RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

i do not use my 7mag to hunt hogs any more i now use my 45.70 and use either 300gr or 405 gr sp.the hogs are large here in texas with shoulder plates that are extremely thick.a good hog here is about 300lbs with trophies being a little larger. much bigger and they are feral hogs. they will indeed chrge you if there are piglets around. most of the time the ones charging are sows. go to web site boar creek ranch and they have a large list of pics.they even have some freak hog with 6 legs.

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

Dep214-I stand corrected.As I said earlier I was not aware of free ranging wild boar in manitoba.As to the challenge of the hunt I guess it will depend on how wild these boars have become in the short time they have been loose.The boars that were born outside of the enclosure may have begun resorting back to their wild instincts but I am thinking that these boars will not be as wild as boars that have been wild for many generations as in the case of the boars you have in the southern states.
XTP-What type of terrain are these boars inhabiting?Is it tight woods or is it more open when visibility will be much better?

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

here in texas where i hunt it is very thick and swampy.the hogs are extremely smart. they may not see you but they can sure smell you.very few long shots with most under 50 yds.some use feeders and some do not. our place backs up to a river. they are all wild hogs. occassionally a domestic wild will come in. they usually do not last long due to the other boars attacking them. they get the boars to come in by trapping sows that are in heat. when they come in they are usually very mad and ready for a fight.

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

As far as I can tell,this will be fairly close range most of the time.I have not been in there yet as it was only this past weekend that I finally talked to a guy who could tell me exactly where to go.Up until then all I heard was rumors.He made mention of the swamps in there as well as timber.I know the general area and they do some forestry in there so we might find some clear-cuts also.
As for bullet selection,I' m sticking with my 140 gr Hornady Inter-lock.I know not everyone is a fan,but I get great accuracy with it and have seen excellant penetration and expansion.Two years ago I took a buck at 120 yards,the bullet hit the near side leg bone,centered a rib,took out both lungs,went through another rib,then through the far side leg muscle,and lodged between the muscle and the hide.That deer ran about 15 yards.The chest cavity looked like a blender went though there.Works for me!!

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

Heres the picture of the boar with 6 feet that dep214 was talking about;)

[link]http://boarcreek.com/cgi-bin/photoGallery.pl?curImg=35&template=gallery/photoGallery.htm&sourceDir=gallery&numbers=true[/link]

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

dep214,
If you' re only taking neck shots, then a ballistic tip bullet is probably an excellent choice because of the explosive damage it will do on the neck and still get good penetration. But considering most shots on boars are at close ranges, when you push this type of bullet at extreme speeds and you hit a boar in its " shield" or any major bone structure, the result will probably be a fragmented bullet that won' t effectively reach the vitals and if it does, the hog could go a long way before expiring and with very little of a blood trail.

If you' re shooting boars that are 200lbs or less than bullet selection may not be an issue. But when you start getting boars that are 300lbs+ and have shields that are 1 1/2-2" thick with a thick, tough layer of skin on the outside, it can push the limitations of a ballistic point bullet. Again this is further compounded by the 50-75 yard shot that you may encouter when hunting these animals.

That' s why I recommended the bullets that I did because most of them are used to hunt animals in Africa. While they may not expand like a ballistic point, they are almost guaranteed to stay together when that 50 yd shot presents itself on 350lb boar. I love the confidence of knowing I can go right through the shield and the vitals and lodge under the skin on the opposite side or even full penetration if I need to. Again this advice is probably best suited for larger boars, but will work on any size.

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

Forgot to add something. I use the hornady 140 gr SST bullet for deer hunting and had originally planned on hunting boars with it as well. I called Hornady and asked their opinion. They told me it would work fine on average to smaller boars, but would not recommend it for larger boars. They said I should use the Barnes X-Bullet for larger boar. I was pretty impressed that they would recommend another manufacturers bullet over their own. Again, neck shots or shots behind the shoulder it really won' t matter as much on bullet selection.

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

none of the ranches i hunt want you to shoot anywhere but behind the ear.you are correct that some will not penetrate the shoulder area. we have dug out 300mag bullets that were placed in the shoulders. i never realized how thich those things were until i saw one skinned. most of the rances allow bows but suggest against it.we had one hog come in withn a arrow broke off inside it. it went in about 3inches and stopped.8

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

Yeah that neck shot will drop them right in their tracks. I bowhunted the Sweetwater Creek Ranch earlier this year. I' m taking another boar hunt in Missouri and Nebraska in March. Do you have any good recommendations for big boar ranches in Texas? Thanks.

RE: Wild Boars....any suggestions???
 

let me know when ya get ready for texas and maybe i can book hunt at same time. there are many good ranches in the palestine area. mosttly russian and few feral.