Feral hogs with rimfires and B.B. shot.

F

FirstFreedom

Moderator
OK, here's the deal. There's some public hunting land with hogs on it, but the WMA regs say you can only use archery, .22 rimfire (including 22 magnum), or shotgun with size BB or smaller (not larger) on the hogs, strangely enough. I guess the concern is safety - they don't want the bullets carrying far & wide. So would it be insane to go after them with a .22 magnum with headshots, or should just stick to archery? Don't think I'd even try a shotgun with little shot like that - that's just plain unethical it seems.
 
Hmmmm.....mate, I recall we once saw a pig at the bottom end of our place, chomping on some lambs. The old man was furious, and having left his L1A1 at home recahed for the only rifle at hand, which was his bolt action .22. ( we did used to shoot a lot of pigs when I was a kid- about 50 a year without actually going out hunting) Bang! Pe..ow! Bang! Pe-ow!!! Both bullets- I kid you not, ricocheted off the porker! I think you would do slightly better with .22 magnum, but pigs have a lot of mud and stuff on them ,and a rimfire just wont do it I fear.
 
Would cutting your shotgun shells (3/4 of the way through)just infront of the wad so as to make a slug out of some bird shot be "legal". It works well out to 50ish yds. If not, arrows are fun, expecially if you can spot & stalk.
~z
 
zeis, I'm not sure exactly how doing what you describe would keep the shot from spreading apart, but I think you're definitely onto something there. I could modify the shells in some way with a wad enclosed on both ends or some such containing the shot, that it acts like a slug but technically isn't, and that should still technically be legal. Or just bowhunt.

Death from afar - Dang, man! Bouncing off huh? Was that off the body or off the skull?
 
Ringin a shell

We used to ring a shell with a pocket knife and shoot it at ducks at 75 yards on the pond. We would slip up the back side of the levee and we only had one shot in our single barrel . It works . The ducks were always in the shallow end on the pasture side so no getting closer possible.We would wait for them to bunch up and get 2 and some times 3. Old 2 3/4" paper hull shells.They kinda whistled as the went down the pond.:D :D


One other thought on the 22 is if you are close enough for a shot behind the ear it does fine . Up to about 25 yards.
 
FF- I am not too sure to be honest. I was on the back of the truck hanging on for dear life! I suspect the skull. The bullets were ( if I recall) Kynoch lead hollow points, which were not ideal.( as an aside, you used to be given ammo by the local council so you could shoot rabbits and we always got this sort of ammo- seems bizarre now) I told the old man we should have taken out the L1A1 or his .45 LC winchester trapper as well. ( Now that gun was a pig killer)

If you really want to use shot, drop wax into the cartridge which holds the shot together longer. Fouls the barrel something awful mind you.
 
I cleaned and butchered a couple feral pigs (150-200 lbs) after Christmas. I was amazed at how thick and tough their hide is.

A solid tungsten 22 mag bullet earshot would be the only thing I would try of your listed options. I would want to be in a tree at the time I pulled out the slack. The sows are much better eating in my limited experience. Watch out for ticks (I bet I had thousands on my pigs.)
 
ok, who sells tungsten-bullet .22 mag ammo? And is there any way besides wax or 'ringing' the shell to make the shot stay together in a slug? And when you 'ring' a shotshell, I take it that the whole end of the hull itself flies out with the shot & wad?
 
I'm not aware of anyone who makes a tungsten bullet, but I have long contemplated making them from fishing weights (with lead sealing the hole for the fishing line). I need a lathe to put it into effect.
 
FF, have you read these regs, yourself? I have a problem with believing that any wildlife regulatory agency wants wounded animals wandering off to die somewhere.

If you contact them and they say that's the way it's gotta be, ask them how they'll like the wonderful publicity they'll get? :)

Art
 
Art that's what I thought. The regs actually say "shotgun, no larger than BB". I therefore *thought* that surely must be a misprint; it means to say "no smaller than BB", right? So I call the game warden himself today that manages the areas in question - he says only .22 and .22 magnum, and shotgun, BB or smaller. No .17hmr either. Not sure why. Here it is in black and white.

http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/regs/huntregs10.htm

Look down to about the 9th paragraph, "shotshell size restrictions": "If hunting hogs with a shotgun, no person in the field may possess or attempt to harvest hogs using shot larger than conventional BB (.180 in. dia.)."

