wildhogs

[chelko]

Ranger said the weapon was designed for urban law enforcement. Slow velocity and limited range would keep it from going through walls and injuring innocents in the next room or apartment. Very popular for drug raids in the projects he said.

[skinewmexico]

As noted by SKINEWMEXICO, it's likely a custom AR conversion mfg by SSK Industries ..... the Whisper series of cartridges has proven to be very effective and readily suppressed.

I prefer the 30-221, don't have to pay SSK a licensing fee that way.

And 400# hogs are terrible to eat. Need to shoot the little ones.

[Engine]

I spoke with a wildlife management ranger in the smokies last fall and he said they have an ongoing effort to hunt the hogs and try to eliminate them from the park because of the damage they do to the trails and surrounding forest floor. I asked why if the hunting was going on do we never hear gun shots while hiking. He explained that they use a 30 caliber rifle that shoots a large 180grain bullet at a velocity slower than the speed of sound so as not to disturb park visitors or other wildlife. Found it interesting for what its worth.

I just did the math and a 180 grain projectile at even 1 fps under the the speed of sound would only have a couple hundred foot pounds of energy. That might be alright if you were 3 feet away and shot him in the head, but hardly a humane method of extermination under hunting conditions. The animal would likely suffer a long lingering death and pigs are notoriously tough to bring down. So I would have something isn't right about that story.

[SloHiker]

I just did the math and a 180 grain projectile at even 1 fps under the the speed of sound would only have a couple hundred foot pounds of energy. That might be alright if you were 3 feet away and shot him in the head, but hardly a humane method of extermination under hunting conditions. The animal would likely suffer a long lingering death and pigs are notoriously tough to bring down. So I would have something isn't right about that story.

Not to get in any sorta pissin' contest, but I assure you a long, slender bullet weighing 180 grains (with a relatively high BC) and traveling at @ 1100 fps so will humanely and reliably kill anything under 500 lbs at close range - which I can reasonably assume are the conditions most hogs are taken in a culling operation. I suspect penetration could be on the order of a couple of feet - which is more than adequate. Many Whisper loadings will penetrate soft body armor. I relate all of that to say that FPE is relative - and has nothing to do with lethality and effectiveness in many practical circumstances.

[skinewmexico]

Pigs aren't that tough to bring down. It's all about shot placement.

[Incahiker]

Someone is doubting that a 180 grain bullet going 1050 feet per second will take out a hog? It will take out a hog no problem, of course don't be sniping the thing from the other side of the world. 100 yards or closer it will kill em.

Go to GON.com. Here in Georgia it is legal to hunt hogs all year long. It depends on the season for what caliber you can hunt them with. If its deer season you can hunt then with any powerful deer caliber 30-06 or anything.

But...... a lot of people here in Georgia hunt hogs a lot with the .22 mag caliber and kill them with no problem, as long as the shot placement is good. You can only hunt the hogs with rimfire during small game season, and people take advantage of it.

In fact, people have been using the newer .17 hmr caliber bullet to kill hogs with, which is no bigger in diameter then a pellet, though will travel 2500 feet per second. Here is a link below where some guy killed about 6 hogs with the .17 caliber. They are not monstor pigs, but it did the job.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...=277822&page=2

[Kanati]

I spoke with a wildlife management ranger in the smokies last fall and he said they have an ongoing effort to hunt the hogs and try to eliminate them from the park because of the damage they do to the trails and surrounding forest floor. I asked why if the hunting was going on do we never hear gun shots while hiking. He explained that they use a 30 caliber rifle that shoots a large 180grain bullet at a velocity slower than the speed of sound so as not to disturb park visitors or other wildlife. Found it interesting for what its worth.

Do they remove the carcass or leave it where it falls?

[MOWGLI]

They defend themselves with their tusks. If they gore you on your leg and cut an artery in the backcountry, you're a goner.

And if a UFO drops from the sky, snatches you, and takes you to another galaxy, you're a goner. The odds are only slightly greater that you'll be gored by a wild hog on a trail.

[Engine]

Someone is doubting that a 180 grain bullet going 1050 feet per second will take out a hog? It will take out a hog no problem, of course don't be sniping the thing from the other side of the world. 100 yards or closer it will kill em.

Go to GON.com. Here in Georgia it is legal to hunt hogs all year long. It depends on the season for what caliber you can hunt them with. If its deer season you can hunt then with any powerful deer caliber 30-06 or anything.

But...... a lot of people here in Georgia hunt hogs a lot with the .22 mag caliber and kill them with no problem, as long as the shot placement is good. You can only hunt the hogs with rimfire during small game season, and people take advantage of it.

In fact, people have been using the newer .17 hmr caliber bullet to kill hogs with, which is no bigger in diameter then a pellet, though will travel 2500 feet per second. Here is a link below where some guy killed about 6 hogs with the .17 caliber. They are not monstor pigs, but it did the job.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...=277822&page=2

I never said it wouldn't kill a hog, only that it might not be the most humane choice. It always comes down to shot placement, but as any honest hunter must admit, that can be problematic. People have killed elephants with some pretty anemic rounds too, but given the choice a sportsman who respects his or her game animal will use a round better suited for the task.

