Hog calibers

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Skoghund said:
True there are big differences between true wild boar and feral hogs. Wild boar can grow to well over 150lbs. The boar in the photo, post #46 was 107kg =235lb and I've seen bigger on my place. A local farmer 85 years old shot one a couple of years ago that weighed over 150kg and I've seen when hunting in Portugal and Hungary some very large boar shot. I've shot quite a few in the 150lb range.
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Heard lots of tales about 400 pound wild boar. I have never seen one. And I have been hunting them for some 45 years or so.

I have however seen some very large feral pigs. And the further east I travel the more common it is to see larger feral pigs. I have seen 300 plus pound feral hogs.

Here is an older article from NCWildlife about true Russian/Eurasian boar. It lists the weight of 180 pounds or less.
https://www.ncpedia.org/wild-boar-nc-wins
 
greg_r said:
Heard lots of tales about 400 pound wild boar. I have never seen one. And I have been hunting them for some 45 years or so.

I have however seen some very large feral pigs. And the further east I travel the more common it is to see larger feral pigs. I have seen 300 plus pound feral hogs.

Here is an older article from NCWildlife about true Russian/Eurasian boar. It lists the weight of 180 pounds or less.
https://www.ncpedia.org/wild-boar-nc-wins
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We don't have feral hogs only wild boar. I don't normally shoot boar over the 70kg mark because the smaller ones are better eating.
 
Choctaw, let me help you. "Tough" means that the hog didn't fall over DRT regardless of how poor the shot was. "Smart" means that it didn't walk out at 25 yards and wait to be shot by the hunter. In other words, anything that makes the hunter have to try a little harder to make a proper shot means that the hogs are bestowed honorific titles.
 
troy fairweather said:
I have never used buck shot on game, can't here in ny but I happen to hunt less then a mile from New Jersey, guys will unload there just to maybe kill a deer. I have seen where deer where killed pretty far with buck shot, but you can kill a deer at 100 yards with a 22. The plate on the big European boar are very thick, It can stop a arrow like it hit a brick wall. Even here stories that it can stop a 357.
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I've had the plate stop 250 XTP handloads out of a 45 Colt that were in the 1400 fps velocity range shot at about 15 feet away. They just mushroomed out about an inch deep in the shoulders. This was on a 450 lb hog that also took a head shot with a 30-06 150 gr bullet at about 2600 fps and did not die from it (in fact we later found out the bullet only did flesh damage and knocked it silly, no bone damage). It charged me from 100 yards out and I wound up shooting at, missing, and scaring it into some brush when it was about 10 yards away from me. I followed it in with my dad and we had a hard time putting him down. It eventually died after 5 hits that were "kill shot" type shots (head/vital area) spaced out over about 15 minutes with the 45 and 1 with the -06 that wound up being the killer. When we took the hide off, it was around 4 inches thick at the shoulder and it was just like a matted scar tissue inflexible type of skin with really thick mud and crude oil caked in the hair. I've never seen anything like it. This isn't "typical" but I've seen probably 20 hogs in that size range that I never got to shoot at in the 20 ish years I've been hunting them.

FL-NC said:
The "shield" is largely over rated, IMO. A centerfire round that will put down a deer will penetrate mild steel at the ranges typically associated with hog hunting.
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The shield is overrated only if you're talking normal sized hog. The bigger ones, you absolutely need the right ammunition. Thin skinned game cartridges (mostly what we have around my neck of the woods) in centerfire rifles have bullets that expand too quickly and I've had bullets even in smaller (~200 lbs) hogs that didn't penetrate enough to reliably/quickly kill with shoulder shots. Those bullets will penetrate steel, but will they penetrate a couple of gallon water jugs? I started loading down my 30-06 rounds so that they would be towards the bottom end of their expansion velocity and noticed a huge difference in effectiveness on hog. Also placing a shot outside the boilerbox vitals is pretty easy and makes for DRT type kills. Shoot the neck upper half anywhere between back of skull and front of shoulder, and it's bang drop. This isn't always an option though.

