Best Hog Hunting Guns

[458winshooter]

I don't really think the OP is interested in what everyone's ideas are on how to or how many to kill.For what its worth I have been hearing a great deal on these new poisons that will be hitting the markets soon that kill hogs but do no harm to other animals.They are boasting that a tablespoon will kill a hog in 30 min or less.
Where I hunt is along a riverbank in heavy woods.Visibility is less than 50yards most of the time so a slab sided levergun is almost all that you will ever see in the guys hands.30-30 almost always.

[WVMountaineer]

Lots of misconceptions of whether an animal suffers after bring shot. Central nervous system hit, they may not even hear the gun or feel the sting. Through the pump station organs, massive blood loss pretty much determines that after being shot through those areas, massive blood loss ensures a shock almost immediately. I'm sure it hurts but in mere seconds, blood loss from the brain erases that. Now wounded, I'm sure there is some suffering until the body recovers or animal subsides to the shock from infection or slow blood loss and dies.

Vermin is vermin. To those that have no idea, I don't think anyone is saying they want them to suffer. Just that whatever it takes is the answer to their problem. And, while all is done to prevent it, no sleep will be lost to it when it happens. I feel the same way about things that tear up stuff and are considered vermin. They don't belong. Turkeys, and everything else pays a heavy toll to the hogs. Kill all you can, however you can is my thought. good luck fellas and I'll come help. We've had some pretty good luck getting them under control in WV. God Bless

[hornetguy]

I've killed exactly two hogs with my SKS, using Federal 123gr softpoints. It knocked them down, but not quite out, with each of them kicking and squealing. From this (admittedly) small survey, I've decided that I will be using the 154gr softpoints the next time I use it for hogs. I think those will give much better results. The SKS is just about a perfect hog gun.

I've also used my 6.5 Swede with 140gr bullets on a small hog. One shot, DRT.

[Tucker 1371]

I think this'll do....

But one of these would probably be my go to for pigs... Slightly more cost effective

[Old Stony]

Good luck to your elbows if you actually plan on shooting that .50 like that from the trailer bed. Been there ....done that sort of thing..

[T-90]

@Hornetguy. I am with you on the SKS. Lots of guys getting hogs with them. If I am not mistaken Wolf made a 154 grain SP round a few years back that was supposed to be great out of a 20 inch SKS rifle.

BTW: What does DRT mean?

[Saltydog235]

What does DRT mean?

Dead Right There.

[Husqvarna]

9,3x62 has been pig medicine for me in 2 different rifles

a semiauto benelli argo, but you'd seldom need that quick follow up shot, especially since I most often hunt with baying dogs. worked well for more driven type huntsthou.

later switched to a bolt action and it still did the job well

had no problem with 308 and 6,5x55 either, 6,5x55 is the smallest calibre we are allowed to hunt hogs with here and I wouldn't want to anyway, sure shot placement is everything but if it is charging you I want something heftier.

done a few hunts with slugs but not a dedicated slug shotgun with rifled barrel or a scope so accuracy was lacking.

my new BLR will be my main pig gun now

[Husqvarna]

we just don't go to great lengths to recover if a marginal shot is made on nasty vermin

your pigs are free from trichinosis?

otherwise leaving cadavres out there is a great way to spread it, why ruin a source of good meat? or attract coyotes and other predators? and infecting them?

what if it goes and dies in a stream of water and poisons cattle?

I get that it is a pest and a huge problem (they are a problem here to but not on your scale)

I also think that unethical approach to the problem is part of the problem. if you shot anything you see you have no control over the population.

we do not shot sows with piglets because we have seen how those piglets become problem pigs, sows that have been hunted and gotten a few piglets shot from her knows how to fear humans, stay away from places they know will be hunted, we put feeders deep in the woods to keep them from the fields, and hunt the fields hard during planting season and after).

makes sense?

[Saltydog235]

Pigs that spend their lives rooting and feeding in pine forests taste like turpentine so I don't find them all that appealing. I can also buy grain fed clean pork cheaper that I can process a nasty pine pig.

Cadavers that make it to water open or swampland will be consumed by fish, turtles, and alligators long before they'd be any more of an issue than any normal dead animal in the water or the pollution done by man.

I target sows specifically, boars aren't the ones having the piglets 6/7 or so at a time. And given the chance, I'll kill every piglet I see too. There is no quarter given to any swine on the property we hunt or in the area I live in. You see it, you shoot it.

This is a totally different scenario of pig hunting than I believe you are accustomed too. Our pigs aren't pursued as game, they are pursued and vermin.

[Husqvarna]

I target sows specifically,

I really urge you to look up research on this being contraproductive

it is a general rule in pretty much all of Europe that you never shoot a sow with piglets, I can't speak for Eatern europe (they are gungho and shot everything including other hunters and dogs)

but populations in Germany and so on are relativly controlled and yet they shoot a million of pigs a year in Germany alone, probalby as many in France/Poland

and I would reckon that pigs are more a problem in farming areas then Texas? (I just get the impression that Texas is more cattlecountry)

I so would want to see Franz Albrecht go helihunting in Texas thou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b43aF4R0h40
that man can shoot!

