Hog hunting experience and questions...

[Mossy Bloke]

Out hunting deer on the last Sat of the season yesterday. Hadn't seen anything by 10 am but kept hearing little squeals down in the swamp to my left. So I hop down and kind of slink in to the swamp and wade through some nasty water to what appeared to be a narrow strip of dry land. I find an old hollowed out log with 7 little piglets playing around, they're jumping over each other, playing around. I'm sitting on an old log about 30 yards away watching them for 20 minutes or so.

I hear something bigger coming through the brush and it appears to be the sow. I've never seen a hog in the wild before so this was a first for me. I couldn't tell you what she weighed but she was pretty big. The little ones were probably the size of large puppies (20 lbs? maybe) so I figure Mom has to be a decent size. Any way, I unload 3 shells of buckshot at her at maybe 40 yards and watch her run off. We looked for her for an hour and never found anything, no blood, no skin, no hair, nothing. I finally had to conclude I missed her completely. (In my defense, I was squatting on the ground to be able to see through the unbelievably think brush and she really blended in to the background well.

Well, while we're looking around for her, I come across a litter of other pigs, much smaller about 50 yards away in another hollowed out log. They were much smaller, maybe 3 or 4 pounds each if that. I could have picked them up since they were kind of rooting around at my feet.

It was a pretty cool experience.

Hogs are never out of season in GA (esssentially) so I'm planning on going back next week to the same spot with my 45/70 GG.

Since I saw so many small ones (13 as best I can tell) will there be a proportionate amount of full grown hogs in the same area? Can I expect to see another sow or a boar with all the little families about?

Second question, would you hunt hogs on the ground in light of all you read about how mean they are when wounded?

Third question, are sows as mean as a boar and what could one do to you if it got ahold of you really?

Lastly, I butcher all my own deer and have for years. Is cleaning and butchering a hog similar enough I'd be able to do it without guidance?

 

[H&Hhunter]

Any way, I unload 3 shells of buckshot at her at maybe 40 yards and watch her run off. We looked for her for an hour and never found anything, no blood, no skin, no hair, nothing. I finally had to conclude I missed her

Mossy,

I guarintee you didn't miss that hog. Buckshot doesn't work on hogs at anykind of range PERIOD.... They have such thick skin and so much fat under it that buck shot just doesn't have a chance at 40yards. Even if you did get a few pellets into her that fat plugs up the skin so well that hogs don't leave much of a blood trail many times even when hit good with a proper rifle.

I've seen buckshot completley fail at much closer range.

Get your 45-70 and get the job done.

Now to answer your questions.

1. Yes if you've got hogs in the area you can expect to see more. And anywhere there are sows you'll also find boars. They usually hang out in family groups though really big boars tend to be solitary critters, They'll be in the area.

2. I only hunt hogs from the ground and I kill in the neighborhood of 50 to 150 a year. Most of what you hear about how mean and agressive hogs are is complete bull sh--. They can and do get aggresivew at time but usually they'll run before they fight. Now if you corner one either onpurpose or by accident wounded or not they get a little froggy. But that is why your shooting a .45-70 isn't it? There is no reason to fear hogs just use a little common sense.

3. It's been my experience that sows are generally a little more mean than boars especially if they have young with them. Once again however notthing to worry about. Hogs tend to make some really loud and terrifying noises when confronted. And I believe that is primarily where they get there reputation as being mean. People are seldom injured while hunting hogs. Though it has and does happen so once again use a little common sense.

4. All mamals are built generally the same. Whether your cleaning a deer or a pig or an elephant. Gut it just like you'd gut a deer.

Good luck hunting and kill a pile of them. They are an extremely destrutive pest. That makes them all the better to hunt and they taste good too!!

 

[Mossy Bloke]

H&H...

...so, in your experienced opinion..assuming I did in fact hit her, will she heal up and live?

I've lost a couple of deer in my life after hitting them during archery season, and it made me sick to my stomach.

