We're going to Florida later this year and my boyfriend wants us to go on a hog hunt. Having never been before am I better to go on a shooting trip or get up close with a knife?

I think my boyfriend would prefer the knife option, but I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I can only relay my experience, and that is hunting hogs from a stand with a rifle (like you would deer) isn't all that productive, their senses are sharp, and they're mostly nocturnal.

Hunting with dogs and stabbing the hog with a knife greatly increases the chance of success, but it's not for everyone. High adrenaline, lots of pandemonium, potential for injury to hunters or dogs, and you need to stick the hog just right if you don't want it to suffer.

Just the facts ma'am, just the facts.

Having Hog hunted for many many years in about every way possible I can honestly tell you that hunting over catch dogs with a knife is about as insane as it can get. It's not for the feint of heart nor for a rookie. Like Nicky said, lot of potential for injury and it can be extremely cruel to the hog. Getting a good strike with a knife takes a good amount of strength and technique. And no I'm not saying that because you are a woman, I'm saying it because you are a rookie. I know many women that could pull it off with a knife very well but they are seasoned hog hunters that have handled hogs in many ways and know knife striking.

Thanks guys. I like the idea of the excitement of using dogs and a knife and I'd certainly be fit enough, but I wouldn't want to make the hog suffer too much. Maybe I'll let my boyfriend stab one - I'm sure he'd prefer that - and I'll see if they can arrange for me to shoot one.

When I was in my early teens I'd run Rabbits in an open Alfalfa field until they ran out of oxygen and collapsed. Later I had Dogs to do the running for me. Rabbits don't have teeth that can crush bone.

Ninety nine times out of a hundred all that Hog is thinking about is escape. It's that one time in a hundred you have to worry about.

My dogs are trained to turn the Hogs and run them back in my direction so I can shoot. Sometimes it is a long wait and/or a long run through the brush and brambles. I hope you and your boyfriend are in good shape, marathon runners?

I periodically go into thickets looking for wounded Hogs. Ideally I have my slug shotgun with a bayonet, my 44 Special revolver and thick pants on. I've never been bitten, but have had them run past me with their jaws clacking shut loud enough to be heard over the sound of breaking brush.

Going after one with just a knife takes bigger cojones than I've got. Or maybe just somebody with a distinct lack of imagination. And/or not enough brains cells to imagine what can go wrong. And/or somebody with little experience with Murphy's law, "anything that go wrong will go wrong".

The wild Hog's in the U.S. are anywhere from one to many generations removed from being domesticated. The more generations they have been running wild the meaner they get. You can kind of think of them as a pack of wild dogs, dogs that can weigh in at two to three times the size of any Dog you've likely ever seen. Like I said, they tend to want to escape, but the potential is there for them to turn into a 100-300 pound Pit Bull.

If I were you I'd sit in a tree with a rifle, use my boy friend as live bait and see how things went.

My basic philosophy is. if they aren't running from me, I'm running from them.

Rifle. For reasons already noted.

If the OP has never hunted and killed anything, I highly doubt she would enjoy sticking a knife behind a hogs shoulder and sawing around while blood shoots up your arm and the hog is squealing. Getting upclose and personal with death, hearing it and smelling it is not for amatures and I would question the boyfriends motives for even wanting her to do it or watch it other than some machismo nonsense. I would not put my woman in harms way for fun. Go with a gun if you go. Just the opinion of a guy who has been around for a while and has killed more animals than I can remember on the farm and in the field.

Thanks to everybody for your advice. I think I'd enjoy the thrill of the chase but not the reality of the result, so my boyfriend can go off for the day while I sit by the pool :-)