Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game First-time Florida Hog hunters need advice on rifle, caliber

45-70 Guide gun with a Leupy 1-4....as a dedicated short range thumper.

As I see no indication for sarcasm or funning, I just think I let my self be thouroughly disgusted by this display of sportsmanship and hunting ethics.

I am well aware of wild boar numbers and damage potential - I work this field daily. In order to control numbers, hunting skills and craftmenship need to be raised not by just a few hunters but by hunters in general.

This declaring hogs a "pest" to be shot on sight, where ever with whatever only utilizing whenever convinient misses an important issue - hunting communities public image.

Either lazy scavenger or resourcefull, savy participant.
Only the later worthy of being considered a "hunter".

My take on the original posters question:

Go heavier than . 223. Regard 7mm-08 as a sensible minimum.
6,5x55 I have seen to inadequately penetrate to often on even 100 pound hogs.

Use 120 gr. TSX in the 6,5x55, as I see you already have the rifle. If you where to buy a dedicated hog rifle, I would get myself a Rem. 750 Carbine in .35 Whelen and set this up with a Weaver Rail to have the sighting options of Aimpoint Mirco H1 for up close and fast and your choise of scope in Warne QD Rings.

NEVER seen a hog a 223 cant' take. Just shot placement. Which for us is generally in the ear. I shoot em with 223 and 69 bthps all the time as do a number of our shooting friends down south of us. Last one I got a picture of was over 300 pounds.

And they always died with an arrow int he right place.

NOW if you have to take the only shot you see at the only distance then I'd go straight towards a 30 caliber minimum, and a controlled expansion bullet, nothing like partition, more along the lines of monolithics, the shield on a large boar can be more than 2 inches thick and it can do amazing things trying to stop a cup and core bullet.

On close range hogs in thick stuff I had a friend that had great luck with his 444 and 45-70 and used my 50 beowulf. Funny thing is after he shot(I always let him shoot first as he was a guest and helping us fill feeders etc..) they'd all scatter and stop for a second or two, where I'd pick one 100 or under, and dink em in the ribs with a 22 LR HP from my pistol..... Never lost one of those either.

All that being said no flies on standard rounds, but don't use a light or frangible bullet unless its head shots.

I'm giving some serious consideration to my .300-221 AR with 8" barrel and either an Aimpoint Micro or a 1-3x20 Weaver V3 scope. I can load 125 grain Nosler Ballistic tips to about 2000 fps - I hear it is a pretty nice round for this application.

Good advice on the Warne QD rings - love those guys!

And yes, I want a clean, fast kill, plus hopefully I can harvest some good boar meat!

Sorry, I have just followed up to many hogs with my dog with these shots gone wrong. Not recommended. Great, if all goes well - and if not?

Just to much muscle in that neck to take a bullet, a non vital wound left to fester...

Heart/lung or shoulder it should be - perhaps then the recommendation of something stouter than .223 becomes more visable.

+ 1 on avoiding frangible bullets.

Weaver 1-3x20s should be good for this kind of hunting.

I have killed a bunch with a 35 rem and a 41 mag, a few with a 308 and several with a 22 mag behind the ear. they are no harder to bring down than any other game if you use a good bullet and put it where it can do its job. remember their heart/lung area is low and more forward than other species. I don't like neck shots but heart/lungs or head shots.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...&topic=0&Search=true#Post2929554

The 7mm-08 worked VERY well! I have shot a lot with .223 and .22-250. They work okay on small pigs with ideal shots, but you seldom get that unless you hunt over a feeder. Flinch

I'm sorry if this comes across poorly, but I gotta call BS on all the "ear" shooters out there. I get so tired of hearing, "I just shoot them in the ear with this or that round." I have killed a lot of pigs and precious few EVER offered any kind of "none moving" close shot where an "ear shot" could be taken with a .22 long rifle. Those that say, "never had one get away" either thought they missed or the pig shrugged it off. That is nothing less than a stunt at best, or you got lucky, or you are hunting over a feeder or stand. You might get one shot at a young pig up close, but after that, hitting any pig in the ear is a joke at best. Pigs heads are always moving around, especially when feeding. I have seen pigs take considerable lead in the noggin from some big rounds. I can't even imagine trying to put a .22 long rifle bullet through a pig skull on purpose. Sure it can be done, but be realistic. I have shot dozens of pigs with an AR .223. The little pigs go down pretty easy, but over 100 lbs. they can take a few rounds. The big boars over 300 lbs. can take NUMEROUS .223 rounds before giving up. Been there done that several times. Take something over 6mm and have fun. Flinch

Leave the 223 at home and use the 30-06 or something comparable.

Maybe our pigs are not as tough as "your" pigs.
And maybe we dont' take every shot we see.

If you can't hit a pig in the head then you dont' shoot very well IMHO.

As to feeder comments, lets just say you've never hunted a feeder if you think they hold still to eat corn thats scattered all over the place.... geez....

