Like the title says, I recently have had the opportunity presented me to go track down some hogs. Met the girlfriend's dad for the first time the other day and the third sentence out of his mouth was "You hunt? I have a hog problem I wanna get taken care of next month, we should go shoot some hogs". God bless this man. Needless to say, I enthusiastically accepted the offer. No details yet, and I have no clue where as of now, but from my understanding, he means what he said.
My Problem is, I have never been hog hunting. Have wanted to for years, just haven't yet. I am an upland game hunter. Dove, quail, and the like. I love going after prairie dogs and coyotes. This is a bit foreign to me, and aside from a couple videos and a couple crappy stories I have heard, I have no clue what I am getting in to. A couple pointers would be great.
First, would my .223 AR be sufficient? Can I use standard 30RD mags? Its More or less a simple lightweight do all rifle I use for my other varmit adventures. I don't think I'm gonna have the extra cash to get a hold of a .300BO upper or other larger caliber I hear most people using for hogs in this short of a notice. If a .223 is sufficient, is there a suggested round that you guys use? Store bought only, I don't reload at the time being.
Second, side arm. I have had a buddy get attacked by a hog before while hunting them, and he swore a sidearm could have saved him several stitches. With hunting hogs out of other seasons, does the minimum handgun barrel length still take effect? What kinda round would you suggest in a .357? Or would that just be a joke?
Third and Finally, cammo and scent. How necessary is cammo and scent blocking? What should I gear up for? Just some jeans and a camo shirt/hat? or do I need to get crazy with it? Upland game I just wear chaps and an earth clored shirt with my blaze orange, Prairie dogs I go kick it old school and break out my MARPAT frog gear and go crawl in the sand out in the panhandle, haha.
My Problem is, I have never been hog hunting. Have wanted to for years, just haven't yet. I am an upland game hunter. Dove, quail, and the like. I love going after prairie dogs and coyotes. This is a bit foreign to me, and aside from a couple videos and a couple crappy stories I have heard, I have no clue what I am getting in to. A couple pointers would be great.
First, would my .223 AR be sufficient? Can I use standard 30RD mags? Its More or less a simple lightweight do all rifle I use for my other varmit adventures. I don't think I'm gonna have the extra cash to get a hold of a .300BO upper or other larger caliber I hear most people using for hogs in this short of a notice. If a .223 is sufficient, is there a suggested round that you guys use? Store bought only, I don't reload at the time being.
Second, side arm. I have had a buddy get attacked by a hog before while hunting them, and he swore a sidearm could have saved him several stitches. With hunting hogs out of other seasons, does the minimum handgun barrel length still take effect? What kinda round would you suggest in a .357? Or would that just be a joke?
Third and Finally, cammo and scent. How necessary is cammo and scent blocking? What should I gear up for? Just some jeans and a camo shirt/hat? or do I need to get crazy with it? Upland game I just wear chaps and an earth clored shirt with my blaze orange, Prairie dogs I go kick it old school and break out my MARPAT frog gear and go crawl in the sand out in the panhandle, haha.