Which should I use for Hog hunting this year?

S

Super-Dave

New member
All I have is an Ar-15 and a 18" mossberg 12 gauge.

I can shoot both equally well in 25 yards. I will be hunting hog here in florida where the range is less than 25 yards in most places.


This is all I have. Which would you take and use to bust a cap in some hogs?
 
What is the Ar cal? Common? Too small IMO... is the 12 a single, pump or auto? iF IT IS A SINGLE i MIGHT OPT FOR THE ar IN CLOSE QUARTERS (dern CAP lock)... If it is pump or auto loader I would choose scatter gun... slugs for 1-2-3 and 4 and 5 would be buckshot since you might be faced with a high speed charge from a very irate hog who's home you invaded and opened fire on!;):D
I really am thinkin' my hog doggin' is the safest way to go after hearing all these hog whackin' questions involving 20-25 yard shots... If'n I was faced with a LOOSE (no bulldog holding it fast and true) I would be heading for the truck 90% of the possible circumstances!
Brent
 
Here in central FL, I use a Reminton 870 with a 20" smoothbore slug barrel and rifled slugs out to about 100 yards.

If it is pump or auto loader I would choose scatter gun... slugs for 1-2-3 and 4 and 5 would be buckshot since you might be faced with a high speed charge from a very irate hog who's home you invaded and opened fire on!
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That is exactly the way I set mine up.

I agree that the AR-15 is too light, but it would be a great coyote buster if you have any of those running around!
 
Here in Oklahoma, our hogs are generally from 200 to 400 pounds. I generally hunt them in cane thickets next to creek bottoms, where they like to lay up to rest. This doesn't give me much opportunity for a carefully planned shot, since most of the time they lay still until I walk up on them.

I would go with the slug from a 12 guage, since no matter where you hit him the first shot, will generally slow him down enough to get the kill shot. Most first shots I get are within 5 to 10 feet. I haven't had very many hogs actually charge me, and the ones that have, are actually trying to escape. ( I think)

When hog hunting, the bigger the better.
 
I agree the charge is an attempt to escape most of the time but if they think they can sling a tusk in you on the way by they sure as heck will!
I have been working young dogs and been run down by little pigs and they will flat out try to inflict damage before leaving the county...
Brent
 
If'n I was faced with a LOOSE (no bulldog holding it fast and true) I would be heading for the truck 90% of the possible circumstances
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Dont believe him, he has taken em with handguns, same as me!:)
 
tplum, If I ever shoot 'em with a handgun it is either in a pen or while I am squealin' like a little girl shootin' behind me as I run for the nearest tree with a good limb to hang from!:D I can say OH CHIT MORE TIMES IN 10 SECONDS THAN YOU!!!;)
Brent
 
My last time out was also my first time out serious huntin' since I wrecked my arm. I couldn't hold a 200+ hog alone while an 18 year old buddy pulled off the dogs (either holding the hog or pulling off bulldogs is a sure nuff workout) once the last dog was off that hog stood his butt up and I hollerd' to Cody he was loose (YOU BETTER WARN YER BUDDY WHEN ONE IS LOOSE) and luckily that hog chose to run.. he coulda ruined the day for humans and dogs tied to trees real fast real bad!
Brent
 
either you have will do great but don't use a 22LR I emptyed a ruger 10/22 into a small one (dressed right at 100 lbs) that ran down the hill at me after I raked leaves over my bowel movement in a laurel thicket on a freezing morn. my buddy just said 'bring a gun' to his place upon an invite there bordering NF. and that's what I had handy.
 
Even a 1oz slug won't always do it

Back in my young period, I hunted in Swampeast Georgia. Whitetails were the game of choice but feral hogs were fairly common. One day my friend Bobby Troupe and I were out scouting deer sign in his old CJ Army surplus Jeep. Suddenly Bobby threw on the brakes and says "They is a little gilt down there." (Note: A gilt is a young female pig)

With that said, he produces a Colt Woodsman .22 and I picked up his .223/20ga Savage OU. Bobby carefully aims the .22 down toward the swamp and squeezes off a round. At this point I had yet to see a pig. As soon as the pistol went off, all he!! broke loose! Pigs went EVERYWHERE! Big hogs, little hogs, piglets, you name- it there were pigs gone to seed. I picked out another gilt as it crossed the road and killed it with the .223.

By the time the dust cleared up, we had 2 pigs down. The one Bobby shot turned out to NOT be a gilt after all. It was a sow. A big sow weighing somewhere around 250 lbs. Bottom line is it took us gol dang all night to get them butchered out. Odd thing was, Bobby killed the sow with 1 round from the .22 and try as we might we never found a single hole in her hide.

That sow was just impossible to eat. I don't care what you did to that pork, it tasted just like my boots flavored up with pine tar and fungus cream. We finally had a BBQ and fed it to the Marines stationed at NAS Gylnco and even they couldn't eat it until after they got drunk.

The question is not how much gun you need to kill a hog but why on earth would you want to kill one of them nasty things to start with?:confused::confused::confused:
 
12 G 00 buckshot I have used a few times in the past at short range and it dropped the hogs in their tracks. I prefer a .44 mag when hunting hogs because I do not like for them to get too close.
 
As stated... "it took us almost all night to butcher them"...
The pork was spoiling! While they may impart a little flavor from their diet, they are pigs and the meat is pork... I have sold many tons of pigs of various sizes (most often I butchered them myself) to many folks and all I ever got for comment was "Man, that was the pork we ever ate... sell me more!"
Junior grilled a little one and ended up eating about 12 pounds of finished product over the course of the night and the next day he complained that he had the craps pretty bad.... Well duh... pork overdose tends to be hard on the guts!:barf:
Brent
 
the shotgun with the 123 slugs and then 45 and maybe six with 00 or 0 buck.

If the AR is a .50 beuwolf or grendel, etc. then maybe the ar.

if it is 6.5SPC or .223 remington leave it at home.

JOE
 
From your two choices, I would say shotgun. But I enjoy hog hunting lots more with a handgun. My two hog killers are a S&W 686+ in 357 magnum and a Glock 20 in 10mm with a 6" dual ported barrel. Red dot sights make everything much easier as well. I would consider a red dot sight on a slug gun for sure. My smithy has a $29.00 BSA red dot on it and I got a nice boar a few nights ago from 25 yards running broadside. In one side of the head and out the other. :cool:
 
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