Texas Hog Hunt

[Kreyzhorse]

Howdy y'all. I'm trying to plan a Texas hog hunt and have a couple of questions and am looking for some good advice.

First - I just bought a Ruger No. 1 in 45-70. Any one think have any feedback on this good or bad? I also have a 7mm Rem Mag and a .308 but would prefer to use the open sighted Ruger.

Second - I've heard wild hog is excellent and I've heard it is terrible. Whats does everyone think and are there any butchering or processing methods that make it more better?

Thanks.

[stinger]

Piggies are tasty, it is the larger ones 150-200+ pounders that aren't so good.

[hoghunting]

Find out if the area you will be hunting has wild onions. From late Winter into Spring, hogs will chow down on wild onions. If there is an abundance of onions, the hogs are rarely fit to eat. Other than that, hogs are very tasty. Your 45-70 should work like a charm.

[banditt007]

as for the guns you have, all would work well IMO just choose bullets that are tougher than those you would use for deer. like controlled expansion...or hard cast in the 45-70 ect.

As for the taste, this is my opinion for all game basically..

you dont want the animal all excited, wether that be b/c you startled them/have a dog after them, you take a poor shot and they run for a long time and you have to track them for awhile. A boar chasing a sow ect ect ect.

I hear many guys use a ice water method or ice water and lemon. what they do is put the meat in a cooler and fill it all the way up with ice and just top off the ice everyday and keep it drained, you dont want the meat siting in the water. apparently it draws out the blood from the meat and removes much of any foul taste if there was any to begin with. i hear people do this for 2-3 days. another trick for any meat is to soak in milk for several hours before cooking. this works w/ fish and reg meat as well.

some say that once you shoot it (deer or pigs or other wise) to quickly slit the throat. They say this removes the blood from the meat/animal and its the blood that contains all the chemicals that make the meat taste strong and gamey when the animal is excited before it expries. IMO if the animal is dead this dosent really accomplish much b/c the heart has stopped beating. it makes much sense if one could knock the animal unconsious, but still alive, and then cut a major arterie. this would allow the heart to remove as much blood as possible from the animal until it 'ran dry' and couldnt pump any more, and wouldnt be tramatic to the animal since its unconsious and cannot feel anything anyhow. kind of like dying in your sleep. Obvious this does not happen in hunting (for the most part) just a curiosity to illustrate my view.

Some say that the heavier pigs and/or the boars dont taste good, and only 'barred' boars taste good (testies chopped off at an early age) ect ect. Others completely disagree and say if you take the animal cleanly when its calm, ice the meat down like stated above, it will taste great. Personally i'm just relaying info i did research on at www.texasboars.com, i have yet to hunt them!

Finally its suggested, for any animal really... to get the meat as cool as possible. a great way for deer/pigs ect that have a decent/large size gut cavity, is as soon as you find the dead animal, after taking pics or whatever, immediatly remove guts/heart/lungs/organs ect and throw a bag of ice inside the cavity to prevent as much dirt as possible from not entering the cavity you can then wrap a couple pieces of rope around it to hold it closed.

Remember too that the hide of animals also holds in a lot of heat. in general if one is not able to get to ice out into the field, its suggested to keep the skin on to prevent contamination, remove the guts as stated above, get the animal into shade, keep it off the ground, and keep the body cavity propped open with a stick to help circulate air/cool it as fast as possible. even if it is hot outside, i'm assuming pigs being warm blooded are close to a humans body temperature of aprox 98F so if even if its 80F outside you still would rather have the meat at the outside temp than the 98F. Many argue that they havent had probelms even in the middle of the summer, not gutting the animal immediatly, waiting a few hours ect ect ect all the 'non ideal' things w/o issue. So its really up to you on what you would or wouldnt not like to practice/seems practical to you.

Good luck, post pics!

[Scorch]

Boars that taste "musty" are usually in their breeding period. That means springtime of early fall. If you shoot a boar in winter, it is possibly the best game animal I have ever eaten.

+1 on not shooting animals that are excited or scared. The adrenalin gives them a nasty taste. I have shot dozens of wild pigs, and the worst was a 140 pound sow that was running. Absolutely inedible.

[trooper3385]

Where will you be hunting in Texas? If your hunting in West Texas or South Texas, the shots can stretch out there sometimes and the 308 or 7mm will be a better option. If your hunting out of a blind and the feeders are not to far off, the 45-70 will do an excellent job. If I was you, I would bring the 45-70 and one of the others ones listed. That should cover all your bases. The smaller sows tend to be better eating. I've taken some sows in the 50 to 100 lb range that have been better eating than any deer meat that I've had if it is fixed right. If you've never hunted wild hogs before, remember the vitals are closer to the front than on deer. Basically, if you follow the front leg up, you will be in the money. If you have a clear shot though, I would recommend aiming just behind or just below the ear. Never had one move for than a couple of inches with a well placed shot to the ear.

