So, your a pig killer??

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gunarea posted this 16 February 2010

OK Fellas

    Just about everyone who hunts, has taken a pig or fifty. From California to Italy,(Hey Buffalo George), this animal commands respect. Heck, even if I had never hunted for pig, I have killed enough to fill up a page with humorous and stupid anecdotes.  My Mother enjoys wild tasting pork and employed me as a teenager to bring home ferrel pig. As a father, in order to avoid the steroid danger for my kids, I raised our meat sources. My implements of death, range from .458 Win mag to a 9 iron. It just so happens, both ends of the spectrum were used at close range, almost instinctively and with similar results, a dead pig.

    Tell us, even better, show us what you got, where you got it, how you got it and what you got it with. How you would do it differently.

   In Florida, all pigs are imports, there were never indigenous species of pigs. That being said, pigs are abundant and several species have flourished. Right here in central Florida, where I grew up, there are thick woods, clear cuts, dense swamps and open pastures.  All are populated with pigs and present much different challenges. It has been my good fortune to have experienced all this and more.

    In my gun room is the head of a small boar killed five feet outside the door with my trusty 30-30. 180 gr cast with gas check powered by Dupont IMR 3031. Although small, he was sporting four inch tusks and an attitude typical of rutting male. Out on the trap range a small herd of sows with piglets, screwed up the parking area with their rooting. While on the pistol range, engaged in live fire, several wild sows wandered in and began grazing on the area in between firing line and target lines. A flattop Ruger saved me from a charging 200 lb boar and demolished a piglet. The charging boar was wounded from a bad shot in a neighboring hunt area. A 315 gr cast 44 pushed with 17 gr of 2400 stopped him cold, not even a slide mark. The demolished piglet story will wait until a certain level of honesty dictates telling. 

   C'mon, let's here what cast bullets do for the sport of pig hunting. I'm a pig killer are you??

                                                                                                         Roy  

                                                                           

Shoot often, Shoot well

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Ed Harris posted this 16 February 2010

When I lived in New Hampshire I enjoyed pig hunting in the snow, on snowshoes. It was just like hunting rabbits, except that they were big rabbits. The preserve in which we hunted was maintained by a group of foresters who followed European practice, so there were large brush piles scattered about the woods intended for bunny and game bird habitat.

In winter when the snow was deep we would look for covered piles in which there was a steaming vent hole. This mean that a either a black bear or a boar was holed up in the pile. One of us would walk up onto the pile and poke down the vent hole with a long stick. A hibernating bear won't be bothered much by it and only growls and rolls over in his slumber.

A boar, however, bolts out of the pile like a tank plowing through a hedgerow, often taking part of the pile along with him, scattering sticks and squealing as he runs. The hunting standing nearby on the ground usually has time for one quick shot before the boar either runs past him or knocks him over.  The “Brush Stomper” on top of the pile may get a safe shot if the boar runs out on the oppoosite side of the pile from the other hunter on the ground.  When I played stomper I was armed with a double-action .44 Magnum revolver, whereas my companion "Big Boar Wabbit” hunter on the ground carried a 12-ga. shotgun loaded with Brenneke slugs.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Dale53 posted this 16 February 2010

:D:D:DEd; That sounds like LOTS of fun!!

I believe you had the correct armament, also (at least YOU did:D).

Dale53

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raytear posted this 16 February 2010

I have not killed any pigs using cast bullet in a rifle. However, I shot a 180# sow at 35 yards with a 6.5 X 55 using a Hornady 160 grain RN and near max charge of H414. Bullet went thru both shoulders and the pig simply flopped on the spot.

Shot a 250# or more, boar that was feral hog and Russian boar cross. It was all two of us could do to load it in my pick-up. Used a .30-06. Speer 165 grain Hot-Cor BT spitzer with a max load of IMR 4350 at 70 yards. Muzzle velocity of 2800+ fps. from a 26' barrel. Bullet went thru both shoulders, including the gristle shields and the spine, and stopped just under the hide on the far side. That is the only one of those Speer bullets out of probably 50 shot into game I have ever recovered. The spent slug went about 130-140 grains. That boar simply dropped in his tracks, but did twitch an ear a couple of times.

Shot two piglets of about 15-20# live wt. Same .30-06 load, but thru the ribs. No spare-ribs on a pig that size anyway, but when shot like that they drop in place with no meat destruction.

Careful handling of the carcass with cautious skinning so as not to get musky odor or taste on the meat from the knife yielded excellent table fare no matter how it was cooked. Low, moist heat for the larger animals worked best for making it tender. A little Adolph's tenderizer, the kind without MSG or sodium helps.

