Hog hunting

Don't worry about POed hogs. Use the bolt gun in .308. It's what I use, a Remington M7 in .308. You don't need a machine gun, SAW, or such. What you need is one good round. With a .223, you'd best back it up with 5 more to stop a pig if you don't hit the pig in the head. But, for me, firepower doesn't make up for horsepower and bullet placement. My loads will break both shoulders of a 200+ lb pig.

You know what's the choice for dangerous game hunters or at least the PHs who have to back 'em up? Double rifles. BIG CALIBER double rifles. I suppose lots of elephants are taken with AKs under full auto fire, but it's not the choice of the PHs. The .22LR is the choice of outlaws for deer hunting, but not for me.

Mean? Hogs usually aren't mean. Any animal is potentially dangerous when you are trying to kill it, however. Even deer are "mean" and attack people every year, sometimes killing folks.

By AR15, you mean .223/5.56, right? If you go that route, use the heaviest bullet your AR will shoot accurately. Softpoints and Barnes all copper TSX bullets seem to be amongst the most preferred choices I see people using. I eventually went the Barnes route myself.

By going with a smaller caliber like .223, your need for precise shots increases. That seems to be the biggest drawback of the caliber. Some folks hunt with .223 just fine, but most that I have seen are really good shooters, or don't mind longer tracking, or don't care if they lose the hog all together. I know of a couple folks that hunt exclusively with .223 for hog eradication, but they are good shooters and have enough experience under their belts to make good follow-up shots and shots on running hogs in general.

I have hunted hogs with .223/5.56 and will likely do it again, but it is not my preferred caliber. With that said, I think it should be fine with smaller hogs, 150 lbs and less. It is the bigger hogs that are likely most worrisome to you.

.308 bolt is fine for hogs and the extra size and power give you more room for error with less than wonderful shots. You still need to do your part, but .308 simply tends to damage a more tissue. If you aren't killing with CNS destruction, then you are most likely killing due to blood loss and the more soft tissue you damage, the more blood loss that may occur.

Of course, the best answer is that you shoot the hog well the first time and not worry about it being pissed off, right? That doesn't always occur, of course, regardless of the excuses we hunters like to use.

If I was in your place, I would go with the .308.

Do you know what style hunting you will be doing?

I am not a hog hunter at all but my choice might be different for hunting with dogs, vs hunting from a stand, or still hunting.

If you're going to be busting around in the brush during the daytime an AR might be handier than a scoped rifle. If you're going to be hunting in low light or at night with a spot light, then iron sights will be about useless. I would get some details from your family about how the hunt will take place.

I am not a hog hunter at all but my choice might be different for hunting with dogs, vs hunting from a stand, or still hunting.

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I've hunted with a guy with dogs. We didn't even carry a gun, didn't want an errant shot to hurt a dog. We stuck 'em in the neck with a sharp filet knife.

Bring both.

They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

I've killed hundreds of pigs over the last 20+ years with everything from a knife (with dogs, very intense, and not really my cup of tea) to pistol, bow, shotgun, and rifles of various caliber.

A head shot is not advisable on a mature boar. Their skull seems to be solid iron. Shoot in the neck a couple inches below the ear, and they are dead so fast, they will not expel their last breath until you go to roll them over.



This one was shot with my 300 BLK.

If this is your initiation to hog hunting, bring the .308. Lots of folks hunt with a .223, but they'll always tell you that shot placement is critical. With the .308 the shot placement is important, but not so much as with the much smaller bullet of the .223. After all, you want to bring back a hog, not talk about the one that ran off and died somewhere else. You'll improve your odds of finding the hog with the larger caliber.

I've taken a good few with a Keltec pmr30 out to 40 yrds , but my dpms g2 308 takes them down with authority as far as you can see them . In AL that is only 3 or 400 yrds , too many trees

Armor plating and iron skulls. Lol. What's next? I swear someday, someone is going to post that one returned fire.

If your stand hunting over bait, 308. If you're in the trees, .223's.

For the .308, no fancy bullet is needed. Corelokts are just fine. But for the .223/5.56, you definitely want a heavy (69gr or bigger) GMX style bullet. The 55gr bullets will work. But there's no replacement for displacement. Any gear heads will understand what I mean.

Personally I'd never recommend anything smaller than a 243 for hog hunting. Go with a lever or bolt gun in a suitable caliber, .308 is a great choice.

Male hogs have a rather thick shield of cartilage covering part of the chest and shoulder area. But no match for a .308 bullet.

TR

If this is your initiation to hog hunting, bring the .308. Lots of folks hunt with a .223, but they'll always tell you that shot placement is critical. With the .308 the shot placement is important, but not so much as with the much smaller bullet of the .223. After all, you want to bring back a hog, not talk about the one that ran off and died somewhere else. You'll improve your odds of finding the hog with the larger caliber.

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Agreed.

A head shot is not advisable on a mature boar. Their skull seems to be solid iron. Shoot in the neck a couple inches below the ear, and they are dead so fast, they will not expel their last breath until you go to roll them over.

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Armor plating and iron skulls. Lol. What's next? I swear someday, someone is going to post that one returned fire.

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Yeah, no iron skulls. Mostly the skull is mostly a couple of thin layers of bone, though may be separated by a greater amount of medullary cavity than the skulls of other animals such as deer. The occipital bone can be quite thick (back of the head for muscle attachment to hold up head, move head for rooting, etc.) and solid with diploe (spongy bone), but the rest of the brain case is nothing amazing. Flintknapper took the time to document this nicely with a series of sectioned hog skulls.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=449721&page=29
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=449721&page=30

LOL, you can't kill a hog so fast that it won't expel their last breath until you roll them over. Exhalation is a passive process not requiring muscle contraction, but simply relaxation of the muscles used to produce inhalation. That you rolled over a hog and air came out of the mouth/nostrils is just a simple compression of the chest cavity and lungs below their normal resting point. The last breath is being released long before you ever get a chance to approach the hog.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhalation

This happens due to elastic properties of the lungs, as well as the internal intercostal muscles which lower the rib cage and decrease thoracic volume. As the thoracic diaphragm relaxes during exhalation it causes the tissue it has depressed to rise superiorly and put pressure on the lungs to expel the air.

