Feral Hog Hunting in SE Texas / Bullet weight for hog hunting?

Do some research. Feral hogs are a big problem in Texas right now. I am from the Dallas/Fort Worth area and I know some hunters who don’t have too many problems in finding farmers and ranchers who need some hogs removed. I know that there were some hog problems in Galveston back in the 90′s. Pelican Island had feral hogs. That may be taken care of by now though. I would start by checking with some gun shops. A lot of them have information on things like this. They would definately be able to tell you what kind of weapon to use. I think that a .30-06 would do the job but it might be overkill. However, I have never hunted hogs myself so I would not know. It is best to find a person who has done this type of hunting.

Do a search for Feral Hog hunts in the “Search For Questions” at the top of the Yahoo Answers page. A few days ago solmeone was advertising hog hunts in Texas. No price was mentioned so I don’t have any idea about that. they said that they had dogs to hunt with. Give it a try and see if you can find that question and then give them a try.

As for the .30-06, it will be plenty potent for hogs and the 150 grain bullet will work fine. I think I might use one of the partition bullets b ecause those rascalls can have a pretty tough hide and you want your bullet to penetrate to a vital area.

As for hunting areas in South Texas I can’t help. As a hog hunter I can tell you either round would be sufficient. I have found the most efficient rifle to hunt hogs with is a .308 AR-10 or any .308 M4 variant.

I use a gas-piston .308 made by Patriot Ordinance Factory. Having 20 rounds of .308 available in semi-auto makes the “multi-kill” (or follow up shot) easy. Usually, you will bump hogs in a pack when hunting them (meaning you pick the nicest one then try to take it, followed by the whole group stampeding off in one direction after the shot is fired). I got tired of dropping a hog and not having a second shot because of the time it takes to cycle the bolt and re-acquire the target with bolt actions. With the semi it is nothing to take as many as 3 out of a group, and runners are more than welcome! Just like bumping a covey of quail.

Another advantage of the AR/M4 design is that is is light to carry around all day. There are many semi-auto’s out there in great hog calibers, that also serve as good multi-purpose rifles. The M1A, SOCOM II, AR-10, .450 Bushmaster, SA-58/FN FAL, and a host of calibers in AR designs from DPMS.