This doesnt' say I've only taken ear shots either. I"ve taken a lot but prefer the cleaner issue if I can get a head shot. I've even managed to double on head shots a few times.

And yep a big hog can soak it up, but then if you think you need more than a 223 then you probably need to move well up the line, not just over 6mm....thats not enough difference to see a difference.

Of course you may well have taken more hogs than I have. But I've sure killed a passle of them here.

Now if you are driving around and find hogs running here and there and decide you have to shoot them on the run, well thats another story. And I've been on hunts like that too. But to paint it all the same, is ridiculous. I know in thick brush they either wind me or when I find them they are plenty close for a head shot and not aware that anyone is around.

As to never having one get away on a head shot, well lets just say I've never missed a head shot, IE every time I"ve aimed at the head, they are there flopping, how you can say I missed one but dont' know it....

Of course last comment, I have to be totally honest, I've never hunted Utah hogs so can't comment. Did see some big boys in NM one year but they flopped with a small MZ 50 cal slug pretty easy for the guys. But here in TX all these years they succumb pretty easy and there are enough that if I don't get a head shot I can wait till I find the next bunch. Nephews are even good at head shots now. If its a reduction hunt, IE kill all you see, I simply revert back to my 12 ga and buckshot and my mossberg 590, then you don't care if you wound or kill, try to get pellets in as many as you can.

Oh yeah, as to head shots taking a lot of lead... lets also say not everything in the head is vital you have to KNOW what to shoot and and have the ability to hit that target or pass. For me its only dead broadside or back of the head, anything else I'll never take.

lotsa water, lotsa low brush. you want to put them down quick... 45-70 would be perfect.

Tbear.....I have read most of the posts in this thread and I know what is what, when it comes to hunting pigs, which are up to 150-lbs and hogs which sky is the limit but generally speaking average runs from 180 to 250-lbs. Then you have those exceptions to the rule of thumb and they can go 400-lbs plus but not often.

So you see killing an animal is not the problem, sometimes often as not in the thick stuff, you must stop the SOB before it cuts the tops of your boots off ya. I myself like a 444-Marlin lever action (using a 325grn hardcast bullet) rifle or the 1895 Marlin 45/70 with NO scope on either of them ok. They are fast to shoulder and light to carry in the bush. If you have a good 30-06 pump gun using 180 grain or better bullets, (I prefer the 220grain) they will suffice in most cases.

A better caliber than the 30-06, in my humble opinion, is the 35 Whelen with 250 grain bullet! However, I don't think you will find one of those in a gun store unless on the used rack. They are a great caliber just like the .358 is for those hogs.

I won't tell you how many pigs and hogs I have killed over the years because I lost count a long time ago. We used to raise hogs and killing some of them was a regular accurance. Fural hogs can become real mean if they get their dander up or just take a notion to put you on the ground for a snack. I never did favor or like the idea of a person hunting wild hogs, bores and fural hogs with a small caliber rifle! I like big bullets for all those pigs and hogs!

No doubt. I personally like the 25-06 as a minimum with premium bullets.
The 243 with tsx/partitions will do but I am not a fan of it.

As a kid I killed a whole bunch of hogs with a .22 LR - found the solid bullets better than hollow points, mostly head shots but put a few down with lung shots. Almost all of these were bayed by dogs first. Now I use mostly a .300 Savage, and try to shoot shoulders because I need them to go down and not cross a fence. I shot a small sow in the neck with the Savage, 150 gr Core-lokt, she went down, flopped around a while, got up and ran off. A few days later she was back at the feeder, camera showed half her neck blown off, spine exposed. It has healed nicely, just a hairless ring around her neck. I would never had thought she could survive that shot. Head shots are OK, but breaking the shoulders puts them down. My brother-in-law killed a 60 or so pound sow on my place with a .22/250 not long ago with a behind the shoulder shot - one shot. A week later I shot a 90 pound boar with the .300 Savage through the shoulders, but he needed another shot to make him stop squealing. will be trying 180's next, hope for better penetration on a larger boar. Most of my hogs are shot at night, don't want to use my larger calibers and upset the neighbors too much. Got a litter of pigs close to 30 pounds, I'll be shooting them with either my .22 or the wife's .22 Hornet - preferably in the head.

Man I bet some of those mean hogs everyone talks about would be fun to find.

I've had a couple come my way, not hard to stop. Had to kick one I shot with a bow. And had to stomp ones head a buddy shot with a bow to make it quit squealing, but other than that about every hog I've run into wants to go the other way fast.

But mind you we have mostly feral hogs, and not much strain of "euro" in them and that could make a difference.

I know one guy here that killed 92 last year on his place. Almost all with 223 and head shots.

I am not an expert but I have been to TX and have hunted them. All I cn say is they can be some tough customers.... But then again I never shot them in the head. Maybe I am wrong.

Pigs are a pest here. They are classified right up there with rats and termites.

They are not a game animal by LAW. You can shoot them with anything and everything including a flamethrower if you own one or a full auto firearm if you have a class 3 license. You can shoot them at night, during the day, over bait, etc...

