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Page 20 the valley star June 28, 2012
THE STRAIGHT DOPE
by Chuck Vessels
Feral/wild hog hunting advice
With the
growing
number
of feral and wild
hogs in our area
Chuck Vessels
there is a growing
need for undertanding
control and eradication
techniques. I have spent a considerable
amount of time over the
last six months researching, testing,
and studying options that
cover the gamut of trapping, baiting,
shooting, and scaring the
hogs. There are several legitimate
companies available to aide
landowners in eradication and
control services that are based
on science and success. I have
found hundreds of questionable
services that basically just want
access to your land to hunt indiscriminately
with no real intent on
long-term problem solving.
I am satisfied that real long-term
solutions are based on trapping
not just hunting/shooting that
systematically removes an entire
sounder (sows, choates, and pigs
in a related family unit) at a time.
This prevents the hogs that didn’t
get trapped from “learning” the
trap and training others to avoid
it. Yes, hogs are extremely intelligent
and evidence has shown
they will learn a trap and keep
others away. In addition to trapping,
shooting the hogs also
aides in eradication and scaring
the hogs off your land.
This brings us to the focus of the
article, which is a lesson and advice
for shooting hogs. I grew up
on a dairy farm that also raised a
few hogs. I remember the ferocity,
toughness, speed, and attitude
of the domestic hogs as
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Chuck Vessels harvested a 360 lb.
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being more than I liked dealing
with as a boy. On more than one
occasion a sow put me in a tree
or quickly over a fence. I was always
scared of them. I have
grown now to appreciate the
feral/wild hogs as being much
worse on all traits. I have been
shocked at how tough these hogs
are. Not to mention spooky, fast,
and extremely violent if wounded
and cornered.
I have hunted hogs with bow,
knives, rifles, and even
bay/catch/tie alive with dogs. I
am happy to report I survived and
have settled on rifles. I have either
used or seen used every possible
caliber of handgun, rifle,
and shotgun imaginable and
have decided on a semi-auto rifle
in calibers from .223 (5.56mm)
to .308 (7.62mm) with my preference
being .308. In all cases two
things are critical, bullet type and
shot placement. I have shot several
hogs through the heart and
lungs (practiced from deer hunting)
and had them run 50 yards
or more into the thick brush or
swamps with little to no blood
trail. Match and ball type ammo
drills small holes that seal with
fat and do very little immediate
incapacitating damage. I recommend
you use quality hollowpoint
or ballistic-tip ammunition
to create lots of central nervous
system and hydrostatic damage
as well as leave large entrance
and possibly exit wounds for
blood trails.
Even better is shot placement to
anchor them in their tracks. If
you draw a line between the
crown of the shoulder and their
ear hole and shoot at the middle
of that line you will get the spine
and drop them instantly. This
shot placement saves a lot of
nervous tracking and walking in
thick brush hoping that you find
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Owner
ALL TREE
the hog dead instead of waiting in
ambush. I have been involved in
several hog slaughters where the
proper (precise) placement of a
.22 in the head killed the hog instantly.
Please read “precise”
placement. If you miss the
“sweet spot” you will have an
even more dangerous hog to deal
with. So, if you have to track one,
take a buddy and be very careful!
Landowners have gotten used to
dealing with coyote and even bobcat
problems for generations. We
have learned that they are spooky
and generally just a fleeting opportunity
at best. Modern calling
and hunting techniques have provided
some success. But, coyotes
and bob-cats run away.
Hogs are much more destructive
and aggressive. They don’t mind
hunting you back, and can be
very dangerous to domestic animals
and children. If you suffer
from hog problems, do your research,
talk to others, and work a
proper strategy for success.
Until next article, report POACH-
ING and UNETHICAL behavior to
the proper law enforcement community,
be SAFE and Have Fun!
Practice and GOOD LUCK!!!
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