Nature day in Texas!

[Farnham]

Yesterday morning, I hear something odd out back, and turn in my chair to look out the window, and observe at least 10 wild hogs engaged in a staredown with my pit bull, GSD, and Heeler puppy.

I've wanted to hunt hogs since I moved to Texas last year, but haven't had the chance, and now right in the backyard (5 acres, Wilson County) I've got a gang of piggies! The pit and sheperd are city dogs, gotten from the pound in California, and are obviously stymied by these apparently hostile invaders, but the Heeler apparently thinks they are here to play, and is determined to stalk up to one of the biggest (do hog herds have boars or sows as the leader?) ones, and bring it to the house. And here I thought he was the smart one...

The standoff only lasted for a few seconds; when the lead hog decided the Heeler was too close, the whole herd wheeled and ran, and the other two dogs joined in the chase. I finally get boots and pistol on, and run out in time to meet the dogs running back. No gashes, slashes, or broken bones, but they looked decidedly "freaked out" about the whole thing. Just to add to it being "d@mn natural around here today" (as my city girl wife put it ), I just about tripped over a copperhead while poking around looking for hog tracks. Sneaky little things, compared to the rattlers back in Colorado, unsporting, even.

Should I be worried about the dogs if the little herd comes by again? I don't plan on shooting any of the hogs, as a miss in that direction will put a .308 through my neighbor's back door, but if they decide puppy might be fun to try, I might reconsider. Will .45 ACP at close range drop a feral hog?

S/F

Farnham

PS: I love Texas!

 

[one-shot-one]

if you

stick it in his ear then pull the trigger he'll die.

 

[Farnham]

That's a little bit closer range than I'd intended, but it'd be pretty sporting, eh?

S/F

Farnham

 

[JohnKSa]

It will, but you'll have to do your part very well.

A friend of mine put a good number of .45ACP slugs into a relatively small pig and still lost it.

 

[one-shot-one]

One Place I Worked

i had a vendor that went hunting with a guide that did not allow guns.
he had hounds that tracked (chased) the hog to bay and pitbulls that would then go in and pen the hog. the hunter would then go in and cut the hogs throat with a big knife.
the life expectancy for the pits was short, and my biggist reservation after hearing this story was not cutting a wild hogs throat with a knife but reaching into a group of three or more pitbulls with their blood up to do it.

 

[dolanp]

Get yourself a Yugo SKS and some HP ammo. If he gets too close you can always run him through with the bayonet.