[Old Stony]

Huskvarna....I can appreciate the fact that you folks can take a systematic approach to the hog problems you have there. I hope you don't judge all hunters in this country by the same standards some post here. There are actually ethical hunters here in Texas that take an intelligent approach to the problems and try to harvest hogs in a manner that will help control the population as well as make use of the meat.
I kill a lot of hogs and try my best to distribute meat to folks that will use it and I, as well as others do it in a sporting manner.

[fatwhiteboy]

I use a Model 70 in .270 Win using 140r Barns TSX bullets. I also have used my M700 in .308. Both are very effective...

[Sgt Pepper]

There is no magic bullet or mandatory caliber. Within 100 yards, generally any centerfire catridge from .223 Rem and up will do the job effectively. Up to 200 yards, all of the traditional centerfires work: .243, .270, .308, .30-06, anything magnum, plus all sorts of cartridges like 7mm-08, .257 Roberts, .260 Rem., .280 Rem, 300 Savage, etc. Beyond 200 yards, you face the same ballistics question as any other - is there enough heat and mass in the bullet to do the job on the size of the intended target, but most hog hunting does not take place at those distances. The big hog killer debates all center around the various cartridges that will fit inside an AR15 .223 magazine, i.e. various sized bullets with relatively little powder. Other than that, there really is no true question about what will do the job.

[Old Stony]

Well said SGT....

[TimSr]

Husqvarna - In the US, each state manages their wildlife independantly with the exception of migratory game birds which are managed by our federal government.

The European methods of wild hog management is certainly much different than what is done in most places here. It does seem that the state of New York is doing closer to what you describe.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/70843.html

While this method has total erradication as its goal, and would seem to have merit in that regard, I think that in truth, a lot of people enjoy hunting them, and in reality, would not really want ALL of them gone if it were possible to keep their population controlled.

Most states treat them as an invasive species to be eliminated.
Some places, like Califorina where they've been roaming for 500 years, have given up on that, and just manage them like any other game animal.

[SPEMack618]

I wouldn't mind hunting hogs with a Barrett, but my problem is my ammo bearer/A-gunner (little sister) probably weighs less than two fully loaded mags for it.

Sort eliminates the problem of a human kill, doesn't it?

Everyone around here that hunts hogs has eradication as a goal. But generally, in this area, everyone who hunts hogs also raises cattle or grows soybeans for a living, so yeah...

[Scout]

In these thick woods, a 30-30 lever rifle is still a great option.

[rickyrick]

Having cattle around actually removes careless shots as an option... Also a running hog can injure other animals.

My recommendation is allways the weapon that "YOU" are most accurate with in the conditions in which you will be working

[Husqvarna]

While this method has total erradication as its goal

is that even possible? I mean you guys been trying for quite a while right and has it made a dent?

maybe just maybe the practise that ricky describes has been counterproductive?

what is it Goldblum says in Jurassic park says? Life finds a way

is there ANY case of an invasive species being succesfully eradicted? there should be because we as humans have "succesfully" eradicated other species in modern times

Here in Sweden we had shootmoney on wolfes until the 1950s and for 30 years after no wolves were reported, now they are back, in the thousends ):
and bear in mind Sweden is practically endemic(right word?)

[rickyrick]

No, eradication isn't really possible...
What happens; you create deterrence for a period of time... You apply hunting pressure for a while, the surviving pigs shift their pattern and move on to the next place.

Traps do the same thing... Trap a few and the rest learn to avoid traps... Then the presence of a trap can keep them away from your place lol

[979Texas]

@husqvarna, so if total eradication is counterproductive, then what do you suggest would be a good way to put a dent in the population?

[BIG P]

Rem 7600 in 270,AR 15 223,& BIG BORE SRH in 454 CASULL FILLS THE FRIG & THE BURN PILE..

[JungleBoogey]

Huskvarna. You are on the money about the pig/boar hunting rules in Germany. When I'm not working as a DAC, I'm in the woods hunting Wildschwein. It's about population control. You don't shoot sows (bachen) with piglets (frischlinge). You shoot first the piglets, then sows w/o young. You also don't shoot the lead sow (leitbache), that leads to chaos. Organized professional hunting in the Czech Republic and Hungary are pretty much the same rules but if you are on privately owned land... wear lots of orange

Rifles I use are all bolt action. 30.06s (Weatherby Vanguard, Mossberg 4x4); .308s (Tika, Blaser R93), .270win (Remington 700) matched with Zeiss, Leupold and Bushnell optics

And I love watching Franz Albrecht but Kristoffer Clausen is also pretty good

[Shooter2675]

I would love to hunt hogs with a big bore AR-15, such as a .50 Beowulf, .450 Bushmaster, or .458 SOCOM.

John