Combine this rule with a no centerfire rifle rule (for some reason), and that's what you end up with. Yes, they're dipsticks, it sounds like. Perhaps the rule is to keep deer poachers out who would just say "oh, I'm hunting hogs with this here ought six", then carry out the deer when the warden is not around. Either that or it's safety concerns vis a vis nearby lake camping areas. Or both. Probably more of the former, since you can shoot hogs during the deer primitive and deer gun seasons with the equipment appropriate for those seasons. The no-rifle rule only applies after deer season. And apparently (surely) you can use a rifle of any sort when on private lands - this is just public lands, and perhaps just *certain* public lands. Others may allow rifles - I dunno.

But yeah, I say they deserve to be ridiculed/chastised, because that is clearly an illogical & unethical rule. Have at 'em!
 
Be damned:
Shotgun Pellet Size Restrictions
If hunting hogs with a shotgun, no person in the field may possess or attempt to harvest hogs using shot larger than conventional BB (.180 in. dia.).
Click to expand...
They do it kind of different, up in Oklahoma... :rolleyes:

I'm thinking that this would be a good time for a Savage 12ga/.22WMRF combo gun, or one of those nifty Browning pump-action .22 WMRFs, or a 3.5" magnum semi-auto 12ga. All shots should be taken at under 20 yards, and all shots should be followed by 2nd, 3rd, 4th.... shots.
 
.22's behind the ear can be effective and I have also used the double alt. buckshot with a head shot standing broad side it can also be effictive even a bowie knife can with a throat shot hehe :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
I've always been pretty proud of my ability to get up close and personal on critters in the woods. But with what I see as a handicap for a clean and ethical kill, this is one of those "Include me out!" deals. A little bad luck, a tiny bit off on the shot, and it's a wounded critter. No thank you.

Art
 
From your link, I don't see a no centerfire rule. It specifically says take "hunters will be allowed to harvest feral hogs by whatever means legal during that season." I can't beleive they'd be worried about CF rounds on hogs, when they aren't worried about them on other legal game. Am I missing something?
 
If you are any good with a bow, that would be my first choice. The second would be a 22 mag solid and a good rest. Put it between his eyes and run up and cut his throat, keeping an eye on suitable climbing trees. A hog cuts to the side so if you jump straight over it.....

A tungsten bullet would soon have your rifle a smooth bore. A 22 is far too small for a sabot to protect your barrel's lands.

Before I would use a cut shell I would check the game regs real close. They are frowned on in many places.
 
I Live in Oklahoma,and these regs. are why I don't do much hunting on the game management areas.

SOLUTION: Get with local agriculture dept.(County agent) and find out if he knows private farmers or ranchers who are having hog problems.
Many land owners around the refuges hate the regs to because it creates a safe haven for the hogs, therefore making their hog problems worse.
If you have access to a county landowners map, it will give you the name of the land owners around the refuges, and how much property they own.

Be prepared to be turned down when you ask to hunt because they don't know you, but if you are persistant, you will find one or two of them that will let you hunt.
PLEASE be pleasent and civil to them when you call and don't get your feelings hurt because they won't let you hunt. They have all had those bad experiences with hunters who shoot their livestock and cut their fences.
Farming and ranching in Oklahoma is a hard business to make a living at, and they don't need any "hunter made" problems on top of an already hard exsistance.

I ask as many in person as I can because it lets you have the opportunity to be face to face with them and I think it gives you a better chance of hunting on them than by telephone.

When I do get the opportunity to hunt on them, I will try to find some small something I can do to help them ( like wiring a loose strand of wire that may be loose on their fence) and bringing it to their attention. That always leaves them with a good attitude toward you and your hunting and almost always results in a return hunting trip for me.
 
WBB, thanks again. I know we've been talking about this in another thread. Where exactly would I find a county agent for a local agriculture dept? I was also thinking of just going to an early morning coffee shop in some small towns and try to talk to the farmers/ranchers there, rather than trying to go farm to farm or use the telephone. I'd rather meet in person, and many farmers do tend to congregate at little coffee shops in town early in the morning.

As far as the no centerfire rule, I don't know where he gets that, but that's straight from the game warden, and those types of rules (no centerfire) are not statewide rules, such as I linked to, but imposed on an area-by-area basis an as additional restriction - they are specific to certain WMAs. But it's true that if there are no additional regs specific to a WMA, you could use a centerfire, since in theory, you can use a centerfire on a squirrel, and it is in fact squirrel season, so you'd be using a harvest tool appropriate for an existing season.
 
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