Don't expect any expansion....... Break their shoulders or lung shot or as Lar45 suggested, head shot.
“Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
― Mark Twain
W8SOB
If you need to lower their numbers shoot the sows; males don't have babies three times a year. 150 pounds (or there about) was my cutoff point. Above that the quality of the meat seemed to drop, and it was just more work hauling it out of the woods. IMHO sows have more tender meat than the boars. In California pigs are considered a game animal, so folks going after them here are hunting for the meat. If you live in Texas or Oklahoma, (or anywhere where they're a pest species) just shoot as many as you can, and then pick out the best meat hog from the pile. It's been some years since I've gone pig hunting - maybe making that trip again is long overdue.
Hi. Good idea for hogs. I have never shot one but that mould hardly qualifies as a flat point boolit. How big is the FP? An eighth of an inch? Since your boolit mould produces a boolit that takes a gas check and that the boolits are powder coated I am in the group that says you should make the boolits softer. I am using some powder coated sans gas check that are half COWW and half pure lead. No leading so far. How fast are they flying?
Jim
Some tips on hogs.
DO NOT SHOOT THEM LIKE DEER. Everyone I've talked to who talks about these things being so hard to kill tried to shoots them like deer big middle shots. Yeah don't do that. Central nervous system shots are too easy to make and drops them like a brick with about anything.223 and up
One shot 7.62x39 100 off yards , DOA.
I have no interest and tracking out what have you so I just do my best to make my loads to where I can put them where I need and honestly even for these shots fist sized groups @ 100yd with the cheapest steel cased I could find bang flood more hogs then I can count
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A wise man will try to learn as much from a fool as he will from a master, for all have something to teach- Uncle Iroh
MS Army Guard 2016-2021
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A wise man will try to learn as much from a fool as he will from a master, for all have something to teach- Uncle Iroh
MS Army Guard 2016-2021
Hogs a game animal? Is there a limit on them? If so, the powers that be who made that law will regret the day they thought that up.
They come into town here and root up nice lawns!
Any boar hog big enough to breed has a smell when it is cooked. Like, every last one of them that I have tried. They dont taste funny, but they do have that stink. Early on, when they first showed up, I'd clean the boars. I dont even like to scoop them up in the tractor anymore. Stink, stank, stunk!
I cut every ounce of fat off of the sows and add domestic pork fat for sausage. My buddy srated making jerky out of them. Boil meat in marinade before drying.
Last edited by Elpatoloco; 01-03-2024 at 09:23 PM.
Those of you that PC bore-ridding bullets, just pick them up with hemostats at the bands and dust off the nose powder with fingers. Then they fit without nose sizing.
Whatever!
popper's right; for best accuracy with powder coated bore riders keep the PC off the nose. There's got to be a half dozen ways of doing this, but just powder coat the driving bands so the nose doesn't get too fat. An exception is when you use cast bullets that were intended for a .308 bore in something like a 7.62x39 or a 7.65x53. In that application the PC can take a bullet that's undersized for a rifle, and make it just the right size.
Elpatoloco: Hogs a game animal? You're confusion on this is because you live in a country called the United States of America. In California guns are evil & hunting is cruel. Yes, they used to have a limit on pigs, and you even had to buy a pig tag. That all changed last year when the hog population got so big that they were showing up in the city parks and knocking over trash cans in alleys. Probably a herd of pigs must have rooted up some politicians front lawn, but by the time they acknowledged that there was a problem it was already way too late.
One thing I have learned about pigs and their possible table fare is that the ones that have a mild old school antifreeze smell are probably good to eat. The ones that actually stink not so much. Even some of the bigger ones can be plenty good enough to eat. Don't know if it is some kind of musk breeding hogs go into or what that makes them too nasty to skin.
The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"
Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!
I 2nd the last statement from waksupi. From what hogs I've killed in the wild is, if they get to about 125-130 lbs they will start that smell. & some just aren't worth skinning. -06
Where I come from it's called "boar taint", and I can sure as Hell taste it.
In commercial practice now, boars are left entire if they are growing fast and are to be killed early enough (100 lbs?). Sometimes one gets through to the supermarket, that either grew too slowly or matured too fast. That roast (or chops) will stink out the kitchen quick time. Bring back castration I say. "Boar taint" can also occur in sows on heat. In slower growing wild pigs, taint can set in early - any young boar would be suspect.
I shoot a lot of hogs for pest destruction and don't eat them. Our hogs have a partiality for eating carcases and have some disease issues. The catch 'em and eat 'em crowd may take the sows but cut the boars and let them go. Every year I shoot a few big old barrows.
As regards Wolf's original post, I too would suggest a hollow point. The Forster hollow pointing tool with 1/16" drill would be a good start. Drill to half (or less) of bullet length. I shoot my hogs these days with 175 gn HPGC .30-30 bullet at 2200 fps. I also agree with Wolf on shot placement - keep it well forward on pigs. There is something deceptive about their shape that leads us to hit further back than we thought we were aiming. Behind the shoulder is too far back.
Last edited by Wilderness; 01-08-2024 at 06:00 PM.
It'll be handy if I never need it.
Insomniac, agnostic, dyslectic - awake all night wondering if there is a Dog.
I can smell it in supermarket pork sometimes as well. Cant taste it though.
I dont practice catch and release, so I dunno about cuttin them boars. I put lead in everyone I can find.
Neighbor welded up a locomotive bumper on his farm truck and will hit them on purpose at full speed.
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Well, that explains why the only pig I ever shot an ate from a game Farm about 25 years ago tasted excellent, but it smelled like pig poop when I cooked it.lol. Stunk the whole house up every time I cooked up some but it sure tasted good.
I have had a lot of supermarket pork in the past few years that has the poopy testosterone smell. Pork's just not that good, even when its clean. Definitely not as good as venison, chicken or beef! Now I did have some wild sow that was dark red and pretty mild tasting, but you never know what you're gonna get with pork. Even store bought can taste strong and poopy.
Weird...never had "stinky pork". We buy from supermarkets in Michigan.
Are you guys buying commercially raised pork or is some "fly by night" selling wild hogs to your supermarkets?
Don Verna
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |