Another question on hog hunting........

by matt/pa , Sunday, January 27, 2013, 20:04 (4263 days ago) @ Byron

I used to do a LOT of hog hunting back in the late 90s when I lived in SW Georgia (I was Matt/GA back then on the old sixgunner forum, the good old days). We would hunt with anywhere from 12 to 20 dogs. When they got on a hog, it was usually absolute pandomonium in the swamp...you would usually be sprinting, anywhere up to a mile, to get there quickly because you never really knew how big of a hog the dogs had bayed up.

So you're sprinting through the swamps, usually knee deep in water/mud/much, keeping an eye out for water moccasins, gators, and spiders as big as your hand, making sure you don't fall face first in all of it...when you get up close enough to see the hog, you have to make sure you don't run up to it facing head on as it is likely to charge at you (they are ornery to begin with, and even more so when there's a bunch dogs chomping on every extremity...ears, tail, nuts, etc...).

You make your way around the back of it and, if it's small (usually less than 125-150 pounds), you take your knife (6"+ blade) and you stick it between the ribs a few times. If it's bigger than that, we usually would use a sixgun with the muzzle touching the hog, right between the shoulder blades so a dog can't get in between the muzzle and the hog and you pull the trigger on a hollow point (only, not solids...to minimize penetration so a dog doesn't get shot underneath the hog.

We once had the dogs hit a heard of hogs, and they scattered everywhere. I ended up chasing down 2-3 dogs that had caught up with a small shoat. I picked it up, one handed, by the hind legs and slit its throat. It was one FINE eating wild hog!!

Yes, the adrenaline sure does get pumping when you hear those first barks, followed by the squealing...

Matt/PA