[Barber2678]

Kreyzhorse,

I live here in the heart of hog country (East Texas) and have found that sometimes you can kill one with a .22 pistol and sometimes you can't kill one with a bazooka. Shot placement is the key. Don't waste a bullet on a body shot. I have personally seen a 250 lb. hog take a simultaneous double tap to the shoulder from a .243 and a 6mm ( I was shooting the .243) and then get up and run off. On the other hand, I have killed one weighing 350+ lb. with the same .243 with a shot just behind the ear. Shot placement is the key. I would take the rifle you are most comfortable shooting and make a good shot. My nickel ....

One more thing, take a rifle that you can make quick follow-up shots with. The travel in packs of about a million!

[Desertfox]

+2 to the adrenaline. +1 to the quick follow-up shot. +2 to choosing the rifle you are comfortable with. -1 to the head shot unless you can hit it just behind the ear (especially quartering away) +1 to the shoulder shot with a large caliber
low shoulder shots are more effective due to the low position of the heart lungs in the hogs body.

I have taken texas hogs with bow and arrow and 30-30. I hunt with a guy that regularly takes hogs up to 200# with a .223. We shoot hogs in the traps with a 22mag. Twixt the eyes! They typically will drop immediately and bleed out quickly thru one nostril.

+999 to the shot placement. Most importantly be safe and have fun!

[Eghad]

I went hog hunting in Texas up above Hunstsville. We were discussing some calibers and he has had several hunters with .45-70. I shot a 120 lb sow who probably had not had any litters. Just got my meat back. Smoked sausage is as good or better than store bought. my guy processed it for 65 cents a pound no matter what the cut.

Might want to invest in some camoflauge. Them critters is smart. It took me three tries to get a good shot. My little piggy never knew what hit him. He was at the back of a pack of 4. I used a .30-06 with a 180 grain soft point. The piggy was graveyard dead upon impact.

I have killed one weighing 350+ lb. with the same .243 with a shot just behind the ear.

plus you dont ruin any meat

If you plan on doing ityourself keep it in the cooler for about 3 days with ice and let the water from the melted ice out and and replace the ice as suggested above.

The fellow how owns the place where we hunted it will clean it and quarter it for $20.00 Plus he has a walk in cooler to let them hang if your are going to be there a day or two after he guts and cleans them. Plus his wife cooks a mean pear spice cake..mmmm

My friend who got a 90 pounders said his smoked sausage was excellent also.

[rrj731]

I live in east Texas and have chased pigs for about 20 years, so I speak from expeariance. First, all advice so for is rite on as for as caliber. In my opinion, the 308 is about perfect. Also rite on for a calm animal is a delish animal. There is a way to make any pig good to eat. First, clean as soon as possible. have a large ice chest CLEAN and ready. As you bone the meat off of the body, place it in the ice chest. When you're done, fill the ice chest with ice and leave the drain plug out. Let the meat stay in there for 7 to 10 days, check it often and keep topping off with ice. The meat will be clean and odorless, and as good as you can buy anywhere. There is one other thing you need to know. If you kill a big boar, when you start cleaning it, you will be in for a shock. Only mature boars have it- a grisle plate that runs from the last rib to the back of the head, that is so thick on some of them it will stop a 30-30 bullet! You have to cut it off in strips. Don't let that deter you from shooting one, just do head shots or nothing. If you've never hunted hogs before be warned, if you get into them you will never get over over them! Some have an incredible will to live and seem imposible to bring down. Others just fall over. but by and large they are tougher than white tails and twice as fun. I have, on a couple of occations, shot 4 of them from a single heard of 30 or more! I don't recomend that unless you have some help to retreve and butcher them. Good luck and let us know how you do!

[Eghad]

hehe.. my friend shot his out of a pack of 10. Seems one of piggys didnt relish the idea of someone taking out his friend. My friend went down the hill below the crest, next thing you see him running back up the hill..lol.

[Kreyzhorse]

Hi guys, thanks for all of the good responses. I believe where we will be hunting is roughly two hours south of Dallas. The more I read about hunting them the more excited I get.

[Eghad]

Just dont get too excited and be the hunted instead of the hunter

[Barber2678]

I have a scar on my leg thanks to one of these lovely creatures. He made lovely sausage too!