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I have experience "last gasps" with hogs that have died in all sorts of manners, kicked or not kicked.

As to thick skulls, I've shot through a few with a NAA .22 mini revolver on trapped hogs. If that gun will penetrate even at 3 feet, any centerfire rifle bullet will blow a pigs brain to mush.

Still, I'd go with the .308 and shoot 'em in the shoulder to put 'em down. Pigs aren't going to attack you and you don't need an M60 for hog attacks. What you do need to do is put 'em down right now if you don't wanna be blood trailing a wounded pig. THAT is where you might get charged. The solution to that is a well placed .308 bullet.

Just uncloaking for a minute -- I'm here and reading ... from the first post.
This is a topic that interests me a lot -- since I'll be hog hunting in the next few months.
(See sig line.)

Just not much expertise to contribute (make that NO expertise; I'm a student here).

Carry on. Reading ....

Go buy a AR10. That should fill the freezer pretty quick and you will not be under guned.

44 Magnum Smith 29 6 1/2" nickel. 240 SWC lead with gas check. Around 1250fps. 40 yards running full tilt. First round (pictured) caught him just a little to the back of the shoulder. Spun him around and second shot finished it.
The two of us had ran to head off the pigs. About 190#s. Free range hunt with dogs, Crossville, TN circa 1974.

The 308 if you're hunting in a stand and the AR if you're line or stalk.hunting.

I do both and use two rifles. Have killed readily with night shots from blind with 6.5x55, 8x57, and 30-40. Walking and stalking, I like a lever gun in 45 Colt and once used a Rogers & Spencer revolver converted to fire black powder 45 Long Colt. Prefer a rifle.

Next outing in two weeks. Will be using an H&R Handi in 35 Krag from the blind, 280 gr soup cans, and a super duper little Rossi R92 16.5" barrel, 255 gr RNFP for walk and stalk.

308 bolt. Depending on the terrain you arent going to get a second shot anyway as the pigs run. If you are on mostly flat land you can get longer shots. If you are in a forested area the shots will be under 100 yards the AR would be fine.

I have only used 300 blackout with 110 gr barnes tsx at under 100 yards. All pigs DRT. Im trying subsonic this year, but havent had a chance to take a shot. Apparently the guys in helicopters with machine guns decimated the hog population so there are many fewer.

I hunt hogs frequently and use my .30-06 which is in the same general league as your .308.

Other guys I hunt with will use their AR-15's, so I think I can make a fairly accurate comparison:

Shots in the shoulder and forward on a hog with a .308 caliber bullet is usually fatal. Not always the case with a .223. The guys with .308s typically bring a hog out of the woods, while the guys with AR's say...."well I hit him but he ran off".

The energy delivered with a .308 (say 150 grain) within 250 yards is the key. If the pig is 250 or farther out, I doubt it would be a shot I'd attempt anyway. Maybe Texas is different, but 250 yards in TX is the same as 250 yards in SC. Hogs are small and compact, so they offer little in the size of a kill zone compared to most other local game animals like deer.

They don't raise their head enough to keep up with what is going on around them , but they have a better sniffer than a deer. They hear fine but make so much noise their self that they don't hear much of anything around them. So the first shot you will be able to take time for perfect shot after that they are gone.

outlawjw said:

They don't raise their head enough to keep up with what is going on around them , but they have a better sniffer than a deer. They hear fine but make so much noise their self that they don't hear much of anything around them. So the first shot you will be able to take time for perfect shot after that they are gone.

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That is a very good description of what I have observed as typical hog behavior. I usually get one good shot, so I make it well placed and take my time. After that initial shot, the entire sounder hauls buggy.

I have noted that a huge boar (trophy sized) usually travels alone and not with a group of other hogs. I guess if he is interested in mating that would change, but when I see one large hog come out alone, he is usually a big boy.

I''ve had not problem using a 6.5x55.

If your stand hunting over bait, 308. If you're in the trees, .223's.

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308 bolt. Depending on the terrain you arent going to get a second shot anyway as the pigs run. If you are on mostly flat land you can get longer shots. If you are in a forested area the shots will be under 100 yards the AR would be fine.

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Somebody has to explain this logic to me that .223 is good in the trees, but .308 for open flat land business, or whether there is bait or not. That just sounds like a bunch of partial thoughts and rhyming that is cuter than practical.

Glad you thought it was cute. Here's some logic.....

A bolt gun in 308 from a stand or tower blind. Longer range, more "punch". The ability to take 2 in one shot if they line up. Good for one shot. Probably not going to get the chance for a follow up on a second or third hog once you shoot due to recoil and lost sight picture.

AR in .223/5.56 for hunting timber or more dense areas. Shorter range. Plenty of "punch" for those distances. Faster follow up shots should you need one (hopefully not). And no loss of sight picture due to less recoil. Can also possibly take a second hog on a running shot if you have decent target acquisition skills.

You are safe in a stand or tower blind. You aren't safe on the ground. The AR is your friend if something goes awry and Mr. Murphy shows up. Work a bolt, try to find the target again, find it, pull the trigger. Or acquire target and pull the trigger. Don't lose sight picture. Don't work the bolt. Just pull the trigger again....and again....and again if need be.

By all means, refute my logic.