Hogs are tough animals and you never know when you'll wind up in close quarters with a big one. I didn't plan on seeing any hogs the day I shot the 450 lb "tank". I'd generally say buckshot would be fine, but I wouldn't go with reduced recoil loads unless velocity is very similar. I've killed them with turkey loads in point blank ranges but I've had them run at longer (20 yard type) range with those loads. Penetration and placement are important on hogs. You can kill them with 22 LR all day or even knives if you're using them right. I'd say standard load buck would work fine in those ranges though for what you're most likely to encounter.
 
As far as hog guns and hunting are concerned, I grew up hunting with 12 ga slugs so I am not recoil shy and in fact like recoil so much that I don’t like to hunt with “small” guns. My smallest centerfire rifle that I actually hunt with is a 44 Magnum but my smallest rifle cartridge is 30-06.

And people say fast follow up shots are over rated. When I’m hog hunting with a 22 Magnum I am real happy it is a semi auto. When I shoot at one I always double tap.

For hog guns I like to use something big if it is legal to do so. I use 30-06 and 45/70 or 444 Marlin mostly now, though 12 and 20ga slugs get used here and there as well. Sometimes I have to use the 22 mag though to be legal. Also, it has to have fast followup shots. 4 or more preferably in semi auto, pump action, or lever action.

Hog charges are rare but what is less rare is a well hit hog that for some reason does not seem to know it is hit and just keeps on going.
 
Shoot it in the face.... Should do the trick.

If it were me, I'd do reduced recoil slugs over buckshot. Gives you a little more range too.

Or do buckshot followed by a slug if things get crazy.

But then again, I never got a hog when I hunted so I'm just going off of my general understanding.
 
I've killed several hogs over the years up here. Most were 175 lbs and down. Often, I used my Henry 22WMR, and shot them between the eye and the ear or right between the eyes inside of 50 yards. Using CCI FMJ or WW jhp ammo gave good results. When I didn't use the Henry, I used my 30-30. Didn't make a damn where I shot 'em, they just died. 170 grains of lead is a powerful persuader. I even killed a couple with my old 16 gauge M12 one day, and #1 buck. Range was pretty close I admit, but none of 'em needed a second shot. Point is, make a good solid shot, and they'll die. Can't keep from it.

Or, be like my friend. He gut-shot a big old boar with his .270 one day, and it ran into a thicket. We were hunting together, so we decided to go in after it. He left his rifle and took his .357 mag. I had my '06, loaded with 220's. We found the boar, and he charged us. Buddy fired 6 shots and got 6 hits, none fatal. I shot him at 10 steps with the '06, and stopped him dead. Again, it was a well placed shot that stopped him. Not discounting that 220 grains of hot lead didn't help. But as others have said, hogs are just animals. And animals can't carry very much lead and live. Use your buckshot, keep the range short, and kill hogs.

Mac
 
Do y'all think some 12 gauge 2 3/4 00 buck reduced recoil loads would be enough for frontal shots on hogs ranging from 180-250 pounds. Max range is 20 yards.
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Yes. A lot of stuff will kill them with a frontal/head shot inside 20 yards.

9 x ~ .330” pellets totaling around an oz at a tad over 1300 FPS puts you in the high 1600-low 1700 ft lb range. In a trap at 1 yd, a .22 lr with less than 150ft lb drops them like a light switch.

Winchester super X slugs 1oz at 1600 fps have almost 2500 ft lb of energy and would kill them just as dead, if hit in the same spot.
 
