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

NathanL,

thanks for your reply again. I guess you are right. There is something I did not understand. But it is not the scope of the problem in Texas.

Here to, with the big difference that we deal with a native species, we have a huge problem with wild boar and boar damage.
Boar are raiding Berlin.

The difference is, here indeed we try to keep it on a hunting solution level. It is a game species concerned. So the hunting community needs to adjust, indeed as you say, from leisure hunting, taking the big ones to a serious management (for downing numbers).

Kill more pigs not less is exactly what we "sell" our hunters.
I teach courses on this very subject. The pillars hunting must rest on remain "safety", "clean kills" and "efficiency". To reach this, we as hunters need to seriously jack up our craftsmanship. That I work on with my students.

I do beg to differ on the comparision with rats. Think about it, even rats are killed in traps causing INSTANT death. I realize that you come from the pest eradication angle, and in that scope it is wise to have pigs declared NOT a game animal and keep it that way, but I feel, as long as methods of a hunter are employed, the codes must be followed as well.

BTW how do you utilize the meat?

I shot a boar on Sat. with a 243 and 100 gr core lok.
One shot put him down. However, I would not want to follow a wounded boar into the brush with a 243.

Rost, Your hunting situations on private land are far different than mine. I have very limited time and good land to hunt in Texas inexpensively is all but impossible to find. Ranchers complain like heck about pigs and damage, but still want to charge an arm and a leg to hunt them.

I take what shots come my way. Sometimes they are far and few between and at 200-300 yards. I guess shooting at moving pigs off hand at 200+ yards and not being able to punch them in the ear hole makes me a poor shot. I can live with that I recon.

I have seen some horrible nasty head wounds on pigs when head shots were taken. Would you take the same shots on trophy deer and elk? Why not? A lung or body shot simply has a better percentage of success.

My favorite hunting for pigs is spot and stock, running and gunning or hunting from a helicopter. Seldom if ever are they not moving or flat out hauling a$$$! Head shots are a big time stunt, as are .22 rim fires in such situations. For spotting and stalking in thick cover, that is another story. But for the average Joe, or a guy with limited time, you better bring enough gun so you can take advantage of different shot angles. For the guy casually driving around his ranch and not "hunting" pigs, a .22 would probably be just fine, since he doesn't care if he shoots any or not. I LOVE the meat, so I like to shoot all I can and I want to maximize killing power with a caliber I don't have to be so "selective with". Hopefully that clears things up a bit. If I lived in Texas and had countless pigs to hunt, I would probably carry an AR-15 in .223 and never look back. Flinch

If the gent in Florida is going for the first time, a .223 and head shots is NOT the way to go. He might get one decent shot at a standing pig, then the rest are running. Why not maximize the chances of getting multiple pigs with a bigger gun?

Thanks so far for everyone's opinions. I definitely do NOT want to be undergunned - I like fast, quick knock-down and ethical shots. I'm still seriously considering using 125 grain Noslers out of my 8" .300 Whisper AR-15 - this would give me a handy 'walk-around' rifle, lightweight, with 2000 fps or so for some good energy, but a semi-auto for fast follow-up shots if I get a bad hit or miss. I'm honest enough to admit to my own lack of skill, though I did pretty good in Namibia on larger animals. Funny thing, though, was that the one I thought I missed was a warthog!

Mr. Crighton, Sir, I have to call CF protocoll on that last post. Admitting to a miss in earnest, happening to yourself...
That is what hunting pardners are for.

Flinch

Same book, different page by far... My apologies, but I thought I was clear that I pick and choose shots.... 200-300 yards on a moving pig... very interesting and not close to head shooting territory...

For me with multiple chances in brush its a shotgun all day long.

But my bottom line is not all hunting is the same. So saying headshots are bull, is bull.

You may well have seen bad head shots. You won't see them from me. But same as others, the difference sometimes is a kill or mame on the head. Much as it is a vital hit or a gut shot on moving hogs etc...

Helicopters... wow taht would be a blast and thats a good place for my M1A..... 308 power to stop them and multiple shots.

Of course down here, there is never a need to take a 300 yard shot you can always go around and get closer. They really are not that brilliant at all if you keep the wind in your favor and many is the time that I walk up behind them, more like kinda jog, as they are feeding into the wind and cut the distance from 200-300 yards or more down to well under 100.

