Howdy At the moment the 357 is all i have in hand guns that may change before i go . I have some friends and my dad has hunted boar, i listen to there stories very carefully the one thing they all seem to have in common is boar are unpredictibal. I plan on goin with the ( be ready) mind set. I can't wait to go i got a spot on the wall all picked out

The State of Tennessee says that the hogs in my neighborhood are decendents of Russian transplants and the hunting is restricted. These guys are generally smaller than the feral hogs doen in the bottom lands. I've got a 336 Marlin chambered for .35 Remington in case one of them is feeling his wild heritage the day I run across him. So far the best I've seen was probably a 150 or so pounder. It wasn't durin' the season dang it.

I shot a boar last year in Germany thet weighed 690llbs...............do you know what i hit him with running flat out quatering away at 150yds? 180grains out of my sauer 30-06 and it pole axed him and sent him summersaulting a over t in the snow which looked pretty impressive. My bullet entered on the diaphram angling forward stopping just under the skin on the opposite side shoulder. In fact i still have the round, it was a Nosler combined tech bullet. I have probably shot 100 or so wild boar, all in europe and have never felt even remotely threatened. If you get the chance just whack 180 grains or so straight into his nut and see how tough he is after that.........even the toughest boar will roll over like a puppy! If you attempt a running shot and hit abit back just keep your distance and put another round into his shoulder when he comes to a halt which he inevitably will, if you try and approach a wounded boar thats when you may have problems.
I have a mate who uses a 7/08 ackerly with 140grain accubonds who on our last trip to germany was folding pigs up in their tracks with head and shoulder shots, i even saw him pull a 350llbplus boar down on the spot with a front on chest shot at about 30yds with this combination!

I have no experience hunting wild hogs but hopefully that will change someday ,I hear its a hell of a lot of fun.There is supposed to be a growing hog population in a nearby county here in PA. I have read that it is important to wear gloves when field dressing wild hogs,they can transmit brucellosis which is potentially fatal to humans.Anybody else ever hear about this?

I just came back from Scotland where i shot a boar that weighed 944lb's and i shot him with a 95gr Ballistic tip outta my .243ackerley straight between the eyes at about 70yds and guess what he rolled straight over and hardly twitched!

Kill the head, the body dies!

I've never hunted hogs, but growing up, my favorite uncle had lots of scary tales to impress grade school tads. They all seemed to center around BIG, FAST and MEAN! Hogs and alligators were his favorite.

I didn't believe some of his tales, till I went to a Hunting Expo, where I saw an animal displayed that I thought was a smallish steer. Wrong! It was a hog that had been taken on the vendor's hunting concession. That thing was HUGE! I heard that hogs could get that big, but this one looked like a young bull of the sort they use in rodeos.

I think the advice about trees and climbing skills may not have been out of place.

Wow, the wild pigs in the US certainly sound about as mean as they come, and bloody big.

We have plenty of wild pigs over here in Australia, and you know what the best things is....NO SEASON. They are considered vermin and can be destroyed on sight. Worse thing about them is them is they breed like wabbits and are starting to, in places, "invade" the outer suburban areas. They are happy to attack dogs or anything else that gets in their way. Have been out hunting them a few times, but they are fast and wily, consequently, I haven't scored one yet.....I'm working on it. I figure a Winchester 30.30 Mod 94 loaded with 150gn Power Points will be good "medicine". I have a Tasco Pro Point 40mm Red Dot site fitted for fast acquisition.

Good luck on your hunt for a monster Joe. To save time climbing trees maybe hunt on a quad bike and stay REAL close to it with the engine running.

Cheers, Vince

Vince,

If I were you, I would use a 170 grain bullet on wild pigs. You lose a little speed, but gain penatration. Unless pig hunting in your neck of the woods is very different from ours, you will be taking shots well under 100 yards.

I went to Texas to hunt them with my bow. It's a hoot !

Afterward I was elected to prepare a spagetti dinner for the church. I used some of the "pork" to make the sause. All the ladies loved it all the men kept quiet. I found the meat very lean.

longwalker

longwalker wrote:

Vince, If I were you, I would use a 170 grain bullet on wild pigs. You lose a little speed, but gain penatration. Unless pig hunting in your neck of the woods is very different from ours, you will be taking shots well under 100 yards. I went to Texas to hunt them with my bow. It's a hoot ! Afterward I was elected to prepare a spagetti dinner for the church. I used some of the "pork" to make the sause. All the ladies loved it all the men kept quiet. I found the meat very lean. longwalker

Thanks longwalker. The pigs wehave out here are a bit smaller than those over there so the 150gn bullet is usually sufficent. I also use hard cast 150gn FNGC bullets as well. Check this out.

Australian Pig and Hog Hunting Rave

Get your hands on a mincer and sausage making machine. Put together a mix of venison and wild pig (experiment with herbs to taste). I don't have a recipe as such, but a mate used to make these and they are magnificent. The blend of flavours is great.

