Hog hunting

[emac]

At the end of February I have a business  trip to Texas. A few of us are going extend our stay and go hog hunting for 3 days. I have never been hog hunting before or hunting out of state. I was just wondering if anybody had any pointers on what gear is a must take with (I wanna pack as little as possible for the flight).what rifle I should take (deciding between the 6.8, 300 blackout, 223 or the 5.7x28 ) and what's the easiest way to bring the meat home (buy a cooler there bring it back on the plane or ship it back.  We are hunting a friend of friends property and he has got a butcher shop. Any input would be great.

[biggfish]

I would take the 6.8 I know a few people that hog hunt in Texas and sometimes .223 will only piss'em off.

[addicted]

Hunted pigs the last 7 years in Germany and of those I'd take the 300 with some hot 125 grain loads. Above those I'd take the 6.5 Grendel with 120 to 130 grain loads. Same weight with more speed aka energy.

If you aim for the head it's between the eye and the base of the ear and make sure you know where the bullet is hitting elevation wise at distances outside of your zero distance. Many a "headshot" pig has run off to starve because the bullet hit low and took out the jaw.

My boar hunting mentor, a retired old German Forstmeister of some 500-700 kills(he stopped counting) always told me "for every centimeter back you are from a perfect heart shot is 10 meters the pig will run".

Pigs aren't an ungulate and are usually considered trash in America so don't be worried about going through the gut to get to the heart as long as you are shooting a bulket that can penetrate a few feet of pig. My friend British Steve boasted his 300wm with hand loaded swift A-frames boasted his round could go all the way through any pig at any angle. A stout bullet in a cartridge like that, I believe him. On several occasions he would take more than one pig with a single shot.

 Also be very wary of a dropped pig. They are very well known for getting up after a stunning *censored* and making a run for it. I think it might be because of their thick ribs. The bullet hits the ribs and they cause a torquing or jarring of the spine which drops them. After a few seconds, or even a couple minutes they shake it off and dissapear while you are planning a boar dinner that will not be happening.

[Dhoey07]

A guy at work used to do it.  They would bait and spotlight at night.  He always talked about how fun it was and how he wanted to go back.

[jamesfromseattle]

Regarding transporting meat home, I've always used a styrofoam cooler,  frozen the packed in however much dry ice the TSA allows on top and checked it (if you call the airline or check on line, they should be able to tell you the limit.)

As long as the meat is frozen and there isn't much extra space in the cooler at the start of the trip, it will stay pretty solid for a long day time--a day at least.

If you don't have a place to freeze it first, I'm sure you could at least keep it safely cold between Texas and here.

[Fowlweather25]

Believe it or not it's a lot cheaper to have a meat shop ship the meat. Flying it home is very expensive. Oversize and overweight fees acuumulate fast. It's also a pain in the butt. We just got back from hunting near San Antonio. We shipped the meat. It saved almost 300 dollars. As far as the weapon. The only one you named that I would take would be the 6.8. Hogs are extremely tough and you don't always have a head shot. They form a gristle shield as they get larger. I've seen it stop a .357 bullet fired from 4 feet. Remember the guts on a hog come a lot farther forward than on a deer. The best way to shoot them is find the front elbow and raise up 3 inches. That's your best kill shot other that the head. I don't prefer the headshot due to the fact that hogs never quit moving. It makes it to easy to wound them. They are extremely tough, even the little ones. And as said previously, always approach a downed hog like its a grizzley.
Have a great time. Wild hog is amazing meat!

[emac]

Thanks for the replies guys. I also have a 270 308 or 300 win mag I could take I just thought it would be more fun talking an Ar so I wouldn't have to worry about running a bolt. I am excited to go hopefully the next couple weeks fly by

[emac]

Fowlweather what was the process you used for shipping the meat back. Like I said before the guy has a butcher shop on property but isn't a professional butcher. We would be cutting and wrapping our own meat for shipping.

[Fowlweather25]

I would bone it all out at your buddies then put it in garbage bags and just ask the meat shop to cryovac it and box it then freeze and ship. I paid 1.20 per pound for them to vac seal freeze and ship. Basically your paying .20 cents a pound for processing. Then you can do with it as you like when it gets home. Where in Texas will you be?

[carpsniperg2]

They are very tuff critters. I have belted the big boars with 3 shots of 300 win mag all in the vitals and had a hard time bringing them down. Of your first list the 6.8 is the way to go. I would look at a fairly solid round. Don't run anything like a ballistic tip. Get something with good weight retention. Like fowl said there vitals are far forward so you want to keep your shot right on the shoulder line.

[Fowlweather25]

A guy at work used to do it.  They would bait and spotlight at night.  He always talked about how fun it was and how he wanted to go back.

Night hunting is the shiznit!!!!!! Red lights work wonders!

[Fowlweather25]

The reason you never trust a "dead hog" lol.

[carpsniperg2]

I got to play to! Get you psyched for the hunt.

[Fowlweather25]

Nice Matt!!! I gotta get to Cali!! Lol. After we hit Texas of course.

[carpsniperg2]

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