Wild Boar

[new to the flock]

Just wondering who has access to them on their hunting property. Have you figured out the best way to hunt them yet? What methods have you used, scents, wallows, sour bait, feeders.....and type, rubbing posts, stalking, or just plain ambush?

 

Also how big are your pigs?

 

NTTF

[Cranfield]

We have seen what we believe to be evidence of wild boar/pigs on two of our Syndicate's shooting grounds in Kent.

However, we have never seen a wild pig/boar

As one of the shoots is very near to Tenterden and the other about 15 miles away, their presence is very probable.

This is an interesting link, http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/main.htm

 

This is an extract from the Defra website ( http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countrysi...s/wild-boar.htm );

 

" Police Firearms Licensing Branches require that wild boar are specifically listed on an individual's firearms certificate (FAC) before they may use a rifle to shoot wild boar. They do not consider the term "other vermin", which often appears on FACs to permit the culling of species such as foxes, to include wild boar. The most suitable type of firearm for shooting wild boar is a centre-fire rifle comparable with those permitted for deer culling under the Deer Act 1991. However, the minimum calibre permitted for deer is widely considered to be inadequate to ensure a clean kill for wild boar. Police guidance suggests a minimum calibre of .270 Winchester, or its metric equivalent (see Home Office; Firearms Law: Guidance to the Police, 2002) and a FAC will normally only be endorsed for shooting of wild boar if the rifle held is of .270 calibre or larger. Wild boar will normally only be added to a FAC if the holder has authority to shoot on land within an area known to have wild boar present."

 

So, as you can see, hunting them is not really an option for most of us.

 

Slightly cross related to the "big cat" thread, it always amazes me that foxhounds don't put up these feral creatures.

Most of the current "Walker" hounds used for finding these animals in the US and Canada, were bred from English foxhounds and local breeds, notably from Kentucky, Maryland and Georgia.

So our hounds should know what to do.

Perhaps there are just not the quantity on the ground to distract our hounds from the fox.

[SPEEDY]

Lucky for me we have thousands of wild hogs down here I like to use a 12ga and SSG buckshot or a 260rem with 120gr Noslers, but I'm still going to give the 375H&H a go at the end of the year.

[mag-man]

We used to boil up half a drum of maize for about 6hr's.................then let it sit a ferment for about two weeks.............till it smells nice and ripe, clear a patch of the growth away, and every day put a bucket down, once they feeding on a regular basis, sit up in a hide, use SG's, and tie a white handkerchief to the end of your barrells.............. ...........smokin!!!!!

[new to the flock]

Slightly cross related to the "big cat" thread, it always amazes me that foxhounds don't put up these feral creatures.

Most of the current "Walker" hounds used for finding these animals in the US and Canada, were bred from English foxhounds and local breeds, notably from Kentucky, Maryland and Georgia.

So our hounds should know what to do.

Perhaps there are just not the quantity on the ground to distract our hounds from the fox.

 

Cranfield the reason that the fox hounds do not run the boar or the cats is the same reason that my hounds will only run coon, and not deer or opposums or stock. It is very simple they have been trained to run one thing fox. The reason you do not see the animals while out with the hounds is that they know you are coming and move before you get there.

 

If you have evidance of the pigs on your shoot Cranners, and you would like to get yourself or a friend involved let me know and I will give you some ideas. or if the syndicate would like to put up a catch pen let me know and we can sort that out as well.

 

NTTF

[Pedro]

Do they inhabit the forest around the Vendee? I saw what could only have been pigs' trotter markings and the invariable grubbing around that pigs make when foraging, (worked on an o/s piggery years ago).

However, we saw no dung or any other evidence, hence the question.

 

P.

[Holland&Holland]

In the netherlands whe have a lot of wild boar at our biggest nature reserve called the Veluwe, in the middle of the country. I am in the lucky position that i can have a go at them (in fact going out tonight). We normally shoot them at feeding places where we feed them with mais (or sometimes nuts from oak etc..) and sit on a high seat. In the old days the yellow chicks (little chickens) also were fed to the wildboar but feeding them meat or slaughter material isn't allowed anymore. There are some scents you can use or putting some delicious liquid on trees but do not know if they sell that over there. Also go for the mud pools where they protect themselves from insects by putting mud on them. If you hunt in a wood look for rubbing trees where they scrape the mud off their bodies.

Another type of hunting is to go out at dusk and spy for them at night near the side of the road. In the netherlands in winter we use salt to defrost the tarmac. A lot of salt is washed away to the side of the road and the wild boar eat it to complete their diet. Also they like the little "worms" (larvs) that they can find in older grassland. Of course good spots for stalking are any nut baring trees. But be carefull and quiet, they are shy animals. Wild boar can't see very well but they have good hearing and smell.

