Wash ur clothes with non-scented soap/ spray down, find sign and like deer ... Put in your time. If there is not a feeder I wouldn't put out any corn until after I was done hunting for a least 3 days cause in my experience new food that smells unlike what their used to; scares them away, but if theirs an old feeder or after a few days it will make it easier. Good luck, take a heavy bullet
Also, what kind of gun do you guys use? My .300 Win Mag is so darn expensive to shoot. Thought I'd take the Scoped Raging Bull in .44 Mag. .44 will cut it, right?
Best advice I ever heard was from jstaylor62…"The first round is called hunting, the next four rounds are called self-defense". Having never been hog hunting, he makes it sound damned exciting! Good luck, and just in case, make sure you're carrying five rounds in the gun...
For the first hunt,..TAKE SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN SHOOT ACCURATELY UNDER DURESS..! You never know what kind of situation you'll be in.
The first time I went, I took a almost new S&W 629 8 3/8" 44 with me thinking like you are now. We snuck up on a herd and got within dirtclod throwing distance from a sow with piglets. One of the piglets got alerted, which meant momma got alerted shortly thereafter, and she went looking for the threat.
To sum it up,..Pigs were running everywhere,..I was afraid I was going to get hog-bit, adrenaline started pumping and I mad a bad pistol shot, clipped the top of the shoulder blades on the sow at about 15 yards. I wished I had had a rifle. A few days later, my bud snuck up on the sow in a sandy creek bed and he arrowed her.
IMO,..if you're going thru all the trouble of going hog hunting, take something that you're sure you'll bring some pork home. You can get fancy the next time.
Indeed...! A wounded hog is NOT to be taken lightly, even the smaller ones you think are easy. If hogs played Football, they'd all be Fullbacks. They are tough and strong, and will run over you if you're not careful.
Whatever you do, take enough gun, enjoy it and take some pics for us..
Personally I think you should shoot a high powered rifled. While the .44 will do the job (I've taken one with a .45 ACP with a headshot) the damage the high powered rifles are going to do is devastating to them. Large dominate boars that fight alot have thick scar tissue on their side that like armor plating. Its very dense and thick and some handgun calibers have been known to not penetrate this (.357 mag). I currently use a .243 and a 30.06.
That more or less sums it up. A couple years ago we snuck up on a large group feeding under one of our feeders. Found some really good cover to make a steady shot from and took a good eating sow. After the shot rang out, I had about 15 pigs run straight towards where I had taken cover. From that day on I carry a backup.
Just go hunt them, use your normal woodsmanship, play the wind. They are a wild animal and deserve respect, but 99% of the time they are just going to be looking for an exit. I have shot many a pig and never had one intentionally come at me other than they didn't know I was there and just looking for a way out. Backup weapon... eh. If you've got a pig charging, you're not gonna have time for a backup IMO. I don't think the average person has the skills to determine imminent danger, draw their weapon, take the safety off, aim, fire, and make a good shot within the couple of seconds it takes. But if taking a backup makes you feel better, knock yourself out! Just make a good shot the first shot and you won't have to worry about it.
One tip that I will offer, if you are shooting a line of running pigs, never shoot the lead pig. If it goes down, they will scatter. Always start with the pig in the rear and work your way up the line. They don't notice the pigs in the rear dropping.
One tip that I will offer, if you are shooting a line of running pigs, never shoot the lead pig. If it goes down, they will scatter. Always start with the pig in the rear and work your way up the line. They don't notice the pigs in the rear dropping.
I'll agree that most of the time you're not going to hsve the time to draw and make a good shot at charging pigs, but I've had a few encounters that made me glad I did have a backup weapon on me. Mostly where we hunt is very dense woods and overran with ragweed. On more than one occasion we've had a standoff with one or more hogs that were inside the ragweed and couldn't be seen that didn't want to concede their ground. Normally when I walk in and out I'm carrying the .45 with the rifle slung over my shoulder. I know IF they ever did decide to charge, that I'm going to get off more than one shot with the .45 as compared to the bolt action.
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