Roundball Caliber for Large Hogs

Thanks to everyone for the information, and thank-you, Spence, for the links to the hog anatomy diagrams - very helpful!! I'm thinking the lesson is: 1. don't try headshots at night. 2. go for broadside or quartering away and place shot right in behind/below the shoulder for heart/lungs.

I have a question for the experienced hog folks here.

Ran into this big boar hog a couple of years back when doing a bird count, on a property that was not hunted.

Most times feral hogs run like scalded cats when you encouter them, this big boar just stood and thought about it for awhile despite my waving arms and yelling, before it ceded the right of way.

Even then it just stood off in the brush a ways snorting and puffing. Had to walk by it to get to a count point :shocked2:





Feral hogs are among the commonest mammals in the the woods down here, not often you run into a big one but in my experience the two or three really big boars I've seen looked relatively small-headed, approaching the relative proportions of a rhinocerous.

Any way of ballparking how big this one was?

Thanks,

Birdwatcher

After I read the 200 pound hog story I am thinking we should rethink the 2 bore idea. Now I am not saying that I want to carry or shoot one just that some hogs may need it! Geo. T.

Can't see how far the belly goes down or a close up on how big the head was up close. I would wager around 175 range though but photos lie as well, but it isn't a very long pig from the photos from what I can see.

Birdwatcher said:

I have a question for the experienced hog folks here.

but in my experience the two or three really big boars I've seen looked relatively small-headed, approaching the relative proportions of a rhinocerous.
Any way of ballparking how big this one was?

Thanks,

Birdwatcher

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Birdwatcher - the boar Geraldo and I tangled with is one of the hogs that has shown up on the game camera; he looks distinctly different from the other three or four big hogs in the photos - very small ears and a tapering front head/snout. "Rhino-head" is the word I've used to describe this one.

Matt85 said:

75 cal, any thing smaller and you couldnt be sure!

on a more serious note: we should make a sticky on caliber recomendations so people stop asking this same question.

-matt

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Matt85, remember what it was like being the new guy on the block...most members relish rehashing hunt'n exploits and helping newbies with getting set up properly for an upcoming hunt...otherwise we could all just go to wikipedia for info! :v Others views, opinions and personal experience's are what make this forum fun and educational...besides having a cut and dry list of recomended calibers for game would be pretty boooooorrrring! :wink: Also I don't think it would stop members from asking for advice.

Spikebuck said:

I'm not in hog country...well at least not WILD hogs....so don't know anything much about it. So wondering why the night hunting? Is there some advantage? Or just to do something different? Curious about it.

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That's when they're out and feeding. If we could do this in daylight, we'd do it.

Richard Eames said:

A 50 works fine.4 bores are not needed.

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just to clarify, I wasn't serious about the 4 Bore. lol

I hunt with a .50 and PRBs. It's more than enough. the 4 bore comment was meant to poke a stick at a previous thread which equated my advice to blasphemy and got me accused of being an interweb hunter. lol:stir: lol


One more thing, if you haven't done much night hunting, find a way to practice at night. It makes a big difference.

As for the rarity of Rhino class hogs in the wild, THAT'S A FACT! They only get that big by being crazy smart. I've spent a bunch of time out after them and I've only seen 3 in the wild that were legitimate monsters. The only one I got remotely close to .... too close, was a dog killer some one had turned loose and was in the process of doing just that.

I tend to agree with you on your general assessment. These "hogzillas" are a joke. If they were indeed truly wild they'd be lean and much, much smaller. It is good not to be misled by these backwoods attention seekers and their 1000lb porkers. These are just domestic fat pigs recently turned out to feed or even penned and fed to immense proportions.

Geraldo said:

Spikebuck said:

I'm not in hog country...well at least not WILD hogs....so don't know anything much about it. So wondering why the night hunting? Is there some advantage? Or just to do something different? Curious about it.

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That's when they're out and feeding. If we could do this in daylight, we'd do it.

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A good pair of night vision goggles helps with this night hunt'n for hogs...just make sure to lift the goggles out of the way before you shoot cause you might get night blinded! A friend of mine has a really good set of military goggles and I was surprised at the clearity...I could actually count the hairs in his beard in total darkness...course now that pair did cost upwards of 20 grand! Once you spot the hog/hogs coming in with your night goggles lift em out of the way and turn on your red light. Hogs have a habit of coming into farmers fields during the night time to root and feed feeling more secure under cover of darkness...sneak up on em quietly and hope they run away from you after the shot :shocked2: ...hee..hee...hee!

Geraldo, have you heard of using drones hooked up with night vision camera's...being used in the south to clear hogs from farmers land...yep, 21st century technology at it's best! Now if they can just figure a way to hook up a pair of flintlocks on each wing...careful though, this may not be period correct! :nono: :rotf: Sad but TRUE!

I would wager around 175 range though but photos lie as well, but it isn't a very long pig from the photos from what I can see.

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I was thinking more than twice that, and in fact I might be right, that was a big friggin' hog and I've seen a bunch. But maybe they all look bigger with an attitude.

I agree though on the long back, the very biggest boars I've seen almost looked like domestic pigs in that regard.

Birdwatcher

South of us where the country is more open, they are hunting hogs from helicopters and the shooters are using Benelli shotguns with extended tubes.

Reports of 200 hogs per day are coming in, that might be a lot of flying with a flintlock , down side is keeping powder in the pan.

I use a .50 cal with 70 grains of 3F and a .490 PRB. Never had an issue with hogs up to 225, and that shoulder plate isn't as thick as people say it is. Maybe an 1/8 or a 1/4 inch thick....PRB at 40 yards punched through it with no issues. Most folks use it as an excuse for a bad shot.

Up in north Queensland, Australia the pigs have learned to search the beaches for turtles eggs which they dig up and eat. The government has declared war on them and I know they shot numbers like 5000 to 10000 in a week or two in various locations from helicopters. A lot of them would have been huge boars smart enough to find turtle eggs. Shame to lose such a great huntint resource but understandable to protect turtle breeding areas.

Kapow said:

"...they shot numbers like 5000 to 10000 in a week or two..."

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Wow...that would be an interesting Australian project to read about...surely you must have a link on such a staggering volume of kills?

Ever notice how the government is always more interested in the game we can't hunt...wonder what the cost was to you tax paying bloke's...remember " A government big enough to supply all your needs is big enough to take all you have "! :nono:

I don't know if they even make it public but I was camped next door and was speaking with a friend of the chopper pilot. 400 pigs a day is about usual from a helicopter. The thing is they will probably get similar numbers the following year. Anyways I am off for a hunt.

In case anyone didn't know, shooting pigs from a helicopter is now legal in Texas for the general public.

Pricey tho... google on helicopter hog hunting.

This happened west of where we hunt. Helos are not necessarily the answer to hog hunting.
http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2013/01/27/dont-be-afraid-of-flying/