 

In the old days wild boar also were hunted with driven days. That is not allowed anymore in the Netherlands but in Germany or Poland for instance it is still the case. Very exciting and good way to get to them. But you'll have to be sure to get responsible shooters because it is difficult to get a shot at them running.

 

Good Luck !

 

by the way, only rifles with higher caliber then .243 are allowed on wild boar in the Netherlands

[Dunkield]

I don't to take this thead off topic, but I will going Boar shooting for the first time later this year. I will be using my 6.5x55 and I usually use Federal 140grn soft points, would you recommend a heavier bullet?

 

I will be buying factory ammo, not reloading (at a push I can ask my mate nicely to roll me some if I would prefer not to bother him)

[Cranfield]

stuartp, where are you going to shoot your boar, UK, overseas ?

 

nttf, the general view of the Syndicate is that they don't cause us any problems, so we leave them alone.

I'm not even sure we would be allowed to trap them in a live cage, without some sort of licence.

Don't forget this is England, we would probably be infringing their non human rights.

[new to the flock]

I don't to take this thead off topic, but I will going Boar shooting for the first time later this year. I will be using my 6.5x55 and I usually use Federal 140grn soft points, would you recommend a heavier bullet?

 

I will be buying factory ammo, not reloading (at a push I can ask my mate nicely to roll me some if I would prefer not to bother him)

 

 

Stuartp, the 6.5x55 is an excellant choice as is the Federal 140grn. If you can get them over there you may want to try feeding some Speer Nitrex through your gun, mine loves them and I am a diehard Federal buyer.

 

NTTF

[SPEEDY]

I don't to take this thead off topic, but I will going Boar shooting for the first time later this year. I will be using my 6.5x55 and I usually use Federal 140grn soft points, would you recommend a heavier bullet?

 

I will be buying factory ammo, not reloading (at a push I can ask my mate nicely to roll me some if I would prefer not to bother him)

 

I like the 120gr Noslers in my 264cal's when hunting Boar, but I have however shot heaps with 140gr ammo from Winchester, federal, PMC and Remington .I liked the PMC the best but any should do fine, I did however have to cut the points off of the Remington coreloc's and then hollow point them in order to make them open up. I was getting pass throughs on smaller pigs (60-70kg) with very little damage being done.

[Dunkield]

stuartp, where are you going to shoot your boar, UK, overseas ?

 

Cranners, we are off to Croatia in November,the cheap season, after the trophy hunters have done there bit.

 

Nttf, thanks for the input, I will have look at the Speers, if not stick to what I know best, now all I have to do is learn how shoot running things with a rifle and a red dot sight

[Cranfield]

That sounds like a good trip.

There are obviously quite a few opportunities in Eastern Europe for that type of quality shooting.

 

I spent quite some time in Romania back in the 80's and was amazed at the quality of the "big game" hunting there.

I think the then President ( Caucescau ) held quite a few International gold medal trophies for various species.

[Aerova]

Sorry I do not know if they are aloud in the uk but the best round I have ever used for shooting pigs Warthogs and bushpig are 12 bore slugs. Providing you are dealing with them under 70yds.

I feel one of the reasons has to be Shotys are designed to lead so are grate for running shots and slugs proved devastating on pigs, at a push 12 bore heavy loads with 9’s work as well. And surely in the UK more people shoot better with shotguns !

 

 

Regards

 

Rob

 

P.S A good friend of mine who has been a PH for longer than i have been on this earth has always maintained pigs should be shot with as heavy bullet as you can get into it and light fast rounds can be touch and go if you hit bone, in my experience he is right.

[leeboy]

I've always been told that you need a big slow bullet for wild boar. I dont really understand why. i know that they are tough agressive animals but they aint very big. I've got aload of magazines from aussie, the most notable is 'Bacon Busters' in these mags they are shot with whatever the shooter is holding at the time, even a bow and arrow.

 

I'm probably very wrong but I believe that wild boar have been wrongly labelled as almost indestructable.

I'm certainly no expert on wild boar but I have worked with domestic pigs for many years. Domestic pigs grow 3 times the size and weight of wild boar and are extremely strong, the strongest animals I've ever seen. But

all pigs have a very weak head.

 

I have a large white boar which weighs just over 300 kilos but I dont doubt that any cal .243 upwards would drop him.

 

Leeboy

[lurcherboy]

NT, I spent a few days with a guy in NZ who would shoot them with a .22 magnum with no problems.

 

As you are probably aware if the angles right you get behind the armour easilly enough.

 

 

 

 

LB

[henry d]

I have a large white boar which weighs just over 300 kilos but I dont doubt that any cal .243 upwards would drop him.

