18 years ago

[Old Hickory]

I'm very interested. Please do and thanks for sharing your expertise.  

No problem. My expertise is nothing compared to what you've shared. I've learned a LOT about the Sipsey from you. Thank you!

These pictures were taken a few years ago. I'm older, balder and heavier these days. 

18 years ago

I'm the non camo wearing guy above. That was a nice archery kill.

18 years ago

This one is a true Russian boar, not a feral hog.

[Old Hickory]

Last post for tonight.

What caliber is best to hunt hogs with? I get that question a lot.

I have seen hogs shot with Barrett 50 caliber rifles and run off and never be recovered, and I've seen them shot with 22's and drop like a rock. Those, of course, are extremes.

Generally speaking, I like a large diameter, NON HOLLOWPOINT bullet. I use a 44 magnum and I handload 320 grain hard alloy solid bullets. I do not like hollow points for hogs. I've seen too many failure to penetrate incidents with hollowpoints. I've never seen a solid fail to penetrate.

The 44 magnum shot out of a rifle or a pistol is an outstanding hog stopper. In my opinion, the .357 or 10mm handgun rounds are too little to get the job done reliably. Hogs are often hunted in hot weather, in thick brush. A 44 lever gun is easier to carry in 100 degree heat through the briars than a fancy 30-06 with a 3x9 scope. Think practical when hunting hogs.

When using high power rifles, my advice is to use a heavy, slower bullet regardless of caliber. Avoid the lightweight, high velocity offerings. You need mass, not velocity to knock a hog off it's feet.

Once you kill a hog, if you intend to butcher it for the meat, which is very good, the key is to field dress the animal ASAP and cool the meat down. Hogs are very hot natured animals. When a hog is killed in 100 degree weather, pork goes bad quick - real quick.

I would field dress the hog within 5 minutes of it hitting the ground. Next, get the hog to the nearest creek ASAP and submerge the animal in the water. This will cool the cavity further. One of my tricks was to park at a bridge over a creek and wade upstream in the water, hunting the creek banks. You could move quietly in the creek compared to in the thick brush. You are also harder to see if you are down in a creek. If we shot a hog, I would field dress the hog, and float him down the creek to the truck. This not only kept the animal submerged in cool water to save the meat, but it's a lot easier to float a 200 lb hog down a creek than it is to drag it out of the woods - especially in summer time.

[montysano]

This may be a dumb question, but since I'm not a hunter (yet anyway  ):  I assume that these hogs are edible?  Or is there a disease problem?

[Joshua Szulecki]

This may be a dumb question, but since I'm not a hunter (yet anyway  ):  I assume that these hogs are edible?  Or is there a disease problem?

There is a moderately higher risk of certain diseases from eating any wild animal, since they are exposed to more varied pathogens and parasites than farm-raised animals are. The big thing is the parasites, which farm animals rarely exhibit these days. I would guess that farm-raised animals are probably exposed to higher concentrations of the pathogens they do encounter, due to the numbers they are typically raised in, so half-of-one... However, the same precautions apply for wild animals as do farm animals, practice proper food safety, which means cooking it properly! The only thing I would never eat, regardless of the source or animal, would be brain/spinal/nerve tissue due to the risks associated with the various incurable prion diseases.

This year or next year will probably be the year I finally take up hunting, since I just can't take the damage the deer and pigs are causing all over the eastern seaboard, and they are tasty. You won't catch me travelling to shoot elk or antelope or anything, but I have no qualms about deer, pigs, or any other animal that we have created an overpopulation problem.