Are Hogs Realy Dangerous?

[geo4061]

WildRose the next one you take apart with that 45-70 post us the aftermath. Would love to see a head on shot. After seeing that head on ricochet with a 300 Win. I wonder if that is what happened with my 520 yard head on shot with the 230 Berger? Amazing. Never thought anything except DRT was possible.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

WildRose the next one you take apart with that 45-70 post us the aftermath. Would love to see a head on shot. After seeing that head on ricochet with a 300 Win. I wonder if that is what happened with my 520 yard head on shot with the 230 Berger? Amazing. Never thought anything except DRT was possible.

I've taken 3 with a .30-06 180 grain corlokt. It leveled them didn't move an inch. Although all 3 were under a 100lbs and they were within a 100 yards.

 

[WildRose]

WildRose the next one you take apart with that 45-70 post us the aftermath. Would love to see a head on shot. After seeing that head on ricochet with a 300 Win. I wonder if that is what happened with my 520 yard head on shot with the 230 Berger? Amazing. Never thought anything except DRT was possible.

The 45-70 isn't all that exciting. About a half inch entry and sub 1" exits if they exit at all, it just puts them down every time unless you flat blow the shot.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

The 45-70 isn't all that exciting. About a half inch entry and sub 1" exits if they exit at all, it just puts them down every time unless you flat blow the shot.

Neither is the 458 Socom. I caught all kinds of hell with crap like you just blow the animal apart or waste a bunch of meat or something along the lines. Then I'd kill something and it would do less meat damage than all the other rifles in camp.

 

[geo4061]

Boy was I wrong. Pigman was on again. He gave a play by play of the shot. Dap was using a 200 grain ELD-X. When ol' iron head was hit dust, blood, etc. flew. The hog did fall DRT. That was not the bullet that ricocheted off. It was a large piece of skull.

 

[marioq]

Yep. Dead pig!!!

 

[DUCKMAN11]

I'm new here so let's see how this first post goes...

Like many of yall, I've seen pigs killed with everything from a 22mag in a trap to a 50bmg at 600yds. I shot one 125# sow head on 5 times with a 30-30win and 170coreloks. First shot was between the eyes "bad idea" at 80yds and the 5th and final shot was at 12yds and broke the spine. We've all seen old yeller and know hogs are tough. But I didn't realize how bad they were till I watched one chomp down on a lower leg bone of a 1400# cow that had been dead for less than 36hrs. Broke that bone like it was pecan shell!! We could hear the crunching 150yds away. A 75# sow defending her piglets is a hurricane with hair...a 200#+ boar could be a helicopter ride quick and In a hurry!!

 

[hunterbob]

It doesn't matter what you hit them with, but has to be accurate.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

The 45-70 isn't all that exciting. About a half inch entry and sub 1" exits if they exit at all, it just puts them down every time unless you flat blow the shot.

I shot one a few days ago with my trusty 45-70. I was shooting the Hornady 250gr MonoFlex bullet at 2,330 ft/sec. From 70yds, the bullet entered in the neck and (unfortunately) exited through the shoulder. The pig dropped to the shot and just cartwheeled in the dirt for 15 seconds. The monometal bullet only caused a minimal amount of bloodshot meat.

At moderate distance, the 45-70 works great on all creatures, big and small.

 

[Darryle]

I shot a big boar back in 2000 that tipped the scales at over 350lbs without his head. The hoist wouldn't lift him high enough to get him off the ground to weigh. We cut his head off and he bottomed out the scale.

I shot him with a 450 Marlin Ultra rifle, he ran about 45yds away and you could see the air steam out of both sides as we thought he had expired. I walked towards him and he came to life and charged, I launched a second round into his skull between the eyes, he kept coming, I side stepped him reloaded and took a shot as he turned, hit him but he still charged again, I side stepped again and reloaded, waited for him to charge again, side stepped him and put the barrel close to the side of his neck and pulled the trigger, he went down. I put three Hornady 350gr Interlock FPs into him before he fell permanently, the one between the eyes dug a trench to the skull and cracked it, but never penetrated. I haven't shot one between the eyes since with any caliber or bullet.

I have seen guys locally gashed on their lower limbs, tripped up, fallen and hurt because of poor decisions.

Generally they bolt at the first scent or sound of humans, but you put them in the right situation, you'll quickly find yourself in the wrong situation.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