 

Leeboy

Yeah but let him run wild for a few years and try and plug him with a 243 +,I wouldn`t try it

 

at a push 12 bore heavy loads with 9’s work as well.

I hope you don`t mean No.9`s

[mag-man]

how can I add a photo to this topic.........

 

busgpig shot with a 243 at about 150yds, in the head, the whole forequarter was discarded because of the damage from the shatter..............I've seen Eland that weigh over a ton shot in the head with a 243...........

[leeboy]

Mag-man, that does not surprise me. you can kill a pig with a catapult close up. For such an immensly strong animal they have a very weak head. Even a fairly light blow to the head between the eyes is enough to kill one instantly.

 

At sensible ranges I cant imagine there are many animals that could stand a head shot from a 243. A .22 will kill most things when the bullet is put between the eyes !

 

I will stress though that you would not want to wound one and not be able to get out of the way. Even domestic pigs are capable of being extremely vicious, they are certainly bloody minded and they bear a grudge !

***s one off and they remember you for ever. 150+ kilos of enraged pork hitting you at 30 miles an hour is pretty scary stuff especially if it still has tusks !! They can do horrific damage and dont seem to feel pain.

 

Leeboy

[mag-man]

Mag-man, that does not surprise me. you can kill a pig with a catapult close up. For such an immensly strong animal they have a very weak head. Even a fairly light blow to the head between the eyes is enough to kill one instantly.

 

At sensible ranges I cant imagine there are many animals that could stand a head shot from a 243. A .22 will kill most things when the bullet is put between the eyes !

 

I will stress though that you would not want to wound one and not be able to get out of the way. Even domestic pigs are capable of being extremely vicious, they are certainly bloody minded and they bear a grudge !

***s one off and they remember you for ever. 150+ kilos of enraged pork hitting you at 30 miles an hour is pretty scary stuff especially if it still has tusks !! They can do horrific damage and dont seem to feel pain.

 

Leeboy

 

Anyone that wounds one, or does not put it down with a 243, is an incompetant shot and should not be shooting, !!!! As I said in my earlier post, upto the forequarter had to be discarded, through the head, neck, into the shoulders. obviously an eland I would not shoot or encourage anybody to shoot with a 243 in the heart/lung,

[Holland&Holland]

Shooting wild boar can be tricky. In winter they have a lot of long hair around the body. The animal looks bigger then it is, furthermore, in the Netherlands roughly 80% of the wild boar are shot during the night. So bad vision (no lamping allowed, use light of the moon !!) and an animal that looks bigger then it actually is. If you just go for the head a lot of times you shoot the nose or jaw to pieces and the animal suffers greatly. :o That's why we (have to) go for the body and a large caliber gun (pref. 7x64, i use a .308w).

And wildboar can be hard to kill. In winter they have a lot of fat and a wound, from a bullet that goes all the way through the body and hits no vital organs, is closed of by all the fat. So no or minimum bloodloss. I have seen wild boar who recovered from these wounds quite happily. (and get shot later in the season )

[Dunkield]

OK so I know NTTF put some good pictures up before, but does anyone have a diagram of a boar with the ideal K Zone marked on it?

 

I am not going for a good few months yet but as we have this topic going I thought it would be good time to ask. I have been told up to now to aim for the shoulder so the shattering bone does what needs to be done, and it is running fast aim for the eye to give the right forward allowance - any one want to comment on those statements?

[SPEEDY]

This was shot through the heart with a 6.5X55 loaded with a 120gr Taipan HP. Aim any point inline with the front leg or about 2" behind (where the blood is behind the front leg) forward two the base of the head and it wont go far.

 

[Holland&Holland]

Yep

 

For driven wild boar go for the shoulder, and therefore you point at the eye or nose of the wild boar, depending on your shooting skills and how fast it runs. Practice pays off ! (in the neterlands whe can practice this on the shooting range with cardboard wild boar running on rails).

You will probably been told this at the beginning of the hunt: when a large group of wild boar comes past, never shoot the first one. That is the leading sow and important to the coherancy of the total group. If you shoot it the family group will break up and have no leadership any more. Leadership is important in finding good resting places, food etc...

So if you have a clear view of the total group (and some time) you can start shooting at the last wild boar and work youre way up the group. The less dominant ones are in the back so that's OK.

 

If just a single one comes by, it almost completely sure it is a male. So shoot it. Have fun !

 

By the way, what i am describing is the case for wild boar in Western Europe. Do not know how pigs on other continents behave.

 

Will look into a picture of the K zone.

[Dunkield]

Top man Speedy, thanks for that.

 

Heh, don't tell me I need to get a pair of shades like those as well??

 

 

Thanks also H&H, I have day booked at 50 and 100 yards with a running deer and a running boar targets so I hope to get some practice then.