Cheers, Vince

Vince

You may want something a little more robust than a 30/30. I have not killed one yet, but have shot at them from across my pond (about 50 yards) while they were destroying my field, while I was sitting in my John Deere Gator with the engine running . This was with a Ruger 357, but my friend shot one 4 times at about 50 yards with a 243 and it just walked off. Most of the ones I have seen around here are about 250 pounds. I hear that they are a real bullet magnet. I wish I had a chart to conver all this into metric dimensions for you.

I have not had a problem dispatching a Boar with a 7mm Mag, however I have been chased by a Sow that was about 350 to 400 pounds. I will say that a 200 to 300 pound Boar can move pretty quickly if hit or suprised. They tend to like running in tunnels through the scrub in So. Cal, so I usually do two things, Make sure I have a large sidearm and am ready to use it, and watch my back, these things can be somewhat spiteful if you make them mad. I have seen them keep coming with 3, 44 mags in them, a couple of my partners have had to change shorts at the truck after one hunt, no damage but the Boar dropped at about five feet from the one who shot it while he was attempting to reload. It was a pretty funny thing to watch but at the time it was scarey, I could not get a shot due to position and my running through the brush did not seem to bother the pig. Good Luck to you on your hunt and have fun.

I have only shot 3 boar, although I have hunted them several times. All the ones I have killed have been with a handgun, a 357, a 44 and a 30-30, in that order. The biggest a 450-500 pounder took 7 shots from a 357 with 158s. The next took one round behind the eye with a 44 and a 252 gr cast bullet. The last one took one round, on the charge from the 30-30 with a 170 flat point Speer. The first two guns were Ruger revolvers, the last was a Merrill. All pigs were shot on the ground, up close and personal.

Wild boar are one of the very few animals that will attack rater than run away, depending on how they feel at the time. If they attack, they are faster than a dog running at full tilt boogie. They do not swerve for anything except big trees, they just run over the little stuff and if you see the Arkansas mascott drawing, you see a boar running through the woods. They are very quiet when they want to be and can switch ends in about 1/2 the blink of an eye. If an when they get tired of being chased by a dog or pack, they will just start killing dogs. If you get one wore out or cornered, he can come at you and be at full speed in 3 steps from standing still. Rarely does a boar kill a person, but they will lay a leg open fron knee to ankle without you even feeling it. A boar can be very hard to kill once riled up.

I tell folks about the first boar. Shot it in the head 4 times, it hit the ground. I walked up to it, jacking the 6 empty shells out of the Blackhawk. Just like a western movie. When I got to about 6 feet away. The "dead" boar stood up..... Now folks, a lot goes through your mind standing there in the tall grass with your empty gun in one hand and the little head in the other. I had been in think or die situations before, so I eased a cartridge into the chamber and slowly turned the cylinder, pulled the trigger, cocked the hammer, released the trigger and put #7 through the left eye into the brain pan. Moral of story, be very careful when walking up on a dead boar.

Best shot: between the eye and ear or in the neck just behind the bottom of the ear. Best preperation for a wild boar, sausage, grind the whole hog. Otherwise they smell while cooking just like they do wnen alive... a mix of wet dog and rotten cypress log.

Best of luck.
Ed

shrpshtrjoe wrote:

Howdy. I think im gonna go for wild boar hear in near future my dad is going to retire this week and he's goin back to N.C. He hunted boar there a few years back and took a pretty nice one. I always wanted to hunt them so now i can go visit him and set a hunt up at the same time . Any do's or don'ts anybody has would be helpful. I think im gonna use the 7/08 with either the accubond or partition 140gr. Thanx

That is a perfect combo. AB or PT

Vince wrote:

Wow, the wild pigs in the US certainly sound about as mean as they come, and bloody big.

Haven't had the chance to yet, but i do know they are nasty creatures! In fact, i met a guy that was stuk in the leg by one, while unloading his, and his friends 357 in the varmint! I didn't believe him at first, but the scars from the shots in his stomach and the tusk marks in his leg was sheer proof.

I was able to hunt them years ago in Ga. The first one I took was angling away from me at about 10 yards with a bow. I took off in the direction it was heading at about dusk. We waited awhile and then followed it up with flash lights. Not my brightest moment considering I was not packing a gun. When we got close to it the pig began to make noises that didnot sound too inviting. Fortunately at that point I regained my senses and waited till mornig to recover it.
The second one I shot was with a 44 mag, 240 JSP at about 75 yrds, broadside in the shoulder. The pig immediately made for the tall grass and I shot and missed. I reloaded and decided to go get him. (My buddy decided to keep an eye on the truck) I proceeded into the grass about 30 or so yards and the pig jumped up at about 5 yards and began to run away. I shot him in the end facing me (Not the best placement) at which point he changed directions 180 degs. I then put a bullet between his shoulder blades and he spun again and went down. I placed one more behind his right ear before he could get back up. No more soft bullets for me.