 

[critter]

He's right about the lack of penetration of buckshot on hogs and on the holes plugging up. I killed a 75 lb female a few weeks back with my 45-70. Big ole 300 gr Rem JHP through right behind the shoulder. NOT A DROP of blood anywhere except the 'splash' where it was standing when shot. BOTH holes were plugged up. Hog only went about 50 feet though.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Mossy,

If I told you the wounds I've seen hogs not only survive but get over. You'd think I was lying. But there just ain't no tellin. Depends on where it was hit. But givin the fact that you were using buckshot I'd say the pig will live.

 

[Byron Quick]

Seeing as how I've killed a grand total of four hogs, I don't have much to add to what H&H said.

However, when young and ignorant, I caught a small pig in my uncle's pig pen. The sow hit me from behind and ran completely over me. I was lying there stunned and saw the sow doing a 180 for another run. She was leaning low and churning up sod. I cleared a fence I've never been able to get over before or since. If I run up on suckling pigs in the swamps, I will be retreating from them a ways and wait for mama or daddy. If I run up on said suckling pigs and they start up on their distress squealing...there ain't no way I'm sticking around to see if a wild sow is meaner than a domestic sow when it comes to her litter.

But the same goes for the young of many species.

Pick up a fledgling blue jay that's fallen from the nest sometimes. Did that too...once.

 

[John Galt]

No comments on the ethics of purposely shooting a mother with young.... I certainly wouldn't. However, you could mark the spot on your map and come back in 6 months and shoot all those youngins to fill the freezer.

My friend shot his first pig in the head with a 7mm Mag. After a lot of work getting it back to the truck, they went for another walk and happened past the same spot. Then they spotted another dead one that he had shot with the same bullet. Pretty good first pig(s)!!

 

[H&Hhunter]

No comments on the ethics of purposely shooting a mother with young.... I certainly wouldn't.

John,

I wouldn't on a game animal either but we are talking about the most prolific and damaging ferral animal alive. Go ahead and shoot population reduction is a good thing with pigs.

 

[Smoke]

I'll agree with most of what H&H said.

I shoot a lot of hogs (every one I see) and do most of it walking through the brush.

If you shoot a sow with young pigs, don't immediately run to the downed sow. Wait a few minutes and the young will come up and nurse. Then you have them lined up. A .300 Savage will penetrate 3 suckling pigs and draw blood on the fourth.

45-70 is a wonderful hog round. As is .300 Savage, 30-30, .308, 350 Rem Mag., I haven't shot one with my .300Win Mag but suspect it would work. I have taken some with a quater bore, but it takes some skill and some luck.

I bait hogs with corn. Cresote rubs are a good attractant also. Hogs are also cannibalistic, if you leave one you shot they will come eat the dead hog and you can shoot some more. Trapping them is another option. There is a good market for live feral hogs.

As far as ethics are concerned:
Hogs will litter twice a year, 3 times in optimal conditions. Average litter is 3 pigs. The females can reach sexual maturity at 6 months. You do the math. They are destructive, non native animals and should be eliminated. There are no ethics when dealing with feral hogs.

I certainly wouldn't. However, you could mark the spot on your map and come back in 6 months and shoot all those youngins to fill the freezer.

Hogs have no "home range". They might be there in 6 months, might not. Odds are there will be some hogs still there.

 

[Byron Quick]

Agreed. Hogs are like crazed giant rototillers. Talk about a ruined garden or field.

Around here there might not be ethics but there are a few regulations regarding feral hogs. As far as trapping them and selling them...I think you'd have to have a vet certify them. Is it a Coggins test?

 

[St. Gunner]

Byron,

The scare with Hogs is psuedorabies. I helped depopulate a domestic herd in this area that was supposed to have it. Supposed to kill goats, cows, dogs, and about everything else. But... On the same hog where we slaughtered 300+ hogs one morning they have all the above animals and haven't lost one...