WOW!
I really like how some Posts are revived from many years ago. There is years in good information to read and some advancements over time.
I have a few good stories with hog hunting in the SE. Up until Hog Hunting started to get more commericialized with more peploe wanting to hunt and then regular "Hog Hunters" saw the money involved with "Guided Hunts" and the advancements in NV.
I remember even up to 15 years ago you could go to farms in south GA and ask the land owners about Hog Hunting. You were more than welcome and they would even give you contacts with hunters that were doing it more or less = Professionally. I have hunted several times with a few guys that got set up with some Hog Hunting Dogs, some pickup trucks, and a even some with "Cooler Trucks" to put the hogs in right after field dressing. We could hunt with them for FREE just as long as you didn't shoot their dogs and they got half the meat from the hogs you shot. They had basically started a business with some landowners paying a small fee to remove the hogs and then they sold the hog meat.
Hogs are very destructive. I have seen farmer fields that looked like they were "Plowed" by a tractor when a herd of hogs uprooted their crops.
A lot of the hogs were killed with a big Bowie type knife when running with dogs and not shot. I saw these guys go in when several dogs cornered a hog and just swing that big knife to cut the throat of a hog. They let us shoot the hogs that ran away or when posted on power lines or fields where the hogs ran away from the dogs.
Talk about FUN and an experience doing hunts like that. There was also the dangerous side of hunting with dogs. I saw dogs get snake bitten and ripped up by hogs. Some of them got actually had "VESTS" to protect them.
Well those time are all too gone now with commercial guided hunting. I personally have not done any commercial hunting, but there are some good Guides and hunts in South GA. Actually a lot of States now since hogs are spreading like crazy. A Sow can have litters up to 14 and twice a year. If there is food in the area-good luck getting rid of them. They are a really bad invasive species for Deer and Turkey. Get a bunch of hogs in an area and all the acorns, nuts, roots for plants will be gone. Not much food left for deer or turkey and hogs have excellent smell so they find everything.
About 6-7 years ago we started seeing groups (3-4) of hogs on our trail cams for deer and turkey. The next thing we knew with the property behind our's about 1,000 acres before they built the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir, there were hogs everywhere. Between us, my neighbor and the other large land owner we killed over 250 hogs in two years.
Too long of a story for this post, but have many more.
Six months ago our neighbor about 2 miles away had 3-4 hogs. Had pictures they were all Boars. Well a sow got into the area and now there are dozens over several hundred acers. One thing is a lot of people here are hunters so there is not a lack of lead removing the hogs.

Just take away. If you get a chance to hunt Hogs in South GA, try to go to an area where they have a lot of "Peanut" fields. Hogs love peanuts and really destroy those crops. A BIG PLUS is that those Hogs that have been eating peanuts all their life have a real good flavor in the meat!

 

[WildRose]

I shot a big boar back in 2000 that tipped the scales at over 350lbs without his head. The hoist wouldn't lift him high enough to get him off the ground to weigh. We cut his head off and he bottomed out the scale.

I shot him with a 450 Marlin Ultra rifle, he ran about 45yds away and you could see the air steam out of both sides as we thought he had expired. I walked towards him and he came to life and charged, I launched a second round into his skull between the eyes, he kept coming, I side stepped him reloaded and took a shot as he turned, hit him but he still charged again, I side stepped again and reloaded, waited for him to charge again, side stepped him and put the barrel close to the side of his neck and pulled the trigger, he went down. I put three Hornady 350gr Interlock FPs into him before he fell permanently, the one between the eyes dug a trench to the skull and cracked it, but never penetrated. I haven't shot one between the eyes since with any caliber or bullet.

I have seen guys locally gashed on their lower limbs, tripped up, fallen and hurt because of poor decisions.

Generally they bolt at the first scent or sound of humans, but you put them in the right situation, you'll quickly find yourself in the wrong situation.

I really don't find that too difficult to believe at all. Had several very similar situations where a dead boar just flat would not give up.

 

[Darryle]

From about August of 2000 to June of 2001, I shot and recovered almost 90 big pigs, lost a bunch more, but it got so bad that I added a 3rd chest freezer for the meat. My farm borders a municipal block of land that is on the north end of a major lake that supplies drinking water to a large portion of the western half of DFW. I had a cousin that was married to a game warden and we got permission to trap and hunt this area, about 3500 acres. I built a figure 6 trap and that night I set it, we trapped over 40 pigs and piglets. I worked days, so I had my dad drive down to check it and kill any pigs in the trap. He called me back and said he didn't think he could kill them all, I asked why, his reply was he didn't have enough ammo. We finally got a few hundred trapped and gave away a ton of small smoker sized pigs, and they just kept coming. It didn't seem like we were making any progress, the numbers just didn't dwindle. Once a sounder has established a home area, it's hard to get rid of them. They are extremely adept at foraging, hiding, breeding and have the ability to travel long distances at fairly amazing speeds(don't kid yourself if you think you can out run or outpace these critters) and destroy everything in their paths.

My yard and aerobic system has been destroyed by a group now, they literally have been rooting right up to the porch on the north and east side of the porches at the house. I can catch glimpses of them occasionally when heading out after feeding the cows, but it's rare. It's not hard to tell when they have been there though.

 

[brant89]

No experience with wild pigs, but I recently had 4 pigs pasturing with our angora goats and Dexter cattle. One of our goats went into early labor and the smell of it got the pigs worked up into a frenzy and they tore the goat to pieces and then started getting aggressive with all the other animals as well, even though they had been perfectly fine together for months. Any animal can be dangerous, but I trust my Dexter bull more than any pig.