Nosler Ballistic Tips are terrible for hogs, at least according to the hogs. Below is my 16 year-old grandson with the 200+ pound boar he took with his Sako .30-06 this last weekend. The ammunition was a 150 grain Ballistic Tip handloaded to 3,000 fps, and the boar was about 130 yards away. One shot in the center of the shoulder dropped it on the spot. I can't say if the bullet left "a good blood trail" since there was no kind of trail at all -- exactly the kind of trail I like to see.

I would have to say I have used more Ballistic Tips on hogs than any other bullets. Favorites are the 180 in .308 and the 150 in .284. I like to keep velocities in the 2700 fps range.

130 grain from a 270 Winchester work nicely as well. Congratulations to the young man, nice looking pig.

Congrats to your grandson on taking a nice hog! That's a very unique coloration.

Yep, those BTs are just horrible for hogs -- and I know of quite a few piggies that would confirm as much...if they could.

Real nice one. Nice color and nice choppers.

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That's a very unique coloration.

We have quite a few hogs up in this area with that coloration.

Congratulations to the young on the shot and the oinker!

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Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

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That's a very unique coloration.

We have quite a few hogs up in this area with that coloration.

Congratulations to the young on the shot and the oinker!

I agree that the color is not too uncommon among ferals in this part of the world, but the hair was about the longest I've ever seen on a hog of any description. And coarse: You could about use it for toothpicks.

Nice little piggie! Congrats to your grandson.

I use 55-gr out of my .22-250 at 3550 fps and it has not let me down. Shoot 'em in the CNS/brain and they are DRT.

Guess I should say I'm shooting them under lighted feeders at night off a solid rest.

That pig would make a nice full body mount!
Bryan

If you keep them off bone they are wonderful. If you hit bone and was wanting to eat the animal you can forget about the meat anywhere near the shot.

I shot a 110pund fully dressed, skin off antlers off, and fully gutted with a 140grain 7mm Ballistic Tip at a sedate 2770 fps.

It exited and took the jugular out the other side. Very visual. I was surprised a neck shot exited given the reputation. I like the Ballistic Tip.

They're pretty amazing animals, aren't they. Congratulations to your grandson, Stonecreek.

They really are Bill and if they could be managed they add an element to any hunt that is excellent, but there is simply no way of realistically managing them.

At one time in the past, possibly 6 years or so back, one biologist claimed that IF 60% of the population could be killed off ANNUALLY it might keep numbers at a reasonable level?

Good job on the hog and nice rifle! I agree...a .30 caliber Ballistic Tip is bad news for piggies

Bill another comment I have heard and seen on here about Feral Hogs is that if you ask a biologist with TP&W about them, he will say on average a sow will have 6 to 8 piglets and raise 13 of them!

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if you ask a biologist with TP&W about them, he will say on average a sow will have 6 to 8 piglets and raise 13 of them!

That always gets a chuckle, but in terms of annual reproduction it probably isn't too far off since a sow can have 2+ litters per year.

By the way, we've always been hesitant to try to eat any of the big, stinky old boars, but my son cut the backstraps out of this one and grilled one for dinner one night this week. He reported that it seemed a bit closer to beef than the typical pork loin, and was more flavorful than a store-bought loin in a positive way.

I've had 130 gr ballistic tips fail miserably a couple of times from a .270 Win. The pigs have run off as if nothing happened...I'm sure I couldn't have missed, so it Had to be the bullet.

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By the way, we've always been hesitant to try to eat any of the big, stinky old boars, but my son cut the backstraps out of this one and grilled one for dinner one night this week. He reported that it seemed a bit closer to beef than the typical pork loin, and was more flavorful than a store-bought loin in a positive way.

I have posted this before, but my first feral hog was killed in 1995 or 96 and to save space, aftyer I shot it I went over and gutted it but could smell the thing 30 feet from it.

Getting it out and home was an ordeal, but the next morning when I took it into the processor, gutted the hanging weight was 325 pounds.

I went ahead and had it processed, but even the ground meat smelled so rank we could not eat any of it. I shot this pig in early December and the meat looked great but simply stunk.

Since then I have ran onto two other pigs people killed that were the same way.

Karl, I am not surprised about your experience. I'd choose a Barnes or GS Custom monometal for this work, but will confess right up front that I have never even seen a feral hog -- just been reading hunting reports about them for the last 30 years or so.
Randall, it would break my heart to finally drop a hog and find it was one of the gamey ones fit only to leave for the carrion eaters, but I understand that is part of the risk in hunting these critters. Have you ever had one that was inedible that was closer to 100-150 pounds? Is smaller size a dependable guarantee of edibility?

Bill, that's the $64,000 question and on the right thread. Packy

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Randall, it would break my heart to finally drop a hog and find it was one of the gamey ones fit only to leave for the carrion eaters, but I understand that is part of the risk in hunting these critters. Have you ever had one that was inedible that was closer to 100-150 pounds? Is smaller size a dependable guarantee of edibility?

From my experience, it is the boars of any size where a person can possibly run into problems, but again from experience it has been the ones over 300 pounds that can be rank.

The only thing you can do is shoot the critter and wait till you start working on the carcass.

I have killed or been in on the killing of boars in the 225 to 250 pound range that were just fine.

Have never had a sow that smelled rank, but they all have the typical feral pig smell, regardless of boar/sow, or size. The big stinky boars are a guarantee to go to the buzzard buffet when I drop one. Last trapping session I caught 7 boars, the biggest around 120# and none of them were bad.

Thanks fellas. Was thinking the sows should be OK, but I see a lot of comments that boar or sow, the meat gets better when they are under 200 pounds or even well under.