Smoke,

You must have poor range conditions to only raise 3 to a litter, most of em here will have 8-10 to a litter(sow we killed yesterday had 12 in her), and raise 5-7 of them to weaning age.

Galt,

In this area I live hogs do MILLIONS in damage every year, their arrival here marked a steady decline in wild turkeys(State study says they find 87.5% of nests), deer, and many other ground nesting creatures or ground dwelling reptiles. Farmers lose 10-15 acres of crops per night to raiding hogs in many areas...

Ethics with hogs, yep the same ones you'd use to deal with a terrorist bent on destroying you, your life, and your income, you shoot and shoot and shoot in hopes the threat goes forever away. The hogs he had at his feet rooting would have all gotten killed, 2-3lbs or not.

Mossey,

Let fly with the 45/70, but be prepared to track those critters. I had a 75lb sow run almost 100yds shot through the front shoulders with a 405gr 45/70 load.

Have fun out there...

 

[Smoke]

You must have poor range conditions to only raise 3 to a litter, most of em here will have 8-10 to a litter(sow we killed yesterday had 12 in her), and raise 5-7 of them to weaning age.

Your right!

I took the number from TX Dept of Wildlife. Litter here is 3-5, 4 being the most common 3-4 being the most common sightings. We don't have as many hogs as y'all do in South TX (Thank God) nor do we grow the monsters I've seen come out of your area. We did have a 500+# boar come out of the Bosque River bottoms a year ago, never seen another or even heard stories of another that size here. Most hogs are around 200# grown.


No regs on hogs here. Kill them, trap them, all you want and use any method.

Smoke

 

[mousecat33]

here, about 40 mi. SE of the metromess one morning, sneaking up on a hog trap, I counted 8 football-sized(maybe two footballs) piglets : awesome looking little suckers, they had white stripes. there were probably more.....5 secs later 3 juvs/yearlings, followed by mature ???s,,,
anyway a 200+ boar was Impatiently waiting for 30/30...first hog kill.....
ITELLUWHAT if that empty hard plastic bucket of corn was instead my own two legs, it would have been closed-casket for my a$$!!!!!!!

last year during bow season I happened upon a MONSTER(way over 400lbs) had one of them catquivers( they suck ), dumped it, pulled an arrow out and stalked....he weren't no scared of me, he just kept movin'
off another 10-15 yds out of range(my comfort zone is 30) munchin' on oats and whatnot. wore myself down after about 45 minutes to an hour of this and quit....walking back to the truck I realized, HOW STUPID AM I??
One arrow....

This year I bought a bow quiver and took my small .357 with me....no hogs...


Regards from e.TX

mc

 

[Mannlicher]

Over the years, I have taken a lot of feral hogs. I agree with the others, that these are just eating machines, and can ruin a small farm if not controlled.

I will be going up to South Ga next weekend, to help with population control on a really pretty 3K acre farm. We will hunt for 5 days, and if it turns out like last year, we should take upwards of 50 hogs. Stand hunting with a .30/06, and still hunting with a .44 mag Marlin 1894, and for those really thick places, a Remington 870 with Brenneke slugs.

 

[nico]

I'd like to go hog hunting sometime. Does anybody know where/if you can hunt them in MD (or VA, WV, or PA)? I assume a .270 will do the job if a .308 will. What size/type bullet would you use? Since the have such thick skin, would a ballistic tip be more appropriate than a soft point? (they penetrate deeper than soft points right?)

 

[Diggler]

I believe WV has feral hogs, but only residents can hunt them. I am unaware of any wild hog populations here in PA, you would have to go to a preserve (I'd rather not, thank you) to hunt them. I don't know about VA or MD.

Ballistic tips are basically hollow points with a plastic tip. If I were hunting hogs, I'd use something like the Barnes X bullet or a Winchester FailSafe to get controlled expansion on the bigguns.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Since the have such thick skin, would a ballistic tip be more appropriate than a soft point? (they penetrate deeper than soft points right?)

nico,

NO!!! Ballistic tips generally do not penetrate deeper than soft points. I have been hearing this more and more lately. Ballistic tips are thin jacketed and the palomar tip is designed to push back into the bullet on contact causing explosive expansion. This causes poor pentration.