I cut a fresh ham into slices about 3” X 4” and 1/2” thick. My wife put those into a baking dish with slices of onion, tart apples, salt, pepper, and some dry red wine--we did not have white--for a covered dish meal at church. She covered the whole thing with foil and slow cooked it in the oven. Nobody could believe it was feral hog, and we only had 1 or 2 slices left to take home.

For the piglets I cut off the heads and split the skinned carcass on the underside. Spritzed them with olive oil, lightly dusted them with Tony Chacherie's (sp?) Cajun Seasoning, laid them flat on the grate in my smoker and slow cooked them with mesquite chunks--chunks, not chips--on top of the charcoal. If you can find any better eating I'd sure like to know about it. I have cooked the backstraps from full grown feral hogs the same way with superb results.

For head shots on trapped hogs:

.455 Webley using RCBS 265 grn. RN HB in a load that duplicates the original ballistics, i.e., ca. 650-700 fps works as well on hogs as the original did on native tribesmen and German soldaten.

.44 mag cases loaded with 240 grn. SWC and 7.8 of Unique gives about 950 fps in a 5.5” barrel. Pleasant to shoot and a clean killer. 200-225 grn RNFP with the same charge is great, too.

Lyman 358429 cast of WW and air cooled with a max. charge of Unique in a .38 Special “punches above its weight class".

.40 S & W loaded with a 180 grn. TC profile cast bullet loaded to ca. 890 fps. is a good killer for trapped hogs, too.

9mm Luger with 125 grain RN loaded to near max is OK, but needs careful placement in my experience. The particular bullets I had may have been a bit soft and I had trouble getting the kind of shot I wanted. I only tried the 9mm once.

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gunarea posted this 17 February 2010

Hey Guys

   I don't mind telling you those recipes sound great. Some mesquite chunks are on my list to pick up, thanks for the tip.

   I'm also for the strong gun method for killing wild pigs. Getting in a situation with pigs is scary, once they decide which way to go, they are all in. 

   Honestly, I've never hunted anything in the snow, although the opportunity was presented, I was too big a cold woose to even venture out. Primary Florida pig hunting challenges include mosquitoes and sunburn mostly. Even so, pig hunting wasn't one of my snow options. It must be great sport to try and make a good hit on such a randomly presented target.

   Cast bullets have done all I have required for every bit of my shooting for over forty years and I don't see any factory produced projectiles of any kind being employed by me for any reason ever.                                       Well,  almost,  cept for 22 rimfire,  since the fire.

   Thanks for the enlightenment. One of these days I'm gonna get a digital camera for myself and then I'll be able to send in some more pictures.

                                                                                            Roy     

  

Shoot often, Shoot well

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galenaholic posted this 26 February 2010

I've only shot one hog and that was more a self defense thing. When I lived (existed?) in Cakifornia, my neighbor raised some serious hunting dogs, Rebones and Blueticks as I recall. At the time I was doing some free lance photogaphy and he asked if I'd photo his dogs in action. We agreed on price and went to Big Sur to see if they would run a hog or two. The only gun we hand was my 4” S&W M28 .357 Magnum loaded with Lyman #358156 SWCs over a stiff load of #2400. We didn't figure it would be needed but knowing Murphy like I do, I brought it anyway. After a short run, the dogs cornered a hog that was giving them a pretty hard time. he wanted pictures of the cornered pig so I focus and shot the picture. When that single lens reflex made the usually clatter from rhe mirror, Mr. Hog took one loo in my direction and figured I must be the source of his troubles. I dropped the camera letting the strap do the catching reached up for a convenient overhanging tree branch with my left, drew the .357 with my right and snapped off two fast shots as the pig ran underneath me. The first went through the top of the skull and the second broke the spine about half way back. It's a good thing the one and only picture of the hog came out and I do feel I earned the money on that one. The hog? He made into some very fine Bar-B-Que. Paul B.

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tturner53 posted this 27 February 2010

Wow! Great story. I'd like to have been there for that. Sounds like a movie shot. I got one between my feet once, it was escaping the dogs more than charging me, but it felt kinda uncomfortable anyway. I shot it straight down with a Ruger #3 45-70. The cast bullet over a heavy charge of 3031 stopped all the excitement immediately. It was good eatin' except the hams were poor. Had them done in a shop and they botched it. I had a couple hounds back then and fed the hams to them. My son could eat two chickens for breakfast in those days, even he wouldn't eat the hams.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 28 February 2010

The wild boars usually have big shoulders and flatter hams,wit less lard than the domestis pigs gone wild.

They make wonderful roasts ,with potatoes,in the woodstove oven.

To make a raw ham,in the style of the Parma and San Daniele hams,you must get a very big animal,more than 100 kilos(10 pounds) and leave the skin a nd hair on the outer side and cover with pig tallow the inerior side of the ham. 

Here you can see the Team 68 butchers at work in the High Trebbia Valley,where I usually go hunting.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 28 February 2010

My toast is “MANY pigs,small ones and near the road".

