Question on caliber for deer and hogs

[Dr_2_B]

I don't do much hunting, but I have a general question I've wondered about for some time. Deer are not too dangerous to people. Hogs are clearly thought-of as somewhat more dangerous. Hogs I believe have a thicker makeup than deer.

So why do we often hear of people hunting hogs with lower power rounds than deer? I know I'm speaking in generalities here, but it seems most people use high power rifles for deer hunting (.308 and the like). Yet I often hear of people using relatively lower powered rifles (like 7.62X39) for hogs.

Just wondering.

 

[Davek1977]

7.62x39 is not "low-powered"...its very comparable to the 30-30 Winchester, prehaps the most popular deer caliber of all time. I've used it on multiple deer, and if they weren't dead enough, they sure didn't notice it. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot either hogs or deer (or even black bear) with a 7.62x39....its cheap, abundant, and does the job just fine.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Hogs are not armor plated troop carriers. In general, most hogs are no tougher to drop than deer are. Now your HUGE boars that have fought a lot and built up that shield around their vital area are a little tougher and require a little more "umph" than some. But any comparable loading with a decent quality bullet will put either down.

The MAIN reason you see a lot of hogs get up after being hit is NOT because of bullet failure or under powered cartridge choice, but of bullet PLACEMENT. The hogs vitals are a good bit further forward and more compact than that of a deer yet people seem to always try to picture them in the exact location that a deer would be. That in itself makes for long trail jobs and unrecovered hogs.

Granted I have recovered quite a few bullets inside hogs that were just under the "shield" and the vast majority have been from smaller caliber. BUT I have recovered a few .30cal and a couple of .44cal but I have absolutely no clue what the ranges were that the shots were attempted except for a couple that I actually was the one following up the other hunters. One was a .223 and the other was a .308. The .223 was fairly close at around 70yds but the guy shooting the .308 was a little over 200 yards. BOTH were shooting light for caliber.

 

[heeler]

Any centerfire rifle capable of killing a deer will kill feral hogs.
As before...Shot placement.
I have killed dozens with all sorts deer calibers and probably more with my 243 and 6mm than any other.
I killed one last Saturday morning with my 30-30.
I prefer head shots myself.

 

[41 Mag]

We simply use what ever we have with us at the time. If we head out deer hunting it is usually a nicer scoped rifle in something ranging from .243 through 300 RUM depending on just where we are hunting.

For a hog specific hunt, I usually carry either a Ruger Compact in .308 if we're hunting somewhere shots might be longer than 100yds or require a bit more accuracy like in some dense but open bottoms. If we're hunting the thick stuff where we might bust a pack out and have them going everywhere, I usually tote the SKS. In both of these cases however I am equally at ease using a 41mag or bigger instead.

We use the SKS's as we have found they reliably drop the hogs and are nice for quick shots on multiple targets. Their ammo is much cheaper than factory rounds in anything else we use. On top of that the SKS I have isn't anything close to what might be called a collector so I am not worried about it getting all trashed up with muck and such when we hit the crappy areas.

 

[robinkevin]

Well it depends on the person. How ever with the thicker hide the power isn't so much the issue as bullet weight is. For example, for deer I use 30-06 150gr, if I was to hunt hogs I would bump that up to 180gr. The fact is people use different rounds for what they like. As a young man I use to hunt deer with a .243 good round and plenty enough to drop a deer if placement is right, after having to track a deer long ways due to catching the shoulder with a shot I started using 30-06 which I feel will be more likely to go through a shoulder if that was to happen again. It actually comes down to the hunter. In my case .243 is plenty enough, it was my fault as I took a poor shot, but still I feel a little more insured with the -06.

Don't know if this helped or not... hopefully it shines a little light.

 

[MCgunner]

Think of the 7.62x39 as a .30-30 for autoloaders. I really like the Wolf 150 grain soft point stuff in my SKSs, though the only deer I've shot with the SKS was with a handload involving a 135 grain Sierra "pro hunter" bullet intended for .30-30 contenders. But, the 150 Wolf has a good rep and it's more accurate in my SKS rifle than are the 123 grainers. I get 2MOA with 'em using a 4x scope. That's a good MOA better than 123 grain stuff.