Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters PIG GUN

They are vermin, no different than rats...which is why I have such a hard time figuring out why folks care to trail them, worry about blood trails, etc. Killing 8, 10, or a dozen in one sitting is not uncommon, and if they don't run off into the woods, that's a lot of dragging to get them off the field.

I can have a fat, domestic pig in the freezer for $300, no way in hell I am wasting my time on these nasty things.

I feel the same way!!!

Coming from someone who used to raise them, the wild ones are no more dirty than the domestic ones... we had the largest hog operation in the Southeast a few years ago, so I have seen both sides of it.

I will say this about the wild pigs: it gets me deep in the woods at least once a week with a gun in my hands. And yes, we eat them as well, but we're pretty selective in what we'll take. As for a "pig gun," there's a lot of mythology floating around. Hit right and they'll drop from just about anything. I actually killed one a zillion years ago with one ounce of No. 7 1/2 from a 20-gauge. We were bird hunting and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. On the other hand, hit wrong I've seen them run off with half of their intestines hanging out. That said, just use what you like to use and try to put the bullet either in the CNS or take out the heart/lungs through the shoulders. He'll drop and paddle.

Just my $.02

RM

We had a few bad experiences with nasty meat from medium-sized boars, so we quit eating boars altogether. Any sow over 50-60lbs generally get eaten somehow, even if it is given away. A game processor right down the road from me is known for his smoked link pork sausage, so I generally wind up having him do about 40lbs a year. If I get a sow in the off-season, when the game processor is closed, I'll debone it and smoke it all for pulled pork. There actually isn't that much meat on a feral hog, compared to the overall weight of the animal. I prefer to deal with them at 100lbs or more, to make it worth my trouble.

Gave this old girl to a fella a couple seasons back and he got a fair bit of meat off her. 271lbs and no piglets in that big belly. The average adult pig I shoot is probably 120-130lbs, but there have been a few 250+ here and there.



Several of the local guys are now using the Hogg Boss phone-operated mechanized trap gates (where the signal is strong enough) and they are putting a real dent in their numbers. I'm not seeing quite as many as I did 2-3 years ago.

Having eaten plenty of both, I will take the domestic pig every time. We live in show pig country, and show pig culls are damn near free and, once fed out, a whole lot better than any nasty old timber pig.

That’d be my first choice if I had one. We don’t have feral swine up where I’m at but I’ve been waiting to take my 99 in .308 down to my pal’s property in Franklin TX. Those .358 99’s aren’t easy to come by. Nor are they cheap if you do. But man is that a sweeeeeet gun for piggin’!

My boy with a couple of bunches we shot up. He was on leave from the navy. He was a Corpsman.

I have killed a bunch of pigs with a lot of different rifles.

My favorite gun for pigs is a 16" AR15 in 6.5 Grendel. Performance-wise 6.8 is pretty much same thing. 556 can do a good job if you pay attention to bullets and shot placement. The 65 SGK is a good bullet in 556, or the Hornady 75 BTHP. I have also done pretty well with the Hornady 62 BTHP. 7.62x39 is a good cartridge for pig shooting. IMO 300 BO takes a back seat to all the above.

Normally pigs just really aren't that hard to kill. Sometimes you get one that wants to prove that theory wrong. But the same can be said for coyotes, deer, or a host of other animals as well.

My pig hunting is usually not sport shooting, though sometimes I take my daughter out after a good boar. Normally it is all about numbers and damage control. Kill as many as possible as often as possible. The vast majority of mine are shot at night with thermal, often large groups in open fields, and multiple shooters. If I was shooting pigs over a feeder in daytime my opinions on weapons and methods might change. That said my daughter shoots the Grendel no matter what, day/night, normally with a 120 Gold Dot (targeting big boars) or a 90 TNT (mixed bag, coyotes/pigs).

Numbers game. One stalk last night. Stopped shooting when the mag went dry. Started with the sows with litters and worked down. Picked up the big boar out on the fringe after the sows went down and before I started in on footballs.

Excellent, keep up the crusade

The crusade never ends. Peanut planting time coming up here in a few months. Time to really start putting the smackdown on them again. In this spot alone I have killed 29 within a 1/2 mile circle in the last 10 months, with 16-18 of them being mature hogs. 6-8 of them over 180 lbs.

I don't really hunt deer or much anything else anymore except doves. Just pigs and coyotes, I hammer them as hard as I can.

^ ^ ^ That's what it takes- Many thanks ^ ^ ^

I bet pigs would be hell on a peanut patch. They work over a milo field pretty good too.

Planting time last spring. This corner of the field was about 90% gone, and parts of it had to be replanted 3 times. About $3000-$3500 worth of replanting. This is about 3/4 mile from where I shot last night. Doesn't take long to pay for a thermal at that rate. Once the peanuts get up it isn't bad. But getting them through that first 10 days can be tough.

Edit: To explain an little better for some who might be reading this thread who don't have experience with peanuts, peanut seed is actual peanuts. And pigs love peanuts. They will put their snout down in a fresh planted row and just follow it, scooping up all the seed. Peanut seed isn't cheap. And ground that should be growing something but isn't, because the seed is gone, is not cheap either. Because you already put down the chemical and fertilizer but don't have the yield to cover it. So you replant.

yep

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/13430275/300-hamr

LWRC REPR 7.62 firing 150gr e-tips guided by a NF 2.5-10x24 with lit NP-1 reticle, 25 round p-mags run fine if you get into a herd skirmish ; ]

I must be one of the odd fellows. I just sold an AR because it rarely left the safe and would like to have a Browning BAR. I checked out the 303, but the $4000 +/- price tag will keep me from getting one. Nice looking rifle though.

I’m thinking I’d be pissed off, they can jack up an oat patch if it doesn’t get rain on it quick.