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troy fairweather said:
European boar are a hole different animal from the furry farm pigs most guys shoot. There was a video on YouTube years ago,6 shots in to a boar that charged him, he had a desert eagle in 50 Ae. They slowed the video down, he hit every shot. The 7th killed it at his feet.
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Not really. Weight-wise they are about the same size as any other wild pig. They do have slightly longer legs, heads and snouts which makes them look larger. In the end they are just a pig like any other. There is nothing mystical about killing hogs. At least in Texas anyway.
 
huntincowboy said:
I've had the plate stop 250 XTP handloads out of a 45 Colt that were in the 1400 fps velocity range shot at about 15 feet away. They just mushroomed out about an inch deep in the shoulders. This was on a 450 lb hog that also took a head shot with a 30-06 150 gr bullet at about 2600 fps and did not die from it (in fact we later found out the bullet only did flesh damage and knocked it silly, no bone damage). It charged me from 100 yards out and I wound up shooting at, missing, and scaring it into some brush when it was about 10 yards away from me.
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Love to see pics of a 450lb hog. Could you post them?
 
troy fairweather said:
There a good bit tuffer then hogs. They have very thick shoulder plates. Where you hunting them at.
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At this point, and from everything I've heard about Euro/Russian boars, I tend toward saying forget the 12guage and take a .45-70... supposed to be better penetration through all the frontal stuff. Catch 'em charging... I could be off some, but I'd think to aim to 6o'clock of the snout... kinda like Cape buffalo.
 
mustanger98 said:
At this point, and from everything I've heard about Euro/Russian boars, I tend toward saying forget the 12guage and take a .45-70... supposed to be better penetration through all the frontal stuff. Catch 'em charging... I could be off some, but I'd think to aim to 6o'clock of the snout... kinda like Cape buffalo.
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The 45/70 works good for European boar. It's what I used with the ones I shot.
 
Flintknapper said:
Love to see pics of a 450lb hog. Could you post them?
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I have a picture somewhere, it may be lost to the digital world. I killed that hog about the time in transition from flip to smartphones was starting to happen and my dad took a picture on his flip phone. We had to leave him in the brush because we couldn't drag him out by hand and it was too thick to get anything in there to drag him. We had to crawl in quite a ways on our stomachs to get to him. I remember when I was crawling into that thicket wishing I'd carried my 45-70 that morning instead of my 30-06 :rofl:
 
mustanger98 said:
At this point, and from everything I've heard about Euro/Russian boars, I tend toward saying forget the 12guage and take a .45-70... supposed to be better penetration through all the frontal stuff. Catch 'em charging... I could be off some, but I'd think to aim to 6o'clock of the snout... kinda like Cape buffalo.
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Don't listen to the BS. I've been killin' 'em with an SKS for years, finally set it up just for pigs. There are no bullet proof pigs on my places and I have euro-pigs down at my other place, feral here.
 
jmorris said:
This one is 1130lbs.

https://www.indystar.com/story/life...ris-largest-hog-indiana-state-fair/584526001/
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There has been quite a lot of discussion as to "Wild Boars", "Feral Hogs", and "Russian Boars" and to be perfectly honest, I'm confused as to the difference. I have always divided hogs into two categories and, in our area of S. Tx., I believe that most hogs are what I consider to be feral hogs (domestic hogs gone wild ) but some seem to have what I consider to be Russian traits of longer snout and/or straight tail as opposed to corkscrew tail. Russian blood line seems to have been bred out of most of those I have seen. Anyone care to edumicate me as to exactly where you draw the line?

This is probably the largest "feral" hog I've see up close and guesimated weight to be maybe 250 #. Her nose is a bit longer than most in the area and her tail is fairly straight but does have one coil so I suspect a bit of Russian blood???
35296979000_9a1637cfb6.jpg
I've never weighed a hog so really have no idea how close my estimates are.
35663391696_59b4aec18f_n.jpg
This one, I'd guess to be around 200??? It was all my buddy and I could do to swing her up high enough to get her on the rack:
34895191193_b4fec8185d.jpg
Regards,
hps
 
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An easy way to get field weight estimations is call the heart girth method. You take the girth of the animal with a measuring tape, directly behind the front legs with the tape touching the pits, pulled taut, being careful to find the smallest circumference possible. It may take two or three tries to get it.

Take the number of inches and multiply by 10 and subtract 200 to give you the weight estimate. So a boar measuring 51" would be 310 lbs. It isn't a perfect weight estimate, but it is much better than eyeball estimates or lift estimates.
 
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