Best way to hunt pigs as quietly as possible.

Thanks Stinger. I am pretty sure they are out of the city limits. They live up in the foothills and the houses are sort of spaced out, but not enough to make me completely rest assured. I was just pushing you for info because what things are like in the Lone Star state are definitely not quite the same as my socialist republic. Thanks for your input.
 
Now, Bowser, don't be puttin' down the noble havalulu. Those little pigalina critters are as tasty as anything you'll ever throw a liplock on.

Properly barbecued, those little hams are plumb scrumptious!

:), Art
 
no pigs in texas

i beg to differ.

there are hogs all over the place. i live on the southern plains, but once you get off the caprock you can find plenty of hogs.

stinger
 
Feral hogs are all over the place, and expanding their territory. They're even out in the Davis Mountains!

I saw photos of a couple of hogs from down in the Brush Country. A sow, weighing 549 pounds; and a boar weighing some 460 pounds. They have an annual wild hog festival in Sabinal, west of San Antonio...

During the October, 1998 flooding of the Guadalupe river, my cousin trapped and shot over 30 of the pests at our place down below Cuero.

Art
 
NJ,

the spear would be the quietest method were it not for the violent, agonising screams of the spearer when the hog gets his revenge!
 
El Rojo are the hogs still hangin around after rooting ? Usually once they've been over a place they dont return. I've hunted hogs all my life and they arent as fierce as people make them out to be. I hardly ever kill one on the spot. I usually use a catch dog then take the boar home and feed it for a month. I've also killed numerous boars with a .22 magnum from less than 25 yards. Aim careful and hit them under the ear they drop on the spot. If your aim is off a little your gonna chase them for miles. If you choose to go with the .22 you can get fairly close easily with the wind to your face. The spear idea is great and dont worry the boar wont get you. Good Luck.
P.S. Dont shoot a high power rifle out of your aunts window.
 
i sorta like the boar spear idea myself except it's usually supposed to be used from horseback...helps prevent slashing by other pigs :eek:

i always think of gilroy (garlic capitial) as rather rural, but... the easiest way to go might be the cross-bow (unless you're pretty good with a compound). i think the bolt sticking out of their buddy's head might convince the rest of them to leave. :p
 
Hey any of you guys ever heard of a .300 whisper? 200 grain bullet at about 900 fps with a can on the end it is silent! With out the can it's pretty darn quiet. just watch out for penitraition it drives through stuff like hells own hammer. Can't afford a new rifle? Try loading your .30-.30 down to about 900Fps with a 175gr bullet same concept. The longer the barrell the better. I've seen the whisper work on hogs down in Texas quite impressive out to about 150 yds then it just dies. Old indian trick shoot only once you'll probably not get to much attention and it's tough to pin-point a rifle report with just one shot. Try the down loaded .30-30 you'll be amazed at how quiet it is especially at any ditance and with any sound cover in the area I.E. trees, shrubs ETC.
 
Update.

I found out that the neighbors have pig problems too and that they regularly shoot at them, deer, turkey's, and whatever else they want. What I thought might be a liberal enclave is actually used to hearing gun shots in back yards and the pigs that are plowing up all of these backyards would not be missed in the slightest. I might just make a trip up there and use the Remington 700 VS with some 125 gr. Speer TNT's to the head. I will let you know how it turns out.
 
Those TNT's are going to make an awful mess. If the pigs are big they also may not penetrate the skull. I'd consider a sturdier bullet. Just my two pennies worth.
 
El Rojo,

Those 125 gr TNT's ought to work well. They've done well for me. Don't think you need to worry about penetrating the skull. I've shot very large hogs in the past with a .223 (head shots) and they dropped in their tracks.

Happy hunting. Let us know how it goes.
 
The farmer I used to work for killed his hogs with a .22 rifle. Draw an imaginary mark between the right eye and the left ear and onother one between the left eye and right ear. The crossing of that X is the aim point.
 
I have considered that the TNT might not penetrate as well. However, I am going to be laying prone with a Harris Bipod and the shot is going to be under 100 yards. I will have a 20X scope and plenty of time. A head shot or even a neck shot should be instant death. My father just shot his last pig at about 100 yards plus with his .22-250 using 55 grain V-max. He was trying for a head shot and got the neck. The pig died instantly. I have taken pigs before with the 125 TNTs with a shot to the back. It wasn't a very good shot, but where I hit him in the middle top back, he went down instantly. I think a shot to the eye at less than 100 yards will do the trick. My other reason for using the 125s is if for some reason I miss, it will hit the side of the hill and not go far. Using the 165 gr gameking is going to retain more energy and go further should I possibly miss. I think the 125 will do and yes it will be a mess. That is why I am aiming for the head.
 
El Rojo, do you own a .45 at all? Where I come from, Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia, our feral pigs are basically nocturnal. They usually are asleep by about 8 am in the morning and usually layup under thick bush, shady areas, under logs generally areas where it is cool and shaded from the sun, not far from water. I'd sneak up on these pigs and let em have it with the SIG P220 using 185gn Sierra hollowpoints at 1100fps, a tad warm! These pigs would weigh in at around 100+kgs sometimes 150. You could get within a couple of metres of them, into the wind and whammo. Also Crossbows are good or even compound bows. That pigsticker Navy Joe showed would do the job as well, as a few people up in the Territory just use dogs and knives. The dogs bail up the pig and you walk up and slit it's throat. Not as hard as it seems. :D
 
Didn't anybody here see Survivor II? Didn't that Michael guy (the one who passed out and burnt himself pretty badly) kill a pig with a knife strapped to a pole?

If you shoot from inside, don't forget ear protection for yourself and anybody else around.
 
Southern Santa Clara County...It can be done!

I have seen pics of a friends son with a pig killed on his Dad's ranch in the hills between Gilroy and Pachecho Pass last year. The County is better known for it's Liberal Silicone Valley polatics than it's agriculture, but it's a Big county, and there is still a lot of ranch land left in the foothills. If you are shooting on family land and the neighbors are not overtly hostile, you can manage rather well. There aren't any public hunting areas around there, and the local landowners aren't likely to let in anyone they don't know well, but the game is there, and since the hunting pressure is light, aren't as spookey as more heavially hunted areas.
The pigs are Razorbacks = feril pigs, not the bigger true Russian Boar running loose in the hills in San Benito and Monterry county. Still plenty big and very tasty;) I got one a decade back that fed a BBQ of 70 people. Visualize dark very lean pork spit/pit BBQ'd.
Hope you make the hunt.
No suggestions on caliber to use, but my last 2 in Monterry county were with a 30-06.:)
 
I read through the thread and saw that the neighborhood seems friendly to shooting the pigs. In case it turns out not to be true, I had one thought for you.

If you fire a shot, even a quieter one, and hope they can't figure out where it came from, you will at some point still have to go get the pig and clean it. That would probably make it clear who was shooting if the pig dropped in a nice manicured lawn without a fence.

Have fun.
 
It finally hit me we've all been on the wrong track!!
All you really need to do is go up to Berkley, heart and soul of the peoples reeducation camps of the PRK. Find a pig whisperer and have them come to your aunts house and have them telepathically modify the pigs behavior so they don't rout up gardens anymore. If that doesn't work maybe the peoples commity on hogs can make a law against pigs routing gardens within the boudries of the glorious PRK.

Problem solved.
 
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