Well, you all have inspired me to a first for me, a hog hunt!

I am trying to talk my brother into going with me and a friend to Nebraska for Russian boar. I can't say if they are true russian boar but they look big in the pictures.

Anyway, I have a few questions.

Gun: I am planning on taking a Marlin 45/70. Miles ranch recommends open sights. Enough gun? Too much?

Load: For the 45/70 I have three good loads; 405 grain cast to around 2,000 fps; 500 grain cast to around 1,600 fps; Hornady 350 grain round nose soft point over 2,000 fps. Which one?

Shot placement: I see some of you are shooting traditional lung or heart shots and some of you talk about shooting behind the ear; which is best?

Does the shot placement depend on the difference? I can hit the vitals of something the size of a hog at 100 yds offhand but I'm not sure about a head shot.

Thanks for the input.

reverenddan--

In my experience your .45-70 is plenty of medicine for hogs, whether ferals (most likely) or "russian boars." They are one and the same in my experience in South Texas, although some of them look a bit more "boarish." You can go to this link and see a picture of one of the ferals on our ranch that looks more like folks expect russians to look like.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/dustoffer/CornoMatic1.jpg

I've killed them dead in their tracks with everything from a .22 LR to a 7 mag. You know the secret already--shoot 'em where they live, either in the brain or heart/lungs, and they die. Best advice I can give--take the rifle you are most comfortable with, whether scoped or open-sighted.

The Guide Gun is,to me, THE hog gun. The 350's are all ya need but shoot what ya want.

dustoffer, why is that hog in the photo walking instead of being real still???

If it's a trophy hog you're after, don't shoot it in the head -- your taxidermist will charge you extra for the repair (I found this out the hard way!)! If it is a meat pig, by all means shoot it between the eye and the ear and you will have one very dead piece of pork on your hands, otherwise shoot it in the boiler room. Keep in mind that the heart sits very low and forward in the hog's chest. You can do a search on this site as there were some very good photos and anatomical drawings posted here that will give you a better idea where to shoot them. Good luck, and keep us posted!

Shoot at the 'crease' in front of the shoulder, not behind the shoulder as many do for deer. The vitals of a hog are much farther forward than on a deer. See this website for an example. http://www.texasboars.com/
capt david

I have never known a standard "deer" caliber put straight up from the front leg to fail. However, on a meat sow, I, too, like a head shot. Less meat damage!

It doesn't take much to put a boar down, but make sure and shoot it in the right spot. This is what makes it tricky is poor shot placement. Even then most will run, run, and keep running. I still love putting my bolt-actions away and getting out the old lever guns to go hunt pigs. Brings me back to watching my Dad and his uncles hunt.

captdavid, thanks for the great link! The photos and explanation really helped.

Thanks to everyone else for the input. I think this hog hunt it going to be a lot of fun. Since I have moved to Wyoming I haven't had ocassion to my lever action Marlin in 45/70 so this seems a good excuse. I think I will use my "flat shooting" load with the Hornady 350 grain round nose. I have seen how much damage and penetration they do on a deer so I am sure they will be fine.

This hunt is really turning into a group activity. I now have my brother and two friends lined up to go with us. During the hunt we will of course have the opportunity to choose a trophy or a mean hog. I am sure that some will choose meat but since my wife told me that I can have the basement for some trophies on the wall I was thinking that an ugly boar would make a real conversation piece!

So my question is this; do you eat the old ugly ones? I don't care if it goes mostly to sausage I'm just wondering how edible the older, bigger ones are?

Personally -- and this is only my opinion, the tastiest hogs I have shot and eaten have been in the 100 lb range. In fact, again IMHO, up to 200 lbs are good to eat, not saying that a heavier hog won't be tasty. When they get big, they get gamey (sp?). You can still make sausage out of the gamier meat.

That's kind of what I was thinking.

There will be at least 4 of us going and I think there will be the whole gamuet of shooting. We could share hogs and as you say have the small ones butchered and the larger ones turned into salami, sausage and jerky.

My mouth is watering, better go and eat something...

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:I've killed them dead in their tracks with everything from a .22 LR to a 7 mag.

Dustoffer,

When using a .22lr, what rounds do you normally use and where exactly are you placing them?

Have you had any luck with .22lr neck shots?

Thanks.

Rustam

I have eaten 200lb plus boars that were good and a 125lb sow that was awful. Let me say that I like deer and find what some refer as 'gamey' is acceptable. With the exception of 'breeder' boars, most are acceptible. If it smells alittle rank it's probably ok. If it smells rank as heck try this: Cut a small piece off the ham or some other convient piece, salt(maybe garlic or other seasoning), then cook it in a little oil or over an open fire. this should take 5 min. If it taste ok you're good to go. capt david

I agree that the gun you have will be perfect. I hunted Russians here and we ended up with these! I used a lung shot just behind the shoulder. On the Russians remember to aim low. It seems that alot of what you see is not actually anything but hair. The spine is actually in the middle from top of back hair to belly.

Have fun it is a blast!

ElCaballero,

I like the pictures!

The ranch sounds a lot like the Miles ranch where we will be going. Who knows, Missouri isn't too far to drive if this hunting hogs gets addicting!

What caliber gun did you use?

How far was the shot?

How tasty?

Reverenddan, I've hunted that same place (Cedar Ridge) and highly recommend it. If I had the capability, I would post a photo of the hog I took there. It was a tough hunt, that I really had to work for -- I loved it!

The 45-70 and the load you mentioned will do a nice job.

I've had two boars of over 250lbs. : one tasted fine and the other was sour. Two large meat sows have been succulent.

I typically aim for the heart; if I'm off just a tad I'll still likely get a lung shot and the hog will bleed out and can be recovered. I've seen a couple of hogs walking around with part of their jaws shot off by misplaced head shots. A slow, painful death for the animal and obviously they weren't recovered by the shooter.
Head shots, in my book, are O.K. on a stationary broadshot only.

Have fun!

Thanks for the advice.

I am not comfortable with the head shot unless it really feels like a sure thing. There can't be that much meat lost with a heart shot.

I am getting my brother pretty worked up to going on the hunt. He doesn't feel any gun he has would be proper and he reminded me that I have more than one 45/70 and that if I was a good brother I would let him use my Marlin lever gun and I would be traditional and use my Remington Rolling Block (Pedersoli copy).

Now that sounds even more interesting!

I don't push the Rolling Block as hard as the Marlin but it is still plenty healthy for anything that has walked in front of it.

There just ain't much that does well healthwise after having a near 1/2" hole punched through it

The Rolling Block might be fun; I've been tempted to use my Pedersoli Sharps but back off when think of hauling it up and down the hills.

Mine is the lightweight 10.5# variety.

Practically a featherweight!

I am going to talk to the folks at the ranch and see what we can expect.