Hog Hunting Rifle

[Double Naught Spy]

I did that too, on a sow with a .25 WSSM at ~165 yards. The bullet bounced off the skull and came out behind the ear. A LOT of blood, but I had to track the sow through briers and put one behind her ear to finish the task. The impact was about a dime's width left of center between the eyes. I had read on the interwebs that was a good place to shoot. Not for the first time, internet knowledge was a bit lacking. In my defense, it was my first large wild hog.

Actually, that was a fine place to shoot, depending on the cant or angle of the hog's head. Their skulls are not particularly strong and they have about as much bone tissue in their heads as you do, but spaced out more with larger sinus cavities and a smaller brain. Glancing shots off of angled surfaces is just a reality.

By similar comparison, you can find perfect places to shoot a deer in the shoulder and they work great if the deer is broadside as in the image. When people try to replicate the shot placement on severely quartered away deer, the bullet will tend to miss its mark, blowing out chest and neck muscle without hitting anything vital. The point here is that the spots may be good, but within regard to specific parameters that are not always stipulated.

 

[WisBorn]

I would answer your question with a question.
Are you hunting agriculture fields?
AR would be my choice.
Woods hunting where bigger hogs are likely?
Your 308 Ruger.
Harvesting pigs over bait?
Anything you want to that day.

 

[Paul7]

I recently moved from NM to FL, I sold my .30-'06 and figure my 6.5x55 will handle about anything in FL.

 

[doubleh]

I have never hunted hogs as feral ones cannot endure our conditions but do remember some about them from my farm days. Boar hogs develop thick hide over their neck and upper shoulders as they age, sows not so much. I suspect the armor plated thing comes from hunters that are not able to often hit a hog's vitals.

 

[JohnMc]

Actually, that was a fine place to shoot, depending on the cant or angle of the hog's head.

If memory serves, I was up about 25 feet up compared to the sow, given the stand height and slope of the land, and it was about 5 or 10 degrees off directly pointed at me.

 

[JohnMc]

Glancing shots off of angled surfaces is just a reality.

Yeah, and that part of a hog's skull is pretty angled. It's not a shot I'd take again but thanks for saying it was OK. I only went again one time after that and put a .270 130 gr ELD right behind the ear on about a 220 lb sow. Lights out!

 

[Double Naught Spy]

If memory serves, I was up about 25 feet up compared to the sow, given the stand height and slope of the land, and it was about 5 or 10 degrees off directly pointed at me.

And if her nose was up at the time, the angle will be more acute than if the nose was down. Plus, between the time when you put the trigger and the bullet arrives at the hog, she may have changed the tilt of her head.

 

[JohnMc]

And if her nose was up at the time, the angle will be more acute than if the nose was down. Plus, between the time when you put the trigger and the bullet arrives at the hog, she may have changed the tilt of her head.

It was April 2014, so it's been a minute but I'm *pretty sure* she was feeding, snout down. As I recall, she didn't move much, the bullet basically went where the cross hairs were.

 

[herrwalther]

I have done two different types of hog hunting in my life. One for trophy/food. That is where you are just going after a monster hog to taxiderm or eat. Or both. But you are only going after one. Or at most a handful. For the one and done hunts I prefer a bolt action. Or a lever action in something that will take down a mature hog. 308 will do in a large hog nicely, unless you find something worthy of the Guinness book. Either of your 308s would be my pick.

For cull hunting you want a semi-auto like an AR 15 or AR10. The more gizmos you can add, the better. Night vision, thermals, a suppressor if you have the time and money to get a stamp. All these will help in hunting down and dropping as many hogs as you can before they scatter through the woods and swamps of where you are. For this kind of hunting I would recommend the SCAR. But with a different optic. Hog hunting in Florida can be a very short ranged affair, usually within 200 yards thanks to heavy undergrowth. I like hunting in thick brush with an LPVO compared to a fixed power optic. On lower power you can have closer shots while still having the ability to zoom out to 4 or more power for a stabilized long-distance kill.