Now the accubond or the swift sirroc which are polomar tipped bullets that incorporate a thick jacket and a bonded core should work just fine. Do not use Ballistic tips on hogs in high velocity round. They will however, work just fine in a heavy for caliber bullet slowed down to around 2700FPS or less. I.E. a .308 win shooting a 180gr balistic tip at 2600 will work great. I've used them many times in this configuration.

The same bullet out of a .300mag at 3000fps will make an explosive mess and you may or may not get enough penetration to kill a big hog.

 

[JohnKSa]

The polymer ballistic tips are to improve aerodynamics, and to resist deformation while in the magazine and during feeding.

BUT, they will cause explosive expansion and are a bad choice for tough game.

 

[nico]

Thanks for setting me straight guys. That's why I asked. So for hogs, would a soft point like you'd use for deer (130-150 grain) be good?

 

[Matt G]

H&Hhunter said:

I guarintee you didn't miss that hog. Buckshot doesn't work on hogs at anykind of range PERIOD....

Er, with all respect, sir, I will have to beg to differ, based on my own observations on the occasion of November 11, 2002. I was hunting with a friend and his friend near Gonzales, TX, looking or deer and hog. I was sitting with my friend's friend, who had what I thought to be an odd choice: and 870 Magnum 12 ga loaded with 3 1/2" 000 magnum loads. We stayed after dark, and along comes piggy. He turns on the light, and pops a ~200 lb pig from about 20 yards. I have to say, I was skeptical, but the result was really rather impressive. He hit the pig from 9 o'clock high amidships, and the full choke on the shotgun gave about 8" to 10" spread, with several pellets passing through and through! I went forward and put her down for good with my .45 (She was still squealing, but was effectively downed, having had her spine shattered.) I just had some of that sow with stir-fry last night, as a matter of fact!

Here's a pic of the hog, to give you an idea. The shot came from the pig's LEFT side, and you can see the blood leaving the right side, where some (not all) pellets exited. The 4-wheeler in the pic is the full-sized Polaris, and Steve, pictured, is 6'5", same as I am. BOTH of us rode that 4-wheeler out there.

(What a miserable, muddy night.)

Like I say-- I was skeptical, and still don't advocate buckshot as your primary go-to for full-sized wild hog. BUT, that said, heavy-loaded high brass loads of 000 buck through a full choke at 20 yards or less seems to be effective. Special conditions? You bet. Just pointing out (and to a member whose posts I respect) that sometimes there are no absolutes. Seems to be the case with the hogs I shoot or am around when they're shot.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Matt,

When I said Buckshot doesn't work at "anykind of range" what I meant to say is anykind as in longer ranges. It starts to become mucho inefective at 40yds like the Mossy Bloke says he shot his pig at. And even if you do get a few pellets in it may or may not leave a blood trail.

I then went on to say I've seen it fail at much closer range.

I've also seen it work at 60yds and at 20 feet but I find it to be an unreliable killer on hogs. I have a friend whose tested all kinds of buckshot loads on hogs he's shot probably 25 or so with me on my lease and he's come to the same conclusion. Sometimes it works sometimes it don't. But in anycase don't bank on it working all the time. Bullets work better.

That's a good looking hog........

And thanks for your input I always like to hear about hog hunting and hog hunters. To tell you the truth I'd rather hunt a big ole nasty hog than just about anything else excepting a big ole nasty dagga boy.

