I've killed a few hogs

by Warhawk, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Monday, November 18, 2013, 17:42 (3966 days ago) @ uncowboy

But never a pig, yet. If I was shooting pigs, the kind that still have their racing stripes, then a 38 special would probably be fine.

For shooting HOGS, I want some horsepower. I'll relate three hog hunting stories.

#1 my son shot a hog through and through, broadside, just a bit too far back (would have been a perfect lung shot on a deer). The hog went into the brush and soaked up four 357's and another 30-30 before it expired. The 357's had little to immediate effect, this one turned out to be a 165 lb sow.

#2 a friend's wife shot a hog with a 243' broke the shoulder and it was dragging a leg as it left at a high rate of speed. This was at a high fence ranch and we were able to track it down. At one point a group of hogs ran by me, including the crippled hog. I took a shot with my 44 Mountain Gun and thought I had missed, no reaction at all. Later found the hog again and put it down with a 30-30 to the head. Turns out that my Keith load hit it about dead center, zipped right on through and the hog never seemed to notice. This hog turned out to be a 148 # boar.

#3 another hog hit by my son with his 30-30. This one had absorbed 2 30-30 rounds before I caught up with it. It whirled and charged me, I had time for one shot at 10-15 yards, I aimed for the head but missed and put a 240 JHP into the neck, about three inches right of the spine. No effect whatsoever, I jumped out of the way and my son finished this one with his 30-30 a few minutes later. This one was a 198# boar.

And finally, a guide at a ranch I've hunted in Texas was badly torn up recently by a wounded boar. He had been in on taking hundreds of hogs, maybe thousands, and one still got him.

Anybody that wants to shot hogs with a 38 or an air gun, go ahead, but I'd recommend you do it from a tree stand.