Henry Rifle Forums

We dont have a resident pig population at the farm they are transient visitors. Turn up every few years in late Autumn and have usually moved on by the end of winter. No sign at all last year but a bit of fresh sign started appearing 3-4 weeks back, have been trying to catch up with them. I have a handle on where they are coming in and out from the forestry with some consistency. Plan for yesterday was park the truck about an hour and a half before dark, stalk up a gully they have used in previous years to travel, then up and across the hill to where they appear to be travelling in and out this year then sit a wait in the hope of ambushing them.
Got to where they have been traveling about 45min before dark, talk about frustrating, fresh prints over the top of tyre tracks from the mornings trap line checks going both in and out
Followed the tracks as best I could through the scrub down hill to a 10acre creek flat they have been rooting up then sat and waited until dark with no luck.
Walked back to the truck, started it up drove 20m down the track to where I could turn around and spotted something black in the headlights near a clump of trees, before I could work out what it was a brindle lump appeared. Rifle out the window and the black lump was down, couldnt keep the rest in the headlights long enough to get another shot. Given the direction they bolted seems the passed within 30m of the parked ute while I was off looking for them
Makes me wonder why I put in the hours hunting at times, could have sat in the truck yesterday listening to the radio and probably clean up the lot as they walked past. Similar to my 30" sambar last year, have put in months trying to get a good mature stag without success only to have one walk out into the open when I was going for a armed bush walk.

Guess that is hunting, you can do everything right and still have no success but keep putting in the hours learning as you go and eventually success will come. It might seem like luck and easy but you need to be out there doing it putting yourself in the right place at the right time to get lucky.

One very small hog and it was the biggest of the little mob so certainly a few bigger ones I need to catch up with

He/she may be small, but the nice thing now is, it'll never get any bigger!
Nicely done.

Nice BB'Q size. I like those pigs from 50 to 100 lbs. Tasty tender vittles. I can't wait til the weather cools down so I can use the 45 Henry or the 35 Remington. We usually cull hogs after the deer seasons are over in late January to about Easter. Gets too warm to fool with them. Skeeters and ticks are out in full force.

Muddy Waters 67

I would love to do a hog hunt but I don't want them anywhere near where I hunt deer.
I hope they don't make it this far north for quite some time.

On a brighter note, we have now had our 5th confirmed black bear sighting in Indiana.
I am excited about that!

thanks for recounting the hunt .... I thoroughly enjoyed reading it

Mgderf wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:32 pm

I would love to do a hog hunt but I don't want them anywhere near where I hunt deer.
I hope they don't make it this far north for quite some time.

My sediments exactly.

RP

Yes it was a nice size for the BBQ, would have been just about the perfect size for my first hog with the 327FM had I been carrying it but had a 240wby in my hands.
I have been carrying my 327FM a bit checking the trapline instead of a rimfire just incase I luck onto a few smaller hogs and a few cast SWC at around 1000fps for trapline dispatches.
I can understand the desire to keep pigs away, it is amazing the amount of damage they can do in a very short time. I am lucky in some ways that I get a chance to chase them at home but they havent taken up residence. I am really surprised how consistent they are with turning up late autumn and being gone by late winter. Dont know if it is just a shortage of feed in the forestry at this time of year, if they are coming down from higher elevation due to weather or something else.

As you probably know, we've got em in Texas! I dispatched one, a pretty good sized boar, on Saturday evening. Henry is now 2 for 2 in animal shots. Shot him in the head since he was located out of the way already. He'll be gone by now with the hogs, coyotes and buzzards.
Those little ones are good for BBQ like MuddyWaters said. Dang good BBQ.
Even during deer season, if I see a hog I have been told to shoot it, and I tend to do it even if it is early in the day. I've dispatched a ton of them and haven't made a difference. If you only have a small sounder and you shoot a few, the others will move on usually. Pigs are pretty smart. You did good taking one out!

Mgderf wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:32 pm

I would love to do a hog hunt but I don't want them anywhere near where I hunt deer.
I hope they don't make it this far north for quite some time.

On a brighter note, we have now had our 5th confirmed black bear sighting in Indiana.
I am excited about that!

Yep - no hogs in Indiana - yet. Not sure how excited I am about bears in the hunting woods. I guess black bears aren't all that aggressive. But a mama with cubs could be kinda scary.

zara_puppy wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:47 pm

Mgderf wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:32 pm

I would love to do a hog hunt but I don't want them anywhere near where I hunt deer.
I hope they don't make it this far north for quite some time.

On a brighter note, we have now had our 5th confirmed black bear sighting in Indiana.
I am excited about that!

Yep - no hogs in Indiana - yet. Not sure how excited I am about bears in the hunting woods. I guess black bears aren't all that aggressive. But a mama with cubs could be kinda scary.

I think you find that spotting a Black Bear will be a very enjoyable adventure. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing many while out hunting but fortunately never had an aggressive encounter. While Elk hunting one day my cousin and I had the pleasure of watching a mama with three cubs fooling around. We were above them and upwind so they never had a clue we were there. Watching the cubs play was great. I’ve had many other bear sightings, some just a running bear and other times spending several minutes watching them. If I’m hunting with either a shotgun or muzzleloader I carry a handgun but with a rifle I don’t feel the need.

3 good seasons in a row after drought and bushfires and numbers are really starting to increase in Aus.
Here in my state Dept Primary Industries has been doing some aerial culling, 100,000 shot from helicopters in the last 12 months.
Around the farm they are still pretty transient and nocturnal, you will see sign of where they have been rooting and then nothing for a week, then more sign a mile or more away.
About 2 months back I noticed they had started feeding on some old carcasses so when we had a cow drop dead I dragged her to the general area and put a trap around it. 2 months with the door wired open and no interest from them. Sign pigs have been within 20y of the trap but nothing had been entering and feeding until Tuesday when the cow had been ripped apart and trap all rooted up. Time to unwire the door.
When I went to check it yesterday noticed a piglet bolt from near the trap while still 200y away. Parked the bike and approached on foot going down wind and coming in to it through a patch of tussocks. I had been planning on trying to shoot a few rabbits that are also starting to increase in number yesterday afternoon so my choice of rifle for the day reflected that. My Sako 17HMR is probably the worst choice I have as a hog rifle but what I had with me.
Working my way through the tussocks I spotted one piglet heading back towards the trap, when I dispatched it another 3 exploded from the tussocks just in front of me. Thankfully I wound the scope to its minimum of 3x when I got off the bike and managed to roll the last piglet with the last shot in the magazine. Time to reload and take care of the 130lb sow and boar in the trap with another couple of piglets.
I do eat a bit of wild hog but prefer to stick with those that have been grazing on pasture, hogs that are covered from head to foot in mud, guts and who knows what else from being inside a dead cow feeding just arent for me.
I lost track of where all the piglets were dropping with the shooting being quite frenetic but dragged 3 off them together for a photo.

I agree with your diet choices. Good job on those pesky pigs.