Thread: A good calibre on pigs

Originally Posted by Bol Tackshin

While you can kill a pig with a .22lr, bigger, more powerful calibre's open your options. The good old .308 would be my go-to for big boars, although that shield can still present some difficulty. The .223 would be my self-imposed minimum for piglets and weaners. That is because of the welfare of the animal to consider - letting them run off wounded just doesn't sit well with me, even if they are pests.

They never run off wounded if you shoot them properly. With pigs, no question about it in my mind, the best way to kill them is to shoot them in the head. Big boars or fat heavy sows can take a fairly sizeable hit from a .30 cal and squeal and carry on and still run like fuck on 2 and a half legs. You have to nail the CNS. Lessons I’ve learned over the years is the mob is going to hurtle for cover at the first shot, it’s very hard to get onto subsequent pigs unless you’re somehow set up for driven style shooting and can intercept them on the run. Even shooting them over bait it’s hard to get more than one or two.

Hands down the best way to improve your tally is to target the largest sow with weaners and piglets in tow. Anchor her on the spot, don’t let her utter so much as a squeal. A head shot will have her down and thrashing on the spot, confusing young pigs, and some may not run very far, or if they do, they come back for a look. Even better is to have two guns on a countdown, to drop the two largest adults so the young don’t follow the next in charge into cover.

Pigs are a complete bastard to target in open paddocks because they behave differently to goats and deer, much more inclined to hit the gas pedal and not look back. And then stay away.