I understand the desire to keep shot noise down in a national park and thus the reasoning behind using this round.But hit a big hog in the anterior chest with this thing and you have a ticked off injured animal.

[puddingboy]

We need to get the wolves and mountain lions back here, theyd sure clear them out.

[michael rowlands]

I hunt hogs in Florida and normally if they see you {they have bad eyesight} they take off immediatly. They will always run even if you don't see them if they smell you. They in my opinon are not a threat unless chased by dogs or as the bear you get between them and the young. They are good eating if under 100 pounds and the sows are good even better. As far as the damage they cause they aireate the ground and move on. If you are in the woods as much as I am you will notice some benificial results in their rooting. The turkey and deer love the new growth caused by the plowing. Don't get me wrong but hunting in ares around the problems will cure most of the problems. The laws around the NPS don't allow hunting in the parks and this adds tro the controll problem. I would love to hunt hogs for the meat but our season on public lands does not allow it. You can hunt on private property year round. The hog is the smartest animal in the woods. He will avoid you if you let him. Mike Rowlands.aka Rowmin' Goat.......

[Egads]

I had two separate hog encounters in GSMNP last weekend.

I walked upon a sow with piglet. They dashed away after startling me with a grunt and shaking the bushes.

The other encounter was expected after seeing the furrowed ground on several acres

[yaduck9]

I sure wouldn't be worried over the feral hog population while the US human population approaches 330,000,000 now and projected to be 450,000,000 by 2050. I'd say the loss of open land and forest by chainsaw and bulldozer is a million times worse that whatever the hogs try to do. I just wish they could root up highway pavement and buildings, then we'd be talking! Biological devices for sprawl-removal: the feral pig? Naw, but I wish.

I'm with you.

[beakerman]

see if the tree huggers would just let a bunch of us "rednecks" out in the woods for a few weeks a year--no limits just culling the herd--this problem would be solved. They could even charge us and and turn a profit. Sure the woods would stink of rotting hog for a few months but there would definitely be less hogs in the woods.

[toothpick]

Maybe swine flu will wipe them out. LOL

[MOWGLI]

see if the tree huggers would just let a bunch of us "rednecks" out in the woods for a few weeks a year--no limits just culling the herd--this problem would be solved. They could even charge us and and turn a profit. Sure the woods would stink of rotting hog for a few months but there would definitely be less hogs in the woods.

Problem solved? You don't know very much about hog reproduction, do you? You'll sooner wipe out kudzuu.

PS: I bought a 30-30 recently to kill hogs.

[Dances with Mice]

Hogs have been working on a section of trail that I maintain. They don't have much skill but they make up for it in enthusiasm. This August we'll be re-habbing about 1.25 miles of hog works.

So how does one go about hunting them? Do you construct a hog blind? Make hog calls to lure them in? Can you spread hog bait and if so what would you use?

[LockJaww]

Ive encountered feral pigs in the Smokies a couple of times...That was nearly ten years ago. I suspect the population problem has escalated considerably since then.
And c'mon folks....sub sonic ammo has been around for ages. Kill you , me , feral hog or Bigfoot deader than hell.....its all about shot placement.
The bigguns are tougher than shoe leather....Thats why God created the crock pot. The way its done is to use dogs to catch the small ones...pen them up and grain feed them for a month or so to change the flavor of the meat....Then BBQ....

[beakerman]

Problem solved? You don't know very much about hog reproduction, do you? You'll sooner wipe out kudzuu.

PS: I bought a 30-30 recently to kill hogs.

I think it's you that doesn't know that much about redneck reproduction.

I use my 8mm mauser (fairly close to 30-06) to kill hogs. It gets the job done. I don't hunt hogs. I kill them. I prefer to shoot them while they feed on corn from a feeder. Sure it's not hunting but the goal is not to make it a sport it's to kill the hogs. The little ones are pretty good eating if they are roasted right, the big ones have a rather "unique" flavor.

I didn't say a hand full of rednecks I said a bunch. Now I don't know what a bunch means where you are from but where I am from it means a small army. I know hogs reproduce at a phenomenal rate that's why you need a bunch of folks killing them.

Look at it this way: if a hand full of guys running boats can deplete a fishery without actually trying to do so then I think a bunch of guys and gals that like to shoot things can thin down a herd (or what ever you call a mess of hogs) if that is what they have set their mind to and if they can fill a freezer in the process then all the better.

It's not the lack of ability to thin the herd it's lack of legality for the affected areas. I've seen it many times with deer in so called managed areas (granted deer don't reproduce like hogs but over population is still bad): Gettysburg, PA they didn't let hunters thin the herd for years. All of the trees were trimmed neatly about 6 feet from the ground. They let this go on until the deer actually started changing the forest make up because they didn't like eating hickory and black cherry as much as oak.

Here in TX of all places there are several federally managed areas where they have learned their lesson in much the same way--they now have lottery hunts in these parks but the deer are still very thin from what I have seen.

In the end we humans caused the problem by eliminating almost all the large predators in the eastern states and by the release of exotic species into an ecosystem neither adapted nor equipped to handle it. So if we try real hard we can certainly improve the situation and we might even have fun doing it. Open up these areas to hog hunters and at least try to thin the herd. A hand full of park rangers flying around in helicopters or on ATV's just isn't going to cut it they need more man power.