IF you are thinking of multiple hogs though, a self loader is a huge benefit over any bolt gun. Same with a shotgun... though the old farts say you have to wait on a gas gun to cycle while you can shuck a bolt or pump as fast as you want...

And to answer the head shot on elk.. I"ve answered it one way, NO not on limited time etc.. like you are with hog hunts, but IF I was in your shoes on elk, IE back of the house so to speak, and no big deal yeah, I'll take a head shot all day long. Of course it helps to have my background of shooting too. On a trophy mounting of anything, nope... won't risk cape damage, but meat animals yeah all day long. Only thing I never did care for was head shots with the bow. Just never could tell what they'd do by the time the arrow got there. They can't dodge a bullet easily though. Of course I was brought up as a youngster and my mentor taught me to be precise and use head shots and how and when to use them.. what a dream to clean animals like that.

JC, no flaws on a 30 cal, a bit slow but still impacts well at short ranges... My nephew has been running the 125 BT in a 7x62x39, I don't know his reload speed, but that little bullet has impressed me so far. DOesn't blow up but kills very well and damages enough but not too much. Last 2 ferals I've seen shot used that one, and the last 5 javelina all flopped. Both ferals ran a bit, but the one I took that was just over 200 live weight, that bullet went through 1.25 inches of shield, vitals and exited on top of that. I"ve have bet against the exit but then I'd stalked him up to around 60 steps or so and while I was waiting on a clean cranial shot he spied me and attempted to leave, giving me reason to go to a 200% shot instead of chancing the head on a mover... ribs worked fine.

Follow up shots on multiple pigs are much easier with a self loader.

As to hogs being mean, I've really yet to see that in the hundreds if not close to 1000 that I"ve seen killed.. But there is always the exception. Kind of like folks being afraid of bears.... Most will go the other way all the time in a hurry but it never hurts to be prepared both ways.

Heard that before. In German it reads - Schlechte Sch�sse gibts bei mir nicht, zwei Finger hinter den Teller und die liegen immer.

Have not retired my dog, yet.

Some we actually will clean - IE the ones under 100 pounds because they're not bad.

Hunters normally take them home and cook them like any other pork meat. Mixing with deer and making sausage comes out good.

I'd say 90% or more of pigs I've ever shot I let sit in the field.

They make great bait the next day for more hogs.

38 55win 255gr at 1700fps will do just fine john

And just as liable to turn a lung shot to a gut shot or a heart shot to a broken leg... point being its no different, in my thoughts, than any other flubbed shot. Hence the simple thought that regardless of what I"m aiming at I never release a shot unless I"m 200%. Which also means, except for hogs, I will never take a running shot on non wounded game and so on.

Others may have a different fiddler.... doesn't hurt me that I used to burn through 8-20K rounds a year with irons out to 1000 from non bench positions. You get kinda decent, and beyond that you can call your shots well enough that you know when and when not to shoot.

I'd be much more worried about the weekend warrior on a deer hunt than any shot I ever attempt.

You're shooting 1000 yards, with irons, off hand? I'm not one to stir the pot but.........?

............IMO, if you want the quickest possible stopping power and ethical kills, another bullet assuming they will work in your .300 Whisper`s chamber, are the Berger (hunting) VLDs. I was using the Hornady SSTs for hogs, but now I am a Berger VLD convert.

On my last two recent big piggy hunts with my 300 WSM, I used the 168 gr VLD (hunting) bullets, with a chrony`d MV of 2830 fps at kill distances from 60 yards to 230 yards, which gave excellent and absolutely devastating results. Very quick one shot kills and "NO TRACKING" was needed!....Shock `n awe? That is an understatement with the VLDs. Take a peek at the video on the Berger site illustrating the impact and after impact affects of the VLDs.

BTW! I was still able to take more than enough meat home.

Never said that. HIghpower competition, service rifle I shoot irons on the AR15, 200 yards off hand, 200/300 sitting/prone with a sling, and then it goes 500-1000 prone with a sling. None of that is benchrest.

Anyone can shoot 1000 offhand with irons. You just can't hit much....

But my point was trigger time. There are not many that pull the trigger on CF rounds up to 20K times a year, not counting cases of 22 for practice and then dryfire. Repition, correct repitition, makes one a better shot.

I had to check and see if my son wrote that post. Exactly what we did Sat., except with Federal Blue box.

stumpy

Sorry. I understand what you mean now. The though of shooting with irons at 1000 (from any position) threw me off.

JCM