 

[St. Gunner]

Matt,

I'll second H&H saying it is not consistant. One of the guys I hunt with carries a 20gauge 870 with #3 buck along, most of the time the shots with the dogs are less than 5yds, often you have to step back to get the gun on the right side of the hog that is bayed. We killed a couple boars Thur. afternoon that dressed 132 and 147 FD e(incidentally they to went on a polaris 4wheeler to get out, and hung a bit further off the sides than the above sow). The first boar had 2.5" of teeth and was doing some serious damage to the dogs, I hadn't brought my pitbull to catch that day, spur of the moment hunt. Well my buddy lets this hog have it in the side behind the shoulder at about 2yds(6feet). The hog broke and ran, happened to go right past another guy with a .44mag rifle and some 300gr bullets, the race stopped there. The interesting part was, we found two pellets that made the vitals out of 20. The pattern wasn't dispersed much, less than 3" across. The hog never reacted to the shot but to run. About ten minutes later they came across the second hog, he blasted past my buddy at about 10yds, he shot and the hog stumbled, but kept going, the race continued for another 10 minutes before the hog left the 40 acre thicket and tried to cross a field with a guy with a rifle there, by that time he soaked up 5rds of 7.62x39 fired into his chest at between 10yds and 50yds.

Five years ago we bayed a large hog in a stock tank 286lbs live weight, he fired 5rds of buckshot into that hog at less than 20yds and as close as 5yds as he swam around in that tank. When the catch dogs got there we tied him up alive and took him home, gave him a shot of penicillin, stuck him in a trailer and fed and watered him for five days, then sold him to a wild hog butchering plant where he passed USDA inspection.

Not to long ago I blasted a couple with 3" mag 000 buckshot loads at less than 20yds out of a 12gauge and had to have dogs to find all of them.

I can also tell stories about the 120lb sow I killed at 50yds with 000 buckshot one day as she sat rooting in a field. Or the 160lb boar my buddy killed dead as a hammer at 25yds with #3 buck and that 20gauge of his. But after our little hunting groups bagging 197 hogs last year, and 211 the year before with dogs, after having shot a couple thousand in the last 18yrs working on various ranches to control populations or at times just for kicks, I can conclude with utter confidence, buckshot might work,but more likely it won't...

What sucks is I have 250rds of it in ammo cans and I don't shoot that many coyotes...



On hog weights, go search back through my user name and you'll see some weights on hogs and pics. It takes a heck of a hog to make the 200lb dressed weight catagory. a hog with the same basic frame as a 200lb show pig, won't carry enough weight to bring the scales to 130 most of the time. The point was drivin home yesterday, a guy we know has some domestics that escaped about 5 months ago, he has been unable ot catch them, or shoot them, so we took the dogs over after the first two boars Thur. We ended up finding a York Barr(castrated hog), that was freaking huge. I weigh 240 and do heavy lifting for a living, I could slide it about 3', it took 3 of us to drag him 15yds to a spot close enough to get a 4 wheeler. He bottomed a 300lb scale gutted, we stuck another scale on his nose, he almost bottomed it also, adding the totals we came to 473lbs. Let me just say, it dispelled alot of notions that some of these hogs we see pics of on the internet are true weights. That hog hanging by his legs on a gambrel was 11' long from his back foot to his nose. He was close to 525 or so live weight. When we skinned him and cut his head and feet off he still weighed 292lbs. I have lotsa bacon coming to my house.

 

[Stand_Watie]

Sgt Gunner

On hog weights, go search back through my user name and you'll see some weights on hogs and pics. It takes a heck of a hog to make the 200lb dressed weight catagory.

Is there a function on this board to do that? I thought it would only let us look at the users last post? If I ever get a scanner I'll put a couple pics up. We trapped 3 old boars one year that we estimated at about 325, 275, 250 - surprisingly to me the smallest was the oldest (and meanest). Most of the ones we trap are 100 - 150. I think that is two years old is that right? We got 6 at one time in the 100 - 150 range, with one little one (maybe 35 or 40 pounds) in with the bunch of them.

 

[St. Gunner]

Stand_Watie,

Most of the ones we trap are 100 - 150. I think that is two years old is that right?