Parks and wildlife is psending MILLIONS a year to figure out how to effectively kill hogs.

If Parks and Wildlife could come up with a bait that would kill/poison pigs and not harm another species they would be dropping it from helicopters like they did to eradicate screworms.

You are right. I don't "hunt" pigs. I kill them and attempt to eradicate them.

They are non native invasive species and are classified as such. No different than killing Kudzu.

NathanL,

as I have said, I work this field professionally. Please be so kind as to direct your Parks and Wildlife to www.gwsm.eu .
As can be seen by the website, I could need just a part of those millions spent on figuring out something that is common knowledge.
The "How too 's" of hog hunting are well enough known. Further research never hurts. The trouble resides with implimenting all things known into hunting practise - that would be called transdisiplinary (from science into management).

You guys seem to be much further ahead in the game, by having an open realization of a pandemenic. That needs to be utilized.

I stress again the point - someone has this as his signature line - "Adversidy does not build character, it reveals it."

Having a difficult situation to deal with as a hog pandeamic and hunters stepping up to the plate and pulling their weight, dealing with this in a immpeccable manner, would be win - win to all sides.

Can't be done?

I am not prepared to undersign a decleration of surrender - saying hunting can not solve this - before all measures available have been executed on large scale and with high skill, thereby showing just what hunters and hunting can achieve.

I realize, Pigs a invasive in your areas and not meant to stay. This is a matter of asking oneself "How do I want to fight this"?
Calls for traps, poison, contraception are IMHO reserved for persons outside the hunting community. We in the meantime, have work to do.

I don't think you have a full understanding of the scope of the problem here in TX.

There's not a day goes by I could not get in a high rack and kill 200 pigs if I rode around all day. I've high racked down pipelines and sendaros in a group that have killed literally hundreds of pigs in a day or night, many times with state biologist on the rack itself.

In 2007 Food Crop damage alone in TX was estimated at over $50 million. That doesn't include damaged vehicles (cars as well as farm vehicles), fences, pine plantations plantings that have to be replanted the following year, competition for native game species as well as livestock etc....

I'm sure it's fun if you live elsewhere where pigs aren't such a big problem to come down here and shoot a few pigs in a sporting manner a day and pick out the really big ones and head home.

My background is in wildlife management. The state has a HUGE problem with people wanting to turn pigs into a game animal. They are not a game animal in this state. They are an exotic, non native invasive species by law.

The state is trying to do anything and everything they can to stop the spread and hopefully reduce/remove the population of pigs. Pipe dream I know.

They are fighting a loosing battle because people want to be fair, treat them like they do a deer etc...

The biggest drawback has been people who don't have pigs yet going out and trapping them and releasing them in new parts of the state so they can't hunt them.

Another is now people are coming down here and PAYING to shoot pigs. Now they've mad the little you knows worth money. I laugh when I read ads for "hog eradication hunts" - sounds great right? Yeah but there's a limit on how many you can shoot. You can shoot sows etc...Sound like an eradication hunt?

You will NEVER get ahead of the pigs in TX if everyone is out hunting them fair chase. You can't stay ahead of them if you go out and slaughter them.

Like I said earlier. The person who can invent a poisoned corn that will kill pigs and not deer/coons/etc....will become the richest person in Texas ever.

If you want to hunt them "fair chase" by all means go for it. I view it as no different than people who want to fair chase hunt a rat.

On TX Parks and Wildlife website they have a complete how to on how to attempt to eradicat hogs on your property including killing, trapping - including plans on how to build traps etc...

KILL MORE PIGS. NOT LESS, by any means possible. That's been the hardest thing to sell in TX to people/hunters.

The biggest problem we face is people who are in a posistion to kill tons of pigs (landowners/hunters with access to land etc...) is they flat get tired of it. They get bored of it (I mean how many times can you go out and kill 20 pigs a day before it gets "old"), they get physically tired of it if they shoot a very heavy caliber gun (that's why the .223/.22-250 are popular), or get tired of the expense of paying for the ammo.

It is a war.

BTW Flinch

Now that I had overnight to think on your post... IIRC you come down and hunt pigs now and again with Tobey?? Anyway the point being here, when I do the opposite and take a trip somewhere and want to shoot something, I don't err on the small side either and don't monkey with head shots and such. I have a one time trip and X number of days and I use a big enough stick to take the south end of the northbound "pig" if you will..

Here at home and thats what I"m reading into a guy in FL starting to hunt in FL, I use whatever I have which is often teh AR or the 22 pistol. Get a good shot all is well. Want to just kill, shoot however/whereever, but there is never a time I feel the need that I HAVE to shoot to get something, I can walk away from bad shots and so on. PErsonally with my 22 pistol the fun part is getting close enough to use it. Kinda like with my bow. but it sure works.

And if you are still amazed at head shots then you probably think the shots off the fantail on the pirates were almost impossible....