I love the small ones,born in the early spring and reduced into possession in november.

Our hills are very steep and roadless, we must use a small petrol cabstan ore a small tractor to retrieve the prey,and often with the bigger mamas it' a very hard work.

 

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slowshot posted this 01 March 2010

Okay the header says what works for you Well since I've only hunted hogs once 2yrs ago in Texas, my son and left the great northwest and ventured down about 90 miles north of the Gulf. We hunted with Hog Dogs . The man we went with uses my kind of dog Catahoula's and Blue lacy's for bay dogs and a Pit cross for a ear dog ,he allows no firearms period ,because of danger to his dogs in the ensuing ruckus. I used a 5” Bowie pattern and my son used a 4 1/4” Finnish Pukko ,we waded in and stuck them just behind front leg and down a little from “elbow” death was very fast ,I was totally surprised ,both hogs were over 200 lbs ,you can't dither around you got to take  care of business pronto as the dogs can lose their hold so what does it take? for me a good sharp knife and good gutsy dogs Slowshot

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JetMech posted this 02 March 2010

I've seen the same in Florida. Went to a barbeque at the home of an older Cuban gentleman. He hunted them the same way, with dogs - no guns. With one in the smoker, there was another about 200 lbs in a pen, raising cain, until that dog, which only weighed about 80 lb went up to the cage and growled. That pig ran to the back of the cage squealin'..

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shastaboat posted this 07 April 2011

I just shot a 225# sow with my 7x57 130 gr Speer this last Sunday. Tried some fresh steaks and they sure were good with Pappy's sprinkled over them. I'm going again in 10 days and this time I'm going to shoot my Spanish Mauser sporter 7.62 Nato (.308 Win) with 160 cast WW 311466, 27 gr. SR4759 at 2200 fps chroned. This combo shoots 7/8” 100 yard groups for me so should be fine out to 150+ yards. This will be a first time cast hunt for me so I'll let you know how I do.

Because I said so!

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giorgio de galleani posted this 07 April 2011

Pig season begins in late september.

Last year I have been ill so no hunting.Iam recovering and my 45/70 Marlin is ready.

We are feeding the sows with corn. Some pics with the night camera.

 

 

 

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Brodie posted this 08 April 2011

When I hunted them in the PRC (peoples republic of calif.) I used a 150 gr Sierra in the 7X57 an 260gr (as cast of WW) in 44 mag with 20 gr 2400, or 14gr 2400 in 44 spl. Both worked very well and very consistently on everything from 300 lb boars to 240 lb sows.

B.E.Brickey

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6pt-sika posted this 08 April 2011

I've never hunted piggies .

I do however have a younger friend that goes to Arkansas every year and hunts a friends place right on the Mississippi river for a week  late january early february each year.

 

He's a bit nuts I think as he takes a 375 H&H MAG , 416 Rigby and a 505 Gibbs along with a S&W 629 for backup LOL's !

Oh and sometimes he carries along a AR-15 .

 

None are cast bullet guns but he seems to emjoy what he does and we always have wild piggie for the Superbowl !

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Ranch Dog posted this 10 April 2011

I kill about 35 a year. A slow year would be 25, and a good year about 50. There has been 15 taken on my ranch since the first of the year, I've killed 11 of those. I shoot them with everything from the 30-30 Win up through the 450 Marlin, all with cast bullets.

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1kshooter posted this 18 July 2011

I have limited experiance with pigs 1 350lb+ sow in the Transelvanian Mnt. of Romania...with a SXS 12ga and slugs ...five in Ontario on a huge game farm with a longbow and home made arrows! one with a hand gun ..357mag one with a 356 win mag and one with a crossbow! thats it!....game farms are a thing of the past in Ontario now as they have been rulled away!! but I wish that Ontario was littered with wild pigs like Texas and Fla. ...ya I am not a farmer lol ...but I am a hunter and I would love the oppertunaty to hunt pigs close to home and fill the freezer with them!

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PETE posted this 19 July 2011

Gee. You guys are making me jealous. But the word is that they're moving into the SW part of the State now so maybe in a few years I can go hunting them to.

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1kshooter posted this 05 August 2011

I would love to have the chance to hunt pigs like I do ground hogs around here...what a great way to put meat in the freezer!

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Brodie posted this 06 August 2011

I hunted them by spot and stalk, with dogs (very exciting) , waiting for them, and;"There they go, jump out of the pickup quick and shoot."  All were a lot of fun and the results were delicious.

B.E.Brickey

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1kshooter posted this 06 August 2011

I think I would hunt nothing but if thay were here ...I spend almost all my free time in the summer on the g-hogs and then switch over to ducks geese and deer as well as grouse woodcock squirrel and bear in the fall to fill the freezer back up!

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