I'd think that would be pretty close to what they are, but range conditions play such a role in that. We're hunting a pack of hogs at present in one place that last year we killed 115 off the one property, it was literally full of small hogs in March last year, still suckling. We hunted it for the first time this year waiting on deer season to get over, smallest hog we killed was a touch over 100lbs. But we had acorns galore, the farmers peanuts got raided good with the early fall rain keeping them out of the fields with equipment, so the hogs had more vittles than normal.

I think the thing we don't think about is that hogs weights change just like people, late spring when the fields are full of food, the hogs are almost always fatter then late August when they are struggling to survive because of the heat and lack of feed. But even that changes from place to place based upon the agricultural programs in different regions.

The thing with hogs is they can nearly survive anywhere, i've heard of herds in New Hampshire where it is cold enough to kill lots of critters, and I personally hunted hogs along the Virgin River in Nevada, and saw them in the Virgin River Valley in Arizona and Utah. I actually found hog roots 9 miles from the river in the middle of the desert.

No matter where you hunt hogs they have two things that help pattern them, food and water. When it is 100+ degrees they don't have a choice but to stay near water to survive. Then everything has to eat.

Something else we have begun to see in some of the areas I hunt is the overall size of the animals shrinking, I think this mainly has to do with overpopulation, just to many critters for the carrying capacity. In one place they have rooted in almost every cactus bush catching baby rats and such, their has to be an easier way to make a living than filling your face full of thorns for a 3oz rat baby.

Hogs in many areas are just arriving, I happen to hunt in some of the core areas where they first got a foothold here in Texas, so the population density is pretty extreme. The pasture we killed 115 off of last year, it only has 75 acres of brush, and when we hunted the last day before deer season started as we where headed home with a truckload of dead hogs, about 40+ head came out of the brush and across a neighbors field.

I've seen some big wild hogs, I killed a sow years back that her hams touched the cab of the truck and her nose hung off the tailgate in a fullsize longbed ford. But that is truly just a freak of nature.

 

[Matt G]

St. Gunner--
Informative post. I agree that there's a lot more "600 lb" hogs talked about than ever seen. Same goes for "200 lb" whitetails. I have to admit that we estimated the weight of the sow, based on our personal knowledge of what a 100 and 200 lb deadlift feels like. Could have been 180, could have been 220. Weight was a hip-pocket guesstimate of three men who picked it up, loaded it on a 4-wheeler, and hung it from a chain to be dressed. (We were all kinda large.)

In my experience, I tend to overestimate the weights of deer, and underestimate the weights of hogs, while watching them on the hoof. Hogs are dense creatures, and the first shoat I ever shot (with a trapper-length Pre-'64 M94 .30-30), I had guessed to be about 35-40 lbs as I dropped the hammer. After going to pick it up and carrying it out of the creekbottem for field dressing, I revised my estimate to 60-80 lbs. (Words don't describe how my eyes opened, the first time I pulled one of that shoat's roasts out of the oven and tasted the tender, sweet meat that I had garnished only with onions, garlic, new potatoes, and mead. I knew then that this was the game to be bringing home! Yum.) Many hogs that I have figured at about 100 lbs on the hoof were a major struggle for my friend and I to carry out of the field. Good example: I figured the following sow to be 100 lbs when I shot at her with my .22 Hornet from ~80 yards away, one evening. We put her at right around 200 lbs when we carried her out. Maybe she was less, maybe more. I suppose we'll need to fetch a scale.

By the way, a single 45g .22 Hornet factory Winchester Super X doing about 2600 or less (Call it 2200 fps at 80 yards; Winchester says it sheds velocity rapidly) out of a short NEF Handi-Rifle barrel will actually do the job quite well, if you put it in the right spot. Placement. Who knew?
To give you an idea of scale in the size of the picture, I'm 6'5", was about 280 or so at the time, and wear size 18 shoes. The sow's head is partially resting on the ground, with her snout turned away from the camara.