Perfect hog gun?

[Madball6]

Live in georgia, lots of hogs here, I use my ar-15 (one shot slighty below and behind the ear does it every time) 69 grain hollow points (I set up sour corn baits and have a 25-40 yard blind for harvesting). What do y'all use? methods? what size hogs run around in your neck of the woods? (I've seen 60 pounders and 500 pounders, but since i like to eat em i try to keep it to sows under 150, Boars I usually chop up into dog food). I honestly think all the deer hunters are missing out on a great food animal (alot of hunters i know think the whitetail is the be all end all of game meat). So, bring out the hog guns and your hog methods, show those winter hunters that they are missing out on a year-round gem of a meat animal!

[mc223]

We dont have any wild ones up here where I am. So I'm purty much limited to the deer for edible game.
I grew up in SE Kansas and hunted hogs around that area. Used a 336 in 35 Rem.
I use an AR for deer, and would also use it for hogs. And like you I would keep the small sows to cook in the ground. Bores were dogfood, Pig bait, coyote bait and sometimes catfish bait.

[.300 Weatherby Mag]

30-06 is what I would use... I've also tossed around the idea of building a 338-06 or 35 whelen as a dedicated pig gun... The 7mm-08 and .308 work well too.. 30-30 is another good option at appropriate ranges... I don't like the idea of shooting hogs with toys... Too many stories and pictures of small caliber hog shots gone wrong and people getting torn up as a result...

alot of hunters i know think the whitetail is the be all end all of game meat

In that case, they've never had ELK or Antelope... Deer meat is good but not the be all end all..

[Madball6]

338? that seems like serious overkill (not that there's anything wrong with that, theres no such thing as more dead) but I dont know what ranges your talking about. I've never had to fire more then once with my .223, but i've never shot a hog at more then 60-ish yards (the forest where i hunt doesnt really allow for shots much longer then that.

Also, you didnt respond to the other part of my question, whats your method? do you bait? how and where do you find your hogs?

[Madball6]

Also, i'll be honest, never had elk or antelope, what are the characteristics of the meat? I would think Antelope would be pretty stringy, Elk on the other hand i could see being very tasty.

[UpstateGlocker]

.44Mag is a good round for hogs. Marlin 1894 is a good hog gun. And we're starting to see them here in the southern tier of NY and northern PA. They're like giant rats. Nasty like rats, too.

[Double Naught Spy]

I like my AR15 for hogs when I get to take the shots I want to take. I have been pleased with M855 ammo. Part of what I like most is that I have it already and it works well with night vision. Most of the NV I have seen is only rated up to .308 and my first hog gun, the one that I think shoots an ideal 0-200 yard caliber, is a Marlin 1895 in .45-70. However, NV for the 1895 .45-70 isn't in the cards.

[BIG P]

I hunt GA. also Dont know about a perfect HOG GUN.I've used 22mag,223AR,270PUMP,308SAIGA,300MAG,454CASULL,44MAG,45ACP.DEER,HOG,ELK,LOOPS,GATOR are all welcome on My table.Thats the only thing thats more fun than shootin them is eatin um

[benogil]

Don't get cocky with hogs. My brother is a hunting guide, on one of his hunts he had a customer shoot a 350 pounder with a .300 win mag, good shot, boar just shrugged it off and charged them. Second shot didn't hit( at 20 feet ), but did throw the boar off the track, the boar was circling to get them when he died. 7 inch tusks can really do some damage.

[Rob3]

Where I live in NC most people hunt hogs with pistols and/or dogs. My 45LC revolver is my favorite boar slayer.

[phil mcwilliam]

Years ago, my mates & I would regularly travel 10 hours to cull feral pigs on a friends 20,000 acre wheat/sheep property in outback Australia. We used .222, 22/250, .243, .270 ,.308 & 30/06 with great success. This property was in flat open country, with a river running through the center of the property,with thin scrub line extending 300 to 800 yards either side of the river.
We would be riding on 3 dirt bikes(usually Honda XR250s), with one bike following the river & the others spaced at 100 yard or visual intervals. When we came across a mob of pigs, we would chase & shoot them all, as this was a culling exercise at the request of the owner of the property. We would usually spend 5 to 7 days hunting this & surrounding propertys. Our worst trip was 3 pigs, with our best trip accounting for over 50 pigs. Mobs of up to 30 pigs(including trotters) were not uncommon. I hunted this property several times a year over a 15 year period & my mates & I accounted for many hundreds of hogs.
I now mainly stalk/ walk another mates smaller 2,000 acre cattle property, but still manage to shoot about a dozen a year. These days I use my .308 for pigs,as the pig hunting keeps me in shooting practice for deer.

[603Country]

Mostly I use my 220 Swift on hogs, but that's because I'm usually hunting coyotes when I see the hogs. The Swift does a pretty good job on the hogs of up to about 150 pounds, if I get a good chance to place the bullet where I want. I tried the 223 on hogs for a while, but that seemed a bit light when the shots were over 200 yards. Just recently I've dusted off my 260, which is a great shooter that doesn't get much action, and will hunt with it for a while.

[bigghoss]

there are a few pockets of hogs up here in OR but I've never had the pleasure.

[okiewita40]

I have not had a chance to hunt hogs yet. But I have an sks that I think should do the job really well.

[Deja vu]

I hunted hogs in Oregon. I was using a marlin 357 magnum. Never took more than 2 shots.

I thought about using my 45/70 guide gun but the guide said that it was too much gun

[Eghad]

The last time I hunted hogs I used a .30-06 with a 180g bullet. Hit it right behind the ear and the hog dropped right there.

[Bulldawg55]

The Perfect hog gun is the one that allows you to make a perfect shot!

[Zen Archery]

anything in the 7.62 or .30 caliber area.
can you take them with less. Absolutely. There's a video of Keith Warren wiping out a group with a .17 hmr. but my personal pref. is a 7.62x39. Minimal recoil and a lot of damage.

[rickyrick]

.223 is fine for most pigs. Unless youre hunting them at long range.

I use varmints a lot to avoid any exits because they're usually near live stock. I have even used the forbidden fmj on trapped hogs, bloody. BTW trapped hogs make an excellent ballistic test medium.

All of the lethality myths of 9mm and 5.56 can be disproved on a hog

[rickyrick]

Trap and hunt. Trap bait recipe provided by TFL member hogdogs.....sometimes add a few marshmellows they work for lots of critters.

[ozarkrecluse]

If I'm in heavy brush, my Winchester 94 30/30.

[waterboy68]

Usually a good old 30-06Spr for me. Last time I went I hit a boar 3 times with a .308 (from a BAR) and the booger still got up in the woods and got away! I'm thinking next time I'll bust out with the 45-70govt.

[ndking1126]

I've thought long and hard on what would be the best hog gun, and I think I would pick a Mini-30 as long as the shots don't get much farther than 100 yards. But having said that, I've never hunted hogs and could be wrong. I like the idea of quick follow-on shots if necessary.

Antelope is not the best. It's actually a goat. The meat isn't really stringy, consistence was not too far off from beef. I shot one last hunting season and it's got a strong taste. If the antelope eats a lot of sage, forget about it. None of the information I found online got the taste out.. soak in apple cider, etc etc.. I never tried the red wine though, that may work.

The only elk I had was really good. Not overly flavorful by itsself, but did good with any typical seasoning you would use on beef--bbq, rubs, smoking, etc.

[fatwhiteboy]

I hunt them in the Central Coast area of California. Rolling hills with coastal chapparal and groves of Oak trees makes for longer shots. Shortest I have ever had was right at 100 yards, longest was 220 yards. I use either a .270 or a .308. My son took a 250 pounder at 302 yards using a .300 WinMag. We hunt in a condor area so we use Barnes copper bullets, loading our own...

[lead head]

Perfect hog gun depends on the type of hunting you do and the terrain you do it in. I hunt in Ga. I stalk them in swamps. I've killed them with .303, .35 rem, .270, 30-30, 30-06, .338 fed., 12 slugs, and lots of others and during small game season on WMA's I've killed a lot with a .22 mag. Since most of my hunting involves lots of walking I usually use something small and light. If you are going to shoot them over bait any modern round is plenty. Just